2023-24 ND High School Hockey

[Oxbow6]

1 hour ago, Cratter said:

Last year Red River was ranked the 14th best High School hockey team in the country.

So South/Shanley was rated 13th??

[tnt]

3 hours ago, Blackheart said:

Well that would probably be Minnetonka this year; they are undefeated going into the section finals.  I'm guessing by sheer numbers, they would be deeper than Red River and would probably wear them out over the course of a game.  Score?  No idea.

That, and I believe Minnetonka has about 6 guys already committed to college teams and I believe they have 3 Mr. Hockey candidates.  

[SIOUXFAN97]

Maybe they already do this but...

8 team tourney in bemidji at Sanford Center

rrhs & central

Warroad & roseau

Two iron range schools 

Two Twin city's/ metro schools

 

[gfhockey]

43 minutes ago, SIOUXFAN97 said:

Maybe they already do this but...

8 team tourney in bemidji at Sanford Center

rrhs & central

Warroad & roseau

Two iron range schools 

Two Twin city's/ metro schools

 

The Ralph tried to do this few years ago. Bloomington Jefferson some other cities teams came yp

[Frozen4sioux]

5 hours ago, Kab said:

Are lower numbers the result of the cost to play hockey?

Yes. It matters.

5 hours ago, Wilbur said:

I think he's saying that Minot only has one squirt A team.  

Ok not sure what his meanings or implications are as Minot has good numbers up and down the youth program. 

[Clark17]

5 hours ago, SIOUXFAN97 said:

what would the score be if the best nd team (rrhs) played the best team from minnesota?
just curious

they would compete without a doubt if combined with Central 

[Brim006]

On 2/24/2024 at 8:27 AM, 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%

Seems like an odd take to me, and/or maybe just anecdotal one from a GF resident's perspective. Sure, there are far more kids leaving NDHS hockey than we'd like to see, but the truth is the VAST majority stay. And the ones that stay have looked up to their varsity teams their entire lives and hockey careers. I think every team in the state has pride in where they're from and who they play for, it's just easy to say GF has more of it since they're so consistently good, and are able to backfill those lost players much easier than pretty much everyone else due to sheer hockey depth, tradition and school size. 

Grafton, DL, Jamestown, etc. lose 2-3 top players to Jrs or wherever and it destroys their chances of a successful season and you can say they have no pride in playing for their hometown. GFC or GFRR lose 2-3 top players and they just bump up other top-tier players and still win and it masks the fact that they had just as many players leave. That does not equal more pride, it just equals more depth IMO. 

[Brim006]

16 hours ago, Clark17 said:

they would compete without a doubt if combined with Central 

I think a lot of years they would compete in top 10 AA by themselves. This year? Probably not, but some of these great RR and GFC teams recently certainly would have. Their Bantam AA team proves that year after year when they finish toward the top of rankings playing against all best of the best that MN has to offer. 

ND high school hockey isn't all gloom and doom like we make it out to be. I think the EDC is in the top 10-15% of high school hockey in the nation. ND teams have a winning record against MN teams for the 7th year in a row by the way....

MN schools have similar issues of kids leaving but probably just in a different way. The grass is always greener to a lot of hockey parents and it's unfortunately a new mindset and culture of the game. MN has an issue with kids transferring to the biggest and best schools and or private schools too, and a lot still leave for JRs as well. They also have TONS of tiny schools with programs folding and/or just hanging on by a thread. I'd wager that MN has 15-20+ teams worse than BHS was this year. 

Another positive point for ND hockey. In 2016-2017 ND only had 17 boys varsity teams, and now 7 seasons later there are 20 (17% increase), and likely soon to be 2 more (Horace and N Minot) and maybe someday the possibility of South and Shanley breaking back out if Shanley's enrollment keeps growing. Although slow, I do really think hockey in the west is growing. Watford with their beautiful new 2 sheet rink, Minots additions and upgrades, Bismarck adding another sheet and now apparently another private 2 sheet rink in the works, Mandan youth hockey exploding since their new 2 sheet facility, UMARY hockey bringing big excitement to the Bis/Man area with rumors of a possible partnership with scheels for a big nice rink on campus up on the hill overlooking the Missouri River with more rumors of possibility of going D1 some day, Minot State with similar rumors that seem somewhat reaslistic with Augustana's success (NSIC peer). Crosby and I believe maybe even Dickinson and Williston did some rink upgrades as well?

Lastly, I've noticed in the short time I've lived in Bismarck how much hockey has grown. All of the sudden there are 4 different hockey training programs and groups running all year round. Tons of excitement and opportunities growing around hockey out here which mix well with a growing community. 

[Johnny Five]

Question about Grand Forks hockey....since it is open enrollment, do most kids know where they're going to go when they're PW age?  Or what is the process and when do they decide what school they are gonna go to?

[Oxbow6]

South will never field a program on their own moving forward.

[gfhockey]

27 minutes ago, Johnny Five said:

Question about Grand Forks hockey....since it is open enrollment, do most kids know where they're going to go when they're PW age?  Or what is the process and when do they decide what school they are gonna go to?

