2024-25 ND High School Hockey

[Ndamukong_sioux]

1 hour ago, Brim006 said:

Neither are they for Warroad but they have MW to lean on to bring in imports. Their girls team alone had what 3-4 ND girls this season? 4-5 last year? 

For someone who gets mad when people say ignorant comments about comparing ND high school hockey to MN high school hockey, you say something like this? What goes on with that girls program has nothing to do with the boys program. Warroads recent success at getting back to the state tourney, their Mr Hockey, their Frank Brimsek award winner, their Team USA 4 Nations player are/were home grown. Sure Oshie moved in from Washington, but he’ll be the first one to admit he wouldn’t be where he is at without the free ice and culture/program Warroad provided him.

There are programs on the ND/MN border who are currently/have recruited more players into their respective programs than Warroad. 

[ILOVEHOCKEY15]

8 hours ago, Ndamukong_sioux said:

For someone who gets mad when people say ignorant comments about comparing ND high school hockey to MN high school hockey, you say something like this? What goes on with that girls program has nothing to do with the boys program. Warroads recent success at getting back to the state tourney, their Mr Hockey, their Frank Brimsek award winner, their Team USA 4 Nations player are/were home grown. Sure Oshie moved in from Washington, but he’ll be the first one to admit he wouldn’t be where he is at without the free ice and culture/program Warroad provided him.

There are programs on the ND/MN border who are currently/have recruited more players into their respective programs than Warroad. 

Nelson was born in Bemidji and didn't move to Warroad until 7th grade.

[Oxbow6]

Side tangent......Sacred Heart GBB plays in the quarterfinals of the Class MN BB tournament today. Section 8 and EGF are cooking.

[Ndamukong_sioux]

30 minutes ago, ILOVEHOCKEY15 said:

Nelson was born in Bemidji and didn't move to Warroad until 7th grade.

Well that’s just not true.

[VC Sioux Fan]

Hypothetical:

Who would win in what we will call the "Red River Classic"? An all star game between the FM area and the Greater Grand Forks region. It would be awesome to have this be an annual event that rotates between Fargo, Moorhead, Grand Forks, and East Grand Forks every March.

 

[Johnny Five]

9 hours ago, Ndamukong_sioux said:

For someone who gets mad when people say ignorant comments about comparing ND high school hockey to MN high school hockey, you say something like this? What goes on with that girls program has nothing to do with the boys program. Warroads recent success at getting back to the state tourney, their Mr Hockey, their Frank Brimsek award winner, their Team USA 4 Nations player are/were home grown. Sure Oshie moved in from Washington, but he’ll be the first one to admit he wouldn’t be where he is at without the free ice and culture/program Warroad provided him.

There are programs on the ND/MN border who are currently/have recruited more players into their respective programs than Warroad. 

You are correct that Moorhead, EGF, for example have players who moved to town.  I for one have no problem with it.  If families feel that's what's best for them so be it.  It's the world we live in.

[yzerman19]

seriously.  The world is full of recruiting and people will go where they can for the best for their families whether it be for sports or education or a better job, whatever.  Nobody gets provincial when it comes to the national honor society...its always about sports.   I don't understand that tribalism.  Maybe it gives people an excuse when they lose?  Or are they worried about little Billy getting cut?  There are residency rules and transfer rules and import rules...as long as people are abiding by the rules, I see no need to disparage.  

[ILOVEHOCKEY15]

1 hour ago, Ndamukong_sioux said:

Well that’s just not true.

His parents divorced and she moved home to Warroad. It's very true, he's either born in the metro and moved to Bemidji. It wasn't until junior high until he moved to Warroad.

 

[Frozen4sioux]

Experience with so much of this from back in my day and the choices we made over the last dozen years.  "Recruiting" isn't a new thing in any stretch of the imagination, It's not a "these days" only problem. Trying to play basketball in a red river valley powerhouse program only to see opportunity dashed by the latest kid that "moved" into town is one perspective but moving into different communities and taking spots and playing time from others in another sport myself, has given me a bit of a view from both sides of the fence so to say. Both are not easy to navigate the social, internal, and external pressure for the mind of 14-year-old kid.

