2006-2007 ND High School Hockey

[Stiouxy]

hey RR is still #1 or #2 with fargo south

DL far 3rd then after up for grabs prolly id say either GPR or FN

ugly season for GFC as there star player quit

1- South

2- Red River

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3- GPR

4- DL

5- North

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6T- WF

6T- Central

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8- Shanley

9- Wahpeton

[hockey101]

West Fargo over Central 5-4......upset???

[RoughRiders09]

1- South

2- Red River

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3- GPR

4- DL

5- Northgood

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6T- WF

6T- Central

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8- Shanley

9- Wahpeton

You cant put South over RR quite yet. They havnt played each other so we dont know who is better. South may be beating better teams than RR, but until they play each other, you cant say who is better.

[UNDhockey22]

Well I would like to say that I am rooting for Zach Welding to get it...not sure if he's got it but I will be hopin' for him...(J-town Alum)

You have to assume the leading scorer in the state is either going to come from one of the top 3 teams in the east or someone from the west. I don't want to open a can of worms when I say the west is weak making it easier for players to score, but I think we all know that is unfortunatly the truth. On that note whoever produces the most from South, Red River... who the third team will be in the east I don't know. Tanner Bombenger of North is towords the tops maybe he'll edge someone out. It's a long season though so I guess we'll see.

On the note of why Moorhead is better than Fargo year in and year out. Well, yes Fargo does field more teams than Moorhead. But I don't think that's why Moorhead is such a powerhouse compared to the Fargo schools (throughout history). I believe some parents who are involved in Moorhead Youth hockey were very good hockey players themselves. In that sense, they have an advantage in knowledge in developing young players. It also helps Moorhead has tremendous tradition. These kids grow up wanting to play high school hockey and that also plays a major role in there decision of which sports to play and how aggresively they train for that sport. If the case was the Fargo simply had more teams than Moorhead, we would be seeing guys like the Cullens, Brian Lee, Chris VandeVelde, Gifford, the list goes on and on. It has been a while since Fargo has produced a blue chip player. Fargo has had many very good players but not even close to as many high end guys as Moorhead. Last year Fargo had a couple of very good players who were able to move on (Weisgarber, Galt, Larson, Harrie) and maybe thats a testiment to the improvement of hockey in Fargo. Who knows.

[hockey101]

You cant put South over RR quite yet. They havnt played each other so we dont know who is better. South may be beating better teams than RR, but until they play each other, you cant say who is better.

How can you even say that south is a better team?......until the 2 teams play i dont think there should be any talking on here about who the "Better team" is.

[doubleu]

I see on the news that Crookston lost to North tonight 5-4. Crookston came back from a 5-2 deficit with about 7 minutes to go. Any news on other games.

[Stiouxy]

How can you even say that south is a better team?......until the 2 teams play i dont think there should be any talking on here about who the "Better team" is.

So should we wait till South plays west fargo before we say who's better between those two? I can say South is the best team because i've seen both teams play. South is bigger, stronger, faster, deeper than Red River. Also when Red River struggles with a brutal West Fargo team it raises a red flag. South is the defending champ and will be number one until someone can knock them off. Period.

[RoughRiders09]

So should we wait till South plays west fargo before we say who's better between those two? I can say South is the best team because i've seen both teams play. South is bigger, stronger, faster, deeper than Red River. Also when Red River struggles with a brutal West Fargo team it raises a red flag. South is the defending champ and will be number one until someone can knock them off. Period.

Ok, So RR plays a bad game against WF. No one can say who is a better team until the two teams match up. Im not going to say RR is, and im not going to say South is, we will just have to wait. I think it will be just like last year, the teams will go 50-50 during the season and state will prove the best team.

[hockey101]

So should we wait till South plays west fargo before we say who's better between those two? I can say South is the best team because i've seen both teams play. South is bigger, stronger, faster, deeper than Red River. Also when Red River struggles with a brutal West Fargo team it raises a red flag. South is the defending champ and will be number one until someone can knock them off. Period.

so ur saying since red river had one bad game that makes south the better team.....in hockey, teams dont always perform there best when they are going into a game knowing they should kick the crap out of a team.....therefore u cannot determine who the best team in the state is until the 2 best teams meet up......and buddy last year was last year it doesnt mean s&!t this year. Period

[doubleu]

Also, West Fargo beat Central 5-4.

[Stiouxy]

I'm sorry if i've offended you because you play for Red River or probably their JV team. Have you even seen South play yet? Red River has absolutely zero creditability this year. They've played terrible competition and have even struggled against that competition. Sorry if i've hurt your feelings but at this point in the season, South is the best team in the state.

