North Dakota Preps

Does anyone have the state rankings for hockey? I haven't seen any lately thanks.

I am not sure if this is the actual list or not, but it is the closest such ranking I could find to this point:

1.) Fargo South (11-0-0)
2.) G.F. Red River (5-1-1)
3.) Grafton/P.R. (6-3-1)
4.) Minot High (7-2-0)
5.) West Fargo (7-3-1)

 What's wrong with G.F. Central this year?

Do any of the western teams have a chance THIS year?

Not sure on what's up with Central. I do believe it was somewhat expected though.

Of course the western teams have a chance...well until playoff time anyway. It seems like the eastern teams just take their games to a whole new level that the western teams can't match when it comes to tournament hockey. I'm open to it happening, but I believe this will be another year that it won't.

I saw GF Central play Minot earlier in the year and both teams looked terrible. Central won 3-2 on a couple late goals.
Minot has since looked much better. I can only assume Central will be ready to roll come tourney time, but I think it's safe to say that they aren't as talented as in past years.

Minot should win at least a game at state (should... ha ha).
I think if Jordan Willert would have stuck around and not gone to the USHL, people might be talking about Minot being right up there with South this year.

Question??  Why are the west teams in Hockey not catching up with the east teams... Hockey has been played out west for over 30 years but they still cant compete year in and year out with the teams from Fargo, Grand Forks and Grafton... Will Hockey ever become a state wide sport or will the east continue to domminate every year?  do all the good athletes out west play basketball and wrestling?

 anybody have any comments?

I don't know with the East having one of the best college hockey teams and facility in the country right next to them that there might be more intrest on this side of the state then out west? Bismarck usually always has one of the best wrestling programs in the state and a competitive basketball team. All the other schools have other sports to compete with. I don't know if all the teams out West are big enough to be competitive in Basketball, Wrestling, Hockey Just my opinion. I think somebody who lives out west could answer it better.

The eastern side of the state has more facilities, support, and players, to get kids interested at a young age.  I don't think that the western high school programs have enough time to catch up to them.

Also growing up in a smaller community I didn't even have the opportunity to play organized hockey.  I had other options such as BB/wrestling however.

Agree w/ Batman. Minot has a pretty good feeder program, but the Grand Forks has a youth program that puts the rest of the state to shame.

Facilities are a big reason too... If the state tournament was held in the West every-other-year it would level the playing field, but they just don't have the facilities to match up.

 

 Fargo has the population, and Grand Forks has the UND/REA influence.  They also have almost unlimited funding provided by the G.F. Blue Line Club through its charitable gaming operations, one of the biggest in the state.

Grafton took it to Central last night 5-1.

Last Night

Grafton beat Minot 5-4
Central beat Jamestown 5-0
South beat West Fargo 8-2

if population and money were the main factors(they do help) how do you explain grafton year after year.

the youth program in grafton plays quality opponents. they go into minn. and play the roseau's and warroads of the world.  the youth program fundementals are second to none, not with numbers but with coaching and tradition.

if you are in williston or dickinson those trips do not happen enough because of money & time.

hockey out west might be 20-30 years old, but the quality of coaches up and down a program are not littered with ex-und and top ranked ex-players.  how long has it taken west fargo to be a contender, will whapeton ever be.

I've got a comment on that, the west seems to be behind the east because all the the east schools are huge. they have way more kids to pick their teams from than the teams in the west do.  Most of the teams in the east are in bigger towns too, they have ice almost all year round, and when you end up playing against good competition every time u suit up, your team is going to adapt of course.  I think this year is the year to watch out for the west though.

DL06 wrote:I've got a comment on that, the west seems to be behind the east because all the the east schools are huge. they have way more kids to pick their teams from than the teams in the west do.  Most of the teams in the east are in bigger towns too, they have ice almost all year round, and when you end up playing against good competition every time u suit up, your team is going to adapt of course.  I think this year is the year to watch out for the west though.

I disagree that we should watch out for the west this year, if the dream team from minot last year came into state 19-0(i think) and lost their first game, then i dont think theres much to worry about this year.

Final Regional Standings

EDC
1 Red River(wins tie-breaker)
1 South 
3 Grafton
4 West Fargo
5 Central
6 North
7 Shanley
8 Jamestown
9 Wahpeton

WDA
1 Minot
2 Williston
3 Devils Lake
4 Bismarck High
5 Hazen/Beulah
6 Bismarck Century
7 Dickinson
8 Mandan
9 Bottineau                                

Maybe it's just me, but doesn't it sort of feel wierd that RR is the 1 seed?? Obviously the record speaks for itself.  It just seems that South is by far the most dominating team.  Beating Moorhead, Hastings,...etc.  South only losing once(in overtime) to Red River after being up 3-0.  I don't know I guess Red River deserves it.  Can any team in the state hold South to less than 3 goals come tourney time?  Can anyone in the state score more than 3 goals on South??? We will see starting tomorrow!! It's tourney time BABY!!!!!:D

Must be a South guy huh? That's ok, we like those people around here that support their teams and do it well! You're a model member of this forum!

I guess it doesn't strike me as odd South not being number 1. It clearly is a two hoarse race between South and Red River. I'm obviously a Red River fan. They played two good games this year and the rest came down to the rules of who becomes the number 1 seed.

I definitely think someone can score more than 3 goals on South, reason being is that I feel it will take at least that to beat them.

Hopefully nothing too crazy happens. A state tournament without Red River or South just isn't quite as exciting. It is tournament time like you said though, and that's the most exciting time of year and anything can happen. Stay tuned and lets hope for some great hockey!

good call I hope they both get through unscaved!!! I'd like to see them play each other twice more!!!

I think South was definitely more dominating overall (but not by a huge margin) during the season, but their games against the #3 seed (Grafton) happened to be a little closer than Red River's were, so they lost the tiebreaker. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the tiebreaker is only for tournament seeding, so they will actually go down in the record books as co-EDC regular season champions.

puck71 wrote:Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the tiebreaker is only for tournament seeding, so they will actually go down in the record books as co-EDC regular season champions.

No correcting needed, you are correct.