crosby_87

I'm sorry but yes, IMO, Kessel does deserve it. As I explained before, the award is for "Rookie of the Year" not "Rookie MVP". Yes there is a difference. MVP-most valuable player-indicates the value of a player to their team. I am guessing most gopher fans would agree with me on this and say Oshie has been more important to the Sioux success then Kessel has been to the Gophs' success. That is not a knock on kessel at all, I just think that without Oshie the sioux would be in trouble right now. But since the award is for "rookie of the year" I would say that it has to be given to Kessel, since he is pretty much an offensive wizard. It's just how I feel.

Very well said. Kessel is a huge part of that awesome PP, so yeah he does deserve some respect.

Ouch.

I agree with the bolded part but honestly those two will be NHL superstars some day and I just don't see that Offensive juggernaut in Kessel that I remember seeing in Vanek and Parise. Also the first part, in my opinion second assists are just as important as the primary assist. The play would have never happened had it not been for the second assist and so on. Sure he's probably had a few phantom assists this year, but I'm sure most of the top scorers for each team have. I hate the gophers, but I just have to be realistic about how I feel about Kessel, he is a very good player in college(although, as much as I hate to say it, I honestly think he will be a bust in the pro's.....I sure hope he proves me wrong but I just have a feeling about it)

Oh yes then you are correct. I still remember thinking though "what has vanek done that parise hasn't". But IMO this year's rookie of the year should be Kessel. If it was for Rookie MVP(I think there is a difference between most valuable player and player of the year) then I would say Oshie because I feel he is more valuable to the Sioux then Kessel is to the Gophs. But since it is player of the year, I would have to say it would be the offensive dynamo Kessel.

Correct. What I found interesting was that Parise was a top 10 finalist in both his years, and Vanek never was(not trying to start anything, I just found that fact interesting because we all know that Vanek was very very good).

Nope, Vanek ended up beating him by 1 point even though Vanek played in 45 games compared to Parise's 39. (FYI Vanek had 62 points, Parise had 61)

According to USCHO, in 2004-2005 season: Zajac: 45 GP, 20G-19A-39P Stastny: 42 GP, 17G-28A-45P So to clarify this, Stastny had 6 more points then Zajac in 3 less games.

I would really like to know who you think the best goalie in the west is? I'm just curious, because I along with probably most of the posters on this board think otherwise. I'm not attacking you i'm just curious as to who you think is the best.

I assume you're referring to the manufacturer's warranty. For Easton, within something like 30 days of the purchase, if you're stick breaks, you can send it in and they send you a new one.

Well, South did put up over 50 shots on Hillman and he only let 3 in. And from what people say, all the shots were of very high quality and close range. I think it may actually come down to a fairly low scoring game, a 3-1 or 3-2 game, but if Hillman is on his game, and Bismarck's first line is playing like they can(nice article on them in the Bismarck Tribune today), then we could possibly see an upset?

Update in the WDA championship: Game over. Minot 2, Williston 1...so it looks like minot vs. central(rematch of last year) and williston vs. grafton

In the night games of the WDA: Williston 4-0 over Dickinson Devils Lake 4-1 over Bismarck-Century

Bismarck beat Hazen 6-0 this afternoon. Ross Monson had 4 goals I believe. Can't remember who scored the other two, but Mr. Monson looked quite impressive. It was interesting to watch Tyrell McBain because for the most part, IMO, he wasn't noticeable out there. That sets up the first semifinal for tomorrow with Minot vs. Bismarck. Should be a good game.

Haven't heard anything as of yet, but I'm guessing not. From what I saw when he got hit, it looked really bad. I wouldn't be surprised if he tore something.

I was at the game and I believe the P.A. announcer announced a 10 minute misconduct(the ref did the signal where he hit his hands on his hips) and there was only about 3 minutes left in the game so I'm assuming the coach just told him to hit the showers. Not 100% on that though. The game was very poorly reffed I thought, as bismarck took a lot of penalties in the third, including a bench penalty when their coach was screaming at the ref. They were calling some horrible calls. Anyways if I hear anything more on that subject i'll try to get it on here.

It looks like Bismarck High might be without their star defenseman Clark Dingman. He was hit knee to knee in the 2nd period last night against Williston and stayed down, and last I heard he was on his way to the hospital. It looked like he couldn't even move his leg, so that could hurt Bismarck in west region I think.

Potentially good first day games: EDC: Central vs. West Fargo WDA: Century vs. Devils Lake and Bismarck vs. Hazen Does anybody know if WDA will be televised this year. When it was in bismarck a few years ago they used to televise it, so i'm just curious if anybody knows.

Predictions anyone on tonight's big west region matchups? 1) Devils Lake at Minot?-Minot beat Devils Lake 3-2 in their previous meeting. 2) Williston at Bismarck High?-Bismarck beat Williston 4-2 in their previous meeting.

I believe he played varsity last year also, but i'm not 100% on that one. I think most of Hazen's best talent will be graduating this year, so I guess it wouldn't surprise me if Mcbain(being that his parents are willing) moves to minot or bismarck to play for a better team? I haven't heard anything like that, but I guess it wouldn't surprise me too much.

I've seen him play a few times against Bismarck and Century and Mandan. He is a bigger forward(i'm not sure on his exact height, but he looks well built out there. His main asset IMO was his strength on the puck. He wasn't an outstandingly fast player, but he could hold onto the puck in traffic. He also had a cannon of a wrist shot. That could can snap it from anywhere and score. He also has a very hard slap shot. In a couple of the closer games, he had a tendency to disappear, but then would somehow come from nowhere and score a few goals. So he looks like a kid that definetely has a knack for scoring, and since he's only a sophomore, he can only get better from here.

All the seeds are set except for 2,3,4 in the WDA. Minot is 1, Hazen is 5, Bismarck-Century is 6, Dickinson 7, Mandan 8, Bottineau 9. It is all going to come down to tonight and tomorrow. Basically there are a bunch of scenarios, but I know that it will definetely come down to the final games for Bismarck High, Devils Lake, and Williston. Devils Lake plays Bottineau tonight and Minot tomorrow night. Williston and Bismarck are head to head tomorrow night. So basically the games are huge. I don't know all the scenarios or what would have to happen for each team to take a certain place though.

He....just updated earlier tonight?

Favorite game to watch, the 2001 semifinals against Michigan State. All ESPN did in the pregame was talk about how unbelieveable Ryan Miller was(yes I know he was actually very very good), but it was goehring who picked up the shutout, not Miller. Final score, Sioux-2, Michigan State-0. Favorite Goal Scorer-Brandon Bochenski Favorite Tough Guy-Commy Favorite Set up man-Zach Parise Favorite "very fast" players-Brady Murray, Parise, Jeff Panzer, Kevin Spiewak(especially him) Favorite Current player-Travis Zajac Favorite Goalie-Gotta be Karl Most fun team to watch-Tie between 2000-2001 team(i know they didnt win the title, but god were they a fast team) and 2003-2004(somebody stated earlier that it was the most complete sioux team they've seen, I agree) Favorite Goal-David Hoogsteen's picked off pass against BU, flies in on a breakaway and shelfs it, that was a very very good team also with hoogsteen, blake, kallay, curtis murphy, etc. Favorite Defenseman-Travis Roche probably

Bismarck High 7, Mandan 0