North Dakota Preps

I am just wondering what peoples thoughts are on open enrollment in North Dakota. I belive a kid from FN and a kid from WF both went to south this year. I am sure it happens in Grand Forks and Bis/Man. as well. Do you think that once in a highschool you should remain in a high school? I think we all know why McBaine went from Hazen to FS, but one could argue that his mom found a better job in fargo. So other then situations like that, do you belive that a player should have to stay at the highschool where they started their hockey career to avoid stacking teams? Grafton puts together a solid hockey team without it, DL in recent years has seemed to do the same.

hockeyfan02 wrote:I am just wondering what peoples thoughts are on open enrollment in North Dakota. I belive a kid from FN and a kid from WF both went to south this year. I am sure it happens in Grand Forks and Bis/Man. as well. Do you think that once in a highschool you should remain in a high school? I think we all know why McBaine went from Hazen to FS, but one could argue that his mom found a better job in fargo. So other then situations like that, do you belive that a player should have to stay at the highschool where they started their hockey career to avoid stacking teams? Grafton puts together a solid hockey team without it, DL in recent years has seemed to do the same.

I think that the NDHSAA is doing what they can by enforcing the 180 day rule...students need to tranfer early if they want to play...There are too many extenuating circumstances to say you must stay at one school for 4 years...family moving to other parts of town, bullying, coaching issues, etc..

In grand forks, kids do it all the time so the balance out the school districts since RR is becoming more populated then GFC but now GFC is starting to dominate RR in population. Only 1 kid that i no have has switched for a aposrt and that is alex simonson. Idk how common it is for other towns but its pretty common in GF but uncommon because of sports. Most families do it cause either there parents went to central or RR adn want there kids too or like the teachers better or coaches in simonsons case.

Families moving to different parts of town?? I think you are a little naive and I think that is crap. I like the point of bullying or coaching issues-because a lot of decent athletes get bullied and or do not get along with their coaches. Most kids would hate to move in the middle of high school...away from their friends and teammates, so I do not buy the fact that because someone’s family moves from West Fargo to South Fargo that they would transfer High schools where they have probably grown up, and have close friends/teammates unless they felt that their team was crap and not going anywhere, that’s the real issue. Lets face it, if you are familiar with GF and Fargo, you know where the high schools are, and you know the realistic time it takes to get anywhere. So if you are saying that they transfer high schools to save a 15 minute trip back to where all their friends and teammates are, then I would say that you are nuts. If I had the opportunity to transfer from a team of little hopes or goals to a team where I could contribute and possibly win a state championship, I would do it in a heartbeat. It’s not the player’s fault; it’s the fault of the system. Wow, big deal, 180 day suspension, but guess what, they are back for what matters most, the regional and state hockey tournaments.

hockeyfan02 wrote:I am just wondering what peoples thoughts are on open enrollment in North Dakota. I belive a kid from FN and a kid from WF both went to south this year. I am sure it happens in Grand Forks and Bis/Man. as well. Do you think that once in a highschool you should remain in a high school? I think we all know why McBaine went from Hazen to FS, but one could argue that his mom found a better job in fargo. So other then situations like that, do you belive that a player should have to stay at the highschool where they started their hockey career to avoid stacking teams? Grafton puts together a solid hockey team without it, DL in recent years has seemed to do the same.

Is it really stacking a team, when the team you transfer to has obviously already accomplished something much greater than your team has? If the team has already 'stacked' itself by pushing itself that far, that's where people transfer (like in Simonson/Mcbain cases). I don't see either of those players in the starting lineups of either of their respective teams either, meaning they obviously had something pretty deep before they came.

yeah but does that really help if you have the attitude that the team you play on is "crap" and you put yourself above the team and move. i have no respect for someone that can't stick it out and try to contribute more to the "crap" team then packing their bags to move down the block so they can play for the "stacked" team. maybe those players that are moving should sweep infront of their own door and make sure they are the best they can possibly be then maybe they should move if it's really not helping them to stay with the "crap" team

I never intended to imply that this was morally correct. In fact, it's morally corrupt, but it's been done, and likely always will be as long as the rules are consistent.

Interesting topic. It looks like most of the moves mentioned are between high school teams, but it's effectively the same issue as a kid leaving a town with only a Jr Gold team to play high school. Is it really about player development, recognition or winning? Do you think there are more moves for hockey or is it the same as other sports?

I don't know the actual numbers, but I'd expect hockey to have more than most other sports. Hockey requires an extreme amount of commitment, intense workouts, and dedication to truly play at an incrementally higher level. Just to be able to play at a High School hockey team, it'd generally take about 8-10 years of hockey experience (on avg), countless dollars (Often tallying into huge sums by the time a player is in High School ) and a huge amount of time to play at a competitive level. This is true for many other sports also, but the most demanding that I have seen was definately Hockey, and assuming this is true, a player that has gone through so much to be a quality player will do more to get farther into it, and may make sacrifices like switching to a seperate team to better himself.
Based on this, I would expect hockey to have a larger percentage of players transfering or moving in order to better themselves. So many aspects could play into this that it truly is unanswerable, but this is my opinion.

I definitely agree that hockey takes a lot of effort to be a top player, but there seems to be more of stigma attached, that you can't be good if you don't play on a top team. Part of what I was thinking about recognition, was attention from college recruiters. In a small school,(9-man football, class B basketball, Jr Gold Hockey) we still have quite a few kids going on to play college football and basketball. The last kids I heard of that went on to play Jr college hockey were harrased about only playing Jr Gold to the point they eventually quit. I'm wondering if this is a new phenomenon in the state. We've had players in the past that have played Jr hockey in Canada and even for the Sioux.