roper1313 Posted January 26, 2004 Share Posted January 26, 2004 Not Sioux related, but thought some of you might be interested. Come to Fargo and see future Sioux recruits at the Fargo Flyer International Squirt Tournament. Date: 1/26/04 To: All Fargo-Moorhead Media From: Fargo Flyers Hockey Club Re: News Release Fargo ,ND Fargo Flyers to Host 20th Annual Squirt International Hockey Tournament & Twist! Fargo Flyers International Tournament committee is proud to announce that the Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottM Posted January 26, 2004 Share Posted January 26, 2004 Great ... now some 'SU alum will probably try to use it as a spitoon or as a feed bucket for their mule ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sioux fan in phoenix Posted January 26, 2004 Share Posted January 26, 2004 Good for Fargo--perhaps Blais will do some advanced scouting from the shadows for the 2014-15 class If you know some of the past winners, pls. share. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skateshattrick Posted January 26, 2004 Share Posted January 26, 2004 Good for Fargo--perhaps Blais will do some advanced scouting from the shadows for the 2014-15 class If you know some of the past winners, pls. share. Brady Murray played in the Fargo Flyers Squirt tournament while living in Winnipeg. Patrick Roy's sons played here, and Patrick Roy and one of his teammates from the Avalanche signed autographs. Ray Borque's son played here a few years ago for Littleton. Peter Mueller, who is the "youngster" who committed to the Gophers in 2006 played here for Bloomington Jefferson. These are just a few examples. This is a really great tournament, probably the best squirt tournament in the US, if not North America. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roper1313 Posted January 26, 2004 Author Share Posted January 26, 2004 I played in the inagural squirt tournament and I know that it was won by the GF squirt team led by none other than Jason Blake. If my memory serves me correct Grand Forks won the first two or three. If you want to know who's going to be the top HS schools in MN come watch these squirts and see which MN team dominates. Very often this team competes for the State title in 6 or 7 years. It would be neat to find out but I am sure countless Div. one players have come through this tournament. With the way Michigan and Minnesota are recruiting the youngsters don't be suprise if they get a couple of verbals out of this tournament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UND Fan Posted January 26, 2004 Share Posted January 26, 2004 roper - Thanks for informing us about the tourney. That is great that such a tourney is held nearby - I would bet that there will be some future Sioux players taking part! But wouldn't Jason Blake have been playing for a Moorhead team? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sioux fan in phoenix Posted January 26, 2004 Share Posted January 26, 2004 With the way Michigan and Minnesota are recruiting the youngsters don't be suprise if they get a couple of verbals out of this tournament. Agreed, & they can probably entice them with some Happy Meals or gift certificates to Toys-R-Us. Thx roper & skates--this helps me understand the tourney a little better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roper1313 Posted January 26, 2004 Author Share Posted January 26, 2004 roper - Thanks for informing us about the tourney. That is great that such a tourney is held nearby - I would bet that there will be some future Sioux players taking part! But wouldn't Jason Blake have been playing for a Moorhead team? UND Fan- Jason's family moved to Moorhead his 8th or 9th grade year, he played most of his youth hockey for Grand Forks North (Central). Quite the pick up for Moorhead. I was hoping he'd join us at Fargo South but considering how bad we got our a$$ kicked by Moorhead in HS I think he made the right choice. Siouxfaninphoenix- If you want the low down on the tournament let me know. I started posting a discripiton of how it is actually 5 tournaments in one but was getting long winded. I try to catch a couple of cames every year. The squirt olympics is a spectical. 1000's of people watching squirts do NHL All-Star skill competitions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UND Fan Posted January 26, 2004 Share Posted January 26, 2004 roper - Thanks for reminding me about when the Blake's moved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jloos Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 GF won the tourny a few times until they made a rule they cannot have 'all-star' teams. GF combined their top players. The year I played in it, GF won it. I believe that was the second year they had it. I coached in it a few years ago and Edina won it. I know Spokane WA has won it as well as a team from CA. After GF's streak Bloomington Jefferson won it a few times. I heard the Flyers almost won it a few years ago. South is going to have some good teams in the next few years. Too bad the same cannot be said for North Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fedorov Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Roper, what year did you graduate from Fargo South? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozone Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 The Parise brothers played in this tournament. Jordan played in 1994 and Zach, I believe, in 1995. They were still living in Bloomington at the time. If memory serves me, I think each team placed very high in the tournament, perhaps playing in the championship game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fifth Line Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 2 million dollar economic impact and teams from all over the country? I thought Bison fans claim Fargo is not a hockey town? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BisonMav Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 2 million dollar economic impact and teams from all over the country? I thought Bison fans claim Fargo is not a hockey town? Let me know the attendance if you happen to go to any of the games. From the total attendance, how many are fans not related to any of the teams in the tourney? The World Fastpitch Tourney in Fargo this summer will be a bigger draw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sioux fan in phoenix Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 You'd think that having a strong youth tournament for the last 20 years would translate to more successful high school teams in Fargo. It sounds like Fargo has strong grassroots support/good #s/decent success at the peewee, squirt & bantam levels but maybe not so at the h.s. level. Maybe I'm off-base & someone who lives there can set me straight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fedorov Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 OK, you got me into this debate now. Fargo is not that much of a hockey town, but it could become one. If Central plays Red River, about 50% of GF knows about it. If South plays North, about 15% knows about it. Regarding the business and such of Fargo, would you want to start hockey to make it a corporate social event like it has become at UND, and has been at UM for a long time? There is a different between hockey doing well moneywise and Fargo becoming a hockey town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roper1313 Posted January 27, 2004 Author Share Posted January 27, 2004 You'd think that having a strong youth tournament for the last 20 years would translate to more successful