yzerman19 Posted March 17 Posted March 17 6 hours ago, Johnny Five said: What a list. Zimmerman did make me chuckle. Harper Bentz and Kai Weigel both left Bismarck and ended up on the Moorhead Spuds roster too. Ryan Leingang was a 2004 goalie who left Bismarck for Omaha AAA hockey. Came back and had to sit out a year. Then tried to come back and play at Legacy and found he lost the love for the game and stopped playing at Christmas his SR season. He was a very good goalie as well. Everyone's got a different plan and a different path when it comes to hockey. Hockey is definitely unique...imagine families moving for sports like football, track, basketball (happens, but rare). I'm a firm believer in kids not needing to leave. But that's just me. I wish we could know what their paths were had they stayed and played with their buddies....but we don't have magic wands. Here's the interesting thing...in the Tier 1 world...everywhere outside of ND and MN, the "buddies" deal doesn't apply. Kids are mercenary at 8 years old. For those who don't play town hockey, the idea of playing with your "buddies" is incredibly foreign. Your buddies are those on your team...for now... 1 Quote
yzerman19 Posted March 17 Posted March 17 just like people move away from family and friends for college and career, they make new friends and establish new lives. The old ones become memories and pictures. You don't forget them, but they become a distant memory on a long journey. 2 Quote
Johnny Five Posted March 17 Posted March 17 13 minutes ago, yzerman19 said: Here's the interesting thing...in the Tier 1 world...everywhere outside of ND and MN, the "buddies" deal doesn't apply. Kids are mercenary at 8 years old. For those who don't play town hockey, the idea of playing with your "buddies" is incredibly foreign. Your buddies are those on your team...for now... Maybe I mis-represented my main point. And I agree with you. What I wish we knew is...had they not left, how many kids would've ended up in the exact same spot down the road regardless? 2 Quote
yzerman19 Posted March 17 Posted March 17 Just now, Johnny Five said: Maybe I mis-represented my main point. And I agree with you. What I wish we knew is...had they not left, how many kids would've ended up in the exact same spot down the road regardless? yeah, I got your main point. Its a good one. I was just commenting on the buddy deal. It all depends on where the kid goes and what they are getting for development and exposure. I'm guessing those that go to Shattuck, BK, Mount, Mission, Little Casears, Honeybaked and the like end up better off, just based on competition and coaching. Going somewhere else, probably doesn't make much difference. If they are 16 or over, and they aren't going to junior hockey, you have to question leaving... 1 Quote
UND1983 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 21 players, including three goalies on an All-State team? lmfao Quote
yzerman19 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 17 minutes ago, UND1983 said: 21 players, including three goalies on an All-State team? lmfao Right, at least break it into 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and honorable mention Quote
UND1983 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 7 minutes ago, yzerman19 said: Right, at least break it into 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and honorable mention One team. One goalie, handful of forwards and defensemen. 1 Quote
yzerman19 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 Kids with regional ties expected to go high in the WHL or USHL drafts coming up (according to Elite Prospects) in the top 50 2010's or top 100 2009's Beck Thoreson Moorhead Joey Cullen Moorhead RJ Thompson Little Casesars (Grandparents from GF) Brooks Suter Moorhead Henry Buttweiler Moorhead Henry Meier SSM (Grandpa is Neal Broten) John Gramer Moorhead Drew Kortan Moorhead Roderick Jackson Warroad Easton Dozark Moorhead Owen Kraft Moorhead Evan Wanner Moorhead Cruz Fitzpatrick West Fargo These two are ranked just outside the top 100: Spencer Anderson TRF Nolan Marto GF Quote
scpa0305 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 On 3/14/2025 at 10:18 PM, yzerman19 said: Team ND is a group of picked birth year teams that play in the central plains district tourney in order to go to Tier 1 nationals. Tier 1 USA hockey operates on a birth year model, so Minnesota and ND teams have to be split up and players assigned according to USA hockey birth year designations. Historically, these teams are throttled at nationals. Minnesota might actually make a run this year, as the Blue Ox team (Moorhead and Warroad) 2010 group actually beat Shattuck for the autobid from Minnesota district. Shattuck will still get in at-large, but this might be the first time a ND/Minny group that isn't Shattuck makes a run. They will have their work cut out for them, but they will at least be competitive. If you look on gamesheet under 2024 chipotle usa hockey tier 1 national championships (then choose which birth year) you will see how last year went. At the 13O (bantam minor) level last year, Minnesota Loons went 1-4-0 with a -16 goal diff. Team ND went 0-5-0 with a -22 goal diff. Minnesota beat ND 4-3. National champion Little Casesars beat team ND 13-0 and beat MN Loons 12-0. I would wager the 13o MN team makes a decent run this year. 1 Quote
