Brim006

Jr. Carson Hogness with a shoulder injury. He was a solid top 6 F last year and again this year. Smaller fast and disruptive forward that does a lot for them on PK and other playmaking off the scoresheet. He was back for the GFC game, but that apparently didn't help much haha. Hopefully he heals all the way up and starts burying the puck a bit more now like they need him to. I think they have 5-6 decent forwards by EDC standards, so losing 2 of them essentially took them from a 2 line team to a 1 line team. I think with Hogness back they at least have 2 decent lines again.

Dang I was hoping they would reschedule that postponed game out to that final week before EDC play-in games!

It would actually be kind of nice to have them back

The only place colder than an ODR in Grand Forks was playing indoors at the Bill Jerome in Devils Lake Speaking of, it's the oldest indoor rink in the state with an opening year of 1935. They're doing some renovations to it currently which includes a neat touch of hanging all sorts of old hockey photos taken in the rink over the years all around the lobby. Photos from the DLHS varisty vs UND JV games in the 50s and 60s are some of the neater ones. Nice to see they're keeping it going. And yes, the tractor zam lives on as the corners are too sharp for a real zam to work which is why it has continued on despite zam upgrades at the other rink lol.

Holy smokes that is wild. I thought I recalled FN being ahead by 3 late in the game and must have wrote it off as a FN win at that point. Looks like most if not all games are being postponed tonight. Guessing same will happen with tomorrow's games if not Saturday's games too. That'll push quite a few games into that week of Feb 9th which is the final week before EDC play-in games start the next week.

Wow Grafton ended up beating Fargo North+South again?! They're all of the sudden on a 5 game winning streak. They have beaten FN twice now and WF once in EDC play. If they can beat DL and WF this time around, they would have 5 wins and might be fighting with Shanley and DL for the 6 spot instead of fighting with WF for the 9 spot. DL is in a slump losing 5 in a row with WFS and GFC up next which easily could make it 7 in a row while they're still short handed forwards. I'm guessing FD will thump WF tonight and continue to move up the EDC standings.

Assuming they all play for EGF right now so EGF would take a hit?

Good point.

Would not be surprised one bit if RR beat GFC at EDC and/or at state. They just about did a few days ago.

Who from GFC scored the OT winner?

OT?

Woah! Didn’t see that coming

Although Moorhead is missing a Cullen, I just don't see GFC keeping close with them tonight. I think a few RR and a few GFC teams recently would have but this year they just don't have the fire power that they often have. Plus Moorhead is stronger than normal. Guessing it'll be a 3-4 goal loss unfortunately.

yeah they seem to be the most well rounded team behind the two GF teams and honestly wouldnt be surprised if they beat one of the 2 GF teams to make the EDC championship and land the #2 seed from the east.

Although I do think Davies is likely the 3rd best team, they haven't been playing like it. They do however have the easiest EDC schedule remaining between FD, FN, WFS and DL, I'd still say they are going to be right in the mix of things due to their loses to WFS and FN. All 4 have exchanged losses and wins so it will be interesting to see how things shake out. My final EDC standings prediction below. 1. GFC 2. RR 3. WFS 4. Davies 5. FN 6. DL 7. Shanley 8. WF 9. GPR 10. MP

The goalie is apart of the team after all so I shouldn’t forget that, but yes they were better everywhere other than goaltender, out shooting them both times. Johnson was the difference maker for central. I’m not sure what the scoring chances were in the ship that year but they had to be 3 to 1 if not 4 to 1 century. Anyway, my main point was that century already developed into a championship contender program before the split but that often gets forgotten for some reason.

And they did compete for a state championship. In 2018 they were arguably the best team in the state. They outplayed and outshot GFC in the state championship that year but just couldn’t bury it. Lost 4-2 but they were clearly better than GFC and everyone else that year. People forget about that team and that season. 2019 they got 3rd place but easily could’ve won it all again as I thought they had the most balanced team but they had a few bad bounces in the semis. Century was on a trajectory to continue that success year after year until the 3rd varsity team got added. Don’t get me wrong, it was the right choice, but century was going to continue producing top 3 teams and win a ship ever few years at the rate they were going.

