Minor MIRACLE ON ICE - Thanks Burgraffs!

[SiouxMeNow]

Don't know if anyone caught it or really cares but last weekends EDC HS Hockey tourney at the Ralph was a great triumph for the true hockey spririt. Fargo Shanley - only in their 2nd year as an independent HS team came into the tourney as the #7 seed but managed to upset Red River (#2), take Fargo South (#3) to OT in the second round, then lose a heartbreaker to Grafton Park River (#4) in the state qualifying game. This coming in with only 4 wins on the season. They outworked RR, were outgunned (and came back) against Fargo South and ditto against GPR. Two shorthanded goals in the third when they were down 2...even though they didn't make State - best wishes to the Shanley program and their coaches - the Burgraff brothers - in the future. They've got great things ahead for a young program and thanks for a great run. Anyone else catch it?

[CoteauRinkRat]

I found myself pulling for them and hoping they would pull out saturday's game. They really did play well in the region tournament. I wish them good luck next year.

[Fedorov]

Did you see Schmitt working this weekend? I have never seen a hooking penalty called for tying up someone's stick.

[petey11]

Along with Frank and Rick Burggraf, two other coaches that should be mentioned are Mark Pivetz and Tim Graveline. Way to go Shanley...It was definitely an exciting tournament!!

[Fedorov]

If we are going to talk about coaches, Dean Wilson got Fargo South to a second seed. They haven't played well in a few years, and he has them turned around now. It is pretty hard to do with all that talk on here about Fargo not being a hockey town.

[skateshattrick]

Don't know if anyone caught it or really cares but last weekends EDC HS Hockey tourney at the Ralph was a great triumph for the true hockey spririt. Fargo Shanley - only in their 2nd year as an independent HS team came into the tourney as the #7 seed but managed to upset Red River (#2), take Fargo South (#3) to OT in the second round, then lose a heartbreaker to Grafton Park River (#4) in the state qualifying game. This coming in with only 4 wins on the season. They outworked RR, were outgunned (and came back) against Fargo South and ditto against GPR. Two shorthanded goals in the third when they were down 2...even though they didn't make State - best wishes to the Shanley program and their coaches - the Burgraff brothers - in the future. They've got great things ahead for a young program and thanks for a great run. Anyone else catch it?

Thanks for the kind words! Frank and Rick Burggraf and Tim Graveline did a great job.

The Grafton game was in double OT with Shanley playing shorthanded most of the 3rd. If Shanley was fresh, there is no doubt in my mind that they would have beaten Grafton. Grafton played the earlier game, and got to play Wahpeton in the 2nd round while Shanley got South. South had to come back to win, getting a powerplay goal with about 4 minutes left to tie and another in OT to win on 2 very questionable calls. The boys battled hard despite the adversity.

Don't read too much into the wins and losses. Shanley only played each East Region team once, and most on the road. They lost to RR in OT, Grafton on a late goal after leading in the 3rd, and played without Pete Fylling for 1/2 of the year. Shanley played EGF a week before EDC and lost 4-3. EGF beat and tied Central and beat RR. Shanley also played Warroad, Baudette/LOW, Coleraine, Totino-Grace and Osseo, so they played a tough non-conference schedule. They also beat Minneapolis SW and Brooklyn Center.

I hope that at least people got to see Kyle Graalum. He is the best player in the State not playing for GF Central. Only Moreland and McIntyre are arguably better.

[jloos]

Along with Frank and Rick Burggraf, two other coaches that should be mentioned are Mark Pivetz and Tim Graveline. Way to go Shanley...It was definitely an exciting tournament!!

I believe Tim Graveline is the head coach, Shanley did win a few more games than reported. I had a lot of fun watching them play. They a lot of 'B' youth players that would never get a shot to play at North or South, including 2 on the first line. In my five years of coaching youth hockey in Fargo, South has 2 kids I coached, North has 1 and Shanley has 8, needless to say I was pulling for Shanley also.

Kyle Graalum may be the best player in the state, he is one of 2 or 3 high school seniors in ND that will be playing in the USHL next year. He would have led all scorers in the tourny if not for the Central players beating Whap/Breck 16-0.

South has a ton of talent, not sure how much credit I'd give to Wilson. They did not appear to get better as the season went on, they beat Shanley 12-1 the first time they played, 6-5 in ot the second, 7-1 over North the first game, 4-4 tie the second. On the other hand South has 2 more titles under Wilson than any other coach they've had. He does seem to get the job done when he has the talent (more than I can say for Donny Smith )

Laduceur and the guy with the wicked mustache are the two worst referees I've ever seen at any level. In the North - Grafton game Laduceur gave a Grafton kid a 2-10 for checking from behind, problem was the kid completely missed the North player. In the 3 or 4 games I saw Laduceur gave out 6 or 7 unsportsmanlike misconduct penalties. People in GF why is this idiot allowed to ref so many high school games???

[gotaclue]

I was at the game saturday night, cheering for Grafton Park River since my stepson plays for that team. I am from Roseau however and was fun to see the Burggraf's coaching such a great team! We found ourselves surrounded by Shanley fans and they WERE awesome! Good luck to Fargo Shanley next year!!!

