OgieOgilthorpe

I get what you're saying and it makes sense to me. Davies and Sheyenne will be the better hockey schools in the Fargo area for sure. I'm just saying that they'll never be a GF or a Moorhead. They're just not in a high hockey producing area for whatever reason. Completely agree on the co-op point you made and most of the options you're listing would probably be great. Just pointing out that Cando doesn't make any sense for anyone other than DL. And Langdon is so far away from anyone that they might not make sense for any co-ops. Both Grafton and DL would be a stretch for them. They're best hope would be pulling kids into their own team from Cavalier and Pembina. All of those small communities are only getting smaller too, so it's only going to get worse.

Yep

How about the Grand Forks Fighting Leftovers? It is true though. Grand Forks youth hockey gets bottle necked so badly by the High School system that dozens of kids get squeezed out every season. I bet the left over kids from RR and Central could combine to make a pretty decent squad. Looks like they've even created 2 Jr. Gold teams now because of those extra kids.

I agree that WF Sheyenne will improve but let's be real, they'll never be a powerhouse. Even with the big numbers advantage, the Fargo area just doesn't produce hockey players. If you look at their enrollment vs hockey player numbers, I'd be willing to bet they have some of the worst hockey player producing schools per capita in the state for class A schools. Again...South, Shanley and Oak Grove all have to combine to make one team and a small team at that. They struggle to keep strong numbers for a JV and Varsity team. Why would you think Shanley could all of the sudden support a full roster by themselves? Bismarck does not have a Jr. Gold team so not sure how taking over a non-existing team will help anything? St Mary's probably only sends what, 4 or less players on average to BHS and BC? Can any Bismarck folk confirm that? Minot does not have a Jr. Gold team so not sure how taking over a non-existing team will help anything? Ryan probably sends 2 or less players on average to Minot High. Cando would probably never work with Langdon because they're 60 miles a part and DL is only 35. Even if they did work with Langdon, Cando would only be able to provide 1-2 HS players a year...if any.

This is a VERY bizarre post...Do you even follow ND youth or HS hockey...at all? Cando has not had a Jr. Gold team since like 1999...haha. They provide 0-3 players a year to DL. Also, if it takes the combination of Shanley, Fargo South, AND Oak Grove to make one small team that can barely provide a JV team, then how is Shanley going to provide one on their own? Same thing goes for St. Mary's and Minot Ryan etc....there are not even close to enough numbers available, so that'll never happen. Keep those smaller schools feeding the bigger schools where needed. Side note---also, where the heck did you get the idea that WF schools are dominate at hockey? Take a quick look at the past 10-12 years of HS hockey and see how well those "undermanned" teams you listed stack up against WF even before they split. I can assure you Grafton and DL have done more than hold their own against the mighty WF teams. Grafton is going to be a little down, but they always hang around the top 4-5 in the East while making it to state fairly often and even won state most recently in 2008. DL also holds their own in the east and are WELL above .500 against WF teams in recent years. They also make it to state pretty routinely....unlike WF. Hell even Jamestown is probably above .500 against WF in recent years....but yes I agree with your comment when it comes to Wahpeton I guess. Here is my take: YES to creating 2 divisions. Finding the line between A and AA will be tough and will have to be open to adjustments each year just like ND HS football is with it's divisions. Team strength will shift and change, so the division line will need to shift and change as well. I think by creating these 2 divisions, we could eliminate the struggling Jr. Gold league and pull them into the HS league. Yes I understand that those are clubs and not affiliated with their school systems, so that'll be a major hurdle, but I'm just spit balling here and dreaming a little.But this new setup could also get Wahp/Breck back into the mix to get ND up to around 22-25 teams to work with rather than 18-19. NO to combining teams by city/town. That would just be silly and would turn HS hockey into a summer league and would only exacerbate the larger town skills/numbers gap even further. As of right now AA could be 12 teams, but most years 8-10 teams. AA - Minot, DL-Cando, Grafton-PR, Red River, Central, Bismarck High, Bismarck Century, Fargo Davies, Fargo South/Shanley, Fargo North, WF, and WF Shyenne Every team would have to play each other at least once for league points, but scheduling beyond that could be open to out of state games to get some MN competition if that's wanted. Playing some of these teams more than once because of distance, scheduling ease, or past rivalry/history would be fair game as well (fargo schools vs fargo schools, RR vs Central, BC vs BHS etc. etc.) but those would be non-league games. With this setup the travel would actually be pretty easy. The furthest trips would be GF to Bismarck or Minot to Fargo, which isn't horrible. For playoffs there would be no pre-state tourney, so top 8 teams would go to state and be seeded by place in standings (tie-breaker rules applied). The 4 teams that were eliminated would play in a consolation tournament at the same time as state. Maybe even throw the winner of the A team in there somehow?? That might be far fetched...but anyway, this might be a good filter/sorter for helping figure out where the division line should be. Teams winning the A division often would get moved up and teams losing in the consolation tourney too often would get moved down. A North- Crosby, Williston, Watford City, Bott-Rugby, Langdon-Cavalier, Grand Forks JV (if possible somehow), Mayport-Hillsboro A South- Dickinson, Hazen-Beulah, Mandan, Bismarck JV, Jamestown-Valley City, Fargo JV, Wahp/Breck For travel sake East-West would work better, but for competition-wise I thought North-South looked a little more even...maybe? Play each team in your division at least 2 times and then again have an 8 team state tournament based off the top 4 teams from each division. 5 teams would be eliminated at the end of the season. Again this would open up a lot of out of state games for MN and SD...even Canada. Also would leave open schedule spots for games against closer teams from the north/south. Might work Seems a little messy but it might create some excitement in ND HS hockey. Teams that never have a chance to make it to state could have a chance at winning a state championship.

Nope

Well yeah, when it means absolutely nothing

Not to mention the BS slashing call and goalie roughing call. Wow!!

Keep dreaming

Let's go century!!!! They're looking solid!

You got the games correct so far. Century vs Davies should be a good one.

Yeah that surprised the hell outa me

They had EDC somewhere other than the Purpur before? Didn't know that

Actually that's incorrect. I believe they have at least twice. Most recent was in 2010 when they lost to WF 2-1 to go to state.

It really might not be that long of a shot since they played into OT earlier this year. I still think RR will win and we'll see a nasty matchup in the first round of state.

Sorry for not knowing, but where can I find the details on this bus? Lodging, pricing, time and place of leaving/returning. Thanks!

Hot goalie?!

Johnson and Thompson both graduated early so you can't really blame them. Also, Thompson should still have a small chance for the nhl because he's so young. He's still younger than wolanin, and is the same age as C poolman who is just a sophomore in college. He may have already peaked...but if not, he still has his younger age on his side. People often forget how young he was when he came to UND. I think his biggest mistake was not staying away from college for one more season. His x-classmate ladue is over 3 years older than him and Tucker poolman (one class after him) is over 2 years older than him.

You're like the rink rat bully. Biggest meanest floor hockey goon around.

Yeah hard to argue that. We know they're both beatable, but it'll take a hot goalie or a top game from Davies or century to take one of them down. Not likely

The Grafton downward fall continues.

RR bounces back with a big win over Davies, 5-0 DL slows down North in a close one, 2-1 WFS takes down WF 4-2 Anyone have have the Grafton-South game update? Also curious if Dickinson was able to keep it close with BHS tonight.

3rd known concussion of the year, I doubt he will be back this year. Especially with how serious last night's looked.

Hey, they're pretty good at dumping it in.

I agree, and I also think it's pretty obvious to everyone else as well. Thome undoubtedly would've been seeing more playing time right now if healthy.