scpa0305 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 On 3/16/2025 at 12:17 PM, ChadR said: Surprised to see no Marto. Beck Thorson is the nephew of former Sioux great Andy Schneider. Although Marto is really good…he’s so physically mature for his age that it’s tough to tell what his ceiling is. He’s also going to be fairly short. Very very good bantam…but if he was trying to make 40 man, he needed to play MN HS or tier 1. 1 Quote
yzerman19 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 Yes, that 13O team from Minny has a ton of firepower. They have talent, but they haven't played together all year and their primary competition has 1 Quote
yzerman19 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 If the pool seeding goes by ranking, that 14U minny team is going to be in the pool with #4, #5, #12, #13...if they emerge from that unscathed, but battle tested...they will be a very tough out Quote
yzerman19 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 17 minutes ago, scpa0305 said: Although Marto is really good…he’s so physically mature for his age that it’s tough to tell what his ceiling is. He’s also going to be fairly short. Very very good bantam…but if he was trying to make 40 man, he needed to play MN HS or tier 1. Its the tough call there right. One school of thought is dominate your age group- he did as a physically mature older player. The other school of thought is to seek out the best competition and see where you stand. Prove you deserve to be in the conversation. He's an excellent player and I want him to be successful...I actually think they did the right thing. He is a guy that is going to need some runway to prove he's got it. Get that runway kicking butt in GF, win some titles, go to junior when you are damn good and ready. Quote
scpa0305 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 17 minutes ago, yzerman19 said: Its the tough call there right. One school of thought is dominate your age group- he did as a physically mature older player. The other school of thought is to seek out the best competition and see where you stand. Prove you deserve to be in the conversation. He's an excellent player and I want him to be successful...I actually think they did the right thing. He is a guy that is going to need some runway to prove he's got it. Get that runway kicking butt in GF, win some titles, go to junior when you are damn good and ready. Very good point. He actually dominated bantams as a first year too. A buddy of mine who’s kid played on a top #3 Minnkota bantam team said Marto was the very best bantam forward this year. And that obviously includes Moorhead. Pretty impressive. Quote
yzerman19 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 If he dominated as a first year, that changes some of my thinking...I might have sent him to play 15O on a top tier program then. Not much to prove if you dominated a year up, and now you are playing a year down in terms of competition Quote
yzerman19 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 also, if you are going to be sub 5'10, you better be lightning in a bottle Quote
yzerman19 Posted March 19 Posted March 19 15 hours ago, scpa0305 said: I would wager the 13o MN team makes a decent run this year. The other aspect of that Minny 13O team is that many of their top dogs played PeeWee this year. Nationally, 13O is bantam, so the speed and physicality of Tier 1 bantam is very different than that in MinnKota PeeWee AA Quote
ChadR Posted March 19 Posted March 19 14U is Bantams. Grand Forks went to Tier II 14U basically every year from 1993-2002. They won it in 1993 & 1995. Quote
scpa0305 Posted March 19 Posted March 19 1 hour ago, yzerman19 said: The other aspect of that Minny 13O team is that many of their top dogs played PeeWee this year. Nationally, 13O is bantam, so the speed and physicality of Tier 1 bantam is very different than that in MinnKota PeeWee AA Very true…those players all do well during the summer circuit so it should be interesting. Chemistry will most likely be the issue if they get knocked off. Quote
yzerman19 Posted March 19 Posted March 19 45 minutes ago, ChadR said: 14U is Bantams. Grand Forks went to Tier II 14U basically every year from 1993-2002. They won it in 1993 & 1995. they designated 13O a couple years back. USA Hockey considers 13O and 14U bantam hockey. Contact applies to both. Quote
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