high school teams in Fargo. It sounds like Fargo has strong grassroots support/good #s/decent success at the peewee, squirt & bantam levels but maybe not so at the h.s. level. Maybe I'm off-base & someone who lives there can set me straight. Coaching, somehow the biggest school in ND can't make it to state in the past three or four years . For those of you who don't follow ND HS hockey there are only16-20 HS teams in the entire state. Federov- I graduated in '93, my sister in '95. You a fellow Bruin? I think Redwing77 is a '95 grad. As far as Fargo being a hockey town. If you expand to Fargo-Moorhead it definately is. Moorhead is drawing over 2000 for their home games this year. They are currently ranked 4th and beat previously unbeaten and Class A #1 ranked Waroad 4-1 on Saturday up in Warroad. Which is not an easy thing to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fedorov Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 The question still remains on who can go to the games. UND is raising tickets constantly, and not there are open seats for almost every game. I realize that people in Fargo are paid better, but it is still an issue. South class of 96. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skateshattrick Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Let me know the attendance if you happen to go to any of the games. From the total attendance, how many are fans not related to any of the teams in the tourney? The World Fastpitch Tourney in Fargo this summer will be a bigger draw. Who cares if they are related to any of the teams in the tourney? There are 64 B teams and 32 A teams from all over the US and Canada that spend an awful lot of money at hotels, restaurants, etc. The economic impact is much higher than the National Fastpitch Softball tournament. Besides, you are comparing apples and oranges. Hockey does not compete with fastpitch softball. In terms of participation and economic impact, hockey is bigger than basketball in Fargo and much bigger than wrestling (although the National Wrestling tournament has also done well for Fargo). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwing77 Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skateshattrick Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fedorov Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 I think Fargo South has a great coach. I agree that there needs to be better arenas and the mindset needs to change in Fargo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jloos Posted January 27, 2004 Share Posted January 27, 2004 Who cares if they are related to any of the teams in the tourney? There are 64 B teams and 32 A teams from all over the US and Canada that spend an awful lot of money at hotels, restaurants, etc. Every year I was involved w/ the tourney the A division had double the teams, not that it matters. Fargo South could become a hockey powerhouse over the next few years. Their JV team beat Moorhead, which was Moorheads first loss at the JV level in 2 seasons. No Fargo school will ever be at Moorhead's level unless they reconfigure how the youth organizations are run. I could go on for hours about Fargo youth hockey, I coached their for 5 years. In short, it boils down to politics. My cousin is very skilled (don't know why I missed the genes) and played on the Raider 'A' team every year. When he was a second year bantam, his select coaches told him he should play high school if he wanted to continue improving. He tried out for North and the parents had a hissy fit - how could a 9th grader play above our precious child they cried. Even though his skill level would probably put him on the first varsity line he played first line JV where he played 1 or 2 periods of JV and sat on the bench for varsity. The next select camp he went to the coaches told him he had gotten worse. He stuck it out one more year, then transferred to Moorhead. My point is the coaching in Moorhead's youth system starts with the high school coaches. They all coach the same style and the kids play solely on ability, not how much the parents complain. The few North and South games I've to this year all I hear is the parents complaining about how their precious is a star and should get more icetime. The Moorhead games I've gone to this year the talk is about how good or bad the team is, not the individual kid. I could go on and on with this subject. If anyone else wants to discuss local hockey maybe the thread should be moved off the Sioux hockey board? I don't mind keeping it here if nobody else has any problems though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwing77 Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 I have a son that plays on one of the Fargo All-City mites teams. They played against a couple of mites teams from Moorhead back in December and got schooled. They didn't keep score, but it was really ugly. What disgusted me was the attitudes of some of the parents of the Moorhead kids. They were making some comments about how they couldn't believe how bad our players are. At one point in the game my son's team had every player on the ice in the crease trying to help out my son who was playing goalie, and somehow the Moorhead team was still able to get the puck in the net. I heard some guy behind us say "Geez! They have six goalies and still can't make a save!" I was thinking that takes a lot of nerve to talk like that about a bunch of 8-year olds who are out there doing their best and supposedly playing for fun. I hope what some of you guys are saying is true about the Fargo youth program getting better. I think the new Southwest Arena is a step in the right direction. My son is actually a pretty good goalie for his age, but he gave up about 10-12 goals against the Moorhead team. He also probably made about 40 to 50 saves, some of them pretty tough saves. All the other kids were praising him for doing such a good job, but he was pretty down on himself because he gave up so many goals. He was almost crying on the way home. Poor kid, I felt so bad for him. It could have been worse. Some parents out east got into a similar arguement about their 12 or 13 year olds on the ice over a check. One parent ended up dead. I don't know what we can do about this kind of thing. It's not the kids' faults that their parents are morons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jloos Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 It could have been worse. Some parents out east got into a similar arguement about their 12 or 13 year olds on the ice over a check. One parent ended up dead. I don't know what we can do about this kind of thing. It's not the kids' faults that their parents are morons. Very true, there are going to be idiot parents everywhere. I was not trying to say that the MHD parents are better than Fargo parents. Just the Moorhead coaches do not give in to these whining parents, like the Fargo (North anyway) coaching staff does. The mentality in North Fargo is, the same 17 kids that play squirt A's should be the varsity team. As anyone familiar with hockey knows, often times a kid can be a great squirt player and never get much better. Likewise the worse Pee-Wee can be one of the better high school players. Look at a Raider bantam A and B game sometime. I guarantee you will see 3-4 players on these teams that should be switched. But if a kids Dad complains enough or is on the board of directers or throws around enough money, junior is going to be on that A team, even if he rides the bench the entire year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.