Brim006

This seems pretty scorched earth, but I'm all for it. Nothing could get worse at this point. UND athletics as a whole is in complete shambles right now given the history and size of school...and that's not even mentioning the top tier facilities. I've lost interest in all programs as of a few years ago. Big changes would show they're serious about being relevant, and would pull folks like myself back in again. Look at the excitement around football already. Now imagine hockey and basketball if new coaching upgrades came in.

They played in the Warroad tournament instead this year. Last year they beat Gentry Academy, and beat Providence Academy Season before that they beat Holy Family and beat Roseau Season before that they lost to Gentry Academy Season before that they beat Warroad (1A) and lost to Roseau. Do you even follow hockey?

So...you are comparing the 2 grand forks teams beating 8 other teams for the EDC title more often than the 2 grand forks teams would beat all 80 other MN A teams for a state title as a comparison? Lol No, I was stating that the average EDC team is much more competitive than the average MN A across all 80 teams. And it's not close. You then mentioned 7A as a more specific comparison, which I agree is a better comparison since it's about the same number of teams and is fairly level across the board, but the EDC likely wins out most years there too despite 7A debatably being one of the more solid in MN outside of Hermantown and SCC powerhouses skewing those sections. MN A probably has 40-45 teams that are worse than Mayport. In fact, Mayport went 7-6-1 vs MN A this season and 6-4 vs MN A last season. So let's not confuse sheer numbers of teams with overall competitiveness. The EDC is probably pretty comparable to the top 25% MN A in reality. And the top 3 EDC teams are probably pretty comparable to the top 3 MN A teams every year, with MN A top 3 likely winning out most years. The majority of ND vs MN games are EDC vs MN A each season, and the record speaks for itself. 2023-2024 records = ND 26-14-0 2022-2023 records = ND 21-14-0 2021-2022 records = ND 21-13-2 2020-2021 records = ND 12-7-1 We can agree to disagree, but safe to say both GFC and RR would fit in better at AA than A. Because I'd say it's pretty reasonable to state that the top 3 EDC teams would consistently be top 10 MN A every year. I just think a lot of people get a false sense of MN superiority complex after watching their giant state tournament showcasing their best of the best of the 145 teams and with all the excitement and publicity that comes with it, I guess I can see how that can happen. So I can see how for some people it feels like that's how all the MN teams are across the board all year long. It's just emotional thinking. And It's easy to forget about all the other teams that are at home... a lot of which (at least of class A) are realllllly bad hockey teams. Once again, look at the success Wahp has finally found playing in MN A after decades of winless seasons in the EDC.

I'd say this year yes it was. And I'm not talking non-con games and full schedule comparison. I'm talking EDC vs 7A. Most years EGF goes 1-3 or 0-4 versus GFC+RR, and top dog Warroad is usually on par with them. Then the top 2-3 WF/Fargo schools are most often better than the rest of the 7A. Go look at past season scores and tell me I'm wrong. 7AA is a different story, but I'll never understand the 7A superiority complex when the direct scores speak for themselves.

RR has been scheduling a few top end AA MN games every year now and has typically beaten them. Plus the Bantam AA grand forks team has typically steam rolled the MN AA competition for 5+ years now. I think there's no question a combined GF team would easily be top 10 MN AA year after year and likely top 5 most often. I think a lot of years RR and GFC on their own would do really well, but neither would have this season.

agreed but Id say 8 out of 10

Clown comment. Because some kids and family's still have pride and commitment to playing for their hometowns. All this transfering and importing has gotten out of hand. It's gross in college and even worse to see it happening so often even in high school now. Plus the EDC is the same if not better competition than MN A. Most years it's a long shot for them to make it to state over Warroad etc so I'd say this year is def not the norm. Compare direct scores over the last 5 years if you disagree with that. EGF won the Gambucci for the first time in a decade this year.

Certainly lots of variations at play and this "study" was pretty anecdotal, but with that said I'd imagine if you changed it to NHL instead of D1 it would just favor the HS route further. How do you think it would flip? That's essentially saying kids that don't make it D1 are more likely to get to the NHL than kids that play D1....so I'm confused on your thoughts there. Unless you think kids that leave early go major juniors more often or something.

First time EGF has won the Gambucci cup in 9 or maybe 10 years so it's been a rough go for the MN side.

You'd better post it a 4th time just to make sure lol. Low IQ mouth breather confirmed. I have no high school players of my own, so I have no skin in the game there, but I am a lifelong North Dakotan and heavily involved in the hockey community. And I just have to point out BS when I see it. And your type of attitude contributes to why we see parents ship their subpar kids off early to fighting leagues to ride the bench instead of playing alongside their lifelong friends representing their towns and schools. It's a lose lose for both parties every single time unless the kid has clearly and obviously mastered the level and has strong opportunities to move onto (USHL, NTDP, or mayyyyyybe NAHL).