 I agree a family should do what's best for them WITHOUT any shame or guilt for sense of loyalty or feeling of owing any certain state or club organization.  There are some difficult choices made and its not always ALL about a tax rate or a scholarship or making it pro. Thers so many more factors that play into every family's decision.  

Stay home and develop might be the best for some, actually probably most, but not every situation is all that great in "home organizations" either.... take a look at the dumpster fire of a North Dakota club running off experienced hockey people by board members who could barely skate and played 2 seconds of whale shyt high school hockey in their day telling those career hockey people how wrong they are... or school districts who don't support hockey and in fact regularly make it difficult to develop or compete, all in the name of opportunity granted for those who haven't strived to earn it.

I didn't have one of these kids people would seek out to bring into the communities but at the same time was made well aware that if the family did make a move based on career opportunities he would have been welcomed with open arms and happily accepted into prominent roles for those coaches. In the end we always chose an aspect of family proximity was the best for our us, and he made the best of what was available to him here, that and an absolute ass-ton of hard work has opened a few doors.  As many as if we'd left, probably not, maybe ?.... who knows but those are the questions that must be left in the past.

Family, each individual family needs to make the decisions that are best for them with as much information as possible, NEVER being bullied into staying or leaving based on "owing" it to anybody but their own best interests.  

 

[gfhockey]

2 minutes ago, ILOVEHOCKEY15 said:

His parents divorced and she moved home to Warroad. It's very true, he's either born in the metro and moved to Bemidji. It wasn't until junior high until he moved to Warroad.

 

Where’s Washington fit it in to ut

[ILOVEHOCKEY15]

1 hour ago, Ndamukong_sioux said:

Well that’s just not true.

Just because his Elite Prospects list Warroad doesn't mean he's from there. 

[siouxweet]

The state hockey tournament is the crown jewelry of HS sports in MN.  The closest thing ND has is the Class B boys state basketball tournament and that is even debatable now with the 3 class system.   

[gfhockey]

11 minutes ago, siouxweet said:

The state hockey tournament is the crown jewelry of HS sports in MN.  The closest thing ND has is the Class B boys state basketball tournament and that is even debatable now with the 3 class system.   

Was

 

ndhsaa wrecked it

[Brim006]

9 minutes ago, siouxweet said:

The state hockey tournament is the crown jewelry of HS sports in MN.  The closest thing ND has is the Class B boys state basketball tournament and that is even debatable now with the 3 class system.   

It's not just the crown jewel of MN, it is the crown jewel of HS state tournaments in the country, and that includes state football in Texas which is insane. That's why the negative comments, jabs and comparisons to the ND hockey state tournament seem silly to me. ND is 1/8th the population for 1, and 2, we're comparing it to the largest and most watched HS tournament in the entire nation. 

[gfhockey]

Watch the crowds next weekend it will be half of what is used to be

 

I know a lot of people that used to make the class be their annual trip but now since it’s B and a they don’t care to go to either so sit it out

[gfhockey]

12 minutes ago, siouxweet said:

The state hockey tournament is the crown jewelry of HS sports in MN.  The closest thing ND has is the Class B boys state basketball tournament and that is even debatable now with the 3 class system.   

Agreed

[gfhockey]

Just now, Brim006 said:

It's not just the crown jewel of MN, it is the crown jewel of HS state tournaments in the country, and that includes state football in Texas which is insane. That's why the negative comments, jabs and comparisons to the ND hockey state tournament seem silly to me. ND is 1/8th the population for 1, and 2, we're comparing it to the largest and most watched HS tournament in the entire nation. 

Agreed

[Brim006]

2 hours ago, Johnny Five said:

You are correct that Moorhead, EGF, for example have players who moved to town.  I for one have no problem with it.  If families feel that's what's best for them so be it.  It's the world we live in.

We can agree to disagree. And I will admit that it's wrong of me to consolidate all cases/scenarios into 1 single opinion on the topic, so I'll do better at that. If someone is moving due to a career move, or other family reasons, that's completely different. Or if the home team and town isn't all warm and fuzzies with lifelong best friends, that's also completely different. I was only referring to the families that move solely for getting their kid onto a better team or league, which is the most common scenario. And unfortunately, more often than not, the kid has no business moving to JRs or moving to a better team since he/she hasn't even mastered their own league let alone team yet. Even then, I would never advocate for bullying them to stay or when they arrive somewhere new. I just think it's a gross culture, and I know it's a parent culture not a kid culture, because it's typically the parent's ego making the decision, not the kid's.

