HockeyHigh

I see most AP classes at South disappearing with a new school. The classes (have a neighbor in the administration) are having enough trouble filling classes to a capacity that makes it feasible to have the classes as is. If you cut the number in half and put them in different schools, there's going to be some trouble keeping the classes afloat. Also, teachers in North Dakota aren't getting paid near what they get if they go across the border, so I don't see why there would be a large supply of teachers in the Fargo area, when they can go over the river to get a 10-15% (estimate) higher payroll. I am from Fargo of course, and I do dislike splitting our school into half, especially for the sake of our sports teams, but it just seems so radical to build a new school at this point. Quick tangent... After looking at the populations of the schools on wikipedia, I saw the alum links. Did you notice that in 7 seasons of America's Next Top Model, 2 of them were born in North Dakota. Weird. Maybe I'm just out of the loop.

Hm. Interesting. So what does everyone think? Positive or a negative for next years South team? I figured they'd be first or second next year, and don't see them as being much else. Is there any clue as to who the new coach will be?

Maybe I generalize a bit too much, however, I sincerely believe that the new school is a bad idea for Fargo. Beyond an athletic standpoint. If you look at schools across the board in states outside of ND, there are huge numbers of schools with over 1,500 kids in enrollment 10-12. I actually think a higher enrollment, to a certain extent, is for the better of the students. I believe with South's large enrollment, they are capable of housing numerous AP classes which would not fill enrollment elsewhere, and allow for more Junior Varsity participation than any other school in the state. If you also look at the statistics for population in the (Now) South school district, the graduating classes coming up are smaller and smaller, I believe at certain points dropping to about 400 students per year. That's 200 students down from previous years, when I would have thought it would be an ok idea to add the new school. I don't have a credible source to actually pinpoint the numbers, but if the population of a graduating class drops from 600 to 400 per year, and is then split in half by an additional school, isn't this going to completely ruin the benefits of having a larger school? There will not be higher level classes available to students wishing to excel, and a graduating class of 200 down from 600 is going to have a serious problem in athletics. I do not see any larger youth programs in sports such as football, hockey, baseball, etc popping up, getting more kids interested. This means the same amount of people that were going to play for South are going to play split onto different teams, and there will not be enough to fill the spots, and ruin the balance of sporting events, and may easily cause troubles for teams trying to provide a plausible group of kids. Maybe it will even out, 10-20 years from now, but I foresee this as being a huge mistake. If I had been asked personally what I would do, I would have left it. But it wasn't my decision, and I'll have to live with it, I guess. Yay for more taxes! Bring em on! I was also wondering, where are they going to find all these new coaches and staff, since it's pretty limited around here. I sense quite a few problems arising.

Yeah, if you thought adding a new high school in a shrinking enrollment and a huge boom to taxes would be impossible, ask South Fargo how that's working out. As far as I know, none of the parents/students/teachers/other citizens want another High School, and I'm pretty sure that South's enrollment will fall below a lot of the other larger schools in the state. The new Davies' High will also have all the higher priced homes (the farther south in Fargo you go, the higher price of homes, generally), meaning South High will be filled with all the lower income families, seperating even more the distinction between the city. It was a bad choice overall, and look how easily Davies' was scheduled to be built. Edit: To the previous poster, it just goes to show you about all the condescending names. South High School will now be in the middle of the city, and Davies will be the farthest south by far. Maybe South will go back to Central High School?

Wow, that is the worst giant brick wall of text I have ever attempted to read. I think my eyes are actually bleeding right now.

Made the front page of the sports section in the Fargo Fool'em...

Now that's how you get a high post count. Hahahaha.

I was thinking of starting this thread the instant the state champ was determined, but decided against it. ^.^ My picks for the top 3 teams, in no particular order; Grand Forks Central, Fargo South, Grafton - Park River.

