Walsh Hall

The only reason Ladue is gone is his age. If he is getting the $ he should go. Thompson is 3 years younger than Ladue. He has lots of time to develop. I think losing Stecher would be by far the biggest individual blow to the blue line.

Hard to argue with that. The true measure of a city is the number of HS championships held therein. I hear Fargo will be hosting all HS state championships outside of tennis. A source indicated that Fargo is pushing hard and the smart money is the tennis championship also being relocated to Fargo in 2021. The project tennis gate of $17 for Fargo dwarfs the $12 for GF.

Did those teams (V.C., Shanley...) have an option? Looks like there are 16 AAA teams and 16 AA. There has to be a break somewhere.

Bismarck could field two girls teams. It's just a matter of having one stacked team or two competitive teams. l know kids that have quit because with only one HS team the writing is on the wall. With two HS teams the 14u numbers would be higher. If the interest is in allowing more kids to play and grow the sport they should have 2 teams. If the interest is to win titles keep one.

Is there a mandate that the WCHA playoff teams practice on the same ice, or that they practice at the game facility? If should make zero difference for the Sioux, but I could see the Huskies wanting to skate on the ice, ring pucks around the boards...

I think it was Erik Westrum

I would hope we all want success, but there may be a difference in how success is defined. Is winning a DIII title more of a success than being an also-ran at the highest level? Would you rather be a lower level powerhouse or middle of the pack up a level?

I personally always looked at the lower divisions of a sport as just that, a lower division. Not a shot at them, that's just the way it is. I was very pleased when UND won a DII championship. It's a nice accomplishment. What NDSU has done is very impressive. It's great for the University and the State. I personally prefer to watch the best competition at a given level. If a team wins a 9 man state championship that's the peak of what they can do. When a youth hockey program wins the Bantam B state title I'm not going to be bragging. They are the best of the lousiest. It's nice that you're the best of the folks that couldn't cut it at the A level. I guess I look at the lower levels of all collegiate sports that way.

I just think that is a bad thing, even if we are in the "have" side of the equation. The FCS playing field is already incredibly unbalanced based on the committed from the various institutions. That is just going to make it worse. I wish there was a gentleman's agreement that FCS school don't do FCOA, but FBS do. This will be like having 3 teams in the NFL that don't need to abide by the salary cap. There will definitely be a competitive advantage for a very small number of schools, and that isn't good for the long term viability of the system.

It's tough with the FCS thing. There are relatively few FCS programs that will have the institution commitment to pony up for the FCOA. FCS is already incredibly unbalanced in the level of commitment from the institutions. I fear with FCOA implemented the difference between the haves and have nots will be huge, and the group of haves will be vastly outnumber the have nots. The hockey team absolutely needs FCOA. Not having them would be like Alabama or Ohio St. not having them in football.

I can't see LaDue signing. He just isn't anyway near an NHL player at this point. He needs to improve his skating to stand a chance. He doesn't win footraces at the college level. I won't put him in my top 4 pro prospects from the D-core. As an aside, I can't wait to see Poolman back at D next year. He will be an absolute beast.

Congrats to Minot, but their draw as a #3 seed could not have broken better. I believe they beat one team with a cumulative record over .500 to win the state championship. Seems like the key to winning these days is having the best players that aren't quite good enough to go play elsewhere. It appears that the east still has more top end, potential college type players, but if they ain't wearing the sweater of their HS it doesn't equate to championships. Bismarck's team last year was carried largely by non-Bismarck kids that weren't quite good enough to cut it in juniors. As a college football coach told me in regard to local talent with the change to play at a higher level, we want them to be good, but not too good.

Past Champs - Girls 2003 Fargo South 2004 Fargo North 2005 Fargo North 2006 Bismarck 2007 Bismarck 2008 Fargo North 2009 Fargo North 2010 West Fargo 2011 Fargo North 2012 Fargo South 2013 Bismarck Blizzard 2014 West Fargo

In looking at the past girl's champs, and the past records, it doesn't look like Bismarck has been overly dominant. It is surprising that GF, with only one team, hasn't been better.

Looks like Caggiula is at 0.634 pt/gm for his career. Hrkac was 2.024. I wonder what that would have been if he played 4 years. Had it not been for Kristo's incident his pt/gm would likely have been higher, as usually the last two years are better than the first 2. Any which way, I'll take Kristo and Caggiula on my team any day of the week.

I'd be curious to see the number of MIP/MIC's issued in the 50's, 60's, 70's... compared to today. For better or for worse things are handled in a different manner. I know for a 100% fact that if this happened in the mid-90's there would have been no police involvement, and depending on the RA, possibility no write-up. (Whether it was a hockey player or a typical student.) Again, there was no party, loud noise.. etc., just what appears to be a nosy RA.

So in this situation an RA saw an alcoholic beverage in their room and called the police. By the looks of it, nobody was disorderly or drunk. Everyone was polite and cooperated including taking the preliminary breath test. Is this standard policy now to call the police if an RA sees ANY alcohol? When I was around they'd take the alcohol and "read you up." I by no means condone their consumption of alcohol, but wow things have changed. These guys have to know they have a target on their backs.

I completely agree. If you are older than the player it seems creepy to me to have their name on your back. If there is anything on the back of your jersey you better be a kid.

The problem is one school is so important to the success of the tournament. If the tournament doesn't include UND they are screwed. UMD and St. Cloud would bring some fans, but nothing compared to UND. This year would have been an unmitigated disaster if UND didn't beat CC in game 3. I'm such they realize that major problem and would like to find a way to ensure UND is involved in the tournament each year. At least in the WCHA it would have been unlikely to have both UND and U of M TC miss. If a joint tournament could be held with the WCHA or B10 that would make for an incredible weekend of hockey.

I'm a huge homer, but you can't argue with Miller's numbers. He was miles ahead of the next goalie. While Panzer had a nice lead in total points, he was 3rd in points per game. Starting in Millers' year (2001) 2 of the 14 winners are from the East. Hardly an East Coast bias.

I agree as well. Our record, and some bad losses, wasn't what hurt the SoS. If was the cumulative poor losses by the NCHC teams. 2/3 of the way into the season the die had been cast. All the NCHC teams had a low SoS and hence a lower ranking, so playing each other (when they were playing much better than their SoS indicated) just had everyone treading water.

I'm biased, but I think it would be a huge mistake for him to turn pro. He has the chance to have a great junior year and greatly increase his stock/leverage. He isn't close to being an NHL player at this time. Seems to me that it would be mutually beneficial for him to play another year. Wouldn't he also be a free agent after next year?

I hate this thread. Every time I log on and it is at the top of the list my heart starts racing...

I think it would have been a close game. I think that ND's style of play frustrated the gophers, and would have been a better matchup against Union. ND's advantage over the gophers was the defense, and ND would have cleared the front of the net against Union. I thought UND and Union were pretty similar in many respects. ND gave up more that 3 goals once in the last 31 games (Saunders). (U of M allowed more than 3 in 6 of last 34 games). Doesn't mean they wouldn't have given up a bunch to Union, but I'd guess it would have been a tight game.

I see Chyzk and OD having productive years in '14-'15. I thought OD was one of the best forwards at the end of the year. In the Ferris game he was the best forward in my opinion. Unlike nearly everyone else, he was aggressive, on his toes, and confident. I don't see either of those guys being healthy scratches.