ND High School Hockey 16-17

[OgieOgilthorpe]

DL beats Minot 3-1. Looks like I was wrong on that one too 

[MoSiouxFan]

1 hour ago, OgieOgilthorpe said:

DL beats Minot 3-1. Looks like I was wrong on that one too 

Glad to see DL didn't have the predictable/understandable letdown after last night.

[OgieOgilthorpe]

Davies takes down BHS 3-0 just a day after losing to century. 

[Wilbur]

1 hour ago, OgieOgilthorpe said:

Davies takes down BHS 3-0 just a day after losing to century. 

That game surprises the heck out of me.  Century out shoots Davies too.....wonder what happened there. 

[DougTheThug]

28 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

That game surprises the heck out of me.  Century out shoots Davies too.....wonder what happened there. 

I believe the final shots were 39-21 for the Demons.   Davies goalie had a great game, and the Demons couldn't buy a goal.  Shots were 17-3 after 1st period in favor of the Demons. The Demons didn't have their legs.   Late night in Dickinson on Thursday, early game Saturday and a game between that as well.  Also gotta give Davies credit for rebounding from the Century game the night before.  They killed off three first period penalties and put the puck away when they got their chances. 

[Wilbur]

Minot beat Dickinson 6-4.  Looks like Minot will get number two seed in West.

Williston beat Mandan 3-0 in the battle of teams with so little numbers they don't have JV teams. 

[GoalieMask]

The Davies vs South/Shanley game a couple weeks ago was a good contest but you knew in the end Davies was the better of the two teams.  South had North and Central this week (both in Fargo) but they will only finish 5th. 

It would be surprising if the four teams out of the East are anyone other than Central, RR, DL, or Davies. 

 

[Wilbur]

Way way way too easy who makes the state tournament prediction:

East locks:  Central, RR, Devils lake, Davies

West almost all locks:  Bismarck, Minot, Century, Dickinson

Other teams with a shot:  Jamestown, South/Stanley.  That's it, no other teams with a prayer sadly.  

[OgieOgilthorpe]

It appears that Grant Johnson didn't play against Detroit Lakes this weekend. He had to serve a game suspension for throwing punches against Devils Lake last week. So between getting 0 points against Devils Lake and missing a game against the other DL, he really hurt his chances of beating Peluso's season point record of 99. Worse yet, they play Devils Lake again Tuesday...but I really doubt he will be left pointless once again this time around. 

He will have to average 4.75 pts/gm or better in his remaining 8 games (assuming they play 3 games at EDC and play 3 games at state) to pass Peluso. If Johnson doesn't do it, there is a strong chance the record will stand for another 20 years due to studly kids always leaving early for Juniors etc. It was a perfect scenario for a scorer like Johnson to stick around another year. I think it will take another small bodied and loved hometown kid from the West to take down his record. A kid like Harrison Aide for instance.

[sioux rube]

13 hours ago, Wilbur said:

Way way way too easy who makes the state tournament prediction:

East locks:  Central, RR, Devils lake, Davies

West almost all locks:  Bismarck, Minot, Century, Dickinson

Other teams with a shot:  Jamestown, South/Stanley.  That's it, no other teams with a prayer sadly.  

Back when I played in the late 70's there was a challenge game where #4 in the west played #5 in the east and vice versa after regionals for a shot to get to state. They should go back to that. Guarantee there would be 5 east teams and 3 west teams this year and many other years.

[OgieOgilthorpe]

35 minutes ago, sioux rube said:

Back when I played in the late 70's there was a challenge game where #4 in the west played #5 in the east and vice versa after regional for a shot to get to state. They should go back to that. Guarantee there would be 5 east teams and 3 west teams this year and many other years.

That's really interesting and a really great idea. I can't believe they ever got rid of that. It would be a very rare occurrence for the West to get 4 spot. 

[GoalieMask]

I would like to see North Dakota go to a two-weekend state "Super Tournament" that mixes in Regionals with State.   Something like the top 16 seeded out and then you'd have round of 16 and final 8 the first weekend and then the following weekend you play the Semifinals on Friday and Championship on Saturday.  Have one bracket play in Fargo/GF and the other in Minot/Bismarck and then the last weekend play at the Ralph.

I know it's neat to have teams "make it to state" and earn a trip out East but I think the quality of the games would be more appealing and the #6 or #7 team out East would have a shot to knock off a #2 or #3 team from the west in a Round of 16 game.

