Brim006

Was girls state attendance way down because of the location, or was it just because it was solo for the first time and didn't have default fans from the boys? I think the answer is the latter. Since Minot, GF and Fargo all have setups that work, I think for the purpose of spreading the wealth, and for the betterment of the game within the state, it would be best to rotate between the 3 each year and always have boys and girls in separate locations. I know Fargoians believe they're the center of the universe, but the fact is they're in a far corner of the state and it's logistically unattractive to many cities/teams. We all know Fargo would love to capture all the state tournaments and all big tournaments in general, but I think a hockey town like Minot would be a great host even for the boys, and we all know the dream of playing in the Ralph will always keep GF as the other top option despite their 2nd rink drawback. With that said, due to the dying breed of olympic ice, has there been talk of switching the ralph practice ice to the normal size yet?

The players used to and likely still do unanimously prefer the Ralph for obvious reasons. Although the smaller atmosphere has probably changed a few of their minds, especially if they have already gotten to experience playing in the Ralph before.

The GFC win was the most impressive of all I think. I remember being shocked seeing Minot get that far let alone winning it all. Because I didnt follow the 2nd half of the season much and I recalled DL beating them to win the Roseau tournament and not much after that. There have been so many Minot teams that were better than that team, but like you said, everything just fell perfectly into place for them that season for whatever reason. And they had a guy like Flom to score just enough of those big goals needed and their goalie to keep them in it. That's when the west won back to back titles for the first time ever.

That is wild. I think you're right, the last time they won the WDA championship is when their current coach Jordan Wilert was playing which was either 2005 or 2006? They didnt even win the WDA in 2013 when they went on to win the state title...

Final Regular season standings prediction. 1. GFC 2. Davies 3. GFRR 4. WF 5. WFS 6. FN 7. DL 8. FSS 9. GRAFTON 10. MAYVILLE 1. MINOT 2. LEGACY 3. CENTURY 4. JAMESTOWN 5. MANDAN 6. BOTT 7. WILLISTON 8. DICKINSON 9. BHS 10. HB

Davies might be the only team left on Minot's regular season schedule that has a chance to hand them an L. CHS and Legacy likely have decent chances too but man alive Minot smoked CHS last night. Minot also has some swagger pouring

Not really any surprises. Continued insane growth in Fargo area, continued steady growth in the Bismarck area, then likely oil dependent growth in Williston, Dickinson and Minot. Essentially stagnant in Grand Forks, and stagnant to slow decline in Devils Lake and Jamestown areas.

This study was completed by the state and was last updated mid 2024. It shows back to 2020 and estimates out to 2050, so I thought that was pretty helpful/interesting. It splits the state out into 8 regions, and also breaks things down by county, so this might be more of what you were looking for. 137073.pdf

Predictions for tonights boys games FN over GPR Minot over Legacy RR over Davies Central over WFS DL over FSS Mandan over Dickinson

Hence why I said for various reasons...so I'm not pretending anything. Also, you're just bucketing everyone together with your national title or nothing theory. There's a big difference between only missing the tournament once or twice during that span and missing it every other year or more. And there's also a big difference of only having 1 tournament win in that span versus consistently making deep playoff runs. Most folks on this side of the discussion aren't demanding a natty every year, we're just pointing out that after 9 seasons there should at least be some close calls, deep runs, or at least some signs that they're capable.

On paper, the track record shows that was the most likely outcome. But we'll never know!

Probably not but now they're better than UND again so what does that say haha.

Yes, exactly and they've all hired new coaches during that span (for varies reasons including performance). Also, they're all currently ranked better than UND other than Wisc, and all had deep tournament runs since then other than Wisc and Mich State during that span. Frozen 4 appearances in that span. Michigan - 4 Minnesota - 2 Michigan State - 0 Wisconsin - 0 Denver - 5 BU - 2 BC - 2 UND - 0 So based on tournament appearances, frozen 4 appearances, and current rankings it appears UND is in the mix for the worst blue blood drop off during this span (Berry's tenure). Debate would be between Wisconsin, Michigan State and UND. Michigan State and Wisconsin have pretty clearly had the worst drop offs in that span, but Michigan State has turned things around and is back on top. I'd say Wisconsin wins the crown for the worst, but we'll see how this coaching change works out for them since he's in his 2nd season now I believe.

