ND Pride

Snuck - more like powered his way in - congrats to Paul - and he did not play the first weekend of games either.

Dakota Hockey magazine published their fall 2005 issue. The publication comes out of Bismarck and here is their high school preseason rankings for the East and West: East 1. Fargo South 2. Grafton 3. Grand Forks Central 4. Jamestown 5. Grand Forks Red River 6. West Fargo 7. Fargo North 8. Fargo Shanley 9. Wahpeton West 1. Williston 2. Minot 3. Bismarck 4. Devils Lake 5. Hazen-Beulah 6. Bismarck Century 7. Dickinson 8. Mandan 9. Bottineau Most people who have posted on this board tend to argee with the top two and the bottom two in the East and West. The middle rankings have much less consensus.

Thanks for clarifying the situation with that lesson in history. Siouxfan3 must be carrying a chip for a long time because the last time a Grand Forks Bantam team went to Tier II Nationals was in 2002 - long time to hold a grudge and ignore current activities by the selects. Like I said there are a number of Williston kids on the 92, 91 etc district select teams. It was also a cheap shot for him to specifically name and criticize two current select team members. Easy to hide behind a screen name and run down other people.

Your story seems a little inconsistent or unusual. You say a kid tried out and was told he was on the team but that he had to come to another tryout. Hard to follow exactly what happened in the situation you are trying to describe. Whatever the case, the select program has provided exposure for kids from all over the state. There are kids from Williston right now who were at district select tryouts so it is used by kids from that area. Great players such as Danny Irmen, Ryan Potulny, Phil Lamoureux, and many others have received great exposure from the program and the USA Hockey National Festival. Check out their website and you can see how many kids from all over the state have participated. Kids in selects have moved on to higher levels of hockey including the NAHL, USHL, DI and DIII college programs. The program has been identifying and promoting the top talent in North Dakota. Sounds like you have a lot of negativity towards some programs that have done a lot of good for North Dakota kids from all over. If something negative happened in the past I would hope it would not deter others from trying to enhance their development and exposure by trying out for this program.

It is best to research a topic before you toss out uninformed opinions. First, let me say that Williston has a nice team and they should have a very good one this year as well. Best of luck to them and I hope they get all the recognition they deserve. That said, I have to take issue with a comparison of points between players from Williston and Bismarck High. The comparison does not make a lot of sense. Here is why: Last year Bismarck filled their schedule with out of conference teams such as Fargo South, Grafton, Red River, Roseau, Moundsview, and East Grand Forks. Williston on the other hand, and I do realize that they have travel problems because of their location, played such powerhouses as Billings, WKCI and GVC. They pumped in 16 goals in total against those teams. In addition they played Kittson Central and Shanley. Now I would expect the Bismarck kids would have notched a ton of goals against those teams too. My point is that your comparison of goals/assists does not wash unless the teams on the schedule are of the same level of quality. Williston needs to play some tougher competition to get better and that is hard given their location. Maybe some Canadian teams would be an option - not sure how that would go with North Dakota High School Activities Association. The size of the school, in and of itself, is not relevant. Plenty of kids from Grafton have played on select teams and Shanley is not that big either. If you check the district select programs there are kids from Williston, Hazen-Beulah and Bottineau and other smaller communities. What you seem to be totally unaware of is the fact that kids who make the select teams have the best chance of being on a high school elite team. The select teams are chosen from an OPEN TRYOUT. So if you want more Williston kids on Elite teams then get them to select tryouts and if they are good enough to make that team then they will have a great shot at an elite team. If you think kids from the big school sit on their hands and have all the hockey opportunities given to them you are wrong. They travel for their opportunities and some have gone as far as Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, and Orlando for their competitive development and exposure. So basically your conclusions are all wrong. If these kids don't get asked it is because they are not putting themselves in situations where they get exposed to tryouts to objectively determine if they are among the top players in the state. Some of them may well deserve to be on those teams. We will never know unless they make the effort to participate in the North Dakota Select Hockey Programs.

That's fine. Some kids are too busy to play with other fall sport obligations. I agree that when you get down to it the ultimate decision of who is best can be described as somewhat subjective because various factors and personal preferences play into the interpretation of the many "indicators" or as I call them "objective evidence" of excellence. Objective evidence would include things like offensive numbers, +/-, recognition by Junior A scouts, etc, etc. The labeling of "best" is not purely subjective or totally subjective as part of the decision is based on criteria that some group of people would agree on. In any case good luck to him in his upcoming season and hopefully other people from around the state will get a chance to see him play and give him whatever credit he deserves.