That's why you shouldn't speculate so early. RR played close games with GPR, DL (on one occasion), Roseau and Fargo South, among others. GPR even beat them twice. Sorry for quoting you riders, but you're the first one to post like this (of many), and it's these kinds of posts I find as worthless, because I'm just waiting for the 2008-2009 thread to start with similar posts. Good call on the 2 Mr. Hockey finalists though. Oh, and yes that was a pretty obvious too many men on the ice. However, as happens all the time with refs, they miss calls and miscall penalties. As there is no video replay in NDHS hockey, they couldn't do anything about it because none of the refs saw it. Tough luck for RR, but it happens to teams all the time, not just RR, and you can't change it now. I can guarantee those refs are getting ripped into by their higher-ups for that one.

Honestly, you put it a little harshly, but I do agree. As for Minnesota girls hockey, they have quite a bit of developmental programs and a lot of competition that goes into their programs. Although I know the ND Girls teams put a lot into it, I find it's more of a nuissance to accomodate for girls' hockey when the skill level is not up to par. Many of the players I have seen didn't start playing Hockey until high school, whereas many boys players around the country that start at ages of 4-5 years old can struggle making their high school teams, not to mention the varsity program. In honor of the amount of work and the bearing hockey has to get to the boys' varsity level, and being competitive, I find it only fair that the Boys' retain a seperate and full state tournament, as it has been in the past. Splitting the state tournament into Boys' and Girls', while also taking more than half of the games and placing them in a non-equal facility as they have been in the past seems demeaning to the game. Yes, promote girls' hockey and make it a better program, but do not do so at the expense of the Boys'. It's hard not to seem harsh towards the girls', and I mean not to. I just find it unexcusable to have State in Grand Forks every year, if they are not going to use the Ralph Engelstad to its full potential and purpose. Otherwise, I find that the Boys' bracketology is fair to the state as a whole, and don't see the need for a change to it.

Haha, I had to laugh at that one. But Fargo North took first and West Fargo took second in girls hockey.

2008 North Dakota State High School Hockey Championship Final [#1] Red River Roughriders (23-2-1) 2 vs. [#2] Grafton - Park River Spoilers (21-5-0) 3 Game Attendance: 4121 Mr. Hockey - Ryan Ladouceur 1st Period: 10:27 1st Period Grafton - Park River goal; Tyler Lindell (Tyler Vold, Adam Schaefer) ES 15:16 1st Period Red River goal; Keith Howe (Ryan LaDouceur, Jarrett Galbreath) ES End of First Red River 1 (11 Shots, 6 Scoring chances, 12 Faceoffs won, 2 penalties) Grafton - Park River 1 (11 Shots, 3 Scoring chances, 12 Faceoffs won, 2 penalties) Grafton starts 2nd period on the power play. 2nd Period 2:36 2nd Period Red River goal; Nick Schaefer (Ryan LaDouceur) ES End of Second Red River 2 (12 [23] Shots, 7 [13] Scoring chances, 11 [23] Faceoffs won, 1 penalty) Grafton - Park River 1 (8 [19] Shots, 5 [8] Scoring chances, 10 [22] Faceoffs won, 0 penalties) 3rd Period 9:14 3rd Period Grafton - Park River goal; Tanner Anderson (Chad Demers) PP End of Third Red River 2 (6 [29] Shots, 4 [17] Scoring chances, 8 [31] Faceoffs won, 1 penalty) Grafton - Park River 2 (10 [29] Shots, 4 [12] Scoring chances, 8 [30] Faceoffs won, 0 penalties) End of First Overtime Red River 2 ([34] Shots) Grafton - Park River 2 ([34] Shots) End of Second Overtime Red River 2 Grafton - Park River 2 Third Overtime Grafton - Park River goal; Chad Demers (Gaustad, Mohagen) End of Third Overtime Red River 2 Grafton - Park River 3

I find that the kids should be free to do as they wish, within obvious limitations. Extreme cursing, public disruption (such as running all over the place and making a serious disturbance to those around) and interference with the games themselves should be enforced. If it's not a serious problem, it's making it a bigger problem than it is by addressing it. After reading this thread, I remember and article I was shown at one of the South games from their schools newspaper regarding the subject. Can't remember where I put the article, if anyone else can find it, but I found it intriguing.

