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2023-24 ND High School Hockey


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There are so many angles to this discussion.
I don’t have numbers for each ND youth program but I’d imagine youth hockey growth is sustained or possibly peaked in GF/EGF. There is only so much population to draw from. I do believe GF does a great job developing their players, but they likely get all the athletes too: community culture/und hockey. GF will always be good.
Hockey is exponentially growing in Bismarck, Mandan, Minot, Fargo, and West fargo, but so are populations. I believe Fargo South (the old flyers) had become the best youth program in the state prior to Davies. Look at all the new High Schools in the towns above: population. Dickinson alone has 80 squirts this year. 
The Grafton issue to me is a cautionary tale that I believe is reflective of most all small communities in ND. Granted Northstars are forecasted to be better in the future, but GPR had the culture needed, they probably averaged 10-15 kids per class playing hockey without PR kids 20-30 years ago (athletes) but were unable to sustain given the current state of youth sports in general: apathy/travel/specialization (lots of folks just don’t want to deal with it). Now you have some 3rd gen kids back in the mix, I hear GPR has about 40 mites. 

How will NDAHA address the elephant in the room always favoring the larger communities: more population, larger communities = less travel more kids to draw from. Numbers solve most problems. Can NDAHA do something to help sustain hockey in small towns? Does it matter? IDK but I have thought about it a lot. I have no dog in the fight.

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14 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Help basketball in small towns:  3 classes.

Help hockey in small towns:  Crickets.

High School Hockey is dying under the NDHSAA.  Pay attention to Coach Wilson getting his shots in on the WDAY broadcast.  He's right. 

But did it? Really? Did it?

We all know the answers......

The NDHSAA ineptitude is just north of the NCAA right now.

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10 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

But did it? Really? Did it?

We all know the answers......

The NDHSAA ineptitude is just north of the NCAA right now.

I think it's more of a they'd try anything for one sport vs. nothing for another sport they care zero about unfortunately.

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1 hour ago, Wilbur said:

As I walked out of the rink last night I ran into a long time high school coach who had a great line about the all GF final after we talked about "state of ND hockey".

"Grand Forks may be the only place in the state where playing for their high school teams means something to these kids.  They deserve to play each other in the ship."

100%

Thats just a bad case of a bias of perception and tunnel vision.

Go to a Century Legacy game and tell me after those kids don't have playing for their school as meaningfull. Minot kids dont have meaning playing as a magician?..

tell that to some of the kids that devoted everything to making the team and didn't. Foolish.

If it had meaning then why do they still leave for jrs?

I might be missing the "meaning" behind the quote a bit but the arrogant attitude of "deserving" to play as opposed to earning and achieving the right (as those GF teams did again) is absolutely the attitude that keeps ND hockey exactly where it is, which is fine with those people.

Maybe UM gophers should just deserve to be innthe frozen four every year cause it means something to them...  same thing.

Respectfully, that's an absolutely terrible attitude.

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20 minutes ago, Frozen4sioux said:

Too soon to say but I've heard more positive than negative from those involved 

So those from Rhame, Wing, Bowbells, St John and.........

@UND1983 nailed it above 

...now back to hockey. 

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16 minutes ago, Cratter said:

"Classes for sports" just means "how competitive do we want our games."

Is Larimore HS gonna start hockey because there's more classes?

If there's 9 man football maybe they need 3 man hockey.

It means Hazen, Mayville, etc. could play in a competitive division of high school hockey with Watford City, Langdon etc.  It also means Red River, Century, Minot, etc. could play less non-competitive games with Hazen etc. and more games with Minnesota schools. 

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8 minutes ago, andtheHomeoftheSIOUX!! said:

It means Hazen, Mayville, etc. could play in a competitive division of high school hockey with Watford City, Langdon etc.  It also means Red River, Century, Minot, etc. could play less non-competitive games with Hazen etc. and more games with Minnesota schools. 

It's like starting a new football league: XFL, USFL, UFL.

Need to go around to all these medium towns.

Give them a bunch of money for equipment. Tell them to start a team because there's a new league formed and you're a part of it.

Mighty Ducks: North Dakota Edition.

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23 minutes ago, gfhockey said:

I doubt the Minots, the Bismarck are going to want to travel all the way to Minnesota for regular season games

Look what Williston has to do for travel. Bismarck and Minot would have no problem going to Minny for a few games. Us hockey folks are use to being on the road from youth hockey 

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1 hour ago, Walsh Hall said:

For folks more involved than I currently am, what are considered to be the largest issues with NDHS hockey?  

Reply will be in 4 volumes post season.

42 minutes ago, gfhockey said:

I doubt the Minots, the Bismarck are going to want to travel all the way to Minnesota for regular season games

 

wrong-not.gif

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1 hour ago, Frozen4sioux said:

Thats just a bad case of a bias of perception and tunnel vision.

Go to a Century Legacy game and tell me after those kids don't have playing for their school as meaningfull. Minot kids dont have meaning playing as a magician?..

tell that to some of the kids that devoted everything to making the team and didn't. Foolish.

If it had meaning then why do they still leave for jrs?

I might be missing the "meaning" behind the quote a bit but the arrogant attitude of "deserving" to play as opposed to earning and achieving the right (as those GF teams did again) is absolutely the attitude that keeps ND hockey exactly where it is, which is fine with those people.

Maybe UM gophers should just deserve to be innthe frozen four every year cause it means something to them...  same thing.

Respectfully, that's an absolutely terrible attitude.

It was more along the lines of the number of kids that leave other programs vs. Grand Forks programs. 

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2 hours ago, Wilbur said:

Help basketball in small towns:  3 classes.

Help hockey in small towns:  Crickets.

High School Hockey is dying under the NDHSAA.  Pay attention to Coach Wilson getting his shots in on the WDAY broadcast.  He's right. 

As much as I would like to agree a 2 or 3 class hockey system would be brutal to watch.  Watered down  and just an extension of youth hockey.

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39 minutes ago, Johnny Five said:

Minot beats south 5-2 for 3rd place. Minot loses 2 F and 3 D.  They will be a handful next season. 

They've got to be the favorite in the west.  As we know though, we have to wait and see which kids are enrolled in August.  

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