I know he lives in Williston. The select teams do not always go to Minneapolis, certainly not every weekend. Kids from Williston have been on select teams before. My point is that simply proclaiming the player to be the best defenseman in the state or on a par with other top defensemen does not mean he is on that level. No one has provided any objective evidence (scouting opinions, elite selection and participation, etc) to show that he is on that level. I would like to see some evidence that shows why he should be considered on a par with these elite players and I have seen no evidence other than individual personal opinion. Maybe he is the next Bobby Orr but tell me why that is the case.

He may be a very good player but an objective analysis of accomplishments by North Dakota high school defensemen does not support your conclusion. His name is not listed on any of the USA Hockey Select teams in the past. In addition, he is not rostered on the top fall developmental teams - High School Elite I or High School Elite II. In reviewing the available statewide data on high school players last year on the ND High School website he is not listed as a top scorer. However, Erick Galt is listed as one of the top scorers last season and is currently playing on the Elite I team and was on Ellite II. Andy Petersen of Grafton has been to three of four USA Hockey National Festivals, has drawn some attention from scouts and has played on Elite I and Elite II in the past. An objective analysis would suggest that these two players have accomplished more and would be rated above any other defensemen in the state at this time.

I have no problem with playing forwards, as defensemen. It can give you an offensive spark but putting them on penalty kill is frivilous. Also ,I don't think north has this never ending supply of great skating forwards that they can have two pk units and have forwards playing d. I can think of two, maybe theres more i dont know. - Also i over looked this last time. How can you say walksi isn't on oklands level? That is one weirdest comments ive ever read on here. Your saying a goalie playing with the sioux isn't on the same level as a back-up for the FM Jets. <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, in any case, it should be a very interesting season and most of the EDC schools have at least a few excellent players. It will be interesting to see how they match up against one another and what happens after the season when Team North Dakota tryouts begin. This group of seniors could have a great year playing together in Chicago. Speaking of seniors, and quality players, there are a few who are having success after high school. Jordan Willert (Tri-City) and Jake Marto (Omaha) are in the USHL, Charlie Bair has a few points with the Bismarck Bobcats, and Rody Selk is with the F/M Jets. Jake Vigen is with the Portage LaPrairie Terriers Junior Team across the border in Manitoba along with Jordan McIntyre (an 04 grad). I have been unable to find any info on Ostenrude or Stadstad although they both tried out for junior teams. Sam Aide is listed with the Bozeman Blackhawks Junior "B" but has not played in any games - maybe he is not on the team. Chris Cusey of North is with the Minnesota Owls Junior "B" in Bloomington. Are there any others out there playing? Of course Mario is at Tri City and John Halstenson is with the Jets. Former North High and Moorhead player Corey Loos is in Bozeman.

Should be interesting to see what happens with Okland - whether he plays for the Jets again, North, or whatever. He started the school year at North high and then left for about 10 days or so with Tri-City. He is back home and enrolled at North - not sure what that means in terms of eligibility for high school. The Jets do have 3 goalies on their roster right now and if he was added it would be 4 - there would have to be some roster trimming I would expect.

ND Hockey 4 - here is an italicized copy of my review of Fargo South that was posted earlier on this thread. South seems to have it all - good defense with a great leader in Erick Galt and then a strong group of forwards led by Paul Weisgarber. Goalie Sean Deichert has been active in the spring (ND Selects), summer (USA Hockey Festival) and fall (Elite I). At this time, I do not see any weaknesses. Here is a look at what Fargo South brings to the table, on paper, for the 05-06 season. Junior Sean Deichert returns and should be their top goalie. He participated in the USA Hockey Select 17 Festival in July and is one of the goalies on the Great Plains Elite I roster. He only played in 4 high school games last season and will have to prove himself. On defense Erick Galt returns after posting 34 points last season. He is a high energy defenseman who gets things done. Will be playing on the Elite I team this fall along with South forward Grant Larson. South returns their top five scorers from last season. South only lost two defensemen to graduation and returns five (Wurden, Metz-although Metz is apparently leaving to play with the Omaha AAA Energy, Olson, Jorgensen, and Spriggs) who had significant playing time. In addition, Trevor Anderson of West Fargo transfered to South as did Select 17 participant Kris Graalum, who came from Shanley. South should be able to craft a solid defense out of those eight d-men. On offense South returns leading scorer Paul Weisgarber who is recovering from knee surgery but will be ready for the Fall Elite league. Paul is supported by Adam Campbell (34 pts), Grant Larson (27 pts), Josh Ramberg (20 pts) Ian Powers (19 pts), and Jake McDougall (10 pts). Add the incoming bantams and South has a lot of resources. The key will be keeping injury free, team chemistry, and solid goal tending. On paper South should be the team to beat in North Dakota. Of course, the game is not played on paper and the team that puts the best run together in the Regional and State Tournaments will be the next state champs.

