skateshattrick

You are so right! I had always mistakenly thought it was the SIOUX that had 7 National titles, nearly a .700 winning percentage in the NCAA playoffs, and it was the GOPHERS that were called the "Golden Chokers" throughout the country! Thanks for straightening that out. You must have some very kind mental health therapists that will let you play on the computer! Thank you for enlightening us with your intellect and charm!!

It was posted on USCHO that RJ Anderson of Centennial gave a verbal to UM. This has been posted here as well, but I had hoped he would see the light and go to UND!

Very well put. However, I will say that the Flyers (the south end team) is very good at a number of levels, so they may have turned the corner. Last year, the Flyer Squirt A, PeeWee A and Bantam A all split with Moorhead. How many A teams can even say they beat Moorhead which is always strong? This year's Bantam A (generally considered much weaker than the very strong group now sophomores) just won Bantam A state. Next year's Bantam A's are even stronger and should be one of the favorites. The PeeWee A's this year took 3rd, losing to Grafton in the semifinal game in OT. The PeeWee group next year should as strong or stronger. The Squirt A this year was probably the best team in the State, so the Flyers are loaded. The Raiders have been down for a few years. This may be a cycle, but I don't think so. The Flyers have quietly built a strong program which is helped by the numbers and a strong Squirt coordinator.

I agree with you DaveK. It should also be noted that Red River was dominating until GF went to open enrollment. Central would have still been good, but they have had several kids from south GF that would have been required to go to RR before open enrollment, including the Lamoureauxs.

That North class was not unstoppable. They won Pee Wee A state, but only because they all grew prematurely and were a head taller than everyone else. By the time that they hit Bantams, they were not that great. They took 5th in State, and beat the Flyers in OT to do so. The Flyers beat them and tied them the other 2 times, and that was one of the weakest Flyer groups (probably the last of them). Predictably, they are not that good now, particularly with their only goal scorer now on Moorhead. Since that group, the Raiders have beaten a Flyers A team only once at any level. The Raider Bantam A's fluked out a 2-1 victory the 1st time they played this year, but got beat 7-0 the next time. They got swept at every other level the past 2 years.

Where did you hear that RJ Anderson is going to Minnesota? I know that the Sioux were/are very interested in him.

I agree with your first point. I disagree with your last. Remember that Moorhead Youth Hockey, which runs hockey in Moorhead, is privately-owned, e.g., a parent run organization. Fargo's problem is not that it is privately-owned, it is that it has too many competing organizations and it is difficult to get them under one roof. I also agree that the Fargo Flyers are very strong starting with this year's sophomore class all the way down through Squirts. The team that just won Bantam A state was generally considered one of the weaker groups and had an exceptional year. It only gets better in the next few years.

I realize that Stevens has never won a Norris, but he is generally regarded as one of the best defensemen in the NHL. Leetch is good, but not regarded as in the same class as Stevens, Lidstrom and Blake despite the fact that Leetch always has more points than Stevens, and usually has as many or more points than Lidstrom and Blake. Since you seem to have a soft spot for Leetch, perhaps a better example is Sandis Ozolinsh who could always score but was a defensive liability. The same is true of Paul Coffey. Before Scotty Bowman let him go, he was asked about Coffey's offensive skills and all of the points that he had. Bowman's response was to the effect that he gives up as many as he scores. My point was that Ballard scores a lot of points, but that is not the measure of a great defenseman.

Ballard and Geisler may be the top OFFENSIVE defenseman in the league, but are not the best defensemen. Again, I will quote David Hakstol who told me that Jones is the best 2 way defenseman in the WCHA. The reason he is underrated is because he does not score as much as Ballard, but he also does not needlessly gamble, and is better overall. Hakstol compared him to Paul Martin who never got as much attention until late last year and then jumped straight to the pros. Hakstol believes Jones is that good and will jump straight to the NHL like Paul Martin did. Jones can score, but that is not the role that the Sioux coaches want him to assume. If offensive skills were all that mattered, Brian Leetch and Paul Coffey would win the top defenseman award every year in the NHL rather than Rob Blake, Nick Lidstrom and Scott Stevens. Ask yourselves: would you rather have Scott Stevens or Brian Leetch?

