North Dakota Preps

I would like to know what people think about the season so far. Please lets keep this at a respectful level and not single out any one player with any negative talk. Thanks!

OK, I'll give my rankings so far if no one else will:

South
GPR
GFC and RR (tie)
WF
North
Shanley
Devils Lake
Whapeton

Some observations:

North is better than there record. WF may surprise some teams, maybe GFC tonight before the year is done. GPR is solid as always. RR may very well be the feel good story of the year. Central has a lot to prove. Devils Lake just doesn't have enough talent to draw from to be good consistantly. Shanley is much improved over last year.

If the upper echelon teams don't bring their game when they play North, WF, and Shanley, they may get beaten.

So far South is the definite front runner. No doubt. Skill at forward, solid defense and a stellar goalie.

South is making a statement so far in the edc, beating gpr tonight 7-3 to add to it.

king1869 wrote:South is making a statement so far in the edc, beating gpr tonight 7-3 to add to it.

I agree, South is showing that they are for real. I just got back from the GFC WF game and it wasn't even close. Central went up 3-0 in the first and it was all down hill from there. GFC just dominated the game. To be honest, I didn't know how GFC would react after the loss to South but they stepped it up.

my question is is team like shanley or north good enough to knock off south, central, red river, or grafton?

I saw the South-Grafton game last night. By the way, I have no connections to either team.
It was hard to say who beat Grafton: South or themselves.
Grafton had complete control of the puck and the physical play for the first half.
But 2 shots were a 2-0 South lead despite that.
Still they battled back to a 2-3 grafton lead, then seemed to "go chippy". Refs let it go too.
They lost their complete control of the puck, and south kept its composure to the chippy for the most part.
South did kill off numerous penalties, goalie was fantastic.
Grafton had many after-the-whistle shots, never got called.
One player appeared to even spit on a South boy in front of the ref, with no call (WOW).
If that is the way Grafton plays, they will have a hard time winning any close ones.
Very few refs will allow endless infractions like that.
Kudos to South: they really hit hard on the net when they needed to, well deserved win.

Your right Grafton was playing really chippy last night, and i think south did a really good job keeping their heads in the right place. They could have turned around and done it right back to the Grafton guys but they showed good restraint and just kept playing. Things like that gave them the bounces they needed to win. The score made it look like more of a blowout then it was, hard faught game to where when it just came down to who was working hard to get the bounces, south came out on top.

Knight55 wrote:my question is is team like shanley or north good enough to knock off south, central, red river, or grafton?

the answer to this question is a big NO !

possibly red river.... shanley played them to a two zero game....

ctrain1369 wrote:Your right Grafton was playing really chippy last night, and i think south did a really good job keeping their heads in the right place. They could have turned around and done it right back to the Grafton guys but they showed good restraint and just kept playing. Things like that gave them the bounces they needed to win. The score made it look like more of a blowout then it was, hard faught game to where when it just came down to who was working hard to get the bounces, south came out on top.

I can see South dealing with a lot of chippy play this year. They are frustrating to play against. They make the most of their offensive opportunities and their defense is solid. It's bad news for other teams if they keep their composure. I know over the years when our kids have played South, they have rarely had any problems with South being chippy or cheap. Good group of kids there.

one grafton player last night got LAID OUT against the boards head first by Narv. The guy sat down on the ice for a while, got up, tripped a little with head down, and then just BOOM full body just fell on the ice. He was knocked cold haha

FSHBruins10 wrote:one grafton player last night got LAID OUT against the boards head first by Narv. The guy sat down on the ice for a while, got up, tripped a little with head down, and then just BOOM full body just fell on the ice. He was knocked cold haha

I believe that should've been a penalty for boarding, is Mohagen alright after that hit? I can't see him walking away like that without a concussion at least.
The penalty where the South player got ejected at the end of the game should not have been an ejection, however. The Grafton player turned his back on the obvious incoming hit just a split second before the player hit him. Very stupid play, could have gotten himself hurt or worse.

I would agree though. The refs seemed to be calling the wrong penalties at the wrong time. They can't let the obvious cheap shots to go, or the teams continue to get more and more chippy. It was pretty obvious there was some serious tension on the ice, mostly from the Grafton side. (You generally aren't happy after 6 goals against)

Both teams could have played better, as during large parts of the game it seemed pretty lackadaisical. There didn't seem to be that fire that I saw earlier in the year with South, and likewise with Grafton from last year.

Lets call it like it is here, the worst refs in the state reside in Grand Forks. I have never seen more silly penalties called in any other town. I won't name any names here but I think we all know who I am talking about. They put their whistles away when they shouldn't and make calls that make no sense. And no, they aren't calls against any one team. They are equal opportunity bad call refs.

HockeyHigh wrote:

FSHBruins10 wrote:one grafton player last night got LAID OUT against the boards head first by Narv. The guy sat down on the ice for a while, got up, tripped a little with head down, and then just BOOM full body just fell on the ice. He was knocked cold haha

I believe that should've been a penalty for boarding, is Mohagen alright after that hit? I can't see him walking away like that without a concussion at least.
The penalty where the South player got ejected at the end of the game should not have been an ejection, however. The Grafton player turned his back on the obvious incoming hit just a split second before the player hit him. Very stupid play, could have gotten himself hurt or worse.

I would agree though. The refs seemed to be calling the wrong penalties at the wrong time. They can't let the obvious cheap shots to go, or the teams continue to get more and more chippy. It was pretty obvious there was some serious tension on the ice, mostly from the Grafton side. (You generally aren't happy after 6 goals against)

Both teams could have played better, as during large parts of the game it seemed pretty lackadaisical. There didn't seem to be that fire that I saw earlier in the year with South, and likewise with Grafton from last year.

Grafton was chippy right off the bat from the beginning to the end. Im sure the guy is alright but a serious concussion no doubt. what about the grafton goalie? it just seemed he got knocked over and laid on the ice for a couple mins and got back up and was fine. Something with his jaw it almost seemed like. But i wouldn't want to get back in goal either after giving up 3 goals in 2 mins and being heckled to the extreme by the south students.
Lueke was the guy that got ejected. The nicest guy possible too who sometimes says sorry to the players he hits haha

so far it looks like south is by far the class of the edc.....i thought grafton would be much better

How can you say shanley ahead of Dl after DL beat them in Fargo. And Yes South is the class of the EDC and i thought Grafton would be a little better than that but they did lose Demers.

ndfootballfan wrote:How can you say shanley ahead of Dl after DL beat them in Fargo. And Yes South is the class of the EDC and i thought Grafton would be a little better than that but they did lose Demers.

Based on some strong showings as of late, I think Shanley is improving. Just an opinion and if you read my posts on how I thought the Stadstad tourney was going to go, then you can see I have been wrong before.

central hockey fan wrote:

ndfootballfan wrote:How can you say shanley ahead of Dl after DL beat them in Fargo. And Yes South is the class of the EDC and i thought Grafton would be a little better than that but they did lose Demers.

Based on some strong showings as of late, I think Shanley is improving. Just an opinion and if you read my posts on how I thought the Stadstad tourney was going to go, then you can see I have been wrong before.

Ya how can u put Shanley ahead of DL? DL out played them the whole game except the 3rd period. And DL has played closer games that what the scoreboard has indicated.

I have got to say this has been a very exciting season to watch and follow. The competition this year is much higher then years past. The teams are a little bit more even which makes the season much better. I have really been surprised with the play of West Fargo and Shanley this year. Both are relatively young teams who have proven they can play with anybody. I am looking forward to the rest of the year because it seems like it will be a great finish.

My question to you is who do you think is the most surprising team and player this year out of the east?