JakeLove

No surprise. Shanley is solid. But teams from EDC #3E seed and below in my opinion are not real strong relative to years past. #1W and #2W are more likely than not to win their state tournament first round games.

ONLY (and I mean only) league using goal judges is HS hockey. They create more problems than they solve; assuming of course that the on ice officials get to their proper position to make the goal line calls. And with 4 officials on the ice there is no excuse for not getting to position.

And an experienced official friend who was watching said all three waved off goals were the right call. what is not the right call was by the DL parents who “came at” the refs after the game. I was not there to substantiate the report but if it is even partially close to reality I call “foul” on the parents.

By losing BIS CHS has to make it to state through the back door of the WDA tournament would get BIS CHS the #3 West or #4 West seed, thus drawing #2 East (likely GF RRHS) or the #1 East (likely GF Central). I don’t see how this would make BIS CHS happy.

Boots on the ground report from WDA: Minot over Williston Mandan over century Legacy over Bottineau Bis high over Jamestown

Who cares? GF has the two best boys teams in the state already, both of whom are in the upper echelon of school organized HS hockey in the country. That’s pretty cool by itself. and GF has a “United” team in the girls side.

Let’s not get carried away. Miami is greatly improved but not at Penrose caliber. but, putting down some money on a long shot might be worth the entertainment value.

#19 Grimes is lesser skilled

UND did not directly develop any of that, except the Medical School, but your assessment is otherwise 100%

The on ice officials know who dives, but having a “list” I easier than seeing it live on ice level. y’all don’t really understand officiating ice hockey other than what y’all want for your favorite team.

Super dumb to do 3v3 in youth hockey.

Dickinson youth hockey has good governance by good people with a good director.

That North Star Conference is basically a statewide Class A league. That proposed EDC and WDA is essentially a 2 conference Class AA league. the NDAHA youth hockey has very specific leagues at multiple levels within an age group, so why would there be anxiety of creating a 2 class hockey league structure within NDHSAA? but to make it work Watford, Langdon, Crosby, Richland County, Northwood, etc have to opt-in to NDHSAA. or move the whole thing to USA Hockey!

Here is where I get off the bus. In years past, MayPort actively worked to get northwood area players to jump to MayPort youth hockey, and justified it by saying basically”we are going to play HS and you are not”. The bigger point is losing northwood as its own hs aged hockey playing community by folding them into another team is not growth. langdon has never been enthusiastic about NDHSAA, partly because the neighboring NDHSAA communities have actively tried to get langdon players to leave Langdon to commute or move to an NDHSAA community. This has not been common for the boys but has from time to time been acute for girls. Plus, funding would probably be an issue. if WC tips to the NDHSAA, 2 classes should be inevitable.

The new Watford City AD will most likely be supportive of WC moving to NDHSAA and out of NDAHA Junior Gold. He got a raise to go to WC so money does not seem to be a problem. Maybe the league requirement is 1 conference game as a minimum, then do a seeding conference for the conference tournament. This is not geographically advantageous for WDA. Junior gold will be dead, which is sad. more teams is more better but the competitive disparity is not going to get better.

It’s beyond time for 2 classes

Yep, and then the whole thing keeps circling down the drain.

For context regarding GFC or GFRR playing MayPort - their JV teams beat MayPort varsity last year. this year the GFC JV without any body who plays varsity time quite handily beat the MayPort “JV” roster that is basically the MayPort “varsity” roster except for the top end MayPort players only playing 1 or 2 periods.

If MayPort is allowed into the EDC , why not allow the traditional EDC powers to opt-out and then allow them to cherry-pick a schedule (just like MayPort has been doing). especially GFC and GFRR who basically have 3 competitive league games this year (against each other). If Jamestown doesn’t want to play Hazen Beulah twice, why should GFC, GFRR, etc play MayPort at all? Or why should GFC, GFRR play Jamestown twice should the BlueJays return to the EDC. Dont take this as a dig in Jamestown, our hockey is better when they get better (plus many a friend grew up there) these are merely hypotheticals to make discussion points similar to the earlier stated distaste of Jamestown playing H-B 2x a year. you could go on and on with these “what ifs”. none of the above “what if” scenarios are good for the entirety of ND Hockey as all of them in all likelihood disadvantage anyone west of the Sheyenne River watershed and all have an element of doing what’s best for ones’ self not what’s best as a whole. lastly, 4 WDA and 4 EDC teams at state is the right way. Besides, If a team wanted to increase their odds of making it, stay in the WDA (ha-ha). I say this - find a way to make everyone better!

Lawson and Kalamazoo is fun but the Ralph and Grand Forks are better.

When playing was for personal joy not for advancement to a “higher level”

Central Park with my cousin ca. 1977

They get enough ODR time to understand that cold toes and cold fingers don’t matter if you enjoy playing to compete. a lot of fine people grew up well by learning the etiquette of the ODR. ND on the whole can’t compete with the MN top 20 but place the large ND schools against MN AA and they play at least 0.500 hockey. Place the small town against MN A and they play at least 0.500, or better if you can cherry pick your schedule against crappy teams (looking at you, MayPort).

One of the two GF schools just did that exact thing, and won - no strings, no gimmicks, just won. grand forks has it set up correctly - 2 schools each with 36-40 boys participants, fed by a youth club and community focused on hockey improvement of the 800 or so kids all who hail from within the GF public school boundary. let’s not mess with what has been successful for 50+ years

Wockenfuss, there is a little brother on JV; collectively they are the Wockenfi (pluralized like octopus/octopi)