2025-2026 ND High School Hockey Thread

[sioux rube]

6 hours ago, Johnny Five said:

NDAHA puts the Bantam AA, A and B1 in Bismarck the same weekend as the State HS Hockey Tournament.  

What an asinine thing to do. Stockert you listening?

[sioux rube]

5 hours ago, yzerman19 said:

they should do it the weekend before, so all those boys can go to the State tourney to cheer on the school they will be playing for.  That is how you build the culture

It’s been the week after from I what I remember 

[siouxweet]

21 minutes ago, NoiseInsideMyHead said:

Holy heck...no GF teams qualified for State in either Bantam A or B1?  What gives there?  All the eggs in the AA basket this year? 

Maybe but the AA isn't anything special this year.

[Johnny Five]

13 hours ago, siouxweet said:

Maybe but the AA isn't anything special this year.

GF 36 points, WF 35 points, Bismarck 34 points....Fargo 11, Minot 3.  I've heard Bismarck and GF went to OT like 4 times.  

Bismarck's AA is heavy with CHS kids, but hearing a lot of the team might be chasing the dream elsewhere.  Time will tell.

[Frozen4sioux]

20 hours ago, Johnny Five said:

NDAHA puts the Bantam AA, A and B1 in Bismarck the same weekend as the State HS Hockey Tournament.  

North Dakota hockey squarely skating over their own .... well you know.... once again.

14 hours ago, NoiseInsideMyHead said:

Holy heck...no GF teams qualified for State in either Bantam A or B1?  What gives there?  All the eggs in the AA basket this year? 

The makeup, formation and success or lack thereof this season is a direct result of the continued exodus of the state by the families leaving for AA-AAA-AAAA and 40% more A programs out of state the past few seasons. The bank accounts of these programs are very appreciative.

 

[Brim006]

Every single state in the nation is experiencing these same issues and negative impact on high school hockey, so this isn't unique to North Dakota. It might seem that way just because we are next door to MN who's arguably the only state winning that fight and retaining talent at high schools. Even if MN retaining kids means the best kids are just consolidating at certain schools instead of leaving for other leagues...

The small stuff like clearly dumb scheduling mistakes is not helping the cause however. Hopefully they learn from it this year and get back to the normal schedule next year. 

[yzerman19]

If you leave your local to go to a tier 1 program you had better be elite...and I don't mean in the eyes of your mom.  I'm talking certifiable top 2 rounds of CHL or USHL draft.  You also better have a darn good reason for not staying that has to do with your own development and you better be going to a top tier program with top tier coaching and development and competition or else you are simply throwing money away.

[skateshattrick]

4 minutes ago, yzerman19 said:

If you leave your local to go to a tier 1 program you had better be elite...and I don't mean in the eyes of your mom.  I'm talking certifiable top 2 rounds of CHL or USHL draft.  You also better have a darn good reason for not staying that has to do with your own development and you better be going to a top tier program with top tier coaching and development and competition or else you are simply throwing money away.

Ben Strinden was drafted in the 6th round of the USHL Phase II draft. He left HS for the North Star Academy. 

[yzerman19]

36 minutes ago, skateshattrick said:

Ben Strinden was drafted in the 6th round of the USHL Phase II draft. He left HS for the North Star Academy. 

And, do you think it made a difference for him?  That's my point.  

[skateshattrick]

9 minutes ago, yzerman19 said:

And, do you think it made a difference for him?  That's my point.  

Absolutely. If he had not gone to North Star, it is very doubtful that he would have been drafted by an USHL team and even more doubtful that he would have earned a scholarship to UND. How many ND high school kids do you recall that earned a D1 scholarship out of high school, let alone had the opportunity to play in the USHL? It is even more rare if that kid did not go to HS in Grand Forks. There are exceptions like Ryan Potulny, Danny Irmen, Tyler Kleven, etc., but they were already on the radar of college teams before they started HS and Potulny and Irmen still had to play a couple of years in the USHL.

[Sioux-]

Typical WDAY - $20 fee to watch the quarterfinals. Pass. Take it out of Dom Izzo's salary and make it free to watch. 

