skateshattrick

Yes. The projected top 2 are Russians.

The new ESPN the magazine also projects him as a top 5 pick in the NHL draft.

I happen to agree that the 98 and 99 teams were more talented, but they had to go to Michigan in 98 and lost a heartbreaker. I think UM and Denver can relate. However, I used to think that NDSU fans were lame in arguing that the club hockey titles were legitimate until I started hearing Gopher fans contending that the Gophers actually have more "championships" based upon AAU titles. Very lame. Did they wear rubber boots when they beat powerhouses like Crookston High School?

I agree with you that Ballard is a good player, but the fact that he was drafted in the 1st round is really irrelevant. Teams draft based upon potential and size. That is like arguing that Phil Sykes and Jason Blake, who were free agents, were not as good as draftees such as Scott Kirton or James Massen, or that James Massen (6th) is better than Brandon Bochenski (7th). Martin St. Louis was undrafted. I happen to agree with Frozen Tundra that Roche was better defensively than Ballard. Ballard was drafted based upon offensive skills. He has gotten bigger and stronger, so he has a chance of making it to the pros. The fact that he was a No. 1 guarantees him nothing. No. 1 draft choices in hockey and baseball often do not make it because they are drafted so young as opposed to the NFL. Jason Herter was a 1st rounder (8th overall) that never made it and Landon Wilson (First round) did not exactly set the NHL on fire.

Ammerman. He is big, fast and can shoot. Hardwick continues to get looks from UM, UND and UMD according to my Warroad sources, but there are concerns about his foot speed. He is reportedly considering passing up his senior year of high school to play in the USHL.

Ballard did not win the Hobey. The Hobey was won by Junior Lessard of UMD. Perhaps you should sober up before posting.

Not officially, but I do not think he will go to UND because he does not want to be in Brian Lee's shadow. Minnesota apparently has a lot of defensemen coming in, and may be done recruiting that position, but has talked with him. UMD appears to be very interested.

This was just officially announced, but it has been known since before the state tournament. Chris VandeVelde was absolutely dominant as a squirt and pee wee. He was the best player on very loaded Moorhead teams that included Jon Ammerman, Brian Lee, Matt Becker and others. He was always much bigger than average when he was young, so when the other kids started catching up in size at Bantams, he was not as dominant. He has now grown again, and has very good speed to go along with a very hard shot. As a result, he has again moved to near the top of the pack at Moorhead and in the state of Minnesota. His upside is huge. He can shoot, has great hands, good speed and is big.

True, it is not an excessively violent sport when the game is played and officiated the way it was meant to be played. However, I suspect that Mario Lemieux would take issue with your statement---he walked away from the game because he was tired of the constant obstruction and cheap play. Fighting is not part of the game any more than it is in football. It is a violation of the rules that has been tolerated for too long. It is not tolerated in football and usually results in an immediate ejection and ultimately a fine and suspension.

I agree with everything you state, but you are overlooking one of the most important reasons for the decline of hockey as a major sport---the fighting and cheap play. If you ask any casual hockey fan or fan of other sports, the reason they say they cannot watch the NHL is because of the constant fighting and cheap play. It may be overstated, but if you watch ESPN highlights, they constantly glorify the fighting and show highlight clips of fights. Even the announcers, particularly former players and coaches like Barry Melrose, Don Cherry, Bill Clement, etc., glorify this aspect by talking about how much they respect a player because of their "toughness", penalty minutes, etc. This type of behavior is not tolerated in any other contact sport other than boxing. The game needs to eliminate that from the game like college hockey (college hockey fights are now very rare). Regardless of how you feel about fighting (many feel it is necessary to protect the stars), the game will never be taken seriously by other than us true hockey fans until the fighting and goon play is eliminated.

I'm not sure that cheap teams necessarily gain an advantage, but I agree that less skilled teams gain an advantage, particularly in the playoffs when the refs let a lot more go than they do during the regular season. Lou Nanne talked about this the other day during an interview with Dan Barreiro on the Fan. I get frustrated watching the more skilled teams lose the advantage that they have in skill and speed because the refs will not call the interference, hooking, clutching and grabbing. Wayne Gretzky would not score nearly as much in today's NHL because he would not be able to fight through the constant mugging and interference. Unfortunately, it has trickled down to college hockey. I think it hurts hockey. Yes, there is more parity, but who wants to watch 1-0 or 2-1 hockey games with 18 shots on net?? I would rather see the stars and the skilled teams like Detroit, Ottawa and Colorado, not the Sutter style of play.

Did someone pee in your cheerios?

I could not have said it better myself, so I won't try to. Another argument against visors and face shields is that it has caused the sticks to come up. Phil Sykes used to make that argument. That may be true, but wouldn't you rather have protection when it does happen? It is similar to the argument that the hands to the face increased when football required face masks. So what? It least now you have protection. I have seen inadvertent and non-intentional plays in hockey that have resulted in Steve Yzerman losing teeth and nearly losing an eye; Brendan Shanahan losing teeth; Jeremy Roenick breaking his jaw, etc. These would have been avoided with a face shield. I agree that the players will never agree to a face shield, but it preferable to a visor. If a stick gets caught underneath the visor, it may actually cause more damage.

