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2023-24 ND High School Hockey


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45 minutes ago, Brim006 said:

Not intending to ruffle feathers here but honestly wondering how these large school co-ops have gotten so out of control in girls hockey. Are girls hockey numbers so poor in WF that 2 of the largest schools in the state have to co-op to field a team? Same goes for GF, FN+FS and BHS+Legacy. Is it more so about being competitive or strictly about being able to even field a team if they don't co-op?

WFS+WF combined is nearly 11x the enrollment of DL(smallest team), GFRR+GFC combined is 6x, North and South combined is about 8x and BHS+Legacy is about 10x. 

Their rosters don't seem to be busting at the seams, so I'm leaning toward the co-ops being needed just to field teams but that just seems crazy to me figuring how large these schools are and being in a pretty strong hockey state. 

If you factor in the girls U-15 team, there likely would be enough 14 to 18 year-old girls players in Grand Forks to field two teams. But I think the problem in Grand Forks is that the overwhelming majority of players reside in the Red River district. It's the same with boys, but with the "open enrollment" situation (it's not really open enrollment in that anybody can attend Central, but you have to reside in the RR district to attend RR) it tends to work itself out with a lot of players choosing to attend Central despite not living in the district. Central would probably struggle to field a competitive boys team most years without this "open enrollment" policy.

Unfortunately, the "open enrollment" policy has traditionally not worked at all in terms of girls sports in Grand Forks. To fix that glaring issue, which would even out things in terms of girls basketball and volleyball, along with probably allowing for two girls hockey teams, would require a significant boundary change, and I've all but given up on that ever happening.

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2 hours ago, Brim006 said:

Not intending to ruffle feathers here but honestly wondering how these large school co-ops have gotten so out of control in girls hockey. Are girls hockey numbers so poor in WF that 2 of the largest schools in the state have to co-op to field a team? Same goes for GF, FN+FS and BHS+Legacy. Is it more so about being competitive or strictly about being able to even field a team if they don't co-op?

WFS+WF combined is nearly 11x the enrollment of DL(smallest team), GFRR+GFC combined is 6x, North and South combined is about 8x and BHS+Legacy is about 10x. 

Their rosters don't seem to be busting at the seams, so I'm leaning toward the co-ops being needed just to field teams but that just seems crazy to me figuring how large these schools are and being in a pretty strong hockey state. 

Not as many girls hockey players in Bismarck, Fargo, WF etc as one would imagine.  Neither of the 3 schools in Bismarck would be able to field a hockey team if it weren't for CO-OPs.

The biggest thing is now, girls hockey is a participation sport.  Fargo North may have a tryout or cut here or there, but nobody else does.  If you can tie your skates your on a team.  To me, that's not great for the sport.  That being said, HS is all about participation, so I guess that's the point.

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1 minute ago, SiouxperDave said:

All of the finalists for the girls Outstanding Senior Athlete are goalies - Seeley from West Fargo United, Ackerman from Minot and Sorlie from Jamestown. Here's how their 2023-2024 seasons compared.

OutstandingSenior20232024SeasonStats.jpg

OutstandingSeniorH2HStats.jpg

Gotta be sorlie and I have no bone in this fight 

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7 minutes ago, SiouxperDave said:

All of the finalists for the girls Outstanding Senior Athlete are goalies - Seeley from West Fargo United, Ackerman from Minot and Sorlie from Jamestown. Here's how their 2023-2024 seasons compared.

OutstandingSenior20232024SeasonStats.jpg

OutstandingSeniorH2HStats.jpg

Wait wait wait a second....Abrahamson isn't even a top 3 finalist for Sr. Athlete of the year? That has to be a joke right?

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8 minutes ago, Brim006 said:

Wait wait wait a second....Abrahamson isn't even a top 3 finalist for Sr. Athlete of the year? That has to be a joke right?

It's not a joke! I find it hard to believe that leading the state in scoring two years running doesn't make you worthy of Sr. Athlete of the year.  

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Just now, DL Sioux said:

It's not a joke! I find it hard to believe that leading the state in scoring two years running doesn't make you worthy of Sr. Athlete of the year.  