[DougTheThug]

1 hour ago, GoalieMask said:

I would like to see North Dakota go to a two-weekend state "Super Tournament" that mixes in Regionals with State.   Something like the top 16 seeded out and then you'd have round of 16 and final 8 the first weekend and then the following weekend you play the Semifinals on Friday and Championship on Saturday.  Have one bracket play in Fargo/GF and the other in Minot/Bismarck and then the last weekend play at the Ralph.

I know it's neat to have teams "make it to state" and earn a trip out East but I think the quality of the games would be more appealing and the #6 or #7 team out East would have a shot to knock off a #2 or #3 team from the west in a Round of 16 game.

Have 1W play 8E, 1E play 8W and so on.  Have the first round game at the higher seeds rink.  Winner of each game advances to the state tournament.  How would you decided seeding at state then? As of now this is what the first round would look like:

#8 Grafton at #1 Bismarck High

#8 Williston at #1 GFC

#7 West Fargo at #2 Minot

#7 Bottineau at #2 RR

#6 Fargo North at #3 Century

#6 Mandan at #3 Devils Lake

#5 Fargo South at #4 Jamestown

#5 Dickinson at #4 Davies

[GoalieMask]

I think it could be similar to the way that NDHSAA does it now for Class B Basketball and how Minnesota does it for HS Hockey - They have a committee that sets 1-8 seeds or something like that. 

It really does keep the better teams in separate brackets - strengthening the integrity of a "best possible matchup" in the Championship.

[OgieOgilthorpe]

36 minutes ago, DougTheThug said:

Have 1W play 8E, 1E play 8W and so on.  Have the first round game at the higher seeds rink.  Winner of each game advances to the state tournament.  How would you decided seeding at state then? As of now this is what the first round would look like:

#8 Grafton at #1 Bismarck High

#8 Williston at #1 GFC

#7 West Fargo at #2 Minot

#7 Bottineau at #2 RR

#6 Fargo North at #3 Century

#6 Mandan at #3 Devils Lake

#5 Fargo South at #4 Jamestown

#5 Dickinson at #4 Davies

With the attendance at the state tourney being  down in recent years I'm game for changing things up and stirring the pot a little! I think people would come out to watch some of this action and it might create a little more excitement around HS hockey again. There would be quite a few blow outs with this set up, but I think it's a cool idea to intermingle the East and the West a little more. The same old match ups do get old. Sure, rivalries are great, but in a state with this few teams already as it is, no sense in keeping them all separated for the vast majority of the games. 

Another Idea---- It would be cool to have a bracketed 4 region tourney for North Dakota by cutting the state into 4 sections like they do for the summer hockey league for the Ryder Cup. Might be a little different than it was back in the day but we could tweak it to fit the new team alignment.

NW could be Williston, Minot, Hazen Beluah and Bott

NE could be DL, GFC, RR and Grafton

SE could be WF, Davies, North and South

SW could be High, Century, Mandan and Jamestown

Winner of each regional would meet at the Raplh on the big stage for a 4 team showdown to see who places 1st-4th. I think that would be pretty fun! 

Regional championship games could be held at the home of the highest seeds. 

[OgieOgilthorpe]

13 minutes ago, OgieOgilthorpe said:

With the attendance at the state tourney being  down in recent years I'm game for changing things up and stirring the pot a little! I think people would come out to watch some of this action and it might create a little more excitement around HS hockey again. There would be quite a few blow outs with this set up, but I think it's a cool idea to intermingle the East and the West a little more. The same old match ups do get old. Sure, rivalries are great, but in a state with this few teams already as it is, no sense in keeping them all separated for the vast majority of the games. 

Another Idea---- It would be cool to have a bracketed 4 region tourney for North Dakota by cutting the state into 4 sections like they do for the summer hockey league for the Ryder Cup. Might be a little different than it was back in the day but we could tweak it to fit the new team alignment.

NW could be Williston, Minot, Hazen Beluah and Bott

NE could be DL, GFC, RR and Grafton

SE could be WF, Davies, North and South

SW could be High, Century, Mandan and Jamestown

Winner of each regional would meet at the Raplh on the big stage for a 4 team showdown to see who places 1st-4th. I think that would be pretty fun! 

Regional championship games could be held at the home of the highest seeds. 

Obviously some regions will have a bottle neck of only sending 1 team when they may have the top 3 teams in the state, but just spit balling here. I think some sort of new set up for playoff hockey is needed in ND right now to get some crowds back to the rink. 