In the certain instances where the family moves solely to get onto a better team or better league, we have all seen that the majority of the time it does little to nothing to benefit the kid's experience or development. Forcing them to quit on their lifelong friends to play with a new group sends a bad example on and off the ice character wise IMO. Why not stay, push yourself to be a leader, gut it out and get better, rather than bail and join a gravy train playing 3rd line. Moorhead's Mason Kraft made a point to speak on the importance of this exact topic during his championship speech. If the parents are delusional enough to truly think altering their entire life by moving away while their kid is in his prime high school fun years just to be on a better team of strangers, and that's really going to get them D1 offers they normally wouldn't have gotten, or will be their ticket to the NHL, so be it I guess. I must just be more of a realist I guess, so it all seems so bizarre to me. You couldn't have paid me to leave my friends even when I knew we would be mediocre. I would have looked back at that as a failure and it would have bugged me forever. Now if a kid leaves for a USHL offer, NTDP offer, or obviously has nothing left to gain from high school hockey, then again those are a different story. 

If I was a recruiter, I'd pick the kid who stuck it out and got better and made his teammates and friends better, over the kid who quit when the going got tough and took the easy route of just joining a better team. The NBA superstar teams and the transfer portal are extremely unpopular, and the same culture ramping up in high school sports is concerning to me. That's why I'm surprised I get so much flack on this board for this opinion. 

We have seen what all these moves do to high school hockey overall. Some of the smaller towns and smaller teams can't recover from losing 2-3 of their best players. Some of the bigger teams backfill with slight downgrades no problem, which isnt as big of a deal. But overall it has hurt the parity everywhere, but especially in ND. GPR, DL, BOTT, Bismarck etc etc. They have all lost dozens of players to transfers or early departures over the recent years and havent been competitive because of it. Some years they are just 1-2 players short of having 2 solid lines and d pairs to be a competitive program. And then it snowballs. 

[Ndamukong_sioux]

1 hour ago, ILOVEHOCKEY15 said:

His parents divorced and she moved home to Warroad. It's very true, he's either born in the metro and moved to Bemidji. It wasn't until junior high until he moved to Warroad.

 

You have your facts all mixed up. His parents did get a divorce right around that time and he was born in the twin cities. But he lived in Warroad at least since Kindergarten. How do I know? Well I’m looking at a photo album right now and he was in my class.

[Brim006]

12 hours ago, Ndamukong_sioux said:

For someone who gets mad when people say ignorant comments about comparing ND high school hockey to MN high school hockey, you say something like this? What goes on with that girls program has nothing to do with the boys program. Warroads recent success at getting back to the state tourney, their Mr Hockey, their Frank Brimsek award winner, their Team USA 4 Nations player are/were home grown. Sure Oshie moved in from Washington, but he’ll be the first one to admit he wouldn’t be where he is at without the free ice and culture/program Warroad provided him.

There are programs on the ND/MN border who are currently/have recruited more players into their respective programs than Warroad. 

I'm sorry, I'll admit I just made the assumption that the boys team was the same story as the girls. Which it sounds like it's not! My bad

With the girls team, I have seen girls leave for there and asked how that even works. And was told that the girls coaches call around to poach top tier girls to come play for them and they typically offer a MW job that's already lined up to ensure a smooth transition etc. If that is just the girls team doing that, then I spoke out of line. If Warroad boys have been producing such competitive teams year after year with zero imports in that small of a town, that is super impressive.

[Ndamukong_sioux]

2 minutes ago, Brim006 said:

We can agree to disagree. And I will admit that it's wrong of me to consolidate all cases/scenarios into 1 single opinion on the topic, so I'll do better at that. If someone is moving due to a career move, or other family reasons, that's completely different. Or if the home team and town isn't all warm and fuzzies with lifelong best friends, that's also completely different. I was only referring to the families that move solely for getting their kid onto a better team or league, which is the most common scenario. And unfortunately, more often than not, the kid has no business moving to JRs or moving to a better team since he/she hasn't even mastered their own league let alone team yet. Even then, I would never advocate for bullying them to stay or when they arrive somewhere new. I just think it's a gross culture, and I know it's a parent culture not a kid culture, because it's typically the parent's ego making the decision, not the kid's.

