Wilbur

Scores from the West: Williston 5 Mandan 3 Century 4 Hazen/Beulah 3 OT Minot 5 Bismarck 1 That sets up next weeks state tounry: Minot vs. Central Grafton vs. Williston Bismarck vs. Red River South vs. Bismarck Century It was a pretty good day of hockey at the West Region tourny. The Minot-Bismarck game was a whole lot closer than the 5-1 score. Minot only had a 2-1 lead after two periods. The atmosphere throughout the entire day was outstanding. I couldn't believe the crowd for the Century/HB game, it seemed louder than the Ralph at times....

Scores from the West Region: Minot 4 Mandan 2 Bismarck 5 Hazen 2 (this was the score with two minutes left when I left) After seeing Charlie Bair play today my vote (although it doesn't count ) for Mr. Hockey would have to go to Jake Marto. Minot played probably their worst game of the season (and they were in the box the whole game) and the kid seemed non existant. He is pretty good with the puck, but he does Cherry Pick a lot (A LOT) which is probably a reason he scores so many goals. Gotta give credit to Mandan's goaltender though, the kid played well. Bismarck had a great second period. They were only ahead 1-0 after the first, but picked it up in the second and buried the chances they had for a 4-1 lead after two. If Bismarck gets the goaltending they got tonight at the state tournament they could be tough. Tomorrow's predictions: Red River over North Central over West Fargo South over Grafton Williston over Mandan Hazen over Century Minot over Bismarck PS: What was with the no goal call in the GPR-RR game? A buddy of mine at the game said something about it being pretty controversial?

Well, after day one of the regional tournaments, there is really only one upset to report and that would be Hazen over Williston at the west regional. This really doesn't suprise me, due to the fact that Hazen always has an excellent fan base at regional tournaments that just gives them a huge boost, especially when the tourny is held in Minot like this year. I was at the last three games of the east regional today and things pretty much went according to plan. I thought that Fargo North played pretty well, and they could very well give the GPR-RR loser some trouble in a play in game on Saturday. We should have some excellent semifinal games tomorrow though!! My predictions for tomorrow: Minot over Mandan Hazen over Bismarck (Hazen swept the season series from Bismarck) South over Central Red River over GPR Looking forward to some great high school hockey action!!!!

Hmmm....the West Region....ohh boy Quarters: Minot over Dickinson Mandan over Century (these teams split) Williston over Hazen Bismarck over Devils Lake Cons. Bracket Hazen over Devils lake (this is a toss up) Century over Dickinson Champ. Bracket Minot over Mandan Williston over B. High (toss up, this will be one heck of a hockey game) Play in games: B. High over Century Mandan over Hazen Championship: Minot over Williston 1. Minot 2. Williston 3. B. High 4. Mandan Thats my guess, but I wouldn't be suprised at all if the tournament ended up completely different.

Here's how I believe it will go: Quarters: South over Shanley Central over North Red River over West Fargo GPR over Jamestown Consolation Semi's: North over Shanley Jamestown over West Fargo Championship Sem's South over Central Red River over GPR Qualifying games: Central over Jamestown GPR over Fargo North Championship game: South over Red River Which gives us: 1. South 2. Red River 3. Grafton 4. Central It would be cool to see an upset or two though...

The regional tournament format will stay the same as it has in the past. No two teams will play each other twice. The losers of the semi's will play the winners of the consolation in cross bracket games.

A friend of mine talked a guy with a suite into giving him his tickets for the entire East Region Tourny!!! I'll be able to catch pretty much all the action from day #1 accept for the first game, which probably won't be that competitive. Anybody else going? Friday, I'm heading home to see the conclusion of the West Region Tourny, and hopefully watch Minot stay undefeated...

Alright, I can think of a couple players in the east that are possibly better than Bair. 1. Weisgarber 2. Campbell 3. Marto 4. Kuntz Other than those guys I really can't put anyone at his level. Yeah the West Region is undoubtedly weak, but you gotta remember he's also playing on a weak team, so he's not exactly doing it with great linemates.