Dean Blais spoke at Fargo Sioux Boosters today. He was very humorous, and gave the following information: 1. The Sioux have won 5 of the last 8 WCHA titles. When he won his first, all 9 of the other coaches called. After this year, only Scott Sandelin and Lee Davidson (former Sioux players and coaches, now at UMD) called to offer congratulations. 2. The Sioux will likely play the Gophers in the WCHA playoffs on Friday, and he joked that the refs will make sure that the Gophers get there. 3. The Sioux are extremely focused right now and playing their best hockey. In fact, during a recent practice, they did not miss a pass for 10 minutes. 4. Prpich hurt his ankle and may or may not play this weekend. 5. The Sioux landed some very recruits for next year, including the leading scorer in the BCHL, the top defenseman in the BCHL, and the top goalie in the USHL (Lamoreaux). 6. The Sioux are likely heading to the West Regional in Colorado Springs, and a possible 1st round opponent is Bemidji State. Denver, CC, Wisconsin and Miami are also possible West Regional teams. 7. Michigan Tech is staying in Grand Forks, and are skating in East Grand Forks.

He's a sophomore. He's huge and has a huge shot, but very slow-footed. He will have to improve his quickness and speed or others will pass him by. Paul Weisgarber of South (sophomore) and Mario Lamoreaux of Central (9th grade) are more skilled. Thomas Campbell of Grafton (sophomore) is also good.

I said several months ago that I believe that there are 6 teams that have a legitimate shot to win: 1. UND 2. BC 3. Michigan 4. Maine 5. Minnesota 6. UMD Minnesota has faded, but is always dangerous. I would give them an outside shot, but they are more talented and experienced than Wisconsin and Denver, neither of which has much of a chance. Michigan always gets hot at tournament time. They picked off a heavily favored Sioux team in 98 and ended up winning the whole thing. They also picked off heavily favored CC and Denver the past 2 years. With Montoya in net, they can beat anyone. UMD is talented and also has good goaltending. The easy choices are UND, BC and Maine. Maine has the goaltending, the Sioux and BC the best overall talent. Michigan can never be counted out.

You are totally misinterpreting my post. I never said that most Minnesota kids are capable either. However, it stands to reason that Minnesota hockey, which has hundreds of schools playing hockey, is going to have more D1 prospects and more blue chip players. You will see a select few Minnesota kids from the top programs that can jump right from high school to college. It is difficult in ND because of the numbers and the competition. Minneapolis teams are at a competitive advantage because they have so much competition available with a 50 mile radius. Reputation also plays a part. There are ND kids virtually every year that are as good as the top kids in Minnesota such as Jeff Panzer, Potulnys, Irmen, but they usually have to prove themselves for 1-2 years in juniors to get their shot.

Very well put. I also love to see local kids, but we have to be realistic. Central got beat by Warroad 6-2, and it wasn't even that close. Moorhead beat Warroad 4-2 on Warroad's home ice. What is my point? Most high school kids are not ready for college right out of high school, and those that do are usually from the elite programs in Minnesota. There always have been a handful of ND kids capable of playing in the WCHA, but it is not realistic to think that most of these kids are good enough. If they are, we probably will not know until they play a year or 2 or junior hockey. You are just not going to see ND kids jump right out of high school to the Sioux like you will with Shattuck kids, USHL kids, or even the elite players from Minnesota high school powerhouses. Personally, I like the fact that the Sioux recruit from all over. It is great to see 5 or 6 kids from ND, and a roster filled with the top kids from Minnesota, Canada, Illinois, Michigan and Colorado. The powerhouse programs in other sports have kids from all over. Why should the Sioux be any different?

That used to be true, but not with Blais. Bochenski went to Blaine (right next to Centennial) and Parise went to Bloomington Jefferson before Shattuck. Karl Goehring went to Apple Valley.

