To be honest... I've never heard anything about Williston having any talent, however, I have not seen them play for myself. Evidence tells me that they are not a very good team though.
I suppose the reason "West talk" gets shut down so much is because, what is good out west is USUALLY half decent out east. So any time someone mentions a "couple of good defensemen" or a "good line" from the west, that team goes and plays a team from the east and gets beat and thats the end of it. Results at state last year didn't help anything for the West.
I have nephews that play youth hockey in Minot so I don't want to totally knock the West, but it is a fact that the East dominates the state and the West usually suffers. :/