Fanfromafar

Chicago Tribune Article Front page of today's Chicago Tribune's business section

2000 - 2001 was a good year. I don't know about out the west, but the east had Ziegelmann, Lamoureaux, and Walski.

Who made the all tournament team? Were all-state honors announced?

Congratulations to Fargo South on a great win. I look forward to watching some of their players in the future as they continue their hockey careers. DaveK, I am one of the people who disagrees that there is a 'passing of the torch' to Fargo South, even with this vicotry. However, I did state earlier in this thread that they were 'heavy favorites' in my mind, so I am not surprised with the outcome. We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out in the future. My difference of opinion is just that -- nothing personal.

Thanks for the updates -- they are appreciated.

DaveK, Agree with you that the numbers of kids playing hockey in South Fargo is very impressive; however, I don't share your opinion on youth hockey players in Fargo being superior. Perhaps the difference is that we are looking at different age groups. South ran up gaudy regular season records in both peewee A and bantam A (which is helped by the fact that those levels do north/south bracketing), yet both state championships went to GF teams. You may be correct in your prediction, but I don't think long-term dominance (although FS should be a favorite next year) at the high school level is close at hand. On another note -- does anyone know what happened to Minot because both their peewee and bantams teams posted terrible records last year.

It depends on how you want to define the 'best team'. I'm sure UND would have loved to trade spots with Denver last year. I define the best team as the one winning the tournament championship. Regular season titles are very impressive accomplishments but there is a reason a tournament champion is crowned as well as remembered. Don't discount the quality of the GF teams because their regular seasons weren't up to past standards.

article about Okposo and it mentions Toews is considering UND or Wisc. http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/10471022.htm

All American potential?! Silly me I was simply hoping he would make the team. 12 goals in 55 games does not illustrate sniper potential regardless of the coaching/off-ice issues. I don't think it's fair to heap accolades and high expectations on Moreland and Sando until 1) they make the team and 2) they earn some ice time. I would love to see them both make it and actually be good enough to play, but I'm taking a wait and see approach at this time.

I don't think it's etched in stone that Moreland is walking on this year as Sioux Falls thinks there's enough of a chance it doesn't happen to keep him on their protected list. http://www.ushl.com/protected0304.cfm?id=SF

So how did Kresbach not make varisty on Minot's team? Sounds like Samson made a pretty big mistake there. I don't have a problem with players moving to a different high school in their same town (provided they are not doing this all the time), but I don't like to see them switching cities for hockey only.

I'm definitely torn on this one. On one hand, I have seen Beaverson play several games each of the past two years and don't think he would have much of an impact (but I am no expert); however, I don't want to see a trend of UND not honoring verbals where someone has planned on attending the school for almost 2 years.

I am no scout or expert, but I saw Tri-City play a couple of games each of the past two years and here are my thoughts. Last year, I didn't notice him at all. This year I did. He logged a ton of ice time and was very solid. Seemed mobile and good with the puck, but I wouldn't project him to add much offense in college; he struck me as a stay-at-home defenseman. Plays with a mean streak and absolutely owned the front of the net. Even though they had some coaching issues last year he was still very near the bottom of the team in plus/minus, but he improved a lot this year. Overall, he would be a good catch for any school -- I thought he played better than this year than Beaverson, but I only saw each guy twice.

Another Shattuck player to keep an eye on is Okposo. He is a 10th grade forward with 88 points (41 goals) on the year and is from St. Paul. He has decent size already (5'11" 180) and could be a force in the upcoming years.

I would agree. ZP has a ton of talent and hopefully a great NHL career ahead of him, but I would put him behind the players mentioned above. In addition, if Bo stays next year, I would put him ahead of Parise.

I think you are relying a little too much on numbers. Let's put it like this: if you were an opposing coach over this time frame, who would you least like to play? I would put Fargo South behind RR, Cent, and GPR during this time, but I am admittedly biased; however, I think the majority of people would place them there. Jloos, that 1994 FS team beat one of Central's most talented teams in the '90s. There were at least 5 future DI guys who ran into a stone wall that night.

I agree Fargo South should get better in the future. GF hockey seems to cycle between Central and Red River being the best in the state. For a long stretch it was RR, now it's Central. We'll see how it plays out in the future, but I don't see Fargo South quite being on equal footing with the top school; it could be comparable to the other one though. The biggest reason I can see for both GF teams falling off is if more kids leave early to play Juniors. It's tough to project which team is going be the best in the future because of players leaving early. I think FS lost some players (Magura and Bye?) to juniors early while Central lost Simonson and 2 lammies this year; the most talented bantam players may not be around to play at all in high school. The USHL's age requirements do not do any favors to high school teams. I am definitely conflicted on the issue of players moving to juniors early. While I understand a player's desire to play the best competition that they can, I like to see the towns that produce the best talent/team actually win state. On the other hand, I would like to see as many ND kids as possible play DI which moving to juniors early should help.

There are some other scenarios where UND can fall to 2, but I can't figure out a way to move them down to #3 without using bonus points which I don't know how to do properly. If the Sioux are #1 seed (2nd team overall) and Michigan does not win the CCHA tourney, it could lead to Umich falling far enough in the rankings where they would be the #2 seed in the regional, meaning the Sioux may have to play the Wolverines in Grand Rapids. Not the best matchup, but at least it wouldn't be at Yost. It would probably be best for UND if Maine losses and Michigan wins this weekend. Let UMD or MN go out to Grand Rapids and send the Sioux to the springs.