2005-06 ND Highschool Hockey

[Cratter]

NO, you dont have to pay per game. You can purchase an activity pass for 25$ which is good for all events excluding tournaments.

Exactly my point. If you don't purchase that pass you have to pay per game. A few years ago everystudent paid that fee so all the games were "free" for them except tournaments, so they didn't need to purchase the pass. That is one of the main reasons you will see less students attending athletic events than you use to.

[QB Eagles #7]

Yea back when I played, purpur was always full when we came down. I think this is maybe a testament to the kids, maybe they are too aragent and the people at school choose not to support them, thats what happend with our bball teams back in the day. I am wondering if the state tournament were to be held in a different city if ANY of thier fellow students would even make the trip.

Its been a while since i've played but, one rink that was always tough was jamestown. They had a solid pep band, and most of the time very questionable officiating.

Jamestown would only be hard to play at if you are from Wahpeton. It's humorous to say that the 2nd worst team in the edc year in and year out would be the hardest place to play. Oh, but they do have a killer sax player, which does make it real tough to come out with a W, you damn fool.

[jagrfan68]

you guys all complain about the topic after topic. first its how the east doesnt respect the west, then how the fargo schools are becoming a dominant force compaired to GF. agreed the fargo schools dont suck as bad but they will never become the lagacy the GF schools have become. then it comes down to underrating the GF teams every year. its pathetic. i know i like the GF teams but i hate to come on here and see such pro fargo people talking s&!t about GF. i have a grudge that will last forever against fargo schools but i can at least admit that south is talented. next it comes to the crowd at the games other than the GF/GF series. all the other games are unimportant when the games arent free anymore. and we like to drink in GF (weekend/weekday) so we need money for other things. oh and the GPR goalie scandal needs to be brought to light. people talked about an obscene gesture but they never said what. to just make sure we are on the same page, he winked and grabbed his privates(small)

[X2theZ]

Jamestown would only be hard to play at if you are from Wahpeton. It's humorous to say that the 2nd worst team in the edc year in and year out would be the hardest place to play. Oh, but they do have a killer sax player, which does make it real tough to come out with a W, you damn fool.

I believe it was what rink is tough to play in. that would have nothing to do with the team they are playing. But thanks deb for your incitful imput.

[roper1313]

I believe it was what rink is tough to play in. that would have nothing to do with the team they are playing. But thanks deb for your incitful imput.

Back when I played in the early 90's Jamestown was definatly one of the toughest places to play. Jamestown had a certain Mr. Hockey finalist who's now pulling down $10+ million a year witht he Angles. We had a game out there in 90 or 91 and thing got so hostile that our bus needed to have a police escort out of Jamestown.

Also, Fargo schools have the same activity pass system and games seem to be well attendend. I think thatattendance at HS hockey games has dropped during the past few years due to the fact that girls BB is now being played in the winter. I know that in the past girls hoops was a pretty big deal at Red River. 3 of the 4 top attended sports are now in the winter and the bone head schedules always seem to have big games in each sport on the same day.

[He Who Shoots Top Shelf]

Quality of your opponent does not need to be a factor. I do recall Jamestown being a challenging place to go to. Back in West Fargo's early days it was hard for us to go in there with all 35 drunk seniors yelling obscenities at us. I'm sure Wahpeton with the penalty minutes they had out there may be tough to play in as well.

[ND Hockey 4]

Jamestown would only be hard to play at if you are from Wahpeton. It's humorous to say that the 2nd worst team in the edc year in and year out would be the hardest place to play. Oh, but they do have a killer sax player, which does make it real tough to come out with a W, you damn fool.

Second worst team in the EDC year in and year out. Forgetting about Shanley are we? I agree that Jamestown is a tough place to play. I don't know why but it always seems like games are much closer than they should be when they are played in Jamestown. Take Jamestown's upset over Grafton as an example.

[ND Pride]

Fair question.

To fully understand why I feel that way, you first must be old enough to remember the state of Red River's hockey program back in the early to mid '80s. Secondly, you must also be able recognize the similarities between Red River 20 to 25 years ago and South right now.

In the early to mid '80s Red River had only a couple of state championships to their name, but they were consistently among the top 2-3 teams in the state year-in and year-out for a number of years. You could just see them getting better and better with each generation of players that came and went, and they had the numbers on their side as far as young players coming up.

