2006-2007 ND High School Hockey

[knowsall]

Williston hockey has improved leaps and bounds since the early 90's. Back when I started playing traveling hockey we would romp Williston constantly, and most of the games ended up with running time. As I got older they started getting better and better, and the games got a whole lot closer. Nowadays when Williston beats Minot or Bismarck it really isn't considered an upset. Yeah they have a little ways to go to catch up to the Fargo South's/Red River's/Central/etc. of the world, but it seems like their high school team gets better every season.

Dickinson is like Williston in the fact that they are also much improved, but I personally don't believe that hockey has caught on in Dickinson quite yet. A couple years ago they made the state high school tournament which is huge for a young program, but they've kind of taken their lumps the past couple of years. I still believe they belong in high school hockey (although others here will tell you differently) and hopefully in the near future the game will catch on in Dickyville. Like I've always believed, the growth of hockey in a small state like North Dakota is HUGE!

I think we are getting a little trigger-happy thinking that Williston is suddenly going to be competitive year in and year out in the west region, much less the state. Williston has had a couple good groups of players, most every school has experienced a year or two in which they succeed, but in most cases it is not very long lived. Maybe last year williston beating the bismarcks and minots would not be concidered as much of an upset, but to say that this trend is going to continue and the gap will continue to close is a little premature. When was the last time you remember saying that central beating west fargo was an upset? I cant remember the last time that was the case, and i dont think it will happen again for a long time. This is just an example of how some things change every year and some things, (such as red river, fargo south, grafton, bismarck and minot being in the state tournament) are more likely to happen than the sun rising each morning. However, a change in the standings from year to year is fun to see and keeps us guessing.

[ndm49]

I think we are getting a little trigger-happy thinking that Williston is suddenly going to be competitive year in and year out in the west region, much less the state. Williston has had a couple good groups of players, most every school has experienced a year or two in which they succeed, but in most cases it is not very long lived. Maybe last year williston beating the bismarcks and minots would not be concidered as much of an upset, but to say that this trend is going to continue and the gap will continue to close is a little premature. When was the last time you remember saying that central beating west fargo was an upset? I cant remember the last time that was the case, and i dont think it will happen again for a long time. This is just an example of how some things change every year and some things, (such as red river, fargo south, grafton, bismarck and minot being in the state tournament) are more likely to happen than the sun rising each morning. However, a change in the standings from year to year is fun to see and keeps us guessing.

[Siouxmama]

No predictions on what is going to happen at the end of the season, but I do look forward to seeing Devils Lake play some hockey. They had a great season last year and I thought Danny Groves did a good job for them in net. He will be a junior this year, and more comfortable with his job. Making it to state last year gave they guys some confidence and they will hopefully come out and show the east that they can compete as well as the rest of em.

GO SATANS!!! or Firebirds (sorry...I'm a diehard)

[riders06]

I am not very familiar with players from the west, but im sure they will have some qaulity players that we will be talking about as the season gets going. As far as the east goes, here are my players to watch...

Fargo South- Shawn Deichert (could battle hillman for a mr. hockey run), Danny Wurden ( one of souths top defensemen last year), Ian Powers (should be interesting to see if he can still put up good numbers without weisgarber and larson on his line)

Red River- Jarret Galbreath (one of the top two defensemen in the state this year), Ryan Ladeuceur (other one of the two top defensemen in the state this year), Eric Meland ( very talented player, could possibly lead the state in scoring)

Grand Forks Central- Alex Simonson ( good skill, needs someone to get him the puck)...central could have a tough year, but they always turn it on come tournament time

Grafton- Zac Miller, Tanner hills (both skilled forwards that put up a lot of points), Luke Paulson

Fargo North- Tyler klein, Tanner Bombenger...besides these two, north will be in the hurt-bag

West Fargo- Tyer Swanson (very good defenseman, both defensively and offensively)...not very deep

*** As for players out west, I would say that Michael Hillman will have another outstanding year, and tyrell mcbain could be a player to watch out for. Nathan Stremick is also a good player....these are just the players i can think of off the top of my head, so dont rape me for leaving somebody from your team off the list.