I'll give you Bina and Trout yepdude, they are feisty little players, but Krebsbach? You have to remember, I'm from Minot and I played with the kid..... Charlie Bair is a pretty good hockey player. If he was in the thirty point range I would pass it off as playing western teams, but the kid has 60 points. He won't win Mr. Hockey (he'll be a top three nominee), but I think he'll be playing junior hockey next season, possibly with the Bismarck Bobcats. I don't think Mandan will make state, but if they do it will be because he and his linemates outscore some teams. Not that any of you wanted to know this, but.....Williston could finish second in the West Region with a victory over Bismarck High tomorrow...

Thats an interesting fact Fargobison, I would have never thought... I listened to a little bit of the game on the radio after the USHL All-Star game got over with. South went ahead 3-2 in the third period right as I got done listening, and it sounded like a pretty close game from what I heard. If Central ends up getting the #4 seed in the East, that could be a pretty good matchup come East Region tourny time.

I gotta agree with Jack on Stadstad. The kid impresses me with his quickness and his work ethic. I think he should be a Mr. Hockey finalist for sure. Nobody has mentioned Ben McLean from Fargo South. I saw him play against Red River, and he looks pretty good. He also shut out Grafton at the Spoiler dome, a very tough thing to do...

I'm really anxious to see the outcome of the Central-South game tomorrow night. Central has improved a ton this season, and I think they could possibly knock off the Bruins if they play well. I still think South will win the game, but it should be a good one.

In the Minot Daily News the Grafton coach said that they were without four players. Paul Campbell wasn't one of the injuried players however, because he scored Grafton's goal. It is also nice to know that Minot scored that many goals on Tony Kringstad. He's a pretty good little goaltender, and has played pretty well against Minot in the past.

In past years I would say that the Western schedule is just building them up, but after wins over East Grand Forks, and Grand Forks Central, and a tie with Red River, I think that this may be one of the better teams Minot has ever had. They play Grafton this weekend, and I think that will be another test to see whether this team is as good as advertised. They'll blow it in the state tournament though....always do.... PS: I was at the Central-North game last night, and the Knights looked pretty good. How Jake Marto didn't get a major slashing penalty in the corner at the end of the second period will forever be a mystery to me and the guys I was watching the game with....

Jamestown always manages to have a couple of very skilled kids on their hockey teams. They haven't had that great of teams in the past couple of years, but they manage to have a couple of "diamonds in the rough". Wouldn't suprise me at all if they found their way to the state tournament.

How bad did Central get beat by Warroad? Hope they kept it kind of close...

The west deserves four teams. They may not be better than the eastern schools, and yes a lot of the time the eastern schools win all four opening round games. But when will schools like Williston or Hazen ever get the chance to play elite eastern teams? They won't play them in the regular season so what better opportunity than to give the kids a shot at them at the state tourny.... I did feel the same way a lot of you guys do, until a couple of years ago when a pretty poor team from Bismarck Century found a way to beat then #1 ranked Fargo North in double OT......

The tournament should stay the same. There is no 5th place game. Instead they have two play in games between the semifinal losers and the consolation round winners. The winners of those games make state and the higher seed of the two winners gets the better seed for the state tourny.

I feel dumber for reading some of the idiotic posts that some board members have recently made..... Instead of smoking pot or drinking, he created a website. I guess he should just stick to hockey.....

I think South should beat GPR. When I saw them play no one player really stood out, and they played solid defensive hockey and were able to roll three lines the entire game. I think it should be a great hockey game, but if South plays as well as they did against RR, they should win hands down.

If I'm not mistaken I believe that Red River-Central part deaux is at the Ralph on Thursday night? They didn't put it on the website, but I overheard some kids talking about it at a rink the other day. Anybody know for sure....

I for one like the size of Red River's defensmen. They are big physical guys that can just pound on teams in the corners, and its tough to get around them with their wide wing spans. They can also shoot the puck pretty well too....