specifics

They will prove you wrong...

The scouts do know the buisness far better than we do. Maybe we should look for the New Jersey executive who said anyone for Irmen and you can give him a lesson or two. The bottom line for a hockey exec is to get their team to the playoffs. They are not going to continue to play a lesser player just because they should "get some work out of someone they've already paid alot". And if that means telling your best center that he's gonna have to find a new team because Irmen is coming, that's what he's going to do. Kessel was rookie of the year right? Two years from now I hope the NHL all star game is close to home, I'd like to be front row center when Phil lines up for the opening face off.

Irmen has abilities that you can't teach. That same sight says "Aggressive, sleek skating forward. Has good size and very good hands. Very good with or without the puck. Can create offense on his own or create it for his teammates". Apparently they think he has good size. You make the 6.5b rating sound like a death sentence. In any case, that rating is speculative. On another note these players profiles have not been updated since first put on the site. You would think that they might have a better insight into how they are going to be in the NHL after a few more years don't you think? On that site it also mentions how Stafford looks to be on the thin side, but you didn't want to say anything about that. Just to put the whole thing in prospective- Kris Chucko is rated at 7.0b and the number one prospect for Calgary. It then later says, the NHL is a long way off for Chucko.

quote-yzerman19 "Irmen and Potulny are good college players and have outscored a lot of team's top two lines combined, but I'd take Stafford and Zajac over them any day, and the guys who get paid to seek out talent said the same by investing more heavily in them and drafting them in the first round. After MN's top gun line, they don't really have much left though do they? Wheeler, Kessel and Stoa? I'll take Oshie, Toews and Duncan. They've certainly scored a lot more goals this year." I don't think New Jersey or Buffalo would disagree actually. Did it ever occur to you that some players may develop more than others between the time they are drafted and the time they head to the NHL? After a recent Gopher a game, a New Jersey Devil rep was asked by New Jerseys scout what he thought of Irmen's play. He answered "Make any trade you have to, to get him." Now I could be narrow minded but when I hear "any trade" that means ANYONE. Trade Brian Gionta for Danny Irmen. Trade Scott Gomez for Danny Irmen. It sounds like they think pretty highly of him. Obviously your a sioux fan but I can't even begin to believe that you would take any sioux forward over Kessel. Kessel isn't leading the Gophers in scoring and he outscores every Sioux player. Need I remind you that Martin St. Louis went undrafted. That's right, players that are not drafted in the first round can also make great careers for themselves. Have you ever heard of a guy name Ed Olczyk? He was the 2nd rated prospect in the world the year his good friend Mario Lemieux was rated number one. Ed was drafted second and didn't get much more than a sniff in the NHL. Actually, when he was traded to New York the coach told him, "You might not play a shift all year, but your going to havea role on this team". Amazing how that works huh? I guess your draft number doesn't really tell the whole tale now does it?

I think after a poor showing in the Final Five, the Gophers are gonna be determined. Bad news for Holy Cross. I think the biggest mistake any team can make at this point in time is get in the way of Irmen and Potunly. They have won a championship at every level and it's only a matter of time until they decide "enough is enough". GO GOPHERS.

Thomas Vanek actually has 40 some points in the NHL not the minors. While Parise is stumbeling somewhere around the 20's. You seem to know your stuff though.

And if Thomas Vanek wouldn't have left two years early the college hockey world would be messing their pants right now. Vanek>Parise

Agreed. Although it was only his first game he logged significant ice time. He was even triple (yeah triple) shifted at the end of the game. I'm not sure what the logic in that was but they obviously believe he fits in well enough to see that kind of ice time. About 3 minutes into the game I thought this was going to be another one of those "Paul Weisgarber at Fargo South" kind of nights when he took the puck from the tops of his circles danced around two players and fed a perfect backhand pass to a teammate only to have them miss wide. First game in my opinion was very impressive.

I think the Hobey Baker is a stretch for anyone coming out of this high school this year. But I guess you never know, you can do whatever you want if you put your mind to it. This senior class is truely amazing however. I was thinking how cool would it be if Weisgarber, Mihulka, Larson, Okland, and Klenow all made the Jets next year (assuming they try out). That's FIVE North Dakota boys on one team. Obviously it's a stretch but, I'm sure that would draw a big hometown crowd don't ya think?

Paul Weisgarber will be suiting up tommorow wearing the number 26. He plays on a line with Kai Kantola and Brandon Richardson. Any interesting line, Kai is thought of by many to be the best player on the team (maybe the leauge) and Richardson seldom sees significant ice time. Richardson was put on this line to hit, hit, and hit. Kai to take some pressure off of Paul, and Paul to do his thing. Should be fun to watch. I wonder if Weisgarber's friend who also practices but will not play with the Jets this season finds the humor in that Paul took his old high school number. Fun stuff.

I'm running this through my head time and time again and it does not make any sense. This can't be the same Tyrel McBain that was cut from the 1989 select team this past spring is it? If so it amazes me how he found his way among the leading scorers in the state. Will someone please clarify if this is all correct?

Amazing how the hockey community is linked isn't it? Actually, there are a few Minnesota Gophers who were Minnesota Blades. Phil Kessel is one of them. Others are Blake Wheeler and Justin Bostrom. That is one deep organization. Here are some more alumni... Jordan Leopold Troy Riddle Jeff Taffe Ryan Potunly Zach Parise Tom Gorowosky Nate Hagemo Jay Barribal Chris Vandevelde Taylor Chorney And that's not even 1/10 of the guys they've sent D-1.

