Yote 53

Jesus, did the Wild suck last night. Perfect opportunity to gain ground on St. Louis and Vegas and they stunk the joint up. Can't believe I watched that entire game.

To be clear, I am posting specifically about boys hockey in NoDak. Girls hockey is a different animal and, after reading your post, I can see the benefits of a Tier 1 girls program in Fargo. Are the proposals being discussed for a boys program, girls program, both, or just boys/just girls?

So they still leave the local HS programs and instead of going to Sioux Falls and elsewhere they move to Fargo. On top of that, now that you have a Tier 1 program in Fargo it becomes a great local option for kids in the Fargo and Grand Forks areas who might not ever thought about moving away from home for Tier 1. They weren't going to do it but since you gave them easy access, why not pursue it? In the end ND HS hockey will suffer, possibly even more than it currently is and this won't solve your problems with talent level in ND HS Hockey. Also, I don't think you should stick with the status quo either. I think Team North Dakota needs to really be pushed and elevated. In Wisconsin, a lot of players, if they don't make TW they don't even bother with the Capitols or the Admirals or going to Chicago for AAA. They figure if they are not good enough to make TW then why spend 10's of thousands of dollars chasing? They play WEHL (Wisconsin Elite League) instead. Really, all this does is weaken the Power by stemming the flow of players leaving NoDak for Sioux Falls and force them to find their players elsewhere because they'll be cut off from NoDak and Manitoba players who have a closer option in Fargo. In fact, I should be all for this, being from South Dakota and having my youngest coming up through the system now. More spots available in Sioux Falls, a Team Midwest option building, Omaha still being an option (it's where my oldest played). This could be great for me, but not for ND HS Hockey. If the problem is losing players to Juniors, either the USHL or NAHL, this Tier 1 program won't stop that. Kids with those options are already past having to play U16/U18.

I had a whole thing written up but to be more concise I will just say, don't do it. Promote Team North Dakota. Look at the success of Team Wisconsin as a model. Preserve and promote HS hockey in NoDak while also offering opportunities for your best players to showcase themselves at the Tier 1 level. Just my opinion.

I think the direction we are headed is towards a club sports model. Frankly, that might not be the worst thing either. I look at the what the ACHA has done for college hockey and think if NCAA D1 hockey went away, and all collegiate hockey followed the ACHA model (with some tweaks), college hockey would explode across the country and become much, much bigger when freed from the restraints of Title 9.

It's back

Ok, that was terrible rebound control on that 3rd Hermantown goal. Goalie needs to send that puck up into the far corner. Instead, he kicks it right out into the slot with Hermantown forwards bearing down and his D facing up ice coming backwards. I heard the coach say he was going to stick to his goalie rotation no matter how hot the #1 was playing. While admire wanting to get the kids the state tournament experience, that's not turning out very good right now. Granted, this isn't all on the goalie as the Zephyrs are not playing very well at all.

Thought Warroad was getting the best of them in OT but it only took that puck bouncing around dangerously in the slot area and it was game over. Got to clear that puck with authority and not overskate it.

Brutal. The Streak continues.

And here we go...

That was a nice ticky tack call to make this more interesting after the 5 minuter.

When this game started off 3-0 I did not expect to see it tied up. Got a good one going.

Welp. This one is on the verge of getting out of hand early. Centennial up 3-0. Couple of nice deflection goals.

Another blowout QF game. The 4/5 matchup tonight should be a good one, usually is. Hopefully the other games can be closer and hoping for an upset.

Make that 4-1.