North Dakota Preps

Grand Forks RR wins the title. However, you heard it here first. Bismarck gets second or third depending how the semi-final goes against Grafton. I know the east teams usually put the west into the sunshine bracket right away but I don't think it will happen to Bismarck this year. All lines are pretty solid. Goal tending may be the weak spot. We'll see. Wish the first round was on TV.

Bismarck wins in first round then loses to GPR then gets 4th. i wish the third place game was on tv.

My opinion is that we don't get that wish of a WDA team placing higher than Hope-4th or 5th.

#1W BHS plays close game with #4E F. North (the game is decided by one) North wins.
*reasoning, I watched North vs. DL and they played some stifling Def.late in game.
PLUS- BHS has that all so important win(back in Nov. vs. F. North)- that could hurt them.
North looks like a diff. team than when I saw them in Bismarck in Nov.
#2E GPR wins vs. #3 Mandan- this also could be close game. Hope to see a 1-2 goal game.
*If Kline is HOT we might be surprised and Mandan could pull the upset.
this is the game if any that could have the upset.

Then in Semis-- IF North vs. Mandan-- give it to North.
IF BHS vs GPR-- GPR by 2 goals
IF North vs. GPR- close 1 goal game **this is probably the game that happens

Lower bracket

#1E GFRR vs. #4 CHS-- this is a blow out game- 4 goals- maybe late charge by GFRR to make it that

#2W Williston vs. #3E F. South- south should blow right by them.
could be close if Evanson-Willistons goalie plays out of his head.
South is too fast for the likes of Williston.(after seeing them play out west
this year)
So show down in Semis- GFRR vs South
*I know that South played two 2 goal games with them this year.
GFRR should win, but no other upsets have happened yet in tourney, then I pick South
for the upset in this game.
you could see GPR vs. South in Championship game?
but it should be GFRR and GPR if all stays on line.

Oh by the way---
I think I did pick the WDA pretty good. I mean my ,From my earlier picks--out on this forum/blog
WDA: BHS,Mandan, Williston, and I think I said either> CHS, dickinson(they got close)
EDC: GFRR, GPR, South, DL- but North got me on that one..

Whats ur blog site?


i agree mostly with your post. bismarck will do no better then third.

I do not have one(blog), but have posted here some of my thoughts back on other threads, topics or whatever we call these things.

Just wasn't going to go Paste and copy what I had mentioned Way back when, on predictions.
Both on teams coming out of the WDA and EDC, as well as my thoughts on the Mr. hockey thread, and many others in the WDA, EDC and hockey general board.

that is all I meant.

some of you know that I have a great liking to HS Sports. And not just hockey.
I enjoy watching and crave for the day when My kids will be playing.

Boy I love this time of year. tourney time suits me just fine.

Good luck to all the Teams... play your best Now, or go home.

I have No Biased views, I only try to lok at the facts, use My good judgement and knowledge of the game(s), and present what I see as good information. I also have some real gurus that are friends and connections in the entire State that are well rounded in the games. I also touch in to MN. Love Sports that is it.

shortstop wrote:However, you heard it here first. Bismarck gets second or third depending how the semi-final goes against Grafton.

LOL! You're really not saying much. If you would have stated that Bismarck will get second, then that's saying something.

1 RR
2 GPR
3 BHS
4 South

Sportshound wrote:My opinion is that we don't get that wish of a WDA team placing higher than Hope-4th or 5th.

#1W BHS plays close game with #4E F. North (the game is decided by one) North wins.
*reasoning, I watched North vs. DL and they played some stifling Def.late in game.
PLUS- BHS has that all so important win(back in Nov. vs. F. North)- that could hurt them.
North looks like a diff. team than when I saw them in Bismarck in Nov.

haha. congrats to fargo north for making state and maybe they are a different team, but bhs should have absolutely no problem manhandling fnh. BHS has one loss on the year. FNH is 8-15-1.

Records mean nothing at state, mind you. Williston almost upset RR in the quarterfinals last year. If a team doesn't come to play, they'll lose.

North has quite a few weaknesses, goaltending and depth just to name a few. they're playing a team that beat south, lost to Grafton by one and seems to be pretty solid team all the way around. North on the other hand has lost to some less than perfect teams this year by some ugly scores. In my opinion had shanley not blown it at the end of the year they would have been looking at a play in game with Whapeton, which may have been close like their meeting earlier this year. Instead they caught a break and were able to sneek in the back door to the state tournament. I would have loved to see a team like Devils Lake in the state tournament. The way they played against South made me think they could've had a chance to go to the state championship. I give credit to north for beating DL but i'm convinced North will lose in the first round allowing a WDA team to get to the semi's. Which would be nice for a change. BHS 4 North 1.

bis high 5 north 2. i dont think north has a chance, horrible goalkeeper, only 1 good line and defense isnt all that great. if their first line (bekkedahl, mcphail, and berg) produce all game they could make it close

I don't even know what to say here. Fargo North is a bad team and got very very lucky. If BHS has trouble with them something is wrong. Grafton will dominate BHS, and don't even try and say otherwise. GPR already beat them once this year using their backup goalie. They have several skaters with more points then BHS's top scorer not even mentioning he got his points in the west against soft competition. Lets just face it here the West is bad like normal. The championship is going to be a close games like the other 3 games RR and GPR have played this season. I see it coming down to goaltending, and Arnason has been known to play poor games along with some good ones.

HockeyHigh wrote:Records mean nothing at state, mind you. Williston almost upset RR in the quarterfinals last year. If a team doesn't come to play, they'll lose.