Essentially, just about everything that was being said about Red River in the early to mid '80s could apply to South right now. I remember Central supporters getting upset when people suggested Red River was the up-and-coming hockey program of the future, just as both Central and Red River supporters now get upset at the thought of South being the up-and-coming program.

Time will tell if I'm right or wrong, but you simply can't write them off for the future based on their lack of state titles in the past. Red River had only two state titles prior to winning something like 8 out of 12 or 10 out of 16, whatever it is. Somebody who knows please tell us exactly what it is. The fact of the matter is that there were some people who saw that coming before it happened, and I can now see it coming before it happens for South.

DaveK, with all due respect, to make the kind of analysis that you are trying to make requires more analytical resources than what you are providing. Let me say at the outset that it would be best for hockey in North Dakota if there was more parity and one area (East) or one town (Grand Forks) did not win most of the titles. I don't live in Grand Forks so I am not an apologist for their success, in the past. Every year is a new year I would leave it at that and forget about the speculations about the future. Cohorts of quality players appear in some cities/schools and they have success then the program falls back (Minot - one title in 1992). South won in 94 and again in 99 but had a stretch where they did not even go to state despite the numbers they have. My personal opinion is that there are too many variables involved to make futuristic predictions. For example, (remember - I am not from Grand Forks) - Red River could have won two more titles - in 2002 and 2003 - sorry but I do not mean disrespect to Grafton who won in 2002 and Central who won in 2003. After the 2001 season Danny Irmen and Ryan Potulny went to juniors and had great success. Had they stayed Red River might have had two more titles. My point - simply that any program (South, Central, North, Minot, Red River, etc) can come up short on state titles because their top players leave early for juniors, or in the case of some kids, leave one high school for another (migrate from Minot to Red River, Shanley to South, West Fargo to wherever, North to Moorhead). Parents get transferred in their jobs - kids go to Shattuck or some other AAA program - and programs that might contest for a state title are left high and dry. Right now, with the presence of UND and the community culture for hockey Grand Forks will always be a key center in North Dakota for high school hockey. I hope other communities can step up and give them competition because players improve with quality competition not lopsided victories. Finally, you mention the similaries between Red River and South 20-25 years ago - well, when I look at the data I see major differences (there is no D-1 hockey in Fargo, and there is a better hockey culture in Grand Forks) between them on that comparison. Grand Forks has been a hockey town and Fargo, regretfully, has been a town of hockey fragmentation - Patriots, Flyers, Raiders, the old park Board system, now Angels, the old Grizzlies splinter group - I've never seen such a mess - fragmented leadership in the past, etc. Hopefully things have and will improve but Fargo has had a lot of difficulty over the years with their hockey culture/organizations. It would make an interesting book.

My conclusion - good luck to South this year. I am impressed with Red River's "reload" and they are a better than I thought they would be. I would focus on the present - it's hard enough to predict this season much less the next 2 or 3.

[ndpucks]

How are some of the JV teams doing? I have a nephew playing for Bismarck. I have heard they are having a pretty good season. Does this show future promise?

[junior24]