I just picture huge crowds for the regional final games with this setup. And cutting the state tourney down from 11 games to 4 might bring in some bigger crowds for the finals instead of diluting the crowd between 11 games in 3 days. Honestly, I usually watch 1 or 2 of the opening round and maybe watch the championship on TV. I know I would go to that entire 4 game tourney. 

[OgieOgilthorpe]

On 2/4/2017 at 9:10 PM, Wilbur said:

Minot beat Dickinson 6-4.  Looks like Minot will get number two seed in West.

Williston beat Mandan 3-0 in the battle of teams with so little numbers they don't have JV teams. 

What's the deal with Williston's and Mandan's numbers? Are their youth hockey programs at least strong right now?

I've also heard that Grafton and PR are in a feud so 4-5 PR kids are playing up in Langdon on their Jr. Gold team?

Not to mention HB is hanging on by a thread...

 

[DougTheThug]

I don't see how Hazen can stay HS after this year.  Looking at the standings it looks like they aren't competitive at the lowest level of bantams and 2nd lowest peewees.  They will have trouble competing at Jr Gold. 

[Walsh Hall]

Mandan has 2 Bantam teams and 2 peewee teams.  Williston has 1 Bantam and 2 peewee.

Mandan is building a new facility with 2 rinks which should open next year.  It's a bottleneck in Mandan with only one rink.  Limits potential number of kids and available ice time.  I can't see either of these schools having a JV squad in the next 5 years.

[OgieOgilthorpe]

15 minutes ago, Walsh Hall said:

Mandan has 2 Bantam teams and 2 peewee teams.  Williston has 1 Bantam and 2 peewee.

Mandan is building a new facility with 2 rinks which should open next year.  It's a bottleneck in Mandan with only one rink.  Limits potential number of kids and available ice time.  I can't see either of these schools having a JV squad in the next 5 years.

Seems crazy that towns like Williston and Mandan can't produce numbers for hockey right now but then towns like Grafton, Devils Lake and Bott never seem to have problems. (asterisk on GPR this season). Popularity of different sports in different towns I suppose! 

Good to hear about Mandan building another facility. I think with that and the addition of the growing population they will see their future numbers rise. 

[90siouxfan]

4 hours ago, OgieOgilthorpe said:

Obviously some regions will have a bottle neck of only sending 1 team when they may have the top 3 teams in the state, but just spit balling here. I think some sort of new set up for playoff hockey is needed in ND right now to get some crowds back to the rink. 

I just picture huge crowds for the regional final games with this setup. And cutting the state tourney down from 11 games to 4 might bring in some bigger crowds for the finals instead of diluting the crowd between 11 games in 3 days. Honestly, I usually watch 1 or 2 of the opening round and maybe watch the championship on TV. I know I would go to that entire 4 game tourney. 

and Dickinson gets no love from the Oglethorpe.....

[OgieOgilthorpe]

10 minutes ago, 90siouxfan said:

and Dickinson gets no love from the Oglethorpe.....

Whoops, sorry! Yes Dickinson would be a part of the SW. But actually the NW region would be the one in the most need of an extra team so maybe they could join that region. 

[DougTheThug]

If they did those regions that would mean only one GF team in the tourney, when it's hard to find a year they both aren't worthy.  Minot would basically have an automatic state appearance every year.  Even though they basically do now in the west already.  

[Wilbur]

7 hours ago, OgieOgilthorpe said:

What's the deal with Williston's and Mandan's numbers? Are their youth hockey programs at least strong right now?

I've also heard that Grafton and PR are in a feud so 4-5 PR kids are playing up in Langdon on their Jr. Gold team?

Not to mention HB is hanging on by a thread...

 

Williston is going to hurt for a few years.  The one bantam team plays a B1 schedule, but would get absolutely murdered by an A team from Minot or Bismarck.  Pee Wee group has two teams, with an A team playing an A schedule.

I'm betting within three years Hazen is playing junior gold.  I'm sure you've got politics galore after 24-1 happened....

[sioux rube]

8 minutes ago, DougTheThug said:

If they did those regions that would mean only one GF team in the tourney, when it's hard to find a year they both aren't worthy.  Minot would basically have an automatic state appearance every year.  Even though they basically do now in the west already.  

Why I wish they would go back to what they did when I played in the late 70's. After regionals have number 4 from the east play number 5 from the west and vice versa.