I'd have to look but she's gotta be pushing 200 career points. And not only led the state in scoring 2 years in a row but DOUBLED and nearly doubled the 2nd closest player each year. This season she single handedly scored more goals than 3 of the 12 teams in the state and likely will have more than 4 teams after the state tournament. Unless there's a sportsmanship issue or GPA issue I'm not aware of...it seems pretty wild she wasn't an absolute shoe-in for the award let alone be a finalist lol. 

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26 minutes ago, SiouxperDave said:

All of the finalists for the girls Outstanding Senior Athlete are goalies - Seeley from West Fargo United, Ackerman from Minot and Sorlie from Jamestown. Here's how their 2023-2024 seasons compared.

OutstandingSenior20232024SeasonStats.jpg

OutstandingSeniorH2HStats.jpg

image.png.22bea65fa0b8b0433d8b022e43e81cba.pngimage.png.dd9a7d2d74a4b168fb4169cf71eb09ec.png

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Seeley has a much better team in front of her this year than Ackerman or Sorlie(thanks captain obvious).  WF ain't the one seed without Seeley either.  Abrahamson had 45 ginos herself, same as Minot and 15 more than Jamestown...lol.

I think all 3 goalies are deserving to be in the final 3.  However, Abrahamson should definitely be a finalist, especially for leading DL to a state tournament birth.  

Best player in the state...IMO...is Fischer from N/S.  Will she be in ND next year?  Who knows.

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Remember, that a number of factors are included when the voting happens (by the coaches) for this award.  There is the student side of things, the hockey side of things, and then the community involvement side.  I'M NOT SAYING THAT ABRAHAMSON ISN'T A FANTASTIC STUDENT/CITZEN.  What I am saying is that the coaches are presented other things outside of just hockey that drives how they vote.

Honestly very shocked as well that Abrahamson wouldn't be in the top three.  

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7 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Remember, that a number of factors are included when the voting happens (by the coaches) for this award.  There is the student side of things, the hockey side of things, and then the community involvement side.  I'M NOT SAYING THAT ABRAHAMSON ISN'T A FANTASTIC STUDENT/CITZEN.  What I am saying is that the coaches are presented other things outside of just hockey that drives how they vote.

Honestly very shocked as well that Abrahamson wouldn't be in the top three.  

Unless there have been some negative actions I would think someone that far ahead of the pack 2 seasons in a row would still be a shoe-in even as a neutral student and citizen but who knows. The Minot goalie isn't even top 5 in a single stat and her team missed state...so I'm just thoroughly confused I guess... probably due to being an outsider looking in. I'll just chalk it up to politics and good ole' boys club choices and move on haha. 

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13 minutes ago, Brim006 said:

Unless there have been some negative actions I would think someone that far ahead of the pack 2 seasons in a row would still be a shoe-in even as a neutral student and citizen but who knows. The Minot goalie isn't even top 5 in a single stat and her team missed state...so I'm just thoroughly confused I guess... probably due to being an outsider looking in. I'll just chalk it up to politics and good ole' boys club choices and move on haha. 

Could give her a little extra motivation in the State Tournament, as if she needed any.

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34 minutes ago, Brim006 said:

Unless there have been some negative actions I would think someone that far ahead of the pack 2 seasons in a row would still be a shoe-in even as a neutral student and citizen but who knows. The Minot goalie isn't even top 5 in a single stat and her team missed state...so I'm just thoroughly confused I guess... probably due to being an outsider looking in. I'll just chalk it up to politics and good ole' boys club choices and move on haha. 

You would think so.  And very much a credit to her sticking with her teammates like you mentioned.  Lots of pressure to leave from all sorts of directions.  Hopefully she's able to have a good state tournament her team.  

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1 minute ago, Brim006 said:

This is good news for Abrahamson at least for recruitment purposes. Looks like only 50 players listed nationally. Guess how many of the 3 finalists made this list? lol 

IMG_0948.jpeg

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/highschool/sports-awards/2023/12/12/2024-usa-today-high-school-sports-awards-girls-hockey-watch-list/71890924007/?fbclid=IwAR1RXi15lLPPyHLBcNKm8o6VDbJB80a8fi2ZGSy7FtPB2rt3Wfx-Jbzo0Us

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36 minutes ago, Brim006 said:

This is good news for Abrahamson at least for recruitment purposes. Looks like only 50 players listed nationally. Guess how many of the 3 finalists made this list? lol 

IMG_0948.jpeg

She's already committed, I don't think she's worried about D1 hockey.  