[ND Pride]

Certainly, the best way to determine which team is the best is after they play a game. Of course, even after scores are posted some folks often argue that the best team did not win, played bad, the refs called a bad game etc. It is not unusual for people to have a civil discussion as to which team is best even if those teams have not played. That type of speculation takes place all of the time and it is part of being a sports fan. I am not sure if some of those who post on here are saying that no one should ever say which team is better until they each play one another. You can't enforce that type of censorship and it simply does not make sense because people like to speculate. As we can see, this speculation can often upset some people who cannot step back and take this for what it is.....people getting together and talking about hockey, rating teams, players, and speculating. You may not like what people say but if they develop some reasonable basis for their conclusion they certainly have a right to post on this board. They have that right even if their logic is unreasonable.

[hockey101]

I'm sorry if i've offended you because you play for Red River or probably their JV team. Have you even seen South play yet? Red River has absolutely zero creditability this year. They've played terrible competition and have even struggled against that competition. Sorry if i've hurt your feelings but at this point in the season, South is the best team in the state.

Not offended at all........and actually i was a 4 year varsity player back in the day when coach purpur was coaching........it is just very clear that you think there is only one good team in the state and clearly your thoughts are wrong......red river is a very talented team this year and very strong on more then just there top line.....im not saying that red river is the better team and i never said that, all i said was "you cant determine who the best team in the state is till they meet up"

[ND Pride]

That's what I tried to say here a couple of years ago, and a select few chastized me for having the audacity to suggest such a thing. I was told that Central & Red River have always been the best and always will be. Time will tell.

The southside Flyers have a lot of kids and typically a lot of quality athletes in their youth feeder program. I noticed this year the Bantam A Flyer team lost to the Bismarck Generals 6-5 and also to the Bismarck Nationals 7-0. They did pound some Minnesota teams and beat Mandan 7-5. Wondering if some of the other North Dakota teams are showing some strength or if the southside Bantam A team is struggling a bit?

[UNDhockey22]

so ur saying since red river had one bad game that makes south the better team.....in hockey, teams dont always perform there best when they are going into a game knowing they should kick the crap out of a team.....therefore u cannot determine who the best team in the state is until the 2 best teams meet up......and buddy last year was last year it doesnt mean s&!t this year. Period

To quote a NCAA division one soccer coach; "A true test of a team is how they play against a weak opponent, if they respect them. The greatest respect my players will pay any team is to play them at 100%, and if that means winning by 5 goals, then we win by five. Thats the greatest respect you can pay a team, to play your best against every team, all the time. If they can't do that against a weak opponent, I'm not sure how they'll do against a great opponent."

In my mind great teams show up to play every game. I am not a big fan of the argument, we lost because we played terrible. Because as far as I'm concerned, maybe the other team played terrible too. And until we're able to see what both teams are really capable of, it was a close game and should be treated as such. Every team has bad bounces in every game, sometimes those bounces lead to goals, sometimes they don't. As player or an avid fan of one team, sometimes your vision can become so clouded you only see things going wrong for your team, and are unable to see that in fact, those bounces affect both teams. It's how you react to them is what matters.

[RoughRiders09]

To quote a NCAA division one soccer coach; "A true test of a team is how they play against a weak opponent, if they respect them. The greatest respect my players will pay any team is to play them at 100%, and if that means winning by 5 goals, then we win by five. Thats the greatest respect you can pay a team, to play your best against every team, all the time. If they can't do that against a weak opponent, I'm not sure how they'll do against a great opponent."

In my mind great teams show up to play every game. I am not a big fan of the argument, we lost because we played terrible. Because as far as I'm concerned, maybe the other team played terrible too. And until we're able to see what both teams are really capable of, it was a close game and should be treated as such. Every team has bad bounces in every game, sometimes those bounces lead to goals, sometimes they don't. As player or an avid fan of one team, sometimes your vision can become so clouded you only see things going wrong for your team, and are unable to see that in fact, those bounces affect both teams. It's how you react to them is what matters.

I completly agree with you.