Tyrell Mcbain from Hazen is transferring to Fargo South for the 2006-2007 season. Should be interesting to see how he does in the East with some tougher competition.

[knowsall]

Tyrell Mcbain from Hazen is transferring to Fargo South for the 2006-2007 season. Should be interesting to see how he does in the East with some tougher competition.

[cold]

Tyrell Mcbain from Hazen is transferring to Fargo South for the 2006-2007 season. Should be interesting to see how he does in the East with some tougher competition.

I suppose his dad recieved a job offer in the fargo area that was just to good to pass up. Im sorry, but i think it is ridiculous for a high school kids family to relocate so he can play a year with a different high school team. I happen to think that a little thing called loyalty is a little bit more important than getting a state championship ring. I dont think that McBain will become a better prospect if he is playing for fargo south. If he is truely the player that he is made out to be, he will be able to make a name for himself wherever he plays. I really hope that Fargo South does not end up winning the state title is this news is true.

[knowsall]

I suppose his dad recieved a job offer in the fargo area that was just to good to pass up. Im sorry, but i think it is ridiculous for a high school kids family to relocate so he can play a year with a different high school team. I happen to think that a little thing called loyalty is a little bit more important than getting a state championship ring. I dont think that McBain will become a better prospect if he is playing for fargo south. If he is truely the player that he is made out to be, he will be able to make a name for himself wherever he plays. I really hope that Fargo South does not end up winning the state title is this news is true.

So you're making a generalization off no actual basis? For all you know the move could have nothing to do with hockey (academics, family move), or even a coach telling his player to leave. And then to go on and say that you hope a group of kids doesn't get to win what they work their entire lives to that point to accomplish based off the choice of one kid? That's a little extreme to me, but I guess you can somehow justify that.

[cold]

So you're making a generalization off no actual basis? For all you know the move could have nothing to do with hockey (academics, family move), or even a coach telling his player to leave. And then to go on and say that you hope a group of kids doesn't get to win what they work their entire lives to that point to accomplish based off the choice of one kid? That's a little extreme to me, but I guess you can somehow justify that.

Im sorry for making a generalization. If there is a good reason that Tyrell McBain and his family are moving to fargo besides hockey then i deeply apologize, and may god have mercy on my soul. I will hold off on making any more "generalizations" about this topic until i have found out the reason for the move. I would also like to apologize to the Fargo South kids who have worked there entire lives to get to that point because i am sure that they have worked a lot harder than all the other teams in the state who are playing with the same group of kids they played with since mites...and no transfers

[riders06]

I suppose his dad recieved a job offer in the fargo area that was just to good to pass up. Im sorry, but i think it is ridiculous for a high school kids family to relocate so he can play a year with a different high school team. I happen to think that a little thing called loyalty is a little bit more important than getting a state championship ring. I dont think that McBain will become a better prospect if he is playing for fargo south. If he is truely the player that he is made out to be, he will be able to make a name for himself wherever he plays. I really hope that Fargo South does not end up winning the state title is this news is true.

Although I agree 100% on those two points, at least he isn't transferring to Central or Red River. How many times have those two schools used players who transferred from other towns to lead their hockey teams to state titles? Perhaps this is yet another sign that the torch is in the process of being passed. South are not the undisputed kings of North Dakota high school hockey yet, but give it a little more time and they just might be.

[ND Pride]

Although I agree 100% on those two points, at least he isn't transferring to Central or Red River. How many times have those two schools used players who transferred from other towns to lead their hockey teams to state titles? Perhaps this is yet another sign that the torch is in the process of being passed. South are not the undisputed kings of North Dakota high school hockey yet, but give it a little more time and they just might be.

Beside Danny Irman transferring from North to Red River, who else has transferred to either Central or Red River?

[BringDeanBack]

Beside Danny Irman transferring from North to Red River, who else has transferred to either Central or Red River?

In addition to Danny Irmen, Nick Krebsbach transferred to Red River from Minot. Those two played on the RR team that won state in 5 OTs 2-1.

[andtheHomeoftheSIOUX!!]