He is a defenseman for GF Central. He is small (about 5'8" 160), but moves very well with the puck and has good offensive skills. Ammerman, Hardwick and RJ Anderson are also defensemen. Anderson has 20+ goals on the No. 1 team in Minnesota.

I agree with you about Marto and his upside, but I don't think he's as far along as Lee and Ammerman from Moorhead, Hardwick from Warroad, or Anderson from Centennial, who are all also juniors in high school. It is a bit premature to sign the Lamoreauxs since Jacque and PJ are not playing in the USHL and it remains to be seen how well they will do at that level. I have heard that PJ has struggled. Mario is only a 9th grader, so he has some developing to do. I don't think that the Sioux need to recruit freshmen in high school.

That was Matt Moreland that scored the game winner, not McIntyre. Both will have to go to juniors before they are ready for college hockey. Jon Ammerman from Moorhead is being recruited by Minnesota, UND and St. Cloud. Minnesota may have the inside track because UND may have room for only 1 more defenseman and they are very interested in Jon Ammerman and 3 other defensemen who are currently playing high school hockey in Minnesota (I know who they are, I would rather not say on this board). Minnesota went to watch when Jon Ammerman played against Centennial and White Bear Lake.

Yes. Paul Martin was fantastic and as underrated as Ballard is overrated. Ballard is tremendous offensively, but gambles a lot and gets caught out of position. Paul Martin may have been the best 2 way defenseman in the league last year, although you will get some arguments regarding Tom Preissing and David Hale. There are many theories why the Gophers have struggled this year with most of the team back, and one of the primary reasons is Paul Martin. Dave Hakstol is the one that first made the comparison of Jones to Martin and said that he is so good, he will jump straight to the pros out of college. It remains to be seen if that is true, but that is a high compliment.

With all due respect to Keith Ballard, Beau Geisler and Mark Stuart, Jones is the best 2 way defenseman in the WCHA. He is very similar to Paul Martin.

I think the Red Army views itself as a AAA team, but I'm not sure that they are at that level. I saw them in Warroad and they are good, but not great. They did take the top kids that would have been on the Wheatkings and Sugarkings, and as a result, Grand Forks only has one PeeWee A team and it is horrible. Moorhead beat them something like 24-0. The Fargo teams have also beat them badly. The Red Army is not eligible to play in the State tournament and many teams will not schedule them. Grand Forks still has Bantam A, and one of the teams is good. It is the team with the Lamoureaux sisters, Monique and Jocelyn. They are 1st year Bantams, and are still very good. They could easily win state.

Grafton's Bantam A was horrible last year. The Fargo Flyers beat them 8-1 and 9-1 last year. The Flyers lost only 5 games last year, and in my opinion, is the best group in the State. However, they stumbled at State and lost to the GF Wheatkings after beating them 2 out of 3 times during the year. The Flyers finished 3rd. The Wheatkings has always been the nemesis, beating the Flyers 4-3 in the championship game at PeeWee A. That Flyer group has only lost to one ND team since Squirts, and that is Grand Forks. Minot also has a strong sophomore class and actually won Bantam A last year. The Flyers beat them at PeeWee A 8-1, but never got a chance to play them last year after losing to GF. If South does not win at least 1 State title the next 2 years, there is something wrong. They are loaded. Minot and Grand Forks Red River should be the main challengers, but Grafton should be competitive because of Paul and Thomas Campbell, who are cousins. Grafton has a good PeeWee A team, but GF has a group called the Red Army that is good, and the Flyers are good.

Red River (unless Hazen-Buelah beats them).

Unfortunately, Pete Fylling is a senior. He is Quinn's brother, but is about 6'3". His skating was not very strong when he got to Burggraf's about 2 years ago, but he has improved greatly. I hope Pete gets a chance to play at the next level. He's a really good kid, has very good hands and can shoot the puck. If he fills out and keeps working on his skating, I think he could play juniors.