DaveK, with all due respect, to make the kind of analysis that you are trying to make requires more analytical resources than what you are providing. Let me say at the outset that it would be best for hockey in North Dakota if there was more parity and one area (East) or one town (Grand Forks) did not win most of the titles. I don't live in Grand Forks so I am not an apologist for their success, in the past. Every year is a new year I would leave it at that and forget about the speculations about the future. Cohorts of quality players appear in some cities/schools and they have success then the program falls back (Minot - one title in 1992). South won in 94 and again in 99 but had a stretch where they did not even go to state despite the numbers they have. My personal opinion is that there are too many variables involved to make futuristic predictions. For example, (remember - I am not from Grand Forks) - Red River could have won two more titles - in 2002 and 2003 - sorry but I do not mean disrespect to Grafton who won in 2002 and Central who won in 2003. After the 2001 season Danny Irmen and Ryan Potulny went to juniors and had great success. Had they stayed Red River might have had two more titles. My point - simply that any program (South, Central, North, Minot, Red River, etc) can come up short on state titles because their top players leave early for juniors, or in the case of some kids, leave one high school for another (migrate from Minot to Red River, Shanley to South, West Fargo to wherever, North to Moorhead). Parents get transferred in their jobs - kids go to Shattuck or some other AAA program - and programs that might contest for a state title are left high and dry. Right now, with the presence of UND and the community culture for hockey Grand Forks will always be a key center in North Dakota for high school hockey. I hope other communities can step up and give them competition because players improve with quality competition not lopsided victories. Finally, you mention the similaries between Red River and South 20-25 years ago - well, when I look at the data I see major differences (there is no D-1 hockey in Fargo, and there is a better hockey culture in Grand Forks) between them on that comparison. Grand Forks has been a hockey town and Fargo, regretfully, has been a town of hockey fragmentation - Patriots, Flyers, Raiders, the old park Board system, now Angels, the old Grizzlies splinter group - I've never seen such a mess - fragmented leadership in the past, etc. Hopefully things have and will improve but Fargo has had a lot of difficulty over the years with their hockey culture/organizations. It would make an interesting book.

My conclusion - good luck to South this year. I am impressed with Red River's "reload" and they are a better than I thought they would be. I would focus on the present - it's hard enough to predict this season much less the next 2 or 3.

Thanks for the novel.

[ND Pride]

You are welcome. Sorry I had to cut it short.

[ND Hockey1]

NO, you dont have to pay per game. You can purchase an activity pass for 25$ which is good for all events excluding tournaments.

That is true. I am pretty sure RR had more than 13 people there. Not a lot of people like to show up on weekend games since there is a lot usually going on in GF on the weekends. There are sports conflicts too a lot especially in January when most games are being played. I observed on Saturday that the RR student section had many people actually. Many of them were wearing a t-shirt that said Dainty on it and had a picture of Grafton's Tom Cambell's Christmas picture on it. I personally found this funny. Just another act by the RR student section.

[Siouxhockey78]

That is true. I am pretty sure RR had more than 13 people there. Not a lot of people like to show up on weekend games since there is a lot usually going on in GF on the weekends. There are sports conflicts too a lot especially in January when most games are being played. I observed on Saturday that the RR student section had many people actually. Many of them were wearing a t-shirt that said Dainty on it and had a picture of Grafton's Tom Cambell's Christmas picture on it. I personally found this funny. Just another act by the RR student section.

It just shows that they are all in love with him or have nothing better to do.

[skateshattrick]

DaveK, with all due respect, to make the kind of analysis that you are trying to make requires more analytical resources than what you are providing. Let me say at the outset that it would be best for hockey in North Dakota if there was more parity and one area (East) or one town (Grand Forks) did not win most of the titles. I don't live in Grand Forks so I am not an apologist for their success, in the past. Every year is a new year I would leave it at that and forget about the speculations about the future. Cohorts of quality players appear in some cities/schools and they have success then the program falls back (Minot - one title in 1992). South won in 94 and again in 99 but had a stretch where they did not even go to state despite the numbers they have. My personal opinion is that there are too many variables involved to make futuristic predictions. For example, (remember - I am not from Grand Forks) - Red River could have won two more titles - in 2002 and 2003 - sorry but I do not mean disrespect to Grafton who won in 2002 and Central who won in 2003. After the 2001 season Danny Irmen and Ryan Potulny went to juniors and had great success. Had they stayed Red River might have had two more titles. My point - simply that any program (South, Central, North, Minot, Red River, etc) can come up short on state titles because their top players leave early for juniors, or in the case of some kids, leave one high school for another (migrate from Minot to Red River, Shanley to South, West Fargo to wherever, North to Moorhead). Parents get transferred in their jobs - kids go to Shattuck or some other AAA program - and programs that might contest for a state title are left high and dry. Right now, with the presence of UND and the community culture for hockey Grand Forks will always be a key center in North Dakota for high school hockey. I hope other communities can step up and give them competition because players improve with quality competition not lopsided victories. Finally, you mention the similaries between Red River and South 20-25 years ago - well, when I look at the data I see major differences (there is no D-1 hockey in Fargo, and there is a better hockey culture in Grand Forks) between them on that comparison. Grand Forks has been a hockey town and Fargo, regretfully, has been a town of hockey fragmentation - Patriots, Flyers, Raiders, the old park Board system, now Angels, the old Grizzlies splinter group - I've never seen such a mess - fragmented leadership in the past, etc. Hopefully things have and will improve but Fargo has had a lot of difficulty over the years with their hockey culture/organizations. It would make an interesting book.