As far as South's performance, I hope they enjoy the good run that they are on because once the third high school opens up, the talent will be diluted.

When does the third High School open? Also, can't a kid play for a different school (not the one they are going to) in Fargo? Thanks.

[13und2008]

The name of the kid that transfered from Devils Lake to GFC was Keaton Wolf, I believe. Played goalie.

[skateshattrick]

The 3rd public high school, to be located on the way south end of town, is supposed to open within the next five years or so. I've heard rumors that the Fargo South athletic teams will be made up of players from both South High and the new public high school, as in the new school would essentially be considered a 2nd "campus" (for lack of a better term) of South. I do not know that to be a fact, it's just a rumor that I've heard.

I've asked some of the coaches within the Fargo Flyers program if they know anything about that, and they aren't sure what's going to happen. We'd hate to see this awesome group of kids we have coming up through the Flyers program get split in half, but time will tell. If the 3rd high school ends up being a 3rd hockey team, that's about the only way GF could potentially go back to being the home of high school hockey dynasties. We do not have open enrollment here in Fargo.

Will you quit with the constant potshots at Grand Forks? You are frankly embarassing to a Flyer parent and Fargo resident. As soon as Fargo starts consistently winning state titles and putting out D1 players like Grand Forks has consistently done (Jeff and Jay Panzer, Steve and Chad Johnson, Grant and Ryan Potulny, Nick Fuher, Andy Schneider, Phil Lamoreaux, Dennis Johnson, Jason Blake, Mike Lamoine, Mark Berge, to name a few) then you have the right to brag and be cocky. Until then, please take a big gulp of shut the hell up. Plus, you are wrong---Fargo has open enrollment. Any person from the Southside can go to North. Because of the size of South, you do need to petition to go from North to South.

[cold]

Will you quit with the constant potshots at Grand Forks? You are frankly embarassing to a Flyer parent and Fargo resident. As soon as Fargo starts consistently winning state titles and putting out D1 players like Grand Forks has consistently done (Jeff and Jay Panzer, Steve and Chad Johnson, Grant and Ryan Potulny, Nick Fuher, Andy Schneider, Phil Lamoreaux, Dennis Johnson, Jason Blake, Mike Lamoine, Mark Berge, to name a few) then you have the right to brag and be cocky. Until then, please take a big gulp of shut the hell up. Plus, you are wrong---Fargo has open enrollment. Any person from the Southside can go to North. Because of the size of South, you do need to petition to go from North to South.

Blake is from Moorhead, and there are many from the Fargo area doing very well at the next level (Migura and McLean to name a couple) not including the ones that could've kept going with hockey but chose another sport, like Askew. Phil may even by a Canadian citizen, I'm not entirely sure. He's not bashing Grand Forks, he's just stating Grand Forks isn't the only hockey power anymore. Fargo, Grafton, and in many cases Minot have emerged to be on an equal and often greater level. How I see it that's not a bad thing, but rather other cities have developed to a competetive level, and you should quit bashing them for becoming better.

[skateshattrick]

Blake is from Moorhead, and there are many from the Fargo area doing very well at the next level (Migura and McLean to name a couple) not including the ones that could've kept going with hockey but chose another sport, like Askew. Phil may even by a Canadian citizen, I'm not entirely sure. He's not bashing Grand Forks, he's just stating Grand Forks isn't the only hockey power anymore. Fargo, Grafton, and in many cases Minot have emerged to be on an equal and often greater level. How I see it that's not a bad thing, but rather other cities have developed to a competetive level, and you should quit bashing them for becoming better.

Blake is from Grand Forks. He moved to Fargo after the 7th grade.

[skateshattrick]

Blake is from Grand Forks. He moved to Fargo after the 7th grade.

I meant to say he moved to Moorhead after the 7th grade. Aaron Walski is also from Grand Forks, as are Dan Wurden and Ian Powers.

[Chewey]

I was not aware of some of the players mentioned here that played D-1 and are from ND. Where do Ian Powers, Migura, McLean, Chad Johnson (I know STeve Johnson played for the Sioux), Mark Berge, Dennis Johnson, Dan Wuden. Could someone dispel my ignorance and inform me as to where these guys player or are now playing. Thanks.