Here's the thing with girls hockey recruiting.  D1 coaches aren't coming to hockey games in ND and don't care about these awards for ND girls.  I'm guessing very few D1 coaches have been to a game IN Warroad either, by comparison.  In fact a MN AA girls coach once told me there's rarely a scout at their games.  

Girls who want to play D1 hockey know they have to try get to National Camp through HP...play Team ND and get looked at during Nationals...and try to get into prospect camps like OS in Minneapolis in the summertime which is loaded with D1 coaches.  

The ND HS season means next to nothing to D1 coaches.

If I had to guess, Abrahamson may have had some D1 offers out east, and chose to play for a good program in a great league closer to home.  Maybe I'm wrong on that, and I certainly could be, but the label doesn't mean the same to everyone.

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East votes for a SR athlete.  West votes for a SR athlete.  This year the West tied, so there are 3 total.  Seeley got more votes than Abrahamson.  

Which brings up another point.  I don't think they're supposed to be doing EDC and WDA awards for girls hockey anymore since it's a statewide league.  

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1 hour ago, DL Sioux said:

Three ND girls on the list and they're all playing in the same game on Thursday. Should be a good one.

Ashlyn Abrahamson — SR, F | Devils Lake High School | Devils Lake, North Dakota

Kenleigh Fischer — SO, D | Fargo North High School | Fargo, North Dakota

Anna Nelson — SR, F | Fargo North High School | Fargo, North Dakota

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Crookston has had a co-op on the girls side with MayPort since 2015 I believe. MayPort doesn't have enough girls to field a 19U team so it's been a good option for them. They grow up playing on the boys teams and switch over to them and do well.

MayPort tried to setup a co-op with GF. They weren't interested.

The co-op's for the bigger schools on the girls side is, for the most part, a joke. In WF for example, there are so many girls that quit because they can see the writing on the wall. They don't have to have cuts because the coach makes it pretty clear where they stand. They most definitely could be fielding two teams.  What makes this worse in my opinion is that they don't have a JV program for the girls in ND. That's a whole other topic.

Edited by PuckLuck
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13 minutes ago, PuckLuck said:

Crookston has had a co-op on the girls side with MayPort since 2015 I believe. MayPort doesn't have enough girls to field a 19U team so it's been a good option for them. They grow up playing on the boys teams and switch over to them and do well.

MayPort tried to setup a co-op with GF. They weren't interested.

The co-op's for the bigger schools on the girls side is, for the most part, a joke. In WF for example, there are so many girls that quit because they can see the writing on the wall. They don't have to have cuts because the coach makes it pretty clear where they stand. They most definitely could be fielding two teams.  What makes this worse in my opinion is that they don't have a JV program for the girls in ND. That's a whole other topic.

Quitting was the narrative about Bismarck and the Blizzard for years and it was untrue.  I'm not buying it.  I see  17 skaters on the roster this year and 2 goalies.  Room for 5-7 more skaters easily in WF.  Big issue is no guaranteed ice in HS, it actually has to be earned.  Problem I've seen in Bismarck is you do Captains practice and off season training and the top 8-10 are the only ones putting in the effort.  I'm talking TRYING TO GET BETTER.  If the girls who are 18-25 on a roster want to get more ice time, the off season in any community is where they can put the time in and earn it.  Most of the time if kids quit it isn't because of opportunity or a coach...it's because they don't love the game enough.  Been there done that with one of my own.

Some of the teams in the west tried a quasi JV schedule this winter.  It wasn't good.  Although it did give girls some ice time.  I think if that was the road we are wanting to go down the 15U programs will be eliminated. 

Probably the best case scenario for the state of girls hockey in ND is a 2 class system.  Do away with the small town 19U and large town 15U and do a AA and an A.  We all know that'll never happen however.   

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4 hours ago, Brim006 said:

Wait wait wait a second....Abrahamson isn't even a top 3 finalist for Sr. Athlete of the year? That has to be a joke right?

Finally an award that doesn't reward a kid for being a selfish puck hog and being a one man band.  She only has 16 assists.

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