My conclusion - good luck to South this year. I am impressed with Red River's "reload" and they are a better than I thought they would be. I would focus on the present - it's hard enough to predict this season much less the next 2 or 3.

Excellent post. As a person from Fargo with a child who attended Fargo South, I think that I have some objectivity on this issue. First, despite what DaveK believes, Fargo South does not necessarily deserve respect until it does win a number of state titles. They clearly are the favorites this year, but nothing is guaranteed. The senior class is probably the best class ever through Fargo South. However, they have not won yet. They lost in the championship to the Grand Forks Wheatkings at PeeWees, and lost to the Grand Forks Wheatkings at Bantams and took 3rd. Grand Forks may still be the favorites if Mario and PJ Lamoureaux had stuck around. Second, until the last 2 years, South had missed state for 3 years. Thus, Grand Forks really has been stronger. Third, although I agree that the Flyers have gotten much stronger, they do not dominate, at least not until you get to the 1st year PeeWees and Squirt As. The junior class at South won Bantam A state, but had not had much success before that. Ian Powers, Danny Wurden (a couple of Grand Forks kids) and a few other new kids helped. The sophomore class at South is good, but lost to Grand Forks at Bantam State last year, even with Galbraeth who played at Red River as a 9th grader. They also lost to Grafton most of the time until last year. This year's Bantam A and PeeWee A team are not favorites to win. I suspect Grand Forks is the favorite based upon early success.

The bottom line is that South has improved tremendously and should be one of the top 3-4 teams in the state for awhile. They also should win state this year as they are very talented. However, to say that they have replaced Grand Forks without having similar success is simply a Fargo South fan lacking in objectivity.

[RCB41]

Reading all of these posts about high school hockey is a joke. None of you have a clue who the players around the state are and yet you state who you think is the best, who will win Mr. Hockey, who the best coach is. Grand Forks has been the dominant hockey team for the last 30 years and will always be in the top three for years to come. I have no problem admitting this being from Fargo. Stop wasting everyones time with bull$%!# posts.

[roper1313]

Reading all of these posts about high school hockey is a joke. None of you have a clue who the players around the state are and yet you state who you think is the best, who will win Mr. Hockey, who the best coach is. Grand Forks has been the dominant hockey team for the last 30 years and will always be in the top three for years to come. I have no problem admitting this being from Fargo. Stop wasting everyones time with bull$%!# posts.

Thanks for the insiteful first post RCB41. I'm sure we'll all value your opinion as much as you value ours.

[hockeyman25]

Excellent post. As a person from Fargo with a child who attended Fargo South, I think that I have some objectivity on this issue. First, despite what DaveK believes, Fargo South does not necessarily deserve respect until it does win a number of state titles. They clearly are the favorites this year, but nothing is guaranteed. The senior class is probably the best class ever through Fargo South. However, they have not won yet. They lost in the championship to the Grand Forks Wheatkings at PeeWees, and lost to the Grand Forks Wheatkings at Bantams and took 3rd. Grand Forks may still be the favorites if Mario and PJ Lamoureaux had stuck around. Second, until the last 2 years, South had missed state for 3 years. Thus, Grand Forks really has been stronger. Third, although I agree that the Flyers have gotten much stronger, they do not dominate, at least not until you get to the 1st year PeeWees and Squirt As. The junior class at South won Bantam A state, but had not had much success before that. Ian Powers, Danny Wurden (a couple of Grand Forks kids) and a few other new kids helped. The sophomore class at South is good, but lost to Grand Forks at Bantam State last year, even with Galbraeth who played at Red River as a 9th grader. They also lost to Grafton most of the time until last year. This year's Bantam A and PeeWee A team are not favorites to win. I suspect Grand Forks is the favorite based upon early success.

The bottom line is that South has improved tremendously and should be one of the top 3-4 teams in the state for awhile. They also should win state this year as they are very talented. However, to say that they have replaced Grand Forks without having similar success is simply a Fargo South fan lacking in objectivity.

