Congratulations to our Glenview Stars Girls 14U - 2nd Place in the 2021 USA Hockey National Championships!

The Village of Glenview and our entire Glenview Stars organization are so proud of our 14U Glenview Girls team for earning 2nd place in the 2021 USA Tier ll 14U 1A Hockey National Championship! The Nationals were held April 29 through May 3rd in Denver, Colorado.

18 Illinois hockey teams ranging from 14U-19U and one high school team competed for the title this year. Fourteen advanced to the quarterfinals and only 4 Illinois teams battled it out for the gold including our Glenview Stars Girls 14U! Those teams were Glenview Girls 14U Tier ll, Mission 14U Girls Tier 1, Mission Girls 19U Tier 1 and New Trier Green High School.

The championship game was played against the sponsored tournament team Detroit's Honey Baked Hockey Club.

The Glenview Stars Girls organization is led by hockey director and head coach Nick Lavalle. Nick has led the girls to nationals in the past previously taking the championship title in 2012.

No other team in Glenview, outside of the girls, has been to Nationals since 1998. That shows what a significant accomplishment this is for the Glenview Stars overall program. The Stars’ girls annually travel to places including Canada, Minnesota, Michigan and New York to play in targeted tournaments aimed at fine tuning and honing their on-ice skills. The girls 10U and 12U teams currently play in the boys/co-ed league, geared towards having the teams play at a level that will consistently push them to develop and compete at a high level.  The overall methodical coaching taught from 8U age ensures the girls can master their on-ice skills and execute in  game situations. While mastering the logistics of hockey, Coach Lavalle’s teams have earned multiple State and NIHL Championships, several State and NIHL runner-ups, and 4 NIHL Presidents Cups. Stars’ girls were also the first all girls team in Tier ll level to qualify in the NIHL playoffs in the co-ed youth division. Other accolades include the USA Hockey Female Honors Award, AHAI Girls Program Award, and their association to women’s hockey programs including the Jr. NWHL program.

Outside of hockey, Coach Lavalle requires study/homework time during tournaments to ensure that the girls continue to focus on school during a normally hectic weekend. He is proud of the philanthropic work the girls are involved with organizing annually that they fundraise, volunteer, and participate in.  Those include the “Celebration of Hockey Day'' benefiting the Hornet’s Sled hockey team, 100 Club, Police Memorials, Feed my Starving Children, outreach to other girls hockey organizations, sister programs and others that benefit  girls hockey.

This year, the 14U team took home the gold at tournaments including Boo in the Soo and Mounds View GroundHog Day - U15 level.

Coach Lavalle is proud to have coached many of the 2021 National Championship Mission girls on past Stars’ teams. He knows girls do not have to play in the AAA league to play college hockey. He says there’s plenty of avenues available to provide these girls the exposure they need to help drive those opportunities to play beyond high school. All four senior girls from the 2021 19U team are playing college hockey at colleges including Marian University in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Trine University in Angola, Indiana and the University of Minnesota.

Representing Illinois girls hockey and growing the girls game in Illinois by putting the Stars on the national map was an honor. The girls were proud to represent the Glenview Stars organization and will continue to build the girls program with the goal of getting all teams onto the national rankings. The 8U, 10U, 12U, 14U, 16U and 19U girls teams are looking forward to the fall! 

For now, taking second spot in Nationals is quite a tribute to the hard work these girls and coaches put in and they will continue to push for the gold next fall. 

Interested in being a girls Star? Want to Learn about our spring/summer/fall programs?

Contact Nick Lavalle bhawks35@yahoo.com

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