2009 - 2010 ND High School Hockey

[star2city]

Fargo South can kiss goodbye to any chance at a state title for the foreseeable future. With the 3rd high school opening up, Fargo will have three Fargo North caliber teams.

Isn't West Fargo voting on a high school split soon? Maybe Wahpeton-Breckenridge could become competitive in a Fargo-area league?

Could see Bismarck and Century replacing Fargo schools as powers in hockey .

[nodak hockey fanatic]

3 out of 4 teams in semis from the west... good for the west and good for nd hockey! agree about bhs and century continuing to be strong programs. minot is still a HUGE enrollment and will not be splitting, which with alot of the bigger areas splitting up will be a big advantage. and don't sleep on williston... they are building a strong program and have one heck of a coach at the helm. hey, they could be in the championship saturday. the question still remains, who if anyone can beat central?

[fightingsioux4life]

Basically the current fargo south team will be entirely playing for Davies, and Davies will very soon be the dominant program in the state. Look at youth hockey and how dominant the flyers have been for years and years. Also, North will be incredibly deep in about 2-3 years. I don't know if they'll win state, but they will not be the bottom feeders they have been, they have numbers currently in bantams. WF is a sleeping giant... they have soooo many kids, but a poorly run program.

Right now there is serious discussions in the Fargo youth hockey community about what to do with the youth programs. I think what you'll soon see is something along the lines of what bismarck and gf do. Fargo is looking at how to make the game more accessable for the players in the middle of town whom haven't played since park board hockey disbanded.

I saw something in the Heraldo recently that South and Davies were going to co-op in some sports (including boy's hockey) because neither school would have the numbers to have teams of their own. If so, I don't think either of those schools will be dominant in the state anytime soon.

As for the dominance of Fargo youth hockey "for years and years", it hasn't translated into State Championships at the High School level. I remember a few years ago Fargo South fans were on this forum talking about winning "the next four to five State Titles" and being "the best high school in North Dakota" and blah, blah, blah. And the last time I checked, the all-powerful FSH Bruins have a grand total of three State Championships (1994, 1999 and 2006). That's it. If that's dominance, I've got some oceanfront property in Wyoming I want to sell you. The Grafton-Park River Spoilers (whom I am not fond of either) have five State Championships. That must bruise the "Imperial Cass County" ego to be chasing little Grafton-Park River in anything!

As for North, I don't know what will change the sorry state of their program except a big demographic shift in Fargo that will bring more families to the north end of town. Like in Grand Forks, most of the growth in Fargo is on the south end and that is where most of the hockey-playing kids are. But I guess we will find out.

[BringDeanBack]

Basically the current fargo south team will be entirely playing for Davies, and Davies will very soon be the dominant program in the state. Look at youth hockey and how dominant the flyers have been for years and years. Also, North will be incredibly deep in about 2-3 years. I don't know if they'll win state, but they will not be the bottom feeders they have been, they have numbers currently in bantams. WF is a sleeping giant... they have soooo many kids, but a poorly run program.

Right now there is serious discussions in the Fargo youth hockey community about what to do with the youth programs. I think what you'll soon see is something along the lines of what bismarck and gf do. Fargo is looking at how to make the game more accessable for the players in the middle of town whom haven't played since park board hockey disbanded.

Yep, and all those dominant Fargo Flyers kids are the same kids that lost to Williston yesterday....maybe not so dominant. Every year, Grand Forks has two Bantam A teams that are right with the Flyers. Also, as far as North being deep, deep is only good if it is deep quality, North must be considered an afterthought until they actually prove something. I do agree with you on West Fargo, with their numbers they should be consistently good rather than just make State once every 10 years...must be a coaching/program thing.

It is no secret the difference between Grand Forks and Fargo hockey, Fargo South to be particular. In Grand Forks, every kid gets a legitimate chance to play for teams through the Bantam level. Grand Forks routinely has 2 Bantam A teams, and three Bantam B teams (well, recently they have been rolling with 2 B teams and a A2 team, which is a best of the B's type of team). Yes some of these kids are A all the way through, but there also are alot of B kids that are able to make the jump to A. Fargo South/Flyers start out at the early youth level with lots of teams, but by the time they hit Bantams, they are down to one Bantam A and one Bantam B. Why? Because the A players are so set in stone at such a young age, that parents/players get disgruntled and they drop out of the Flyers system. When even a few of those Flyers A kids hit their plateau, then there are no "Late Bloomer" kids behind them to take their spot since they quit years back.

[jloos]

From what I have seen in WF, there youth program is set up great, but run poorly. There are a ton of kids in WF, but still not huge numbers play hockey. Ryan Hale lives about a block away from me and I think he has kids about my kids' age. Maybe all WF needs is someone like him to get involved. Having a former Sioux player involved could not hurt enrollment. Also WF hockey is much cheaper for families given they are nicely funded by charitable gaming.

The Fargo people whining about low numbers on the southside are full of BS. There are currently three junior gold (or whatever they call it now) teams in Fargo. If they have enough HS kids for three full high school teams outside of the HS league they certainly have the numbers to have a program at both Davies and South.

North Fargo has been destroyed by low numbers. A client has a kid on the Pee-Wee A team that has been blown out nearly every game this year. Last time I talked to him they had lost every league game, including Valley City/Jamestown and Dickinson. There was a shift in N Fargo where younger families wanted new houses for cheap, none of which were built on the N side. From what I have seen this may be shifting back and younger families are now coming back to the N side. Hopefully they can get their numbers up in the next few year.

[The Sicatoka]

Ryan Hale lives about a block away from me and I think he has kids about my kids' age.

I thought Ryan Hale was working with Fargo North.

[Wilbur]

Three West teams advancing in the first round may be one of the best things to ever happen for this tourney. Hopefully it's a sign that the west is catching up, meaning hockey is getting deeper in the state. But I'm with you on the Central comment, if they don't win, it's a huge upset.

Completely agree with this statement. For the last twenty years it seems as if the state tournament has been an add on of the EDC tournament. I attended all the games yesterday and they were all fair outcomes. BHS played horribly (Peluso even admitted it) and got by a West Fargo team that beat Red River. Williston's goaltender probably stole them a game, but they did stand up and play toe to toe with South all game long. Century dominated Grafton, and they were almost on the wrong end of the scoreboard as Offutt (I think thats his name) stood on his head the entire game.

Central will win the state championship, but hopefully this is a sign that there is a bit more parity in the state. A team to look out for next year (other than Central) is Bismarck Century. They have a ton of underclassmen with a lot of skill. After Central, I thought they were the best puck control team yesterday, and the second best skating team after Central as well.

Today's Predictions:

Central over BC 5-1

BHS over Williston 3-2 OT

[darell1976]

I agree. Go Central. It was fun back in our day darell1976

Except in the 1994 state title game...Damn Fargo South.