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What's the good word in the youth hockey world around the state? It looks like West Fargo and Bismarck have booming numbers. Bismarck has 750+ kids and WF with around 600? Bismarck's will get split into 3 varsity and WF only 2 though, but both appear to have very strong numbers coming through the pipeline...far surpassing previous years, especially the younger ages (yes I understand the numbers tapper off each year but they are starting off with far more than past years). Mandan youth hockey seems to be growing at a strong pace. Grafton communicated strong bounce back youth numbers last year when they announced their new rink and facility being built soon. They've been a corner stone of ND hockey for a long time so that's encouraging to see. Devils Lake and Jamestown seem to just be steady eddy. Does VC still contribute some players? Devils Lake continues to get 1-2 Cando kids every year and they actually have a New Rockford kid right now. Bott+Rugby numbers always seem to surprise me so they must be doing something right with their youth programs. How is HB doing? Do they have a future? Their high school program has been hanging by a thread for 5-6 years now. We went up there for mite hockey a few weeks ago and the rink was busy with lots of young hockey players around but I'm not sure how their participation looks now vs years past. Grand Forks looks like they have about the same amount of youth hockey teams as they have always had. So no major growth there but still punching above their weight class as always. And I think GF somehow always has the quality over quantity. It's that red river drinking water source. Minot sounds like a political mess up top so I just assume the same at the other levels, so I havent taken interest in looking into their situation haha. For many years I was hopeful Williston and Dickinson would gain momentum and utilize their larger populations to make some waves in the ND hockey world, which would give the west the boost it needs, but hockey just never seems to fully catch on out there. In fact, Williston who for many years in the early 2000s was consistently a top 4 team in the west, has clearly taken several steps back. I wonder what their youth program numbers are looking like today?

Good for Legacy pulling out the win over Minot. They seem to be catching their stride at the right time of year. They have come a long way since week 1. I'm hoping Legacy and Minot are able to make for at least 2 interesting day 1 games at state this year. Good to see Grafton beat WF. They now have wins over FN and WF keeping them in the mix of the middle of the EDC. Imagine how well they'd be doing if kids didnt leave early! DL is hurting right now and they have a rough stretch on the schedule in front of them to boot. They'll still be down 2 of their top 6 forwards for a bit longer. I think the injured Hogness should be back in about 3-4 games, and they'll only get Nelson back for their reg season finale. Looks like they might only win 3 more games this reg season and will end up fighting with GPR and Shanley for 6th to avoid the play-in game. But oddly enough, having a play-in game to get Nelson and Hogness some extra game time before EDC would actually benefit them... RR and GFC are flexing their muscles late in the season as always so it looks like yet another year of GF vs GF unless someone surprises us. RR is still a little hit or miss but I'd still put my money on them as the #2 over anyone else. WFSH and Davies appeared to be strong 1-2 candidates but that went away pretty quickly.

Yeah now that I'm looking back, their first meeting was closer than I remembered. One goal game with pretty even shots (DL 36 to Shanley 27). DL has their starting goalie back but still has 2 of their top 6 forwards out so it could be a completely different game if Shanley is healthy. And Shanley just about took down Davies 2 nights ago so they seem to be playing better. Feels like WFS is either going to beat RR or lose by 10 lol. I don't know why.

WF over GPR 4-3 DL over Shanley 5-4 MP over RLF 5-1 RR over WFS 4-2 Legacy over Minot 3-2 Mandan over Hazen 8-0

Feb 7th it ends so 8th and beyond. So Nelson just gets one game before EDC I believe. Basketball has a bigger buffer- like 5-6 reg season games.

I did not expect FN to beat Davies wow. They are all over the place. They beat Davies but lost 12-1 to RR? They beat Minot 4-1 and Legacy 8-3 but lost to Grafton 3-2? Boom or bust team of the year!

Has anyone heard how teams are doing injury wise? DL's starting goalie has been out 2-3 games with a minor leg injury but he should be back soon. But they also lost a top 6 forward to a shoulder injury last week on top of losing Nelson for 6 weeks, so being down those 3 have sunk DL's productivity. They have big back to back games against fargo north next week, which will likely decide who gets the #5 spot. I haven't heard of any key injuries for any other team's yet but I'm sure they're out there.