I have to agree with the last three posts - to some extent. North has some big problems. However, if you look at the West Fargo roster I do not see any real solid quality there. Their goalies have struggled big time and they have no proven scorers on their team. In addition, they lost what some describe as their top defenseman as Trevor Anderson transferred to South. West Fargo will be near the bottom of the second tier unless something dramatic happens and I don't see it. Jamestown has some scorers but depth has been a problem there as well. Central was a sub-par team if you take away Marto and Stadstad - and now they are gone. Grand Forks schools have a knack for re-loading so maybe their new coach will get them going. At the very best West Fargo and Jamestown are on a par with North not ahead of them - as far as Central is concerned - I'd give them an edge simply based on tradition. Ultimately, each team will have to prove themselves on the ice. Defense is clearly a problem at North as #1Siouxfan points out. But it looks to be a problem around the state as well. We will just have to see how good of a job the bantam coaches have done in preparing this years crop of sophomores for high school hockey. South picked up Graalum and Anderson and apparently North picked up Nate Mickelberg who transferred back from Moorhead. He has good speed but not the best of hands. Apparently is a dman so that could help them. The jury is also still out on Eliot Okland who was released by the Tri-City Storm. If he plays high school it could be a big plus for the North Fargo School.

The Great Plains Elite I team will practice on the Olympic Rink at the Ralph on Saturday from 1-2:30 and 6 to 7:30 and then on Sunday morning from 10:30 to noon. Most of the team members will be at those three practices.

I agree that people can be lazy but maybe the smokers are just as lazy, or moreso, than the non-smokers as well as being self-centered. It only takes one smoker (especially if it is a pipe or cigar) to pollute the air in a good portion of a room/place. The negative health impact of second hand smoke is well known-by smokers and non-smokers, yet, the smoker insists on exposing others to it because he/she is too lazy to go outside. The lazy "sword" can cut both ways in this discussion. Reminds me of the two lazy smokers at a high school sports event last week. The PA announced that the grounds were smoke free and the smokers were too lazy to leave or stop smoking. Your analysis of why we have laws (they want them for everything they don't like without themselves having to do anything) fails when looking at a variety of other public health/safety issues. For example, seat belts require more work and that is a law. Various helmet laws require effort and cost.

Last weekend the Great Plains Elite I team beat the North team (Duluth area) 4-2 and then lost to two twin cities area teams (Southwest and Southeast). Rumor has it the twin cities teams are able to get together and practice because their players are not spread out. This weekend the Elite I was competitive but lost their first two games. It will probably take the team until mid-season to develop some good chemistry.

I think what we are seeing here is long term social change that is putting smokers on the defensive. When scientific evidence accumulated the clearly indicated the problems with smoking the tide changed and slowly but surely smokers are being "run out of town" so to speak. I think it is the clear scientific consensus on the health impact tied with the legal clout available when something is a public health issue. Now the cigarette industry also proclaims that their product is addictive and harmful. First smokers were tossed from the workplace (most workplaces) and now we have the bar and restaurant issue. We also have schools that ban it on their grounds - although I was at a sporting event at a high school the other day and two adult smokers refused to leave the area near the field as they smoked. Basically, the behavior is under attack even in some situations when there is no immediate health impact on people - smoking outdoors at an athletic field. Does a school district have the right to do that - apparently yes they do. In some ways there are no really simple or single answer to your question. Smoking is under attack and will continue to be attacked and smokers will be on the defensive.

I agree, but sometimes a player jumps up a notch, or emerges out of the woodwork, in their senior year. Charlie Bair did so and so did Justin Mauch from South a few years back. Go to the North Dakota High School Hockey site and check out the juniors (seniors this season) and you should have a good idea as to who the main candidates should be at forward and some defensemen. As I indicated earlier, a goalie could win the award as has happened in the past. Ultimately, it will be on ice performance this season that determines the outcome. Certainly, Erick Galt, Paul Weisgarber, Thomas Campbell, Paul Campbell, Marc Mihulka and several others could be tabbed as pre-season possibilities.