Wilbur

Anybody got any scores? Last I heard Red River was ahead 2-0 on North so they are well on their way to staying tied atop the region.

Good to hear that Spirko can play, although Radke and Finley will be missed. So the probably defensive pairings could be: Smaby-Alexander Lee-Chorney Jones-Marvin/Foyt I think that Marvin is more than capable of filling Finley's role on the team....but not his shoes...

Red River 5 North 2 South 8 Shanley 1 Central 3 West Fargo 2 Red River 3 Central 1 South 5 Grafton 1

I agree with that assessment. Williston has been playing pretty well as of late, and playing on the Olympic rink is a definate advantage. Williston will have problems with Minots first two lines on the Olympic ice, but if they match lines throughout the game they should be alright. I'll say: Williston 3 Minot 2

I've got UND finishing in 4th place behind Denver, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. I have them winning out at home, and playing decent on the road. If they play well down the stretch, 3rd place isn't out of the question.

Another big game on Thursday has Central and Red River playing one another. The last time these teams met it went down the wire, and either team could have won the game. It would be a tremendous boost for Central if they could not only beat their cross town rival, but also knock the east region regular season title away from them. PS: Very glad to see the game will be played at Purpur. I've been to Central-Red River games at the Ralph during the regular season, and I'm sure that some Grand Forks natives will agree that the atmosphere isn't quite the same.

Thanks for the recap

In the Williston-Devils Lake game I think that Williston will win, but it will be a lot closer than last nights loss for Devils Lake. I think that the whooping they took will serve as a notice that they are not as good of a team as they thought they were after the tie with Grafton. I'll say Willison 3-2. Bismarck vs. Century I'd put money on Bismarck. They probably have the best goaltender in the state, and they've finally found some scoring. Century has goaltending, but they are still pretty green everywhere else. I'd say 4-1 Bismarck High.

Minot 5 Dickinson 2 This game was very close, with the score being tied 1-1 entering the third period. Minot outshot Dickinson nearly 2-1, yet Dickinson played a very tough game from the sounds of the Dickinson paper. For some reason Dickinson always plays their best hockey against Minot. It sounded like the Minot coaches were happy to get the two points, and get the heck out of dodge. A surprising score was Hazen over Devils Lake 8-3. After Devils Lake outplayed Grafton in a tie they go to Hazen and get beat by five goals....wow.

Well since its Friday, and there is a good chunk of games going on this weekend I'll throw out some predictions instead of arguing about the quality of players a team has. Friday: Devils Lake over Hazen Jamestown over Fargo North Minot over Dickinson Saturday: Hazen over Bottineau Fargo South ties Red River Grafton over Wahpeton Devils Lake over Williston Bismarck high over Century West Fargo over Mandan

South over Crookston 4-1. Galt with two goals and an assist I believe.

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.