Wilbur

I'm gonna go out on a limb and call a 2-2 tie. Red River proved they could play with South the last time these teams tangled, and I think that Red River will come out with something to prove in this game after getting embarrassed on Tuesday. Wish I could go to the game....Darn SIOUX!!! I also see Central beating West Fargo.

Bismarck, Red River.....and I think Jamestown.

I'm not completely sure of their schedule, but I know that Roseau has beaten Warroad, and took Moorhead into OT. Roseau is the team I'm picking to win Section 8AA.

I guess I'm a little surprised by that Red River score, but its probably only a little blip on the radar for them. I would have thought they would have been more excited to play one of the best teams in Minnesota at home, but I guess it was a nonconference game, so maybe they relaxed a little bit. We've been talking a lot lately about the quality of goaltenders around the state, and from the sounds of it Eli Rosendahl was hung out to dry tonight. Which proves the point that it really doesn't matter how good you are if you don't have that great of a team in front of you.

I like how Woog would call Phil Lamorello every so often. I mean come on....The kid played against the gophs last night, could you just say the kids name right....

Just saw on the news that Central beat East Grand 3-2.

I remember a couple of years ago when UND got swept at home against Minnesota that our fans started throwing stuff on the ice at the end. Every team has their fans, and I would put the Minnesota fans who threw stuff on the ice at the end of the game on the same level as the sioux fans who threw stuff on the ice at the end of the series a couple of years ago. UND won the game, let it go.

Yeah, after BHS scored on us one time they threw four on the ice. I went over and talked to the reff one time in Jamestown after it happened asking if a penalty shuld be called the the second time they did this, his explanation..."We really can't call a penalty because we don't know which fans are throwing the dead rabbits on the ice..." To think of the number of rabbits that have been killed because of Minot High School Hockey....

Big win for Minot. When Minot plays Bismarck you can almost always throw out the records because it is always a good game. I remember playing against Bismarck and having their student section throw carrots at us...

A lot of the time people look past the popular saying "a win is a win". Whether you beat a team 27-0, or 5-3 with an empty net, it still counts as a win. Yeah, the Shanley players are probably upset with their performance, but the bottom line is they won the game. And I'm sure they'd all agree that they'd rather have an ugly win than a good loss.

I heard from a guy that I play intramurals with that Shane was injured in practice, and that the backup senior goalie (Fiala, the brother of the guy I play with), broke his collar bone in warmups... ..Kind of a bad luck situation for the Knights. I think he said that Shane had a sprained ankle or something like that.

I'm very much looking forward to the 3rd and 4th of February when Minot gets the chance to travel to Red River and Grafton. Minot is finally getting all of their players back from injuries and suspensions, and I think that they will play Red River and Grafton really tough. It will be the first of many big tests for them in February.

I'd definately agree that Milhulka is one of the best players in the state. Every time I've seen him play I've been impressed with his effort. I would be surprised if he won Mr. Hockey, but he would be very deserving of the award. Well, I might as well post the updated standings from the web page. East 1. Fargo South 2. GF Red River 3. West Fargo 4. Grafton PR 5. Fargo Shanley 6. Fargo North 7. Central 8. Jamestown 9. Whapeton West 1. Minot 2. Bismarck High 3. Devils Lake 4. Williston 5. Century 6. Hazen 7. Dickinson 8. Mandan 9. Bottineau I'm guessing that Central will pop up into the 5th spot for the EDC, and that Devils Lake will finish behind Minot for the second spot in the west heading into the regional. If I'm a top three seed in the east I'm hoping that Central finishes at 5th because I don't know too many teams that would want to play a tournament team like Central at the regional. Although if they did finish seventh it would make for one helluva first round game between them and Red River....

You have to be a little of both actually. The better goaltenders (like Brodeur and Balfour) are the guys that just exemplify both crazy and nuts. Eddie the eagle is just a crazy man, and Brodeur can be seen laughing before warmups and chatting around with teammates before games. In the case of Goehring and guys like Parise (and even Brodeur), the amount of confidence that they play with is absolutely outstanding. So much to the point that they don't allow themselves to become nervous or shaken.

They actually do provide for better vision. My senior year of high school I switched to one (to be like Karl, yes its true) and I couldn't believe how much more vision I had. They are also a lot lighter which was nice as well. The only drawback was getting a puck to the head. Man did my ears ring when I got one to the head. One time I got a minor concussion when I took a blast directly to the forehead. The NHL guys probably have better constructed ones than I had, but it doesn't surprise me that Karl switched to the regular style.