[skateshattrick]

I believe Tim Graveline is the head coach, Shanley did win a few more games than reported. I had a lot of fun watching them play. They a lot of 'B' youth players that would never get a shot to play at North or South, including 2 on the first line. In my five years of coaching youth hockey in Fargo, South has 2 kids I coached, North has 1 and Shanley has 8, needless to say I was pulling for Shanley also.

Kyle Graalum may be the best player in the state, he is one of 2 or 3 high school seniors in ND that will be playing in the USHL next year. He would have led all scorers in the tourny if not for the Central players beating Whap/Breck 16-0.

South has a ton of talent, not sure how much credit I'd give to Wilson. They did not appear to get better as the season went on, they beat Shanley 12-1 the first time they played, 6-5 in ot the second, 7-1 over North the first game, 4-4 tie the second. On the other hand South has 2 more titles under Wilson than any other coach they've had. He does seem to get the job done when he has the talent (more than I can say for Donny Smith )

Laduceur and the guy with the wicked mustache are the two worst referees I've ever seen at any level. In the North - Grafton game Laduceur gave a Grafton kid a 2-10 for checking from behind, problem was the kid completely missed the North player. In the 3 or 4 games I saw Laduceur gave out 6 or 7 unsportsmanlike misconduct penalties. People in GF why is this idiot allowed to ref so many high school games???

I'm not sure who you are referring to as B players. Graalum, Blahovsky and Harrie were all A team players with the Flyers, Pete Fylling is from Minot, and Elliott Hitt is from SD, but played on Select Teams. I guess I don't know the background of Gary Stensgaard, but I think that he was at West Fargo last year. 2 of the defensemen are 9th graders, Kris Graalum and Trevor Anderson, but were Bantam A players with the Flyers and West Fargo. There are B team players on the 3rd and 4th lines, but not on the top 2 lines. The top 2 lines would play varsity, especially on North. There are JV kids at South that would be playing varsity at North. Shanley would have beaten North unless Elliott Oklund stood on his head again. North has scoring from its forwards since your nephew went to Moorhead.

I agree with you about South. With all of South's talent, they should make State. The sophomore class is very talented and very deep, and Dean Wilson should win a state title with that group, especially in 2 years.

[skateshattrick]

[jloos]

I'm not sure who you are referring to as B players. Graalum, Blahovsky and Harrie were all A team players with the Flyers, Pete Fylling is from Minot, and Elliott Hitt is from SD, but played on Select Teams. I guess I don't know the background of Gary Stensgaard, but I think that he was at West Fargo last year. 2 of the defensemen are 9th graders, Kris Graalum and Trevor Anderson, but were Bantam A players with the Flyers and West Fargo. There are B team players on the 3rd and 4th lines, but not on the top 2 lines. The top 2 lines would play varsity, especially on North.

Most of the players I was referring too didn't see the ice as Shanley only played 2 lines at EDC. The two players on the top lines I coached are Gary Stensgaard and David Hurt, both played Patriots. David played Patriots all through youth hockey and Gary played bantams after moving to Fargo from Northern Manitoba. A few Patriot players could play at the A level, but chose not to play Flyers or Raiders.

I can think of 4 or 5 players that were just as talented as Hurt and Stensgaard that were cut from North or South. South has done a better job at giving Patriot players a chance (there captain last year played Patriots). North is terrible, if you don't play Raiders you don't play at North, there are few exceptions.

After watching Graalum again I think he has more talent than anyone in the state. Only Jechort from Bismarck and a few from Central can match him. Fylling was fun to watch, a very gritty forward, but he has good hands. Are you sure he's Quinn's brother? He looks about 6-4. He looks like he is getting used to his height, a little sloppy on his skates. Working with the Burgraff's should solve that, I believe he is only a junior, I would look for him to take over Graalum's role next year.

[skateshattrick]

Most of the players I was referring too didn't see the ice as Shanley only played 2 lines at EDC. The two players on the top lines I coached are Gary Stensgaard and David Hurt, both played Patriots. David played Patriots all through youth hockey and Gary played bantams after moving to Fargo from Northern Manitoba. A few Patriot players could play at the A level, but chose not to play Flyers or Raiders.

I can think of 4 or 5 players that were just as talented as Hurt and Stensgaard that were cut from North or South. South has done a better job at giving Patriot players a chance (there captain last year played Patriots). North is terrible, if you don't play Raiders you don't play at North, there are few exceptions.

After watching Graalum again I think he has more talent than anyone in the state. Only Jechort from Bismarck and a few from Central can match him. Fylling was fun to watch, a very gritty forward, but he has good hands. Are you sure he's Quinn's brother? He looks about 6-4. He looks like he is getting used to his height, a little sloppy on his skates. Working with the Burgraff's should solve that, I believe he is only a junior, I would look for him to take over Graalum's role next year.

Unfortunately, Pete Fylling is a senior. He is Quinn's brother, but is about 6'3". His skating was not very strong when he got to Burggraf's about 2 years ago, but he has improved greatly. I hope Pete gets a chance to play at the next level. He's a really good kid, has very good hands and can shoot the puck. If he fills out and keeps working on his skating, I think he could play juniors.

