Walsh Hall

In the West you can be very competitive with one good line, and Bott should have that next week. Bott's been a top half team not long ago with basically just that Aide line.

And frankly, it probably could have been worse if some of the East teams wanted to pile on. The margin for error is much smaller in the West. You need 5-6 quality players in each class to have a solid team with some depth. The top Eastern teams are able to absorb losing a few high end players. Outside possibly Bismarck, and a lesser extend Minot, the loss of a couple players is too much to overcome for the other schools in the West to be at all competitive.

I believe the 24 year old stat is correct. The average age when a player COMMITS to a college team is 18.9. The kids that accelerate or don't play juniors post-HS age are typically higher draft picks that aren't frequently playing as seniors in college.

This is probably the most parity in many years. It won't be a huge shock to have any of the top (4) teams in the East win it this year. Too bad the West is so down this year. It will likely be a sweep for the East in the opening round. I wouldn't be surprised if the East has pretty good parity for a few years. The GF Bantam teams this year are definitely a step below their typical level of play and domination.

That articles references a Roger Bamburak. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable concerning Sioux hockey, but that name was not familiar. Looks like the 14# overall pick in 1963. Played (3) yrs at UND, a handful of years in the EHL, and didn't make it to the NHL. You learn something every day.

WIlkie and Thompson are both still young enough to have an outside chance of getting a few games. I looked up the 81-82 team and initially thought that there were 13 ex-NHLers. I forgot that Cary Eades didn't get in an NHL game.

I doubt this will impact FCS football. It doesn't make sense from a financial prospective. Highly sought after FBS recruits will be getting the ad deals, etc... as incentive to go to Alabama, LSU, Texas... I can't see FCS schools ponying up through boosters in a manner that would substantially alter the landscape. Same for basketball. It will be the same top programs having boosters offering Zion lord knows how much $ to go to their school of choice. For UND, hockey would be the sport that may be effected. It will be interesting to see how the coaches handle this situation in recruiting.

Neither UND nor NDSU have 5% the national recognition as any of those other school. I doubt many SEC fans could differentiate South Dakota from South Dakota State either.

The RISP stats were disgusting for the series. 2 of the 3 games the starters gave the team a fighting chance. The Twins just needed one big hit to get things rolling. Should be an interesting off-season. Position players and DH could be very similar (assuming Arraez will be the everyday 2b), bullpen has some good arms to build on, but lots of questions for the starters.

What baffles me is that this seems so obvious. I can’t imagine any twins fan couldn’t see that outcome coming. Littell, Stashak, and Gibson are so clearly the inning eaters if things have gone to crap. Things hadn’t gone to crap. Berries wasn’t great, but easily could have given up no runs with a little defensive help. Arreaz catches that blooper to lead off the 3rd.... Why not have Berrios start the 5th after having a great 4th? If he gets in trouble Duffy comes in. The game was a toss-up at that point. And why not have Gibson pitch the 8th? The game was out of reach. Have him take that inning instead of blowing another arm.

Yep. 4 earned runs from the two relievers I trust the least. Did any Twins not say WFT when Littell and Stashal were brought in? Just shocking that they struggled...

I could live with that. Good Mix of L and R handed batters.

Go 7-6 the rest of the way and the Indians need to go 11-1 to TIE. Go 2-1 against the W.S and 3-1 against the Royals at home and somehow avoid any more injuries.

If Sano comes back and plays at a high level that is going to be a very nice lineup. I assume he'll hit 5th. If the starters keep putting up quality starts to protect the bullpen this team has potential. They could have 8 guys hit at least 20 HRs each (Kepler, Polanco, Cruz, Eddie, Sano, Cron, Garver, Schoop) plus Buxton's speed for the one extra batter. At least it's entertaining to watch for the moment.

Pretty much any up and coming administrator or coach is going to be looking to move on to bigger and better things. That's just how it is with UND's status. At ANY position at UND there is a bigger and better job out their. To advance to the bigger and better jobs the coaches/administrators need to thrive. To think that Kennedy isn't committed to UND and doesn't want it to thrive is crazy. He may want that for purely personal gain, but that's no different than a football, basketball, or hockey coach. With success other, bigger, opportunities will present themselves. I don't see begrudging someone for wanting to thrive in their chosen profession. I'm not a fan of Kennedy, but I have no doubt he wants UND to thrive and is trying to achieve this result. It would be career suicide for him to want anything else.

The schedule for April is rough. Great start so far.

I’ll let you sell... I’ll bet you a nice chunk of money that the Sioux end the regular season next year higher in the pairwise than they did this year. Sounds like it should be easy money for you.

The Twins are the one team I always have irrational confidence in. I'll guess 84 wins and miss WC by a few games. I just hope after 40 games they are .500 or better to make the season more interesting.

Definitely a log jam next year. 6 returning guys that saw a lot of ice - Poolman, Peske, Bast, Kierstad, Jonny, and JBD. Always some injuries and healthy scratches, but that's a pretty solid group. Outside some long-term injures, I don't see (2) freshman getting 20-25 games each. Seems one more year of juniors for one of them would be more beneficial for their development. The next year we'll lose Peske, Poolman, and probably a couple early departures.

If the issue that needs to be solved is lack of competition for the very top kids, this seems to be the most logical answer. They play better competition, and the remaining teams have more parity.

Absolutely for the bigger programs. Many just have one or two teams, i.e. Devils Lake had one team and won the B1 division this year.

For clarification, for ND Bantams there is AA (3) teams, A(11), B1 (12) and B (19). I agree that AA is the only high competition band, with A being solid, but not nearly as many out-of-state games. GF dominates both AA and A at probably a higher level than HS.

What is the specific problem that needs fixing? The youth numbers in the West are up as far as number of pee wee and bantam teams. If the problem is development on the top end, the solution is different than it there is declining participation on the bottom end. West Youth Teams (excluding Bismarck) 2013 - Pee Wee - 14, Bantam 14 2018 - Pee Wee 22, Bantam 17

I'm not hearing this push for a divided system from any of these schools. They know that can't compete for a state championship. That isn't their goal.

Please explain how the teams get split, and how they will set schedules. What does this do to D.L., Jamestown, DIckinson... that are stuck in the lower group? That will encourage growth and development? Those teams want to play the top teams. Sure they get killed, but that's just how it goes. If two classes the top kids from the lower division will jump to the top division schools. It would be a mess. Hockey cant be compared to football or basketball in ND due to the number of teams. The easiest solution is have a Tier 1 or similar team for the very top kids. 99% of aspiring HS players aren't going D1.