Definitly. We're talking about a team, dare I say it, that would be BETTER than the North Dakota 88's were. Although they had Mario Lamoreux. If anyone else remembers this team I believe they ran over every ND team they played and almost every Minnesota team for that matter. Maybe someone can post how similar the two teams would be and where they would get an added bonus (such as Galt, if he were to play, which he is not).

I think we can all agree that it would be nice to see North Dakota have a good showing in Chicago. It will definitly be beneficial to have Mihulka in the lineup but how will we fair if 3 of our 4 Mr. Hockey finalists are not present? I'm hoping Weisgarber is still eligible, and that at least one of the Campells have an itch to play. That could have potentially been one of the best Team ND's we've had in a while. Think about it, Galt, Weisgarber, the Campells, Mihulka, Larson, I could probably go on to name 20 guys that excite the fans but you get the picture. Any other thoughts? Go North Dakota!

I don't know for sure which of these players will try out for Team ND but here are some I think might, that you may or may not have heard of. Marc Mihulka- Red River Andy Peterson- Grafton Ross Monson- Bismarck Justin Welk- Fargo North Grant Larson- Fargo South Paul Weisgarber (eligibility with the Jets?)- Fargo South Tyler Jundt- Williston Jon Greicar (sp?)- Central Clark Dingman- Bismarck Adam Campell- Fargo South Justin Connell- Bismarck Marc Harrie- Fargo Shanley Jordan Weir- Fargo Shanley Greg Slominski- Central David Spies- Red River Eli Rosendahl- Red River Nick Klenow- Fargo North Andy Dittus- Minot Todd Bustad- Williston Again, those are merely speculative and just players I think may try out for the team based on nothing but an educated guess. I would have put both of the Campells from Grafton on there but it sounds as if they do not intend to persue hockey after high school. Tough break for Team ND if you ask me.

You honestly think Paul Weisgarber would intentionally hit Ness in the head after his team just scored? The play would have never occured if the Central d-man had not taken a blatant attack at Weisgarber from behind. I don't know how a ref can claim any responsibility on Weisgarber. How about we stand you up infront of a laying goalie and cross check you from behind and see if you control where your hands go. In any case I guess you could be right, someone who is up for Mr. Hockey is probably looking for all the penalty minutes he can get. You know, to help his cause in winning.

Jundt won the award because the majority of coaches from the West believe he is the best player in the West. I don't think it's right for you to say he does or does not deserve to be a Mr. Hockey finalist because you've seen him play one time. Things sometimes don't go as they are supposed to, that's life and you learn to deal with it. I'm sure this won't bother Marc, so why should it bother you. Your trying to tell me Jundt would be a 3 or 4 d-man on West Fargo, Shanley, North, Jamestown, Wahpeton, Central, or Grafton? Maybe he'd be behind Wurden on South making him number 3, but I have a feeling he'd be ahead one RR d-man. Thats almost all eastern teams. If you were in Mr. Jundt's shoes I don't think you'd want to hear about how a bunch of people are saying you don't deserve this or you don't deserve that because you had a 16 point season. Grow up.

Good point Wilbur. Some players are more difficult to control than others and, this being Andy Dittus' last chance at a title, I could see where he might lose it. Not that it's okay to do that, it is not.

Make that 3-1 South. Ramberg gets the even strength goal.

2-1 South- Spriggs gets the goal. Back and forth game it sounds like- South misses open net, DL misses open net. And so on and so forth. South powerplay, I'm gonna go ahead and say 3-1 South after this.

I don't think any one on here is at liberty to say how much pain he was or was not in. He was taken to the emergency room where they had him wear some sort of soft cast until the EDC tournement. I think maybe we could discuss the issue of his toughness had this been Jr's and Wurden confronted him like a man and asked him to drop his gloves.

He must have really said some mean things about Wurdens mom to get him to take a big wack at him after Wurden just won the game 4-0. It takes a big man to throw a slash after the game and then skate behind a line of his own players for protection.

Marc Mihulka is a great hockey player. But to say he is the only player who completely changes the game when he touches the ice is hardly a fair analysis. I would be willing to bet every time Erick Galt touches the ice the offensive production of the opposing team decreases significantly. Or, when Weisgarber touches the ice his teams offensive production increases significantly. All are great hockey players but in my mind the only reason this Mr. Hockey award could go to Mihulka is if Galt and Weisgarber split votes. The most intimidating defensemen in the state is Erick Galt, and I don't think anyone will disagree (including the Lincoln Stars). And to say he doesn't change the game every time he steps on the ice is an injustice. -Weisgarber by a landslide.

80% is a stretch in my mind. If you look at the number of players playing Jr's this year that graduated last year I think it's reasonable to believe that percent is more likely to be around 20% (or less). There are places for players to play whether its Jr. A, B, C even. A lot of high school hockey players would have a shot at making Jr. B and Jr. C teams and I'm not finding many past ND high schoolers on these rosters so my assumption is that they have not persued it. 80% would mean 80% of every teams players. The top two teams in the state South and Red River, won't have 80% of its players play past high school. With that in mind, I doubt Central, West Fargo, Mandan, North, Jamestown, Devils Lake, Minot, or Bismarck High, etc. will have 80% of it's players play after high school.

Unless my correlation between your icon and hockey are incorrect I am surprised, TopShelf, you have yet to mention teammate Marc Harrie as wanting to play Jr. hockey. I know Marc has had a strong passion for the sport and despite his diminutive size he has the heart to play at the next level. Hopefully a coach somewhere will take that in effect and give him a shot. Give him an extra 20 lbs. and he's not so small anymore.