[skateshattrick]

Does anybody know who South will play against on Friday if they win on Thursday?

Red River (unless Hazen-Buelah beats them).

[Fedorov]

[Smoggy]

When Shanley played EGF, how come the game was in Moorhead on a Saturday? Did Shanley play a lot of games there?

[Wilbur]

Here are the brackets:

Thursday:

Noon-Bismarck (1W) vs. GPR (4E)

2:30-Century (3W) vs. Fargo South (2E)

6:00-Hazen Buelah (2W) vs. Red River (3E)

8:30-Minot (4W) vs. Central (1E)

Once again the East teams are probably going to win all of the games, but the west region is getting better every single year.

[Fedorov]

Thanks Wilbur. You illustrated that I was right.

[alum05]

Who watched RR play. I know they probably wont have too many kids go on, but who looked good for highschool hockey. They usually have some talented kids.

[Wilbur]

I saw RR play Central this year and they have some quality players. Their goalie Gilbraith is a senior and more than likely will be moving on, and they have a couple good forwards in Kuntz, and Strang, other than that they have some pretty talented kids, but none that stick out.

[jloos]

When Shanley played EGF, how come the game was in Moorhead on a Saturday? Did Shanley play a lot of games there?

I believe Shanley plays all of their home games in Moorhead. The Burgraff's have used the Sports Center for years, I'm sure they get a discount on ice time .

The West comes and goes with hockey, I would say Hazen is the only team that has really been building their program up. Bismarck usually has a decent team and Century and Minot are on again off again. As a whole I don't think the West is 'catching up' to the East, mainly becuase they don't have the luxury of having dozens of quality teams to play within a couple hour drive. I remember when I was in junior high Minot and Bismarck played in the state championship game, I believe that was the only year a western team won, I think Minot won. If I remember right Minot had Tom Philion and Bismarck had Peluso, arguably two of the best high school players ever in ND.

I've seen RR play 4 times this year, I was always their for the other team, but nobody on RR really stood out. They have a good team, just no real stand out players, except maybe the goalie. Cink was always one of the best players in youth hockey, I remember coaching against him. He looked like one of the top 2 or 3 players.

South may have trouble with Century, South has had poor goaltending and Jechort can really light it up. He's played with my cousin on the select teams and the MN fall league, the kid can really score, he is by far the best player from the West that I've seen.

Federov did you play for South?

[Fedorov]

Federov did you play for South?

No I did not.

[jloos]

ND Mr. hockey finalists named:

Allan Jechort Bismarck Century "Patriots"

Jordan McIntyre Grand Forks Central "Knights"

Matt Moreland Grand Forks Central "Knights"

All three are very good players. I think Graalum could be on the list. The most impressive in my opinion is Jechort who lead the state in scoring without a supporting cast like McIntyre and Moreland.

[CoteauRinkRat]

I think Moreland has had an outstanding year. I've watched GFC play a lot of games this year and have really been impressed with this kid. I also was fortunate to see Jechort play a few games also and was really entertained by this kid.

[Wilbur]

I'm from Minot and for the most part I believe that the West is catching up to the East. I've been watching East Region hockey ever since I started attending college here, and western hockey is getting closer and closer. Minot has a group of Sophomores coming up that just won the Bantam A state championship last year, and many of them made varsity this year. They will probably get it handed to them by Central in the first round (everyone has had it handed to them by Central) but its good experience for those young kids. The West could very easily have won some games at the state tournament last year and the year before, but it seems like they don't get the bounces. Century lost to Grafton 3-2 last year and hit three posts in the game, Minot lost 2-1 in OT on goals that went off their own defensemen and in the net. The East Region is still the best region, but I wouldn't count the west out quite yet.

[jloos]

I'm from Minot and for the most part I believe that the West is catching up to the East. I've been watching East Region hockey ever since I started attending college here, and western hockey is getting closer and closer. Minot has a group of Sophomores coming up that just won the Bantam A state championship last year, and many of them made varsity this year. They will probably get it handed to them by Central in the first round (everyone has had it handed to them by Central) but its good experience for those young kids. The West could very easily have won some games at the state tournament last year and the year before, but it seems like they don't get the bounces. Century lost to Grafton 3-2 last year and hit three posts in the game, Minot lost 2-1 in OT on goals that went off their own defensemen and in the net. The East Region is still the best region, but I wouldn't count the west out quite yet.

I agree the West has some decent teams, but for the past 10+ years they have had on/off years. I have nothing against the West, I'm not trying to sound like too much of a homer, but I still don't think they are 'catching up to the East'. GF and Fargo schools play 100's of MN teams at every level. The West simply cannot schedule like the East can. That said I think Minot is easily the #2 hockey town in the State. They currently have at least 3 former players playing D1.

I'm not really in the youth hockey loop, but I thought Grafton won Bantam A last year? I was talking to a relative from Grafton at EDC, his son is on the Pee-Wee A team that is undefeated. Look for GPR to be on the same level as RR and Central the next few years.