[Brim006]

1 hour ago, skateshattrick said:

Absolutely. If he had not gone to North Star, it is very doubtful that he would have been drafted by an USHL team and even more doubtful that he would have earned a scholarship to UND. How many ND high school kids do you recall that earned a D1 scholarship out of high school, let alone had the opportunity to play in the USHL? It is even more rare if that kid did not go to HS in Grand Forks. There are exceptions like Ryan Potulny, Danny Irmen, Tyler Kleven, etc., but they were already on the radar of college teams before they started HS and Potulny and Irmen still had to play a couple of years in the USHL.

Of the 14 North Dakota born men players currently playing D1, 9 of the 14 played at their ND high school through their Junior season and 6 through their senior season.
 

How many left sooner that DIDN’T go D1? Hundreds and hundreds. 

[Brim006]

Here’s a neat tid bit. North Dakota is in 3rd out of the 50 states for producing D1 men’s hockey players per capita. 
 

Using QuantHockey 2025-26 data (947 total US-born NCAA players):

Highest ratios (players per 100k pop, July 2025 est.):

- Minnesota: 210 / 5.83M = **3.60**
- Alaska: 17 / 737k = **2.31**
- North Dakota: 14/799k = **1.75**
- Massachusetts: 85 / 7.15M = **1.19**
- New Hampshire: 14 / 1.42M = **0.99*

-Vermont at 0.93

[skateshattrick]

7 minutes ago, Brim006 said:

Of the 14 North Dakota born men players currently playing D1, 9 of the 14 played at their ND high school through their Junior season and 6 through their senior season.
 

How many left sooner that DIDN’T go D1? Hundreds and hundreds. 

What is the source(s) of your information? It would be helpful if you had a list of the 14 playing D1 hockey. Interestingly, 9 of the 14 did not play their senior season. Why? Was it because they got an opportunity to play junior hockey, which is absolutely necessary to get a D1 scholarship?

[siouxweet]

2 hours ago, skateshattrick said:

Ben Strinden was drafted in the 6th round of the USHL Phase II draft. He left HS for the North Star Academy. 

There seams to be an exodus from GF to North Star Academy. 

[gfhockey]

37 minutes ago, Sioux- said:

Typical WDAY - $20 fee to watch the quarterfinals. Pass. Take it out of Dom Izzo's salary and make it free to watch. 

Yea but he’s big time. He covers an FBs team now

[Johnny Five]

These Sheyenne color combos are atrocious.  
 

Sheyenne-Minot chippy.

[Siouxphan27]

57 minutes ago, Sioux- said:

Typical WDAY - $20 fee to watch the quarterfinals. Pass. Take it out of Dom Izzo's salary and make it free to watch. 

i don't get how they justify charging when they also have it on their over the air channel wday xtra.  

[skateshattrick]

1 hour ago, Brim006 said:

Of the 14 North Dakota born men players currently playing D1, 9 of the 14 played at their ND high school through their Junior season and 6 through their senior season.
 

How many left sooner that DIDN’T go D1? Hundreds and hundreds. 

This is not accurate. Cole Spicer played one year at GF Central, 1 year at Honeybaked and 2 years at NTDP. Braden Boser did not play HS hockey in Minot. He played with the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes. Lincoln Kuehne did not play HS hockey. He played at North Star Academy and NTDP for 2 years. Ben Strinden played 1 year at Fargo Shanley, and 2 years at North Star Academy. Zach Nehring did not play HS hockey. He played at SSM. Bauer Berry did not play HS hockey. He played at North Star Academy. 

The players that played HS hockey generally had to go to the NAHL--Will Howard, William Lawson-Body, Brandon Holt, Kirkland Irey and Trent Wiemken. Jaksen Panzer played MN HS hockey in EGF. 

How does this buttress your argument that ND HS hockey is good for development?

 

[Johnny Five]

You know what’s good for development….genetics.  More than likely whatever path they chose, it would’ve worked out for them.

nobody will know.  

[Brim006]

40 minutes ago, skateshattrick said:

This is not accurate. Cole Spicer played one year at GF Central, 1 year at Honeybaked and 2 years at NTDP. Braden Boser did not play HS hockey in Minot. He played with the Phoenix Jr. Coyotes. Lincoln Kuehne did not play HS hockey. He played at North Star Academy and NTDP for 2 years. Ben Strinden played 1 year at Fargo Shanley, and 2 years at North Star Academy. Zach Nehring did not play HS hockey. He played at SSM. Bauer Berry did not play HS hockey. He played at North Star Academy. 