In the certain instances where the family moves solely to get onto a better team or better league, we have all seen that the majority of the time it does little to nothing to benefit the kid's experience or development. Forcing them to quit on their lifelong friends to play with a new group sends a bad example on and off the ice character wise IMO. Why not stay, push yourself to be a leader, gut it out and get better, rather than bail and join a gravy train playing 3rd line. Moorhead's Mason Kraft made a point to speak on the importance of this exact topic during his championship speech. If the parents are delusional enough to truly think altering their entire life by moving away while their kid is in his prime high school fun years just to be on a better team of strangers, and that's really going to get them D1 offers they normally wouldn't have gotten, or will be their ticket to the NHL, so be it I guess. I must just be more of a realist I guess, so it all seems so bizarre to me. You couldn't have paid me to leave my friends even when I knew we would be mediocre. I would have looked back at that as a failure and it would have bugged me forever. Now if a kid leaves for a USHL offer, NTDP offer, or obviously has nothing left to gain from high school hockey, then again those are a different story. 

If I was a recruiter, I'd pick the kid who stuck it out and got better and made his teammates and friends better, over the kid who quit when the going got tough and took the easy route of just joining a better team. The NBA superstar teams and the transfer portal are extremely unpopular, and the same culture ramping up in high school sports is concerning to me. That's why I'm surprised I get so much flack on this board for this opinion. 

We have seen what all these moves do to high school hockey overall. Some of the smaller towns and smaller teams can't recover from losing 2-3 of their best players. Some of the bigger teams backfill with slight downgrades no problem, which isnt as big of a deal. But overall it has hurt the parity everywhere, but especially in ND. GPR, DL, BOTT, Bismarck etc etc. They have all lost dozens of players to transfers or early departures over the recent years and havent been competitive because of it. Some years they are just 1-2 players short of having 2 solid lines and d pairs to be a competitive program. And then it snowballs. 

It’ll never end, it’s only going to get worse. They’re 2010 birth years in Grand Forks who already have advisors. Do you think they’re going to advise them to stay in ND or go the Tier 1 route? 

[ILOVEHOCKEY15]

5 minutes ago, Ndamukong_sioux said:

You have your facts all mixed up. His parents did get a divorce right around that time and he was born in the twin cities. But he lived in Warroad at least since Kindergarten. How do I know? Well I’m looking at a photo album right now and he was in my class.

What about the Slukynsky boys?

[Brim006]

Just now, Ndamukong_sioux said:

It’ll never end, it’s only going to get worse. They’re 2010 birth years in Grand Forks who already have advisors. Do you think they’re going to advise them to stay in ND or go the Tier 1 route? 

You are correct, and that's the unfortunate reality of the game today. 

[ILOVEHOCKEY15]

12 hours ago, Ndamukong_sioux said:

For someone who gets mad when people say ignorant comments about comparing ND high school hockey to MN high school hockey, you say something like this? What goes on with that girls program has nothing to do with the boys program. Warroads recent success at getting back to the state tourney, their Mr Hockey, their Frank Brimsek award winner, their Team USA 4 Nations player are/were home grown. Sure Oshie moved in from Washington, but he’ll be the first one to admit he wouldn’t be where he is at without the free ice and culture/program Warroad provided him.

There are programs on the ND/MN border who are currently/have recruited more players into their respective programs than Warroad. 

What does Warroad do differently developmentally compared to Roseau, seems like numbers are the same, but Warroad seems light years ahead right now. I know there will be a wave coming for Roseau.

[yzerman19]

2 minutes ago, Ndamukong_sioux said:

It’ll never end, it’s only going to get worse. They’re 2010 birth years in Grand Forks who already have advisors. Do you think they’re going to advise them to stay in ND or go the Tier 1 route? 

Advisors come in all sorts of shapes and sizes...the big agency guys don't charge and only target and represent the very best of the best.  If they are paid or they take on kids that aren't truly special (think top 20 player in the country/chippaz) then they are vultures.  2010s that are top end actually do need professional advisors as they are less than 2 months from the WHL draft and potentially big decisions.  They (2010 rising Sophomores) will also be able to have college recruiting conversations in 9 months.