I say we let them play it out at state in front of us all, then you make a decision on who's better. I'm assuming none of you have seen them both play, so the opinions are pretty invalid.

Because Fargo is a hockey town now, the newspaper article said so!

EDC Results Game 1 - 2:00 PM Fargo North Spartans - 5 Devils Lake Firebirds - 4 Fargo North takes 4th seed into state. Play Bismark High School first round. Game 2 - 5:00 PM Fargo South Bruins - 4 Grand Forks Central Knights - 2 Fargo South takes 3rd seed into state. Play Williston High School first round. Game 3 - 7:30 PM Red River Roughriders - 3 Grafton - Park River - 0 Red River takes 1st seed into state. Play Century High School first round Grafton - Park River takes 2nd seed into state. Play Mandan High School first round

Would you have said the same thing about GPR a week ago if they were in South's place? Don't attack his predictions when you haven't made one that's near as specific. Thinking a team is not as good as you is the best way to lose to that team.

There is always a tryout going on between Varsity and JV. At practice every day a coach can move a player between the two at his own will. A tryout is were you seperate players not just from JV/Varsity, but from the team as a whole. Maybe he set aside the practices to determine the differences between his players more, but I wouldn't consider it a tryout unless he's bringing new players in and kicking out some, which as I believe is not allowed during the season.

Funny though, it fits almost everything posted on forums.

Yes Mr. 1 Post, because I've said anything about coach Bina in any of my posts? Sheesh. Looks like DL is losing their chance at top 4 in EDC, South beat them 8-0, RR beat them 9-1, lost to GPR 6-1, adding losses against North and Central also. Doesn't look like they'll have a break either, they play South on Tuesday.

You assume I'm a South fan? Alright. Because I don't support your favorite team like everyone else here worships RR I must be a fan of the team I think can beat them? I live in Fargo, but here's a big surprise, I was born and raised in GF! If I seem to talk a lot more about the Fargo metro teams, it's because I have a better opportunity to see their games in person than I do GF games, which I do on occasion go up to see. Oh, and I don't live in south Fargo. That must be difficult to grasp. I know you are bitter that there is hockey outside of Grand Forks in ND, but you don't have to hound me down in several different threads and try to attack me over it. I did make a remark on the Minnhock forums about that game. I wasn't at the game, but I was listening to the entire game on an internet feed. RR missed their chances, let Roseau stay in it, and in the end let a bad call have them tie/lose a game with ~24 second left. I call it 'choking', just like when the South team 'choked' at state just a few years back and lost in the 3rd. Don't be so offended by someone posting something you don't like. Anyways, GPR beat South 2-0, so GPR is locked in #1-2 and South is at highest #3 if they win-out. As long as RR beats GPR, they are locked up as #1 if they win-out. EDC looks like it's getting set up now with only a couple of weeks to go.

I think most of the posts in this forum are brutal, but that's besides the point. Grafton @ South 1/24/08 GFRR @ Grafton 2/09/08 Games to look forward to before state.

Posts like that are why I dislike a lot of forumers in genre-based forums. Was kinda ignored, but I'll reiterate here: Thoughts?

Soohockey, it's very difficult to see your bias towards Red River, but I may have seen some in your posts. Do I think Red River will take state this year? Likely. Does that mean they will? No. RR has the most skill, but there are teams that can knock them off when they work hard. I think Nodak hit the nail on the head with that one. Anyways, coming from the NorthDakotaPreps.com site: http://northdakotapreps.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4270 Girls Championship Game - 11:30 am (Ralph Engelstad Arena) Bemidji State at UND Fighting Sioux Game - 3:35 pm (Ralph Engelstad Arena) Boys Championship Game - 8:00 pm (Ralph Engelstad Arena) I don't like that the 3rd place Boys' game is in the Pur Pur, but putting the Boys' State title game after a Sioux game actually sounds like a good idea. It'd increase turnout for the tournament game and I think it'd be a boost to the state's high school hockey. (Though there is a 1-2 hour gap between) Any thoughts?

Ironic this thread is brought up during the coldest part of the winter we've had so far. Bad timing. ^.^