Yote 53

I've played against the ISU club team at Hilton back in the early 90's when I was on Team Midwest HS All-Star team. We regularly played the ISU club team and crushed them. That turned me off of "club" hockey as I thought it was garbage seeing as how a bunch of high school kids could kick the crap out of them. Played football out of HS instead as that is what was being offered in front of me. That or a tryout for a junior team in Kalamazoo, MI. I chose college football. Iowa not only has a conference home waiting for them they also have a D1 hockey level arena sitting there begging for them to move into in Coralville. I'm to the point where (as a big Hawkeye fan) I am actually getting really negative of my views on their athletic department for their short-sighted refusal to start D1 hockey. Oh, and USD and SDSU are going to rue the day they let Augustana beat them to the D1 hockey punch. That program is taking over Sioux Falls. I'm watching it happen in real time.

I have read UNI being linked with college hockey several times on this board. I haven't heard a whisper about that anywhere but here. UNI, a Valley basketball school, adding hockey? No chance.

He was right, I suppose, about golf at least.

UNC football to the MVFC?

It's not crying about returning to the Big Sky. It's that it's starting to look like the Summit is expanding west. We've done this before and, if given the choice of western opponents, I'd rather play the Big Sky schools.

Thing is I could get the top end Direct TV Stream option and Bluepeak internet and still save $100/month versus what I am paying Midco. Until this happened I had not even paid attention to my Midco bill. This whole thing caused me to look into other options for watching the Twins and I figured out that not only could I get a better package through Direct TV Stream but I could also save money. I might just do a free trial of Direct TV Stream and use it for a week (or whatever) and if I like it make the change.

Both USD and UND should have just stayed in the Big Sky. The Summit would have folded and SDSU and NDSU would have been in the Sky with us by now. Heading west anyways. Might as well play Montana and Montana State instead of Utah Valley or Utah Tech.

Just raised holy hell with Midco this morning and demanded a $15 per month reduction in my bill, they are crediting my account. If they don't want to provide Bally North and Twins games then they are not charging me for it. Midco better get this figured out with Bally North. Losing that station is not an option and I will drop them entirely and move to a different service. They are making it easier to do so every day.

Jesus, did the Wild suck last night. Perfect opportunity to gain ground on St. Louis and Vegas and they stunk the joint up. Can't believe I watched that entire game.

To be clear, I am posting specifically about boys hockey in NoDak. Girls hockey is a different animal and, after reading your post, I can see the benefits of a Tier 1 girls program in Fargo. Are the proposals being discussed for a boys program, girls program, both, or just boys/just girls?

So they still leave the local HS programs and instead of going to Sioux Falls and elsewhere they move to Fargo. On top of that, now that you have a Tier 1 program in Fargo it becomes a great local option for kids in the Fargo and Grand Forks areas who might not ever thought about moving away from home for Tier 1. They weren't going to do it but since you gave them easy access, why not pursue it? In the end ND HS hockey will suffer, possibly even more than it currently is and this won't solve your problems with talent level in ND HS Hockey. Also, I don't think you should stick with the status quo either. I think Team North Dakota needs to really be pushed and elevated. In Wisconsin, a lot of players, if they don't make TW they don't even bother with the Capitols or the Admirals or going to Chicago for AAA. They figure if they are not good enough to make TW then why spend 10's of thousands of dollars chasing? They play WEHL (Wisconsin Elite League) instead. Really, all this does is weaken the Power by stemming the flow of players leaving NoDak for Sioux Falls and force them to find their players elsewhere because they'll be cut off from NoDak and Manitoba players who have a closer option in Fargo. In fact, I should be all for this, being from South Dakota and having my youngest coming up through the system now. More spots available in Sioux Falls, a Team Midwest option building, Omaha still being an option (it's where my oldest played). This could be great for me, but not for ND HS Hockey. If the problem is losing players to Juniors, either the USHL or NAHL, this Tier 1 program won't stop that. Kids with those options are already past having to play U16/U18.

I had a whole thing written up but to be more concise I will just say, don't do it. Promote Team North Dakota. Look at the success of Team Wisconsin as a model. Preserve and promote HS hockey in NoDak while also offering opportunities for your best players to showcase themselves at the Tier 1 level. Just my opinion.

I think the direction we are headed is towards a club sports model. Frankly, that might not be the worst thing either. I look at the what the ACHA has done for college hockey and think if NCAA D1 hockey went away, and all collegiate hockey followed the ACHA model (with some tweaks), college hockey would explode across the country and become much, much bigger when freed from the restraints of Title 9.

It's back

Ok, that was terrible rebound control on that 3rd Hermantown goal. Goalie needs to send that puck up into the far corner. Instead, he kicks it right out into the slot with Hermantown forwards bearing down and his D facing up ice coming backwards. I heard the coach say he was going to stick to his goalie rotation no matter how hot the #1 was playing. While admire wanting to get the kids the state tournament experience, that's not turning out very good right now. Granted, this isn't all on the goalie as the Zephyrs are not playing very well at all.

Thought Warroad was getting the best of them in OT but it only took that puck bouncing around dangerously in the slot area and it was game over. Got to clear that puck with authority and not overskate it.

Brutal. The Streak continues.

And here we go...

That was a nice ticky tack call to make this more interesting after the 5 minuter.

When this game started off 3-0 I did not expect to see it tied up. Got a good one going.

Welp. This one is on the verge of getting out of hand early. Centennial up 3-0. Couple of nice deflection goals.

Another blowout QF game. The 4/5 matchup tonight should be a good one, usually is. Hopefully the other games can be closer and hoping for an upset.

Make that 4-1.

There is an app on Roku, Fire, etc. and available for your phone if you don't want to go through a browser. KSTP-TV 5. Works great.

In. I thought the MHSHL controlled all the TV rights for Section games. Any other games being free streamed over the next couple of days you know of?