Williston has more talent, but with Bismarck's goaltending who knows what will happen. I'm predicting a Williston one goal win with Hillman keeping the game close or winning it for his team. Williston is a tough (emphasize tough) place to play, and with some of the skaters they have playing on that Olympic sheet of ice I would expect them to win. These two teams will probably be the 3 and 4 seeds from the West.

I have to retract my statement from earlier about Dittus. He only got two goals and two assists against Century last night. My bad... Devils Lake also beat Bismarck high last night 3-2 in Bismarck. I checked the box score and Devils Lake out shot Bismarck 32-12, and the only reason that Bismarck high stayed in the game was because of Hillman. Devils Lake will be a team to look out for in the future. With their coaching and their young players they can do some damage.

As a former goaltender, Redwing is right on as far as the concussion thing goes. All the guys at the college level can shoot the puck extremely well, and if a guy takes a slap shot from close enough in and catches the mask in an area that doesn't deflect the puck away (the goalie masks are nowadays designed not to stop the puck, but deflect it away) it is very plausable for Parise to get a concussion this way. PS: The goalie helmet that Karl wore isn't recommended for goaltenders for the reason I just mentioned.

To get the topic off of the GF vs. Fargo talk for a second I'll talk about the Minot-Century game. Minot 7 Century 0 This game was completely dominated by Minot, and without some great saves by Nick Dehne it could have easily been 12 or 13 goals for Minot. This win doesn't say a whole lot for Minot, but I was talking to one of the dads before the game and he mentioned that Minot was skating with a full lineup for the first time all season. Minot's first two lines can skate with anyone in the state, but outside of the West Region their third line will have trouble with teams. They are finally able to play six defensemen after one of them got off of a suspension, and another one came off of an injury. Remember the name Andy Dittus. He played in the elite league this season, and every time I've gotten the chance to watch him play he impresses me. I believe he had four goals and two assists tonight, and could of had more. I think he's got some junior hockey ahead of him somewhere. Century is a young team that will come along. If they ever get some offensive flow going and score a goal or two Dehne is a goalie that can make it stand up. Alright, go back to Grand Forks vs. Fargo.

Troll

Is any other Sioux fan upset with the performance of Lee in this tournament? I can't believe how many fricken mistakes he makes in the defensive zone. I keep telling myself that he's young and that he'll overcome this, but it is getting so old watching him skate behind the net, get hit, lose the puck, lose position, and they score..... PS: I can't believe that the reff called those penalties on the Oshie. And to make matters worse on the second one right after the whistle was blown he gets his head slammed into the boards....That official was inconsistent and really hurt the U.S. in the second period and gave the Fins momentum. That doesn't excuse the U.S. loss though, they didn't compete at all and deserved to lose to a team that they are better then. PPS: Where was Kessel? Where was Porter? Where was Skille? Where was Lee? Where was Bourque? The best line of the game for the U.S. was Paukovich, Gerbe, and Wheeler, and the rest of the guys just tried to do it all themselves. Kessel is an outstanding player, but he tried to do too much, and its upsetting to say that he had a better tournament last year than this year.... I vote for Lucia to coach the team next year. Too much underachieving the past two years....

Well, I better throw my hat into the mid season all state team. Goaltender: Hillman-Bismarch High Defensemen: Galt-South Swanson-West Fargo Forwards: P. Campbell-GPR T. Campbell-GPR Weisgarber-South Boy will Mr. Hockey be a tough decision this season. So many great players.

I can't believe the way that some of the upperclassmen played tonight. I thought the only two so called "leaders" that showed up were Stafford and Spirko. Where was Porter? Where was Prpich? Did Zajac play tonight? All of aforementioned are crucial for the success of the team this season, and to only have two of them seem like they cared is a blow at this point in the season. I can't blame the defensive effort though. Smaby, Finley, Alexander, Jones, and Marvin really played a great defensive game. The goal that Lamoureax gave up was because he was basically back on the goal line expecting a pass across (to a guy that was covered pretty well by a backchecking Rylan Kaip I believe). The defense played a solid game, and can't be blamed for the forwards not doing their jobs.

I plan on trying to listen to parts of this game as well, as it should be a dandy. I'm going to try to find out if Moorhead has radio coverage for their boys hockey, and if they do try and figure out if the station that covers them has a website. I'll let you know if I find anything.

Couple of scores from the Holiday tournys I've read about. Bismarck 7 Jamestown 0 Bismarck Century 2 St. Cloud Cathedral 3 OT (Century goaltender with 44 saves). Grafton Park River 9 Pembina Valley 2 Chisago Lakes 8 North 2 Holy Family Catholic 4 Shanley 2 The Grand Forks Herald has South beating Rochester Lourdes 8-2. That must be a misprint.