Also, didn't Danny Irmen transfer from Minot to Red River? I thought he played first in Minot and then went to Fargo/Grand Forks?

[skateshattrick]

I was not aware of some of the players mentioned here that played D-1 and are from ND. Where do Ian Powers, Migura, McLean, Chad Johnson (I know STeve Johnson played for the Sioux), Mark Berge, Dennis Johnson, Dan Wuden. Could someone dispel my ignorance and inform me as to where these guys player or are now playing. Thanks.

Also, didn't Danny Irmen transfer from Minot to Red River? I thought he played first in Minot and then went to Fargo/Grand Forks?

Ian Powers and Dan Wurden play for Fargo South. They are both originally from Grand Forks.

Chad and Steve Johnson are brothers from Grand Forks Central that played for UND.

Mark Berge played for GFRR and played hockey for UND.

Dennis Johnson is from GF and played for UND and then the Detroit Red Wings.

Tyler Magura is from Fargo South and is currently playing for Harvard.

Corey McLean is from Fargo North and played hockey for Notre Dame.

Dan Irmen played hockey for the Fargo Raiders (northside) and moved to Grand Forks for his sophomore season where he played for GFRR for 1 year before playing in the USHL in Lincoln.

There is little question that Grand Forks has had the overwhelming majority of D1 players and that trend has continued over the past 10-15 years. However, Minot has had quite a few players play D1, and Bismarck, Grafton, Fargo and Devils Lake have had some players play D1 as well. Fargo hockey has improved tremendously over the past few years, and figures to get stronger. However, to put down Grand Forks is insulting. That is at least the perspective of this long-time Fargo resident.

[BringDeanBack]

The 3rd public high school, to be located on the way south end of town, is supposed to open within the next five years or so. I've heard rumors that the Fargo South athletic teams will be made up of players from both South High and the new public high school, as in the new school would essentially be considered a 2nd "campus" (for lack of a better term) of South. I do not know that to be a fact, it's just a rumor that I've heard.

I've asked some of the coaches within the Fargo Flyers program if they know anything about that, and they aren't sure what's going to happen. We'd hate to see this awesome group of kids we have coming up through the Flyers program get split in half, but time will tell. If the 3rd high school ends up being a 3rd hockey team, that's about the only way GF could potentially go back to being the home of high school hockey dynasties. We do not have open enrollment here in Fargo.

First of all, Fargo South already draws from a large area of potentiial players. A new South end school should have their own sports teams. Maybe if Fargo got rid of Fargo North, then they could just roll with one team, Fargo South, and they could win the state hockey title like once every five years instead of once every ten years.

That being said, the Grand Forks dynasty is alive and well. Hats off to Fargo South for winning it this last year, they had a talented bunch. However, one title ever ten years or whatever it was, does not mean that South has ended the Grand Forks dominance.

Regarding transfers, Grand Forks schools have been known to hurt each other with open enrollment. I have heard that the Lamoureux's were in the RR district but went to Central. Going father back, how good would the Central teams have been in the mid 1990's if Mark Bry and Paul Murphy had gone to Central (they are both from Manvel) instead of Red River? Central would have put a team on the ice that included 4 future Sioux players (Panzers, O'Connel, and Murphy).

When is the last time that Fargo South had to worry about a kid leaving to play at Fargo North?

[Siouxmama]

In addition to Danny Irmen, Nick Krebsbach transferred to Red River from Minot. Those two played on the RR team that won state in 5 OTs 2-1.

In addition to those examples... Central had a kid who transferred from Bottineau (whose name escapes me now) on one of their championship teams in the early '90s, during the Jay Panzer era. I believe Central also had a Devils Lake transfer within the past 5 years or so. Somebody here who follows their program more closely than I do probably knows the names of the players I'm thinking of.

[UNDhockey22]

First of all, Fargo South already draws from a large area of potentiial players. A new South end school should have their own sports teams. Maybe if Fargo got rid of Fargo North, then they could just roll with one team, Fargo South, and they could win the state hockey title like once every five years instead of once every ten years.