The players that played HS hockey generally had to go to the NAHL--Will Howard, William Lawson-Body, Brandon Holt, Kirkland Irey and Trent Wiemken. Jaksen Panzer played MN HS hockey in EGF. 

How does this buttress your argument that ND HS hockey is good for development?

 

It feels like you’re coming in pretty strong against NDHSH, and I’m not sure why. Almost like you're invested in the topic and taking it personal. That seems to be the only thing that makes sense here. Anyways, I’m just sharing information and pointing out that the idea of “sending kids away early is always better” isn’t automatically true in every situation. In my opinion, if a kid has clearly maxed out what they can get at home and already has at least a NAHL opportunity, then sure moving on makes sense. But that’s not the case for most. It's no secret that far too many kids leave early when they have no business doing so. And get nothing in return for doing so other than regret. 

[RhettRingers]

50 minutes ago, Johnny Five said:

These Sheyenne color combos are atrocious.  
 

Sheyenne-Minot chippy.

Whoever came up with them deserves jail time.

[Brim006]

1 hour ago, skateshattrick said:

What is the source(s) of your information? It would be helpful if you had a list of the 14 playing D1 hockey. Interestingly, 9 of the 14 did not play their senior season. Why? Was it because they got an opportunity to play junior hockey, which is absolutely necessary to get a D1 scholarship?

Here is the full list compiled for reference. There are actually 17 players born in North Dakota who have appeared in Division I hockey this season, including WBL and Spicer, who logged games this year. Of those 17, 12 actually played North Dakota High School Hockey. So within that group of 12, 9 played at least through their junior season, and surprisingly 7 of the 12 played through their senior year, meaning they never left early and still reached Division I hockey. Yes, you read that correctly... SEVEN North Dakota–born hockey players currently playing D1 hockey stayed home through their entire senior season playing in North Dakota High School hockey. I’m guessing most people wouldn’t have guessed that fact?

Adding to this, the two ND‑born players currently committed to Division I, Charlie Vig and Bryce Mattern—also both played through their junior seasons. Including them, that brings the total to 19 players, and 13 of them played at least through their junior year in NDHSH, averaging 2.25 seasons in North Dakota high school hockey.

 

PLAYER Hometown NDHS FINAL YEAR NDHS FINAL CLASS NEXT TEAM CURRENT D1 TEAM Ben Strinden Fargo, ND 2018 SOPHMORE AAA UND Kirklan Irey Bismarck, ND 2018 JUNIOR NAHL Bemidji State Drew Montgomery Grand Forks, ND 2019 SOPHMORE AAA AZ State Lucas Kanta Grand Forks, ND 2019 SENIOR NAHL Army Brandon Holt Grand Forks, ND 2019 SENIOR NAHL Maine Will Howard Grand Forks, ND 2020 SENIOR NAHL Augustana William Lawson-Body Grand Forks, ND 2020 SENIOR NAHL AK FAIRBANKS Zach Sandy Fargo, ND 2021 SENIOR NAHL UND Trent Wiemken Fargo, ND 2022 SENIOR NAHL Bemidji State Max Vig Bismarck, ND 2023 JUNIOR NAHL Bemidji State Carter Sproule Grand Forks, ND 2023 SENIOR NAHL UCONN Lincoln Kuehne Fargo, ND N/A N/A USNTDP AZ State Brasen Boser Minot, ND N/A N/A NAHL AZ State Zach Nehring Minot, ND N/A N/A Shattuck Western Mich Jaksen Panzer Grand Forks, ND N/A N/A NAHL Bemidji State Bauer Berry Grand Forks, ND N/A N/A AAA St Thomas Cole Spicer Grand Forks, ND 2019 FRESHMAN AAA Western Mich             Charlie Vig Bismarck, ND 2024 JUNIOR NAHL Bemidji State Bryce Mattern West Fargo, ND 2025 JUNIOR USHL AZ State

[Brim006]

1 hour ago, siouxweet said:

There seams to be an exodus from GF to North Star Academy. 

There are only 3 kids currently on the NSA roster right now that would've been playing NDHSH this year actually. 

[The Sicatoka]

58 minutes ago, Johnny Five said:

These Sheyenne color combos are atrocious.  

Aren't they wearing the school blue and orange ... like EDM, NYI, ...