Wilbur

If this was all just a sick game, fine, you win..... While I'm here, rumor mill now stating that Langdon is possibly making the jump. Stay tuned there.

Quinn.

Colin Grubb is at the Northern Plains District Boys Player Development camp happening in West Fargo this weekend. If you have USA hockey TV you can stream games. He's in the 09 group which has a ton of ND kids that not shockingly don't play their hockey in North Dakota anymore. Fylling, Larken, Peterson, Bryan, Deschamp, Packulak, etc. If you had all those guys on a Team ND summer group that would be a fun group to watch.

Bailey Ober with a complete game shutout last night. Was refreshing to watch (I cracked and took the half off twins.tv special for 45 bucks for the remainder of the season). I didn't have to worry about Rocco pulling him after the 7th inning because the binder said that he was statistically going to get worse. He could've thrown 13 scoreless innings the way the ball was coming off his hand at a brisk 88mph last night that the Marlins couldn't handle. I get its the Marlins, but an efficient outing. I also saw aggressiveness on the base paths....and gasp....a hit and run that worked perfectly. Three game winning streak. Can we get to 75 wins? Maybe??

Alright, you've got my interest.....

The Wild will need to shore up the d zone in the offseason. Their 3-6 d men are going to be the story of this playoff season. Right after they get the game tying goal they get hemmed in on a bad shift and you could just tell it wasn't going to be their night. Losing Brodin hurt like hell, but you need more out of Spurgeon. Bogosian just throwing the puck up the wall that lead to goal #3 was a pee wee play. Faber and Hughes can't play 35 minutes, just a recipe for disaster, especially when Colorado know that those guys are every other shift and can run the Mckinnon line accordingly. Rumor mill has the Oilers interested in Gus this offseason if he's willing to go there, not sure what they have for d men, but they've got to get something useful in return, especially on the back end.

I think even young Keaton knows that he's got a long ways to go before he jumps to the professional ranks. NHL Central Scouting has him as their #2 overall prospect amongst north American skaters, but home country guru Button at TSN has him below Reid and Carels as their 6th overall prospect. Its been said before, the biggest thing for him is his skating and defending. Unlimited potential offensively, now a great opportunity to play a lot and get the opportunity to become better in his own end. I'd think he's got to be the guy that they are thinking QB's PP1 playing with Zellers and Reschny, but there is a long time between now and then. I don't see him falling past the Blackhawks if Stenberg and Reid are both off the board, which they should collectively be #2 and #3 in my opinion. The experts think he goes to Seattle, but I'd be shocked if a kid that already has the NHL body drops that far.

Quick check in....the team is 16-20 and only 1.5 games out of first place in a very bad American League Central. Now imagine if they had two decent bullpen guys, or make that one bullpen guy you could rely on.

I honestly don't see the team losing a single game next season, or a team keeping it within 3 goals. But if they do.....

It would've been better to go with Gus in game one off the Dallas series then to throw him in last night and the first two shots go in the net. Jesper back in for game 3 which is must win #4 now for the Wild.

Completely agree. USHL teams are going to really have to do their due diligence in the phase 1 draft. I mean you look at Dubuque last year trading up in the first round to take a kid like Colin Grubb, and he's headed to Brandon next year and likely will never skate a shift for them before he's in Grand Forks.

USHL teams can tender up to two players (2010 birth year this year, always 16 year olds) in exchange for their first and second round picks in the phase 1 draft before the draft happens. Phase 2 draft happened today, which is the 17-20 old pool of guys. I believe teams have 50 guys on their protected rosters.

Girls EDC tournament to be six teams. Start at home sites or "pods" followed by conclusion of tournament in Grand Forks. Championship at Purpur before Boys I'm told.

Jesper has been great in the net for the Wild. Gives them the option to try and trade Gus in the off season as their AHL kid is pretty good and right about NHL ready.

I'll agree, I think most years it wouldn't change much with the current 55% and 45% or whatever they decide to do percentage wise nowadays. I'd personally be a bit ticked off if UND didn't make the postseason based on a 3x3 outcome between UCONN and Boston college late in the season for example. I'm not a fan of the 5 minute 5x5 during the regular season. OT just turns into a tennis match with both teams dumping the puck and trapping the neutral zone after both teams battled for 60 and neither wants to drop points when it gets there. I don't see the system changing, fans want a winner, and its used at most of the upper levels of hockey during the regular season.

I think to get away from 3x3 mini hockey deciding playoff percentages that we need to call games ties that end after 60 if you aren't going 5x5 in OT. Anything that comes after that shouldn't be considered a win in the NPI or a loss. Have your 3x3 and your shootout if you want to, but the game is a tie for the records. I think you'd see more teams press to score a bit more in the 3x3 if they had less to lose from it. Best of 3 first round playoffs. Reseed, best of 3 super regionals, then the normal F4. If your arena isn't available its on you to find a backup and make it work or play on the road. I mean lets act like this is a D1 operation here, and I hate the argument that "hockey is different because of Arenas". I'd also like to see a player impact panel, where the kids can voice their opinions on some game play or rule changes they'd like to see. Team Captain serves as the rep, leave the coaches out of this one.

Very few western kids. I looked at the 16U T1 team roster from last season and the furthest west a team member was from was either Jamestown or Devils Lake. Team ND tryouts this weekend in West Fargo. Interested to see how many western kids show up.

Okay Derek. This lineup is what it is. Sitting back and playing Rocco Ball (not that it matters with what their record will be) isn’t going to cut it and will for sure mean 100+ losses. The limited opportunities you will have to win 1 game in a series can't be missed. You've got to bunt runners over, try and steal bases, and not take out Ober with 83 pitches..... I'm not really sure what the philosophy is currently, but they need to just bring some kids up to the big and let em play.

A former coach in North Dakota High School hockey that I respect a lot refers to it as "checkbook hockey." The age groups I see a lot of kids in the Fargo metro for these AAA tournaments is scary. Much too young to be specializing. Golf, track, baseball, lacrosse, tennis. Get them using different muscles and get their thinking differentiated a bit as well.

Caleb Heil sensational again for Madison last night. His team puts up 13 total shots last night and he wills them to victory. He was the story of that series, stealing three games.

I guess its a battle between Payton and Andy Dalton of all people to back up Mr. Positive energy.

I think he should've went to FBS, the offers were there. Prove it against the big boys instead of guys who get the coverages screwed up every third play.

So got a big citrus, a linebacker, and an OT with the dreaded "short arms". And Greenard is now an Eagle.

They just best hope that the big guy heals and puts the injury behind him. Until that time all we will hear is "see it wasn't Kwesi's fault!"...when it was very much KAM's fault.

See....big guy....huge.....history of breaking foot which has really limited him for the past few years, and anyone who has broken a foot will tell you its easy to break it again. Lot of guys had him as a day 2 guy, yet here we are. I was thinking Safety or Corner, but what do I know.