puck71

I don't disagree with you, but if you let EDC swing your vote, as some here have indicated, you'd have to factor in the fact that Erick lost the puck behind the net on the power play which resulted in Mihulka's short-handed game-winner in the EDC championship. Arguably that single play won the game for Red River since it put them up by two instead of South later tying the game and having the momentum. If you let that game swing your vote, you'd have to let the deciding play swing your vote, which would almost force you to vote for Mihulka. Personally I don't think you should base anything on one play or even one game. But since the voters can't see all the games, individual games can sway the voting a lot more than they should, especially postseason games. With that said, I do think Weisgarber will win it, based mostly on numbers and a good performance at EDC (although overshadowed by Mihulka). I don't think it will be a landslide, and I wouldn't be surprised if any of them won it, since their numbers and records are so comparable on paper.

cory1 was mostly right but I did notice some inaccuracies, at least from the several games that I've watched. Obviously lines change over the course of the season and injuries and matchups can mess with things, but this is how I have their lines: Line 1 Weisgarber Larson Powers D1 Galt Spriggs Line 2 Campbell Graalum (listed as D on roster and the stats site but I haven't seen him play any D this year) McDougall D2 Wurden Jorgenson Line 3 Doeden Ramberg Grande D3 Anderson Wagner (but they basically never play - Wagner is who filled in when Wurden was out for a game) Line 4 Hooey Gores Fraedrich, Riopelle, or Baumgarten (they only play 3 lines unless they're up big in the third period) I will note that Hooey replaced Grande on the third line at some or all of EDC, and even scored one of the goals against Red River. I'm not sure what the reason is, but it may happen at state too. It looked like they were shuffling the lines a little bit during EDC too, so cory1's lines may be more current if they did change very recently.

Does anyone know what the ticket prices are for state? If it's been posted already I missed it. I saw they were selling state tournament passes at EDC for $30 but how much is it per session?

There should be some good games, but I'd be very surprised if it didn't come down to South-Red River for the championship: Minot 3, Central 2 South 5, Devils Lake 0 GPR 3, Williston 1 Red River 3, Bismarck 1 South 4, Minot 1 Red River 5, GPR 1 South 4, Red River 2

Hockey is an expensive sport to play. In general anyone who gets to the high school level will have enough money (or their family will) to buy a couple sticks during the year. I think once they get to High School more of the stuff is provided for them than in youth hockey, but I'm not sure about sticks. As for the previous comment(s) about South's parents and fans, I think every team will have some bad apples among their parents and fans. Depending on who you talk to, they may have encountered a bad apple and then they make a generalization about everybody. The post seemed very second and third hand and was very vague. I don't expect you to name names, but if you make a statement like that I would expect at least an example of something that was said or done, rather than just quoting some people talking about people they don't even know. I know and have been around many of the current South parents and they are all great people. Of course they want their kids to win and do the best they can, and taken the wrong way I guess this could be construed as being "above" everyone else. To answer your original question about which team people would like to beat the most, this year it would be Fargo South and Red River. Why? Because they're the best two teams, and everyone likes beating the best teams. Lacking any specific examples of behavior, I don't think it goes beyond that. I've been to quite a few South games and not seen any "cockiness" or any of the other things you listed.

Who did win all the EDC awards? I left before the awards ceremony so I missed that. There were more penalties called on Red River tonight (not sure of the numbers off-hand, but it wasn't what I would call lopsided) but I don't think that necessarily means the refs were favoring South. Sometimes one team actually does commit more penalties than the other team. Seriously, though, the two teams were incredibly evenly matched. I hadn't seen either of their previous games, but they're so close that the smallest thing or a lucky bounce can make a big difference. Judging just from tonight's game and who was controlling the puck I'd say that Red River's first line has a slight edge over South's first line, but South's second and third lines have a slight edge. The goalies are about even. Here's hoping they get the opportunity for a rematch next weekend for the state title!

Final Score Red River 3, Fargo South 2 ... Final Shots Red River 21, South 19 ... Very Even Game Could Have Gone Either Way!!

Shots After Two Periods: Red River 15, South 7 (was 5-3 For RR After 1st)

Looks Like It's About Half Full ... 1-0 After 1st

North Just Scored... Central Up 5-3 With 3 Mins Left In Game

I'll be going up to Grand Forks sometime in the late afternoon for the championship game, and hopefully some of the prior game. I'll again be posting updates live from rinkside tonight for all those in parts of the state without radio coverage.

South played decent in the first period and had a few chances, but couldn't score. North had a few chances too but not as many as South. The second was probably the best period I've seen South play in a long time. Not only did they score nine goals, but they were all (except maybe one) very impressive goals that the goalie really didn't have a chance on. I'm not sure if they changed their strategy, or if North was tired out, or what, but South was pretty much skating all around North all period. I left after the second period so I didn't see the third, but since it was in running time I imagine there wasn't much to see.

South 9, North 0 After 2nd Period

South Up 4-0; 4 Goals In First 4:13 Of 2nd Period

South, North Scoreless After 1st

Grafton Won 6-1, Red River Won 9-1

9-1 Red River 4 Min Left In 3rd

Grafton 2, Fargo North 0 after two periods.

3-0 Fargo South after the first. First 10 minutes were scoreless (although played mostly in Shanley's defensive end) before South broke through and scored 3 late goals. Wurden, Larson, and Powers scored the goals for the Bruins. 7-0 Fargo South after the second. McDougall, Larson, Ramberg, and Powers scored in the period. At least half the goals were on the power play. 8-0 Fargo South final score. Graalum scores the lone goal in the third period running time.

True, but so is Erick. If you add "goals preventend" on to points scored (or if high school hockey would actually keep track of plus/minus) the number would be a lot higher. I remember one game this season where Deichert was on one side of the net and the puck was on the other (on a rebound or something) and they had an open net to shoot in and Erick slid on from behind the net and made a perfect save. I'm sure they're taught to do that and I know Marto probably made similar plays, but I'm just saying to not be fooled by his number of points into thinking he's only an offensive-minded player. Looking forward to a great EDC!

Fargo South 7, GF Central 1 South got off to a slow start, either due to fatigue or adjusting to playing without starting defenseman Danny Wurden (apparently he got the game misconduct after yesterday's game) and Central went up 1-0 in the first few minutes. South picked it up after that and their third line put in three goals before the end of the first period. That line got another goal in the second, and the first-line power play got two more to go up 6-1 after the 2nd. They tapped in another goal in the closing minutes to win 7-1. Other than about the first half of the first period, South pretty much dominated the action. I believe the shots ended up even in the first period and were pretty lopsided after that for South.

Central always plays South pretty close, so it could definitely be a close game. South did get off to a slow start yesterday, but still pretty much dominated the whole way, and North didn't get their best scoring chances until they were on a 2-man advantage late in the game, and already down 3-0. I don't think fatigue will be much of a factor, since South didn't have to travel at all, and Central had a tough game against Grafton on Thursday night. It should be a pretty good game but I expect South to win by at least a couple goals.