[proudsioux]

Fargo might have the better youth program but consider this

1. they have double the amount of people GF has

2. Coaching is a huge key

3. Amount of hockey the kid grows up with

[ND Pride]

Fargo might have the better youth program but consider this

1. they have double the amount of people GF has

2. Coaching is a huge key

3. Amount of hockey the kid grows up with

Fargo has a reputation as not being a hockey community. Look at their facilities over the years. It was only recently that they built the new rinks off of 45th on the southside. The size of the community does not matter. It is the culture, the infrastructure, and so forth. Coaching is a huge part of it and Moorhead has had better coaching and so has Grand Forks. It is not the amount of hockey that the kids grow up with but the quality of the experience that they have with the game.

The hockey programs at the critical youth level have been fragmented since the Patriots broke off from Fargo Youth Hockey (Flyers and Raiders) in the late 70's. The development of a total "B" program hurt the community in terms of developing top level players for a wide variety of reasons. Fargo still has problems with break away groups to this day. The number of high schools is part of the problem but the bigger problem has been the fragmentation of youth hockey and the quality of coaching across the board. There have been plenty of exceptions in the coaching area (Dave Morinville, for example, coached at North and won a state title or two). My conclusion is that Fargo absolutely does not have a better youth program than Grand Forks or Moorhead. The high numbers on the southside often result in very good teams because of the competition to get on an A team and also because with a larger group you tend to have a better "gene pool" to pick from (more bigger kids, faster, etc - it is simple statistics). Also, with UND hockey Grand Forks has a better community culture for the sport.

[proudsioux]

that was my point i was trying to prove

[Lives-to-play-hockey-06]

so ur saying since red river had one bad game that makes south the better team.....in hockey, teams dont always perform there best when they are going into a game knowing they should kick the crap out of a team.....therefore u cannot determine who the best team in the state is until the 2 best teams meet up......and buddy last year was last year it doesnt mean s&!t this year. Period

Beating an average EGF team 5-4 is also a red flag.

[Lives-to-play-hockey-06]

Fargo might have the better youth program but consider this

1. they have double the amount of people GF has

2. Coaching is a huge key

3. Amount of hockey the kid grows up with

I think fargo has twice as many teams as we do so that arguement isn't very strong.

[jloos]

The hockey programs at the critical youth level have been fragmented since the Patriots broke off from Fargo Youth Hockey (Flyers and Raiders) in the late 70's. The development of a total "B" program hurt the community in terms of developing top level players for a wide variety of reasons. Fargo still has problems with break away groups to this day. The number of high schools is part of the problem but the bigger problem has been the fragmentation of youth hockey and the quality of coaching across the board. There have been plenty of exceptions in the coaching area (Dave Morinville, for example, coached at North and won a state title or two). My conclusion is that Fargo absolutely does not have a better youth program than Grand Forks or Moorhead. The high numbers on the southside often result in very good teams because of the competition to get on an A team and also because with a larger group you tend to have a better "gene pool" to pick from (more bigger kids, faster, etc - it is simple statistics). Also, with UND hockey Grand Forks has a better community culture for the sport.

The Fargo Patriots were formed in the late 80's and was started for kids who could not afford to play for the Raiders or Flyers. The Patriots attracted many kids that would not have otherwise played organized hockey. They did not "break away" from anybody.

Towards the end, the Patriots ended up imploding because of overzealous parents who wanted to start an 'A' team. They ended up starting the Outlaws - a B-1 bantam team. I spent five years coaching the Patriots and a large number of kids went to Oak Grove or Shanley, many of these families switched to the Angels when they started up.

The Patriots were a great thing for youth hockey in the area, in that they gave kids a chance to play. I agree that they did not "develop" talent to play at the next level, but that was not the point of the program. It was simply to let the kids have fun. Although a number of talented players played Patriots, including Tanner Bombeger from North and Alex Hooey from South.

The Angels appear to have watered down the Flyers a bit. Most of the Angels players are southsiders. It will be interesting to see how many of the top players go to Shanley.

[Matt]

You cant put South over RR quite yet. They havnt played each other so we dont know who is better. South may be beating better teams than RR, but until they play each other, you cant say who is better.

The teams listed in a poll usually don't all play each other, but that doesn't preclude anyone from opining on which is a better team. ND is unique in that virtually every team in the poll will play each other at some point. Saying we can't speculate on one team vs another simply because they haven't played the other undermines the entire poll system. Can we not say UND is better than Niagra simply because they haven't played? Nonsense.

[proudsioux]

Beating an average EGF team 5-4 is also a red flag.

average??? I heard they are picked to finish 2nd this year in 8a

[proudsioux]

I think fargo has twice as many teams as we do so that arguement isn't very strong.

Twice as many? They got 2 legit teams and Shanley is a private school with not as many kids in it and struggle to compete year in and year out.