Thank you, very nice post.

[He Who Shoots Top Shelf]

Reading all of these posts about high school hockey is a joke. None of you have a clue who the players around the state are and yet you state who you think is the best, who will win Mr. Hockey, who the best coach is. Grand Forks has been the dominant hockey team for the last 30 years and will always be in the top three for years to come. I have no problem admitting this being from Fargo. Stop wasting everyones time with bull$%!# posts.

Let's try to keep it PG on here. We don't need people like you bringing down the integrity of this message board. You seriously need to look in the mirror and decide that it's time to grow up.

[redwing77]

Let's try to keep it PG on here. We don't need people like you bringing down the integrity of this message board. You seriously need to look in the mirror and decide that it's time to grow up.

I agree. Besides, I have no problem with being from Fargo and saying that any team in any city in any conference anywhere in any season can have a non dominant year and vice versa. Look at Michigan in DI hockey, the Red Wings or Canadiens of the NHL (they hold 25 Stanley Cup titles and yet they are hardly dominant lately)...

To say "Grand Forks will always be in the top three for years to come" is just as outlandish and as infantile as your obsenities, RCB. Sure Grand Forks schools have dominated in the past, but do you really feel that threatened by Fargo South dominating this one?

I mean, seriously, if so, get a life! It's just game!

[MNHockey9]

To get off the subject of Fargo vs. GF hockey, I want to know who the best players are in the state of ND. I want predictions on Mr. Hockey and All tournament teams, try to include some of the western players also.

[Stiouxy]

To get off the subject of Fargo vs. GF hockey, I want to know who the best players are in the state of ND. I want predictions on Mr. Hockey and All tournament teams, try to include some of the western players also.

If western players deserve it they'll be included. As of now i would say Weisgarber is the favorite for Mr. Hockey. Even though the Campbell's are racking up the points, in their two biggest games so far this season against Red River and South they've been shutdown when their team needed them to step up. Does anyone know if that freshman is still playing with them because if he is, he has to be slowing them down. The Campbells each have around 30 points while he has one...

[STARS9]

If western players deserve it they'll be included. As of now i would say Weisgarber is the favorite for Mr. Hockey. Even though the Campbell's are racking up the points, in their two biggest games so far this season against Red River and South they've been shutdown when their team needed them to step up. Does anyone know if that freshman is still playing with them because if he is, he has to be slowing them down. The Campbells each have around 30 points while he has one...

I was at the Grafton/RR game and he did start the game with the campbells, but Tanner Hills replaced him about half way through the game.

[ND Pride]

If western players deserve it they'll be included. As of now i would say Weisgarber is the favorite for Mr. Hockey. Even though the Campbell's are racking up the points, in their two biggest games so far this season against Red River and South they've been shutdown when their team needed them to step up. Does anyone know if that freshman is still playing with them because if he is, he has to be slowing them down. The Campbells each have around 30 points while he has one...

On the topic of the best players - one way to "explore" that topic is to look at the rosters posted for Elite I and Elite II for this past fall. That would be a great starting point plus, those players have some coaching consensus as to their skill as opposed to someone's opinion on this board. People from the east will have difficulty evaluating people from the west because we don't see all of the teams. In addition, as even those in the west would admit, the overall quality tends to be lower and indicators such as goals and assists do not mean that much. A few weeks ago I calculated how many west teams beat east teams in inter-region games and the east has won almost every game. That does not mean that the west has no quality players but it does show that from a team standpoint the overall strength is not there. At this point in the season I would rate Paul Weisgarber and Erick Galt at the top end. I also think both Campbells and Marc Mihulka are looking good.

All tournament teams are based on performance in the tournament so it does not make much sense to speculate on that. There are a lot of kids who could rise up and do a great job in the east/west region tournaments or state and do well. I could toss out 10 or more names but it is so speculative as to be nearly meaningless. List nearly every goalie - because many of them could have a hot streak.

[STARS9]

ND Pride, those are the 5 I would have picked also, and probably in the order you listed them. Ther are alot of good players out there, but I would put them a step below these guys.

[ND Pride]

If someone has the Central/Grafton score tonight it would be great if you could share it.