North Dakota Preps

Here is the pre-season coaches poll for the boys, what is everyones thoughts?
1-Grafton/Park River 160 [5]
2-Fargo South 138
3-Bismarck High 126
4-Grand Forks Central 116
5-Grand Forks Red River 112
6-Fargo North 90
7-Bismarck Century 88
8-Williston 86
9-Minot 76
10-West Fargo 66
11-Jamestown 62
12-Devils Lake 54
13-Fargo Shanley 50
14-Dickinson 48
15-Mandan 42
16-Bottineau 22
17-Hazen/Beulah 6
18-Wahpeton/Breckenridge 6

Also here is the link, it also shows the East Region, and Girls Polls. http://www.ndhighschoolhockey.com/coachespoll.aspx

Very interesting, especially with Bismarck ranked #3 overall? Thye would probably be 5th in the EDC.

Surprised bismarck is higher then grand forks central.

I honestly thought they'd give more credit to the loss of Chad Demers over there at Grafton. I'd figure they'd do the 1-2-3 in the same order that I did. However, the Bismark as #3 is a big surprise to me. They lost a few key players last year that got them through the WDA and the first round of State last year. I can see why the put them over Central though, just because of the rankings from last year's state tournament.

This is why I think the polls are like this:

1. Grafton (Won state last year, but lost a few seniors and their leader/best player in Chad Demers. Likely here because of pulling the upset last year.)
2. Fargo South (Return entire defensive core, their junior line last year started for them at state and showed a lot of promise, very deep team)
3. Bismark (Impressive record last season, taking only 3 losses (Red River, Fargo South, Grafton/Park-River)
4. Central (Return a large amount of their player base, but they're still young)
5. Red River (Lost almost their entire team, no brainer to everyone that they're going to have a difficult year ahead of them)

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Hate to sound inexperienced in polling, but how exactly are these numbers (and the 5 votes next to Grafton) tallied? I see that Grafton has a 5 next to their name, and am assuming that means 5 teams coaches voted them as #1, but are Fargo North, G.F. Red River, West Fargo, G.F. Central, Devils Lake really the only teams that got to vote?

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Edit: Added this poll to the Preseason rankings thread.

[quote]Hate to sound inexperienced in polling, but how exactly are these numbers (and the 5 votes next to Grafton) tallied? I see that Grafton has a 5 next to their name, and am assuming that means 5 teams coaches voted them as #1, but are Fargo North, G.F. Red River, West Fargo, G.F. Central, Devils Lake really the only teams that got to vote?/quote]




I dont know for sure but at the bottom of the poll it said this.

Teams Reporting: Fargo North, G.F. Red River, West Fargo, G.F. Central, Devils Lake

So I'm just assuming that these are the teams that were given ballots to vote for the first place team? Dont quote me on that cause it's a total guess. Does anyone else have any idea why?

I also assumed that those were the 5 teams that were allowed to vote (especially since there were only 5 votes out of 18 teams in the state)

HockeyHigh wrote:I also assumed that those were the 5 teams that were allowed to vote (especially since there were only 5 votes out of 18 teams in the state)

All teams are given the opportunity to vote, they have to actually turn them in.

I wonder why only 5 teams would turn there votes in? You think that the coaches would care a little bit about that stuff. I know its pre season and the ranks dont mean anything, but it still makes it interesting.

The poll was updated recently. More teams have submitted their votes.

2008-09 N.D. State High School Hockey Boy's Coaches Poll [as of 11-18-08]


1-Fargo South 200 [1]
2-Grafton/Park River 192 [6]
3-Grand Forks Central 174
4-Grand Forks Red River 164
5-Bismarck High 154
6-Fargo North 138
7-Bismarck Century 130
8-Williston 128
9-Minot 110
10-West Fargo 100
11-Jamestown 88
12-Devils Lake 80
13-Fargo Shanley 70
14-Dickinson 64
15-Mandan 54
16-Bottineau 30
17-Hazen/Beulah 10
18-Wahpeton/Breckenridge 6

Teams Reporting: Fargo North, G.F. Red River, West Fargo, G.F. Central, Devils Lake, Bismarck High, Grafton/P.R.,

The first poll was on the 8th. Seems odd that after Grafton and BHS vote both of their teams drop in rank.

Updated the rankings in the ranking thread.

HockeyHigh wrote:The poll was updated recently. More teams have submitted their votes.

2008-09 N.D. State High School Hockey Boy's Coaches Poll [as of 11-18-08]


1-Fargo South 200 [1]
2-Grafton/Park River 192 [6]
3-Grand Forks Central 174
4-Grand Forks Red River 164
5-Bismarck High 154
6-Fargo North 138
7-Bismarck Century 130
8-Williston 128
9-Minot 110
10-West Fargo 100
11-Jamestown 88
12-Devils Lake 80
13-Fargo Shanley 70
14-Dickinson 64
15-Mandan 54
16-Bottineau 30
17-Hazen/Beulah 10
18-Wahpeton/Breckenridge 6

Teams Reporting: Fargo North, G.F. Red River, West Fargo, G.F. Central, Devils Lake, Bismarck High, Grafton/P.R.,

The first poll was on the 8th. Seems odd that after Grafton and BHS vote both of their teams drop in rank.

Updated the rankings in the ranking thread.

Most of the time I assume that coaches don't want predict their team too high. Thinking BHS would be a preseason pick higher than 5th in the state was a longshot IMO.