Ive been waiting for a statement like this.

Prime Example: Patriots in this years Superbowl. I could see this happening

Red River 5 CHS 1...knutson will keep them in it until the end

Grafton 4 Mandan 2...I think this could go either way though

Williston 3 South 2...this may be a bold statement but i think williston is gunna pull it off...south doesn;t have the goaltending...i dont care about his stats he is very shaky...south will control the game though

BHS 7 North 1...north is not good thats all there is to it

Game #1
BHS over North 5-2

Game #2
GPR over Mandan 3-1

Game #3
GFRR over CHS 6-1

Game #4
South over williston 4-1

then it's anyones ball game--

GPR over BHS 5-4 OT

GFRR over South 3-2 OT

GPR over GFRR(my upset) 3-2OT Championship
South over BHS 4-2 3rd place

Mandan wins Consolation--- Over williston

My picks may be off-- but for all purposes I have the teams here as I thought they would be int he beginning of the season.
WDA- BHS, Mandan, Williston, And CHS got in as I had them and Dickinson on the the 4th pick

EDC- GFRR, GPR, South, -- this last #4 is the one I got wrong-- had DL in with GFC a possible--

Favre#1 wrote:Grafton 4 Mandan 2...I think this could go either way though

Williston 3 South 2...this may be a bold statement but i think williston is gunna pull it off...south doesn;t have the goaltending...i dont care about his stats he is very shaky...south will control the game though

Outside of Bismarck High. What quality teams have Mandan and Williston faced?

Favre#1 wrote:Grafton 4 Mandan 2...I think this could go either way though

Williston 3 South 2...this may be a bold statement but i think williston is gunna pull it off...south doesn;t have the goaltending...i dont care about his stats he is very shaky...south will control the game though

I don't think the Grafton/Mandan game will be going either way, just because of Grafton's dominant first line.

Also, how is South lacking goaltending?
Goaltenders....... Team.......... .YR..... GP... ...GA.... AVG.... W.. L.. T... OTL. SV%
Scott Buchholz.... Fargo South .. 10... 12.67..... 14.... 1.11..... 8.. 4.. 0... 0.... 94.1

As far as I know, I think they have one of the most solid goaltenders in the state.

Have you seen him play?...I never said he was bad at all...he is just shaky...he gets like 15-20 shots a game and half are dump ins, what do you expect is stats to be

Mandan has a chance to knock off grafton if kline plays well...that goes for all the teams tho.the team whos goalie is hottest will win.

in a match up like the one between Grafton and Mandan kline would have to be a god between the pipes for Mandan to even have a chance. Grafton has some kids that will pick any goalie apart. This could be close for a little while depending on goalie play. But eventually the better team will pull away (Grafton 5 mandan 1) no chance!!

Favre#1 wrote:Red River 5 CHS 1...knutson will keep them in it until the end

Grafton 4 Mandan 2...I think this could go either way though

Williston 3 South 2...this may be a bold statement but i think williston is gunna pull it off...south doesn;t have the goaltending...i dont care about his stats he is very shaky...south will control the game though

BHS 7 North 1...north is not good thats all there is to it

yeckoh wrote:Mandan has a chance to knock off grafton if kline plays well...that goes for all the teams tho.the team whos goalie is hottest will win.

Are you guys on something? Mandan will not stay with Grafton. I don't care how good Kline plays. Grafton could have 50 shots and still get 5 or 6 by him. Mandan will not generate enough scoring chances to stay in this game. Sorry it's the truth.

yeckoh wrote:Mandan has a chance to knock off grafton if kline plays well...that goes for all the teams tho.the team whos goalie is hottest will win.

Have some of you not been paying attention to ND high school hockey this year or even the past 15 or more years? Sure Mandan has a chance to beat GPR - a .0001% chance. Honestly, I don't know if some of you are just trying to stir up emotions or if you actually believe the crap your saying. Just look at the competition Kline has faced to that of Monsebroten and you should get an idea as to how this game will turn out.

Hopefully Kline can come up huge for Mandan as he will be peppered with at least 60 shots.

Honestly, you can't say that a team has anything less than a 10% chance to win a game, feasibly. All it takes is a hot goalie and a lucky goal to put a team past another. Upsets can, and DO happen. Keep your predictions reasonable but don't pick other people apart for their predictions. If it really is a 'joke' prediction, anyone with a hockey background will be able to figure it out, we don't need people bashing them.

south will dominate williston. williston has no chance

HockeyHigh wrote:Honestly, you can't say that a team has anything less than a 10% chance to win a game, feasibly. All it takes is a hot goalie and a lucky goal to put a team past another. Upsets can, and DO happen. Keep your predictions reasonable but don't pick other people apart for their predictions. If it really is a 'joke' prediction, anyone with a hockey background will be able to figure it out, we don't need people bashing them.

First of all, yes I can state that a team has almost a 0% chance of beating another. Many factors, such as competition, statistics, programs, etc... play in to this reasoning. Obviously upsets can and do happen, but this is ND high school hockey; an association that is considered by many to be a joke due the glaring differences in the skill level between top east and west teams. Anyway, with that said, I believe Mandan has no chance (that is a 0% chance) of beating Grafton. If you think otherwise, you're only kidding yourself.

Finally, this is an Internet forum; a place for discussion and opinions. If one insists on posting her/his opinion, you can expect that there will be a response. If you're sensitive to how some respond, then don't read it. There was hardly any bashing involved in my response as I was trying to figure out if the poster was actually serious or just being a troll.