Johnny Five

Bantam AA state in GF the same weekend as HS state tournament as well...3 whole teams at least.

If that's the case, in stand alone weekends, make it the Ralph. If it's going to be a combo girls boys weekend it needs to be Fargo.

If they go to stand alone tournaments, the boys would be just fine going back and forth from GF and Fargo. All games played on the main sheet of ice. Stand alone for girls...attendance will be crushed but whatever...you could have it in GF, Fargo, Minot and at that rate, the VFW1 could accommodate it as well.

If you want to see a dungeon and the Ralph, wait until the girls tournament fires up on Wednesday this year.

Island in the middle of nowhere is in relation to schools in town that have hockey teams. Minot has one. Bismarck/Mandan has 4. Fargo/WF has 5. It makes a difference in relation to the state tournament and casual fans. If (insert team name) Sheyenne doesn't make state, I highly doubt they're driving to Minot to casually watch. Fargo/GF also draw more hockey fans within a close radius. The cowboys out west aren't randomly going to watch hockey kids they don't know.

I got a kid who's played 2x at Scheels and one time at the Ralph. He said he literally doesn't care whether it's in Fargo or GF. I think the Ralph "dream" is overstated. Now if it was a full house like at the X in MN? Sure.

Minot didn't draw well because 1. It's girls hockey. 2. There's zero other schools within 100 miles. 3. Competed with WDA boys and girls basketball on the same weekend, which is a no-no out west. WDA is significantly better in Bismarck for atmosphere because the VFW is packed for every game. You have 4 schools in the metro and 3 others within 100 miles. Minot...facilty wise...would be fine and the great employees and staff at MAYSA would kill it. If the boys state went there, the atmosphere would be fantastic, I'm guessing a full house with standing room only. Attendance would be down because it's on an island in the middle of nowhere.

Minot would easily be able to host but attendance would also be way down - numbers wise. They did the girls there 2 years ago and it was a ghost town except for when Minot played. Fargo flat out has the best setup going.

As a fan I love the Fargo setup. Also, the atmosphere is way better.

https://medium.com/@Tannercastora/south-dakota-states-quinten-christensen-and-chase-mason-rallying-program-during-uncertain-times-a8335d4936a8 Long article but also some interesting insight - maybe cut throat - from a couple SDSU returning players regarding the portal, loyalty and the like. It truly is a dog eat dog world out there.

Take a gander at the girls standings. North is obviously at the top with 25 points. Teams seeded 2 through 7 have 20, 19 or 18 points...all just a puck bounce away from each other in the standings. Davies has 9, Willy has 9 and Dicky has 8 in the battle for the final spot. Jamestown has 3 and DL has 1. This is going to come down to the wire. A lot of surprises to me with the girls this season, but the biggest so far is Minot. The coaching staff has done a fantastic job with this team after losing their first 5 games of the season, they've won 6 straight and it should be 7 with Willy tonight and who knows Friday with North coming to town and Keneigh Fischer being gone with Team USA overseas. Brynn Hanson (on of the best CC runners in Class B state history) has put herself on the map as a top 1-3 forward in the state and should be a D1 hockey player.

The absolute wildest stat in the WDA is that Minot hasn't hoisted the post season trophy since like 2006 - not sure on the exact year but it's somewhere around there. Pretty mind blowing if you ask me. WDA in Minot this year, they're gonna want it bad. But as we see every year....there's a reason the games are played. Sidebar: Red River comes to Legacy in a couple weeks for a rare, second half crossover. Could be an interesting game.

Minot on a mission to run the table in the west. Legacy over Jamestown 6-2. LHS broke a 2-2 tie with 6 seconds left in the 2nd and it went haywire from there. Jamestown controlled plenty of the play and will definitely be a factor come WDA.

He absolutely did. Put it on his horses and his horses delivered.

Vigen blew it at the end of the 1st half. Actually, perhaps the entire first half. Mellott didn't get asked to throw much in the first half, but when he did he looked like he was throwing with the wrong hand. He heated up in the second half, but when they NEEDED to score, the Bison got the one stop of the half they needed and Mellott threw another grenade on that drive. Lance gonna get paid and Polacek's stay in Fargo will be a short one.

Friday the 3rd. BOYS: Grafton at Jamestown Girls: Davies at CHS Girls: Willy at North Girls: Mandan at WFU Girls: GF at Dicky ------------------ Friday the 4th Boys: Mayport at Hazen Boys: DL at Mandan Boys: Bott at Legacy Girls: GF at Legacy Girls: Minot at Jamestown Girls: Willy at WFU Girls: Davies at Dicky

Mandan and Jamestown will also be in the mix and if you catch Dickinson on the wrong day in a one and done format with Kadrmas in the net, watch out. CHS-Legacy was a great game last night. CHS controlled play for the most part, shots were lopsided. Legacy did a good job of limiting high quality chances and hanging around after a terrible 1st period - or a great 1st period for CHS however you wanna say it. CHS 2 goals, oddly enough, came at the end of PK when Legacy had forward as last man, and it ended up in the net both times. Legacy had darn near a full 5x3 in the final half of the 3rd and CHS did a great job keeping them outside and limiting chances. CHS has 3 guys that are tough match-ups and they made the difference. Good crowd/atmosphere for a Bismarck game.

1-0 Davies 4-0 Bott 2-1 CHS. Wins over Jamestown, Mandan and LHS...the 2 seed is CHS in the west from here, 8 Ws in a row, Ole has 'em rolling. 6-0 BHS 10-2 GFC. Ouch. 8-2 WF 2-0 Sheyenne

Busy night. Thursday the 2nd, for the gentlemen: Detroit Lakes at Davies Bott at Willy Century at Legacy BHS at Hazen North at GFC South at WF Sheyenne at Devils Lake Satans

When this Minot High group of Seniors was in Bantams, Morelli moved up to HS as a Freshman. So Minot decided they'd get killed in AA hockey and opted to play Bantam A (someone correct me if I'm wrong). Doesn't look like it really affected their development, does it? Geography and AA hockey in central to western North Dakota is a joke...put the egos away and do it right. I'd rather see 3 A teams and 2 B1 teams at PW and Bantams in Bismarck for example. Minot should easily have 2 teams in PW and Bantams.

They could easily split numbers wise. Issue perhaps is, where do kids go to school? I believe Minot "grandfathered" kids into schools. They've have to take the North/High boundary map and draw it as a hard line. Minot boys, WF girls. Rip the band aid off.

Monday Girls: Mandan 1-0 over Jamestown North 8-0 over DL Minot 4-2 over Legacy. Minot on a 5 game heater after dropping the first 5 of the season.

To round out the 2024 ND HS Hockey Schedule: MONDAY (no boys games) Girls: Minot at Legacy-Bismarck Girls: Mandan at Jamestown Girls: North at Devils Lake TUESDAY (no girls games) Boys: Davies at RR Boys: Sheyenne at GFC

Crazy to see after the loyalty Stig brought to the program....I'm guessing he thought it would be a long term transition. 2 years later, Rodgers cleans house of the program and the staff. What will be interesting is how many players head west with him....including the backup QB, who was getting the keys handed to him. Jacks fans are reacting like Bison fans did when Bohl left. POd...confused...No we are used to it. With winning comes the bag, and the bag trumps all in life.

Lake of the Woods is awful. Roseau is down but still a nice win. Armstrong Cooper ranked right behind Roseau in the 40s for AA hockey in MN. But yes...winning is contagious and Minot is undefeated going into the New Year. They remain clear favorites in the west and should make it back to back years with a Thursday win at the state tournament. That being said...split em up.