Here's my full prediction WF over Davies Mayport over Wahp Central over FSS GPR over Crookston Legacy over High Minot over DL Century over Mandan FN over WFS

Berry got the team to stop drinking/partying? Impressive

I can genuinely say yes, I would have based solely on my stubbornness. booooo okay fine, but understandable. How about $10 for just making the tournament? 🤠

Haha probably true. I still follow the scores, updates and watch the highlights etc. My interest has just fallen so I haven't gone to or watched any games recently.

Since you have so much confidence in Berry, and since we agree to disagree...I'd like to propose a friendly wager with you. 😊 $20 that they don't make it past the 1st round of the NCAA tournament this year.

Well said. Fan confidence is deflated, and with that so is excitement. Attendance home and away has and will continue to fall. I used to watch every single game every season, but now I haven't watched or listened to a single one in the past 2 years. The last one I watched was the OT loss in the NCHC to St. Cloud in March 2023.

My point is the continual habit of losing to poorly ranked bad teams is what has has kept them out of the tournament and likely will be the reason again this season. 62-26-14 looks great on paper, but 1 loss to a team ranked #35-64 in the pairwise washes out a lot of wins. Teams they shouldn't lose to, but have lost to, have kept them out of the tournament on Berry's watch. I used to come on here a lot 2-3 years ago and mention these same concerns, and here we are still sitting in the spot spinning our wheels. And likely will for however many more years Berry is behind the bench IMO. I hate how the NHL has become a revolving door, and I don't want that, but I think UND is well due for a change after this season. A lot of fans have lost interest, the school has lost some reputation, and he has had more than enough chances to turn it around but just can't for whatever reason. Agree to disagree

I'd argue every year they have missed the post season, it was due to a bad loss to a poor non-con team that killed their pairwise. A few listed below of Non-con only because I wouldn't consider any NCHC team inferior other than Miami at this point. Cansius😭, Bemidji State several years, Cornell, ASU, Mankato (maybe a stretch), Penn State, *Team USA x2*(just rubbing salt on the wound) *Augustana* 😭, Alaska Anch (bad tie), Goofs, Mich State (fall 2016 when they were awful), Union.

Emphasis on the regular season...but only within conference play yes. I'd agree his regular season record within the best conference has been good. But his regular season record against non-con teams has been poor and is the sole reason for his struggles. Those are the pairwise killer games that have snubbed their post season chances essentially every other year, and nearly held them out another year or 2. If they had won more of those, they would have made the tournament more often and would have essentially doubled his chances to get further within the tournament. BUT...losing to Cansius, Bemidji State, Cornell, ASU, Mankato, Penn State, *Team USA x2*, *Augustana*, Alaska Anch, Goofs, Mich State, Union during the regular season has been the reason they have been left out so often lately.

What kind of record has he chalked? Even looking past his post season struggles (or lack of even making the post season) he also has a worse winning percentage than Hak and Blaise did. His poor regular season records, and habit of losing to far inferior programs....is the exact reason his teams have missed the post season so often. I'm on the very easy side of this disagreement lol. Are you Berry's burner account?

It's pretty glaring when a team regularly gets beat by far inferior programs at a high enough rate where it can't be chalked up to a few fluke weekends. Despite their major recruiting and training facility advantages, they're still losing a lot of those, and have been over the past 8 season. Bottom line, they're getting out coached and it's time for fresh blood IMO.

It wouldn't be just for the sake of firing. They've been a bubble team missing the tournament just as many times as making it in the past 8 seasons and are in line to miss once again. It's time... As far as the pipeline goes, even if the entire staff was swiped clean, most would stay committed, and any that left could be backfilled with the same caliber kids pretty easily. The facilities and tradition guarantee a solid pipeline far more than the coaches do.