Follow their buddies usually. And buddies that have dads that went to gfc and played for gfc go to gfc

 

Im hearing most of this years aa team will be at gfc next year 

[Johnny Five]

15 minutes ago, gfhockey said:

Follow their buddies usually. And buddies that have dads that went to gfc and played for gfc go to gfc

 

Im hearing most of this years aa team will be at gfc next year 

Was just curious if they knew at an early age or if they waited it out to see where opportunity exists.

[gfhockey]

If your parent hangs out at helix or sin bin he’s going to gfrr

 

if your parents hangs out at the northside or broken drum hes going to gfc 

[The Sicatoka]

37 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

South will never field a program on their own moving forward.

This is correct. The district demographics have changed. 

[andtheHomeoftheSIOUX!!]

13 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

This is correct. The district demographics have changed. 

I think most of the team is Shanley kids if I am not mistaken.

[UND92,96]

17 hours ago, Clark17 said:

they would compete without a doubt if combined with Central 

I agree. And considering the enrollments of some of the larger suburban Twin Cities high schools, it would appear likely that Grand Forks would only have one high school if it were in Minnesota. Minnetonka, for example, with a population of about 53,000, has an enrollment of 3,200 at its one public high school.

[andtheHomeoftheSIOUX!!]

They way I look at it, if North Dakota were just a part of Minnesota, EDC would be Section 9 and WDA would be Section 10 and it would all make sense. 

[gfhockey]

18 minutes ago, andtheHomeoftheSIOUX!! said:

They way I look at it, if North Dakota were just a part of Minnesota, EDC would be Section 9 and WDA would be Section 10 and it would all make sense. 

Inthink the wda would have a playin game similar to mayville and gpr to participate in the section 9 playiffs

[The Sicatoka]

ND EDC: 9AA
ND WDA: 9A

[Oxbow6]

1 hour ago, The Sicatoka said:

ND EDC: 9AA
ND WDA: 9A

But someone from the WDA who graduated in 2019 will say...."But look at Minot this past tournament".

[The Sicatoka]

2 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

But someone from the WDA who graduated in 2019 will say...."But look at Minot this past tournament".

A 9AA/9A would likely "remap" some from "west" to "east", or "east" to "west". 

[Johnny Five]

25 minutes ago, Oxbow6 said:

But someone from the WDA who graduated in 2019 will say...."But look at Minot this past tournament".

Minot very well could be playing in the final game of the year next year.  That is, if everyone stays.

[Brim006]

4 hours ago, Brim006 said:

I think a lot of years they would compete in top 10 AA by themselves. This year? Probably not, but some of these great RR and GFC teams recently certainly would have. Their Bantam AA team proves that year after year when they finish toward the top of rankings playing against all best of the best that MN has to offer. 

ND high school hockey isn't all gloom and doom like we make it out to be. I think the EDC is in the top 10-15% of high school hockey in the nation. ND teams have a winning record against MN teams for the 7th year in a row by the way....

MN schools have similar issues of kids leaving but probably just in a different way. The grass is always greener to a lot of hockey parents and it's unfortunately a new mindset and culture of the game. MN has an issue with kids transferring to the biggest and best schools and or private schools too, and a lot still leave for JRs as well. They also have TONS of tiny schools with programs folding and/or just hanging on by a thread. I'd wager that MN has 15-20+ teams worse than BHS was this year. 

Another positive point for ND hockey. In 2016-2017 ND only had 17 boys varsity teams, and now 7 seasons later there are 20 (17% increase), and likely soon to be 2 more (Horace and N Minot) and maybe someday the possibility of South and Shanley breaking back out if Shanley's enrollment keeps growing. Although slow, I do really think hockey in the west is growing. Watford with their beautiful new 2 sheet rink, Minots additions and upgrades, Bismarck adding another sheet and now apparently another private 2 sheet rink in the works, Mandan youth hockey exploding since their new 2 sheet facility, UMARY hockey bringing big excitement to the Bis/Man area with rumors of a possible partnership with scheels for a big nice rink on campus up on the hill overlooking the Missouri River with more rumors of possibility of going D1 some day, Minot State with similar rumors that seem somewhat reaslistic with Augustana's success (NSIC peer). Crosby and I believe maybe even Dickinson and Williston did some rink upgrades as well?

Lastly, I've noticed in the short time I've lived in Bismarck how much hockey has grown. All of the sudden there are 4 different hockey training programs and groups running all year round. Tons of excitement and opportunities growing around hockey out here which mix well with a growing community. 

ND's W/L against MN teams this season was 26-14 making it the 7th straight season of ND having a winning record against MN. Not exactly the top tier teams from MN in most of those games, but take it for what it's worth. Grafton was 4-1 against MN teams...

ND State Runner-Up GFC went 5-0 with wins over Warroad, Providence Academy, Bemidji, and 2 over EGF. 

[Wilbur]

4 hours ago, Oxbow6 said:

South will never field a program on their own moving forward.

I was told that in the South-Shanley Co-op that South was the only party in the agreed upon terms to be able to dissolve the Co-op?

Any truth to this?

[siouxweet]

4 hours ago, Johnny Five said:

Question about Grand Forks hockey....since it is open enrollment, do most kids know where they're going to go when they're PW age?  Or what is the process and when do they decide what school they are gonna go to?

It isn't necessary always open as it varies year to year depending on what each schools attendance is.  I know a few years back if you lived in GFC district they wouldn't let you go to RR.