The NHL has got to start calling checking from behind. It is seldom called, and when it is called, it is a 2 minute boarding penalty. I see at least 2 every game. In fact, Commodore had a pretty bad one on Maltby in the Flames-Red Wings series. I would like to see the NHL adopt the college rule and make it a major with a game DQ.

You are comparing apples and oranges. The Yankees have a payroll of 180 million, and has typically double of the next closest team (at least until this year with the Red Sox starting to close the gap) and 5 times as much as some teams. There is nothing comparable to the Yankees who typically buy all of their pitchers (Mussina, Clemens, Wells, Kevin Brown, etc.) and many position players (Giambi, etc.) The Red Wings have typically not even been the highest payroll team. The Rangers typically are. Plus, the gap between the salaries in the NHL are not nearly as disproportionate as they are in baseball. The Red Wings core of players came out of their system or through trades, including Yzerman, Federov (now gone--purchased by the Ducks), Holmstrom, Lidstrom, Maltby (via trade), Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Draper, Fischer, Dandenault, etc. They traded for Chelios and Lang, and have a few free agents (Cujo, Hatcher, Hull, Shanahan). Virtually every team makes deals before the playoffs, and the Red Wings make no more deals than Colorado, Toronto, Philadelphia and others. Plus, players want to play for the Red Wings because of the tradition and fan support, so typically will take less to play for the Wings. If anything, they are more like the LA Lakers. Quite frankly, the Red Wings, along with the Devils and the Avalanche, are model franchises and the class of the NHL, irrespective of payroll. Finally, whether you agree or disagree with someone on this board, please have some manners. Calling someone a moron is not appropriate, particularly when that person was not flaming or trolling.

Matt Moreland is talented, but he needs a year or two of junior hockey before you can make the determination whether he is good enough to play for the Sioux. Several people on this board last year about this time wanted the Sioux to go after Kasey Moreland, who just completed a perfect EDC and State tournament in which he gave up no goals. The verdict is still out on Kasey. He was 6-15-1 with a 3.54 GAA and .904 save % on a bad Sioux Falls team. Kasey may still turn out to be good enough, but have enough faith in Blais to make the correct decisions. It is great to have local kids, but not at all costs. Tyler Palmiscino is a good example of a kid who would have been better off going elsewhere.

The only "local" kid that the Sioux arguably missed was Grant Potulny. That set in motion a chain reaction in which his younger brother Ryan followed Grant to Minnesota. Danny Irmen, a friend of Ryan Potulny, followed him to Minnesota. I know Danny's dad Don, and he was upset that the Sioux did not recruit Danny. However, Danny was also a Gopher fan and said that he was going to go where his friend Ryan went. The bottom line is that you are not going to get all of the recruits from your own state. If that was the case, we would have never gotten Zach Parise and Brandon Bochenski, who were both recruited by the Gophers and are from the Twin Cities. If you consider that the Sioux have 6 kids from ND, they have done pretty well. Additionally, would you honestly rather have Brady Murray and Drew Stafford or Ryan Potulny and Danny Irmen? No offense to Ryan and Danny, who are great players, but I like Murray and Stafford better.

You are right. Another public school.

Pierre Lamoreaux is Canadian. The reason the kids ended up at Central is that Tarek Howard told Phillipe that he would be able to play right away at Central and he would have been a backup to Ziegelmann at Red River. However, you do make a good point. Some kids know that if they want to get noticed, they should go to the place where they will play and get noticed. Others may not like the coach and feel like they may get get a chance to play at one school. Others have fear of getting cut at the school in their district because of numbers. I do not begrudge those kids, but isn't it interesting that this thread started as a rip to the private parochial schools, particularly Shanley, and now it has been shown that it is primarily the public schools where these incidents have occurred? Red River had Spooner from Williston, Krebsbach from Minot and Irmen from Fargo. Central has south end kids, including the Lamoureauxs, McIntyre (at least since the flood when he was in 7th grade) and Marto, and others. West Fargo has south Fargo kids that have played, including the Kellys and Tanner Anderson before his parents moved to West Fargo. Shanley has a very difficult time competing with the big boys because of numbers and because it is expensive to attend a parochial school. I find it interesting and ironic that when they take the kids that nobody else wanted or were cut, they immediately get accused of "recruiting." For those who do make those accusations, perhaps you should look in the mirror.

Yes, I really do know, and no my posts are not speculation. I think that we have spent enough time on this topic, so if you would like to send me a private email, I would be happy to explain how I know and the actual situation as explained above.

It sounds like you are talking about Krebsbach. I agree, but what other options did he have if he wanted to play high school hockey? The next closest towns are Williston and Devils Lake, not exactly perennial hockey powerhouses. If he was good enough to play in Grand Forks, why not?

Sean Deichert was in the Catholic school network. He actually transferred over to South because his father Tony wanted to coach him (he's the goalie coach at South) and because Shanley holds later practices. Some would say that Dean Wilson actually recruited Sean, who was in the Catholic school network his whole life. Marc Harrie was not recruited, he has been a Burggraf kid since he was a squirt, and is not going back to South. Trevor Anderson came to Shanley on his own because he has been in Burggraf since he was very young. He did return to West Fargo for a variety of reasons that have little to do with Shanley and more to do with missing his friends and girlfriend and academic issues. Elliot Hitt came because they did not have high school hockey in Sioux Falls. Would you care to go on?