That being said, the Grand Forks dynasty is alive and well. Hats off to Fargo South for winning it this last year, they had a talented bunch. However, one title ever ten years or whatever it was, does not mean that South has ended the Grand Forks dominance.

Regarding transfers, Grand Forks schools have been known to hurt each other with open enrollment. I have heard that the Lamoureux's were in the RR district but went to Central. Going father back, how good would the Central teams have been in the mid 1990's if Mark Bry and Paul Murphy had gone to Central (they are both from Manvel) instead of Red River? Central would have put a team on the ice that included 4 future Sioux players (Panzers, O'Connel, and Murphy).

When is the last time that Fargo South had to worry about a kid leaving to play at Fargo North?

No one is debating that Grand Forks was a hockey dynasty. There is no debate to be had in that regard. But I think almost anyone who is not from Grand Forks will agree, that dynasty is ending. Does that mean Grand Forks will have poor teams in the years to come? Not at all. All it means is the odds of Grand Forks winning every state tournement are diminishing. For example, this year two Fargo South graduates are playing in the USHL. I believe Grand Forks has one graduate playing in the NAHL. This doesn't mean Fargo South is above and beyond GF. It means they are catching up.

The last time Fargo South had to worry about a kid leaving to play at Fargo North was probably any time between 1990-2001. Just because no student transfered, did not mean they did not have to worry.

[pukstan]

In addition to those examples... Central had a kid who transferred from Bottineau (whose name escapes me now) on one of their championship teams in the early '90s, during the Jay Panzer era. I believe Central also had a Devils Lake transfer within the past 5 years or so. Somebody here who follows their program more closely than I do probably knows the names of the players I'm thinking of.

I cant be positive, but I think the kid from Devils Lake was Keaton Wolf. Wasnt he a goalie, that ended up not playing, due to some kid named Lamoreaux? Again, I'm not positive on this info.

EDIT: I just saw the post from 13UND2008, sorry for doubling up on the info.

[Wilbur]

Very well said UNDhockey22. Grand Forks will always be hockeytown ND, and veryone will always talk about the great Grand Forks teams, but its nice to see some other schools win state titles once in a while. Parity is a good thing.

I played with Krebsbach, heck of a hockey player. Would of made Minot a lot better....

[soohockey15]

One title every 10 years? Uhhh, okay... if that makes you feel better, go ahead and convince yourself that's what it is.

The fact of the matter is that it's actually 3 titles in 13 years.

To go even further into detail, let's take a look at state championships won from 1961 (that's as far as the records go back) through 1984:

GF Central - 19.5

Fargo North - 2

GF Red River 1.5

Grafton - 1

That's 21 of 24 state titles (or 87.5%) during that era belonging to the city of GF.

Now let's compare that number to the state championships won since 1985:

GF Red River - 10

GF Central - 4

Grafton - 3

Fargo South - 3

Fargo North - 1

Minot - 1

That's 14 of 22 state titles (or 63.6%) during that era belonging to the city of GF. Still an impressive number, but down 23.9% from the previous era. Anybody who is aware of those facts yet still insists that GF schools still dominate now just as convincingly as they always have is delusional. Furthermore, you could make the case that Red River has been the dominant program in this era and that Central is part of the 2nd tier with Grafton and South. They are not in the 1st tier with Red River. My prediction is that over the next 20-25 years GF schools will continue to win their share of championships but the percentage will drop again. After going from 87.5% in the 1961-1984 era down to 63.6% in the 1985-2006 era, it will very likely drop down to around 50% or less in the 2007-2030 era. Anybody who honestly thinks I'm out of my mind is nothing but a biased homer, in my opinion.

I'm not taking potshots at anybody other than those people who insist that Central and Red River are somehow entitled to every state championship from now until eternity. I have a great deal of respect for the coaches and players that have come up through those two programs. It's the arrogant people who make snide remarks about all ND high school hockey programs outside of GF that I have a problem with. I think Central and Red River will continue to have quality programs in the years to come, but I am also optimistic that a handful of other programs within the state will be right there with them at the top.

Dave do we really have to go through this again. We all know where you stand on this debate. Just drop it.