Not to pick on this comment in particular, as there are many here and often....but I'll never understand the constant bashing of NDHSH skill and/or competitiveness, especially by our own peers. How and why has it become common place here and around the local hockey community for so many to openly bash our own state and our own kids+programs? "Shallow wading pool of talent".... compared to what, NAHL, Junior As? Because as far as high school hockey goes, I'd argue that the average skill level of NDHSH players hangs around with the best average in the country for high school. As far as sheer numbers, yes there are states that have nearly as many varsity teams as ND has total varsity players, so obviously they are going to produce more next level players in total, but I think you'd be surprised if you looked at percentages instead. I think too many folks get blinded by sheer numbers and just directly correlate that to better hockey, especially when they only watch the final games of the year between the top 5% compete at the neighboring state tournament and just assume that's the norm across the board for all teams and conferences all year long. They forget about the other 95% not on TV and especially forget about the bottom 25% who couldn't beat a single ND team outside of HB, and get steam rolled by Wahp/Brek, Mayport and GPR every year. GF has proven to be the top hockey community in the state, but their bantam AA team proves year after year that they're also one of the top in all of MN as well. Same goes for off-season select teams. If 2 states with exactly equal average skill level both have to create select teams, but one has to skim the top 20 off the top out of 400, and the other skims the top 20 off the top out of 4,000, who's going to have a better team? One team's top 2 players are going to be matched by the others entire 20. Watching that game might make it appear one state is a much better hockey state, but across the board they're actually the exact same. I understand we're all entitled to our own opinions, but I wish more people would step back and look at the bigger picture. This negative and false reputation we've created ourselves about our own local hockey has had a direct negative impact in actually worsening our own local hockey. Many parents have heard and believed these negative perceptions, which has probably contributed in their decision to move their kids away early. This has suppressed top-end talent here which has probably snow-balled to worsen things even further. I think we can do better, and could wear a little more pride here IMO.

Mattern might not get the record now that they won. Tough game tonight and tough game tomorrow whether they win or lose. 7 points to beat the record might be tough. I hadnt seen him play much until the state highlights. Every goal was a breakaway. I was surprised how free he was on 1 of them especially. He legitimately had 1/2 the rink of space on one. Does he score much NOT on fast breaks? He won't be able to rely on that at the next level so that would be a little bit of a concern for long term ceiling for him.

DL 4 Mayport 3 FINAL OT Mayport came a long way from the beginning of the year.

Yeah they have found their stride. Beat Bott, Beat WFS and now taking DL down to the wire at their first ever EDC. Nice addition to the state if they can keep their numbers! Assuming they have some Hillsboro kids?

DL-3 Mayport-2 midway through the 2nd. Shots are 21-16 DL thus far.

Winner plays the loser of WF and RR correct?

Best odds of taking the title this season as of today? 1. GFC 2. West Fargo 3. Minot 4. Red River 5. Fargo Davies Accurate?

Wow, I would've picked Mandan to win this one...

Morelli with 3 goals and 2 assists which brings him up to 66 points on the season with likely 5 games to go. Might be the first season in 11 years that 2 players scored over 70 points in the state? Last time it happened was when teammates Aide and Amsbaugh from Bott did it in 2013-2014 with 92 points and 85 points. Teammates Meland and Schaefer from RR in 2007-2008 before that, with 80 and 73 points.

I get the point and like the idea of shaking things up a bit, but I'll poke some holes in it right off the bat. NDHSH already has a common complaint or even "problem" of not getting enough games in a season with a max of 27. Auto-bid to state is great other than losing 11% of your games and having to lose any momentum by not playing during tournament time. So maybe the same idea/premise, but the top 2 from each conf just get a 1st game bye or something max, or just are rewarded by top seed and home ice 1st round and bump the bottom 2 out. Your setup would likely fulfill the long questioned East vs West setup bottlenecking 4 east teams to state in years when 6-7 of them are top 8 in the state. The way you have it set above, it looks like this year's state tournament would end up being 5 east teams and 3 west teams most likely.

Hehe. The comment right before his was referencing the seeding and cross bracketing for elimination games at the conference tournaments. The setup definitely has it's cons, but overall it seems to work fine. I do think the WDA should follow the EDC and give the higher seed home ice advantage for the 1st game which gives a little extra boost in reward for placing top 4. Plus having 2 days break before the final 2 games seems to elevate the speed of the games.

Yeah let's do that! Lose and you're out! So then the WDA would only bring 1 team to state and EDC would only bring 1 team to state. Seems like a phenomenal idea, let's try it

It appears that #5 vs #6 spot didn't really make much of a difference, as both DL and FN have to beat WF or Davies one way or another to make it to state anyways. DL maybe peaked a tiny bit early and WF seems to be on fire. As of today, it appears that the #6 seed has a slightly more favorable route than #5 does. Mayport should be a little more beatable than GPR and FD should be more beatable than WF.

Mattern is sitting at 79 points with 2 guaranteed games remaining, with the possibility of up to 6. If he continues his average of 3.76 points per game and is able to get his team to all 6 games, it looks like he could beat the all-time single season scoring record by 2 points. Although that would be cool, I just don't forsee him being able to maintain that pace through the postseason even if WF does make state and plays all 3 games there. Morelli is also technically on pace to have the most points from a Minot player in about 20 years. Currently at 61 and needs 76 to beat Wilert from 2005. He will likely end up around 8th or 9th highest points in a single season since 2000.

This is funny to me. Youth hockey numbers are higher than ever across ND. AA is just a new optional label for some A teams and A is a mix of A and B and B is the new C. GF bantam AA prove to be one of the best in the nation by being top 5 year after year in Bantam AA. And they lose to some of the other ND AA teams as often as the MN teams.