He Who Shoots Top Shelf

Shots were 52-11 in favor of RR. The better team won.

I was at this game last night and for you hockey purists this definitely wasn't "The Game Of the Year", but I thoroughly enjoyed watching the game unfold. It had a comeback, an exciting goal at the end to force overtime, and of course the Deacons prevailed. We also play Red River to open the tournament, the last time this happened I believe Shanley found themselves in the winners bracket day two. I realize it isn't the most likely scenario, but I'm going to try to work up as much karma as possible .

In Grafton's defense they did outshoot Wahpeton very heavily in that game and Mike Sand for the first time all year played like a rookie to varsity hockey. Wahpeton scored 3 times on 12 shots and the Wahp goalie made 40+ saves. Grafton also may have came in overconfident since they are playing a team who is 0 for the Millenium in conference play. South on the other hand was playing for a share of the conference lead and came out with an embarrassing effort based on opinions made by posters on this site who were at the game. We are in the Terrell Owens era where more and more people are putting themselves before the team, which is obviously playing a role in the demise of Fargo South this season. There are a handful of people in that program right now who have moved in to play for South High School or left South and came back which could have a detrimental effect on the people who played for the Flyers (South's feeder program) from termites all the way up to high school. Hopefully Wilson can get his troops in order, or else it will be sad to see this talented of a team struggle to make a splash come late February.

Current EDC Standings: consists of current record followed by remaining conference schedule. 1 G.F. Red River 9-0-0 20 pts. South, at FN, Central, at DL, GPR 2 Grafton Park River 7-3-0 16 pts. Wahp (4 pts.), South, Central, at RR 3 Fargo South 6-1-0 14 pts. at RR, at Shanley (4 pts.), at GPR, DL, WF, at FN, GFC 4 Devils Lake 6-4-0 14 pts. at Shanley, RR, at South, at GFC, WF 5 Fargo North 5-5-0 14 pts. RR, GFC, at WF, South 6 West Fargo 2-7-0 6 pts. at GFC, FN, at South, Wahp (4 pts.), at DL 7 G.F. Central 1-6-0 6 pts. WF, at RR, at FN, at Wahp (4 pts.), DL, at GPR, at South 8 Fargo Shanley 2-6-0 4 pts. South, DL 9 Wahpeton/Breck 0-6-0 0 pts. at GPR (4 pts.), at GFC (4 pts.) at WF (4 pts.) Feel free to share how many points you feel each team will end up with, mine goes like this: Red River: 14-0-0 32 pts. Fargo South: 12-2-0 28 pts. Grafton Park River: 9-5-0 22 pts. Devils Lake: 9-6-0 20 pts. Fargo North: 6-8-0 16 pts. West Fargo: 5-9-0 14 pts. Grand Forks Central: 2-12-0 8 pts. Shanley: 2-8-0 4 pts. Wahpeton: 0-9-0 0 pts.

Bottineau 9? I realize they are a little more competitive this year, but you may be taking it to an extreme putting them up there.

I saw a few on the tv, no real surprises: Devils Lake 6 Wahpeton 1 Red River 9 West Fargo 1 Moorhead 3 Wayzata 0 I am still waiting for a North-Grafton update.

1. Red River 2. Fargo South 3. Grafton-Park River 4. Devils Lake 5. Fargo North 6. West Fargo 7. Minot 8. Bismarck 9. Jamestown 10. Grand Forks Central Shanley if any cares I have 17th in my poll!

The fact that someone said the kid does not take stupid penalties kind of puzzles me. This should have been at least a 2 minute unsportsmanlike or if I had it my way a 10 minute misconduct, but instead from what I hear he got away scott free. Had he been at any EDC program in the state there is no doubt in my mind he would have sat the rest of the game and maybe received a suspension, or even be removed from the team. I am not a total Scrooge on WDA play, but incidents like this and the lack of reprucussions cause me to lose a little bit of respect for the officials, Minot High, and most importantly Dillon Kraft.

I wouldn't necessarily say they were lucky to win the game, I just think a 3-2 or 5-4 type score may have been more fitting to the way the game was played. North finished when they had opportunities and WF didn't. Klein did have another chance where I believe he 5-holed the WF goalie and then hit the post. Back to the point sure North could have scored on Klein's post and one where the WF goalie robbed Bombenger on the glove late in the 2nd period, but the point most people are trying to convey is that WF could have very easily put this game into overtime or even have came out with a W if they could have converted on their chances.

I was also at the game tonight, in my opinion it was a game that was much closer than the final score. West Fargo played a scrappy game as I thought they could, and had many chances turn the game into their favor. However, North's goalie Dan Zehren (as stated previously) was phenomenal. I think there were at least 2-3 breakaways he steered away. Klein had a pretty goal on a three on two where he picked the corner just over the glove. West Fargo did get the better end of the penalties, but North can't really complain about a call they had. North converting on their chances was the major difference in the game tonight.

Ha ha, cmon now. Was this really their Stanley Cup? Was Central's Stanley Cup losing to South in a close game 4-1? That entire post may be the gayest thing I've ever read. This is high school hockey. Not everyone wins, not everyone gets treated equally. Isn't Lives right in saying that its Tyler Swanson and 19 below average players? Are you saying you disagree with that? Or is everything just sunshine and smiles to you?

I think every post you have ever made has been a dump. I can't recall one time where you have a made a statement that even resembles a contribution to the forum. All you ever do is come on here to slander every team across the state, and it gets old. I've been quiet about your posts before, but you coming on here and putting down everything that has to do with North Dakota hockey does absolutely nothing for anyone involved. The purpose of the thread is to celebrate the kids across the state who make North Dakota hockey fun, granted the 19 kids from West Fargo may not have been good enough to load the stickbag at Red River for 4 years like you, but give them credit. They played Red River 3-2. It must have been like the Stanley Cup finals for those guys to compete with a top tier program, and may give them a boost of confidence throughout the EDC season. We can also go back about 3-4 years when Shanley upset Red River in the "super era" when you were alledgedly in the program. Were they just Kyle Graalum with 19 players who are below average in all aspects of the game? The point I'm trying to make and several other respected members of the site are trying to say is let's utilize this site to promote ND hockey, not feed our own egos.

Couple intriguing games tomorrow night: Devils Lake at Red River: I see Red River coming out flying trying to silence some critics (mainly on this site), Devils Lake will also come out trying to prove the belong in the upper echelon of the EDC. I think Red River will put together a complete game and get a nice 5-2 win. West Fargo at Fargo North: Big game for Fargo North, it should be interesting to see how they respond to a tough OT loss to Devils Lake on Saturday night. West Fargo isn't the flashiest team in the conference, but they've played tight games all year with a 3-2 loss to Red River, a 2-0 loss to DL, and a win over Central last week. Put up or shut up time for the Spartans I think they get a 4-2 win.

In the end we should not be basing our opinions on a team based soley on scores. This year everyone knows South or Red River will finish 1-2 so why argue back and forth about how close they are to each other. It's unfair to judge Red River based on a one goal win over WF. Nobody is calling for DL's head who also had a tough game with WF. I'm also still not fully sold on Fargo North. The East is wide open 3-6 with GPR, DL, North, and WF. I believe North they were fortunate to steal one from GPR at home, but with their goaltending situation I'm not ready to make them state bound. We will learn a lot about North in the next week with home games against DL and WF, and they travel up to Purpur to battle Red River.

What I think you are forgetting is that very good Moorhead team last year all returns with the exception of 4 or 5 players.