Westisthebest wrote:I Have not seen much of Central this year but there roster is similar to last years right? corect me if im wrong but Central beat south twice last year RR beat South in state an maybe regular season not sure Bismarck high beat south as well... Central has 2 losses
Although ctrain already kinda hit on this, but South was far more impressive to me last year. The competition all around the state was at a far higher level than it is this year. I don't see a team that was top 4 that actually improved on last year, not even Central. In fact, outside of Central it's pretty obvious that the top 4 teams in the state all sunk in talent from last year. Bismarck, South and Red River aren't impressive at all. I honestly thought Central would've gone undefeated this year against the competition that the state has to offer. Apple Valley isn't that impressive of a team, and Grafton definitely isn't. The huge issue I see that's gonna sneak up and bite Central right in the rear is their scoring ability, or complete lack thereof. The one thing you need to win a tournament is scoring at the right time, and if a game is held close it has been in Central's recent past that they have difficulty burying the puck. If they can fix that for EDC/State they'll have a walk. If not, they could get upset.
But as for South, with the stronger playing field they had 2 regular season losses. Bismarck was a loss with their backup goaltender who never played before that along with sitting out a majority of their starting lines and playing their JVs. Check the threads on it, there were like 3 of them last year. As for Central, it was the last game of the regular season with everything far and away clinched, where South rolled 4 lines (which they don't do, and if they do do it throws off the team. If a team regularly rolls 4 lines it wouldn't matter as much). The real loss they took was against Red River in the Semis, where they completely outplayed RR but they couldn't bury on a hot goalie, they were working against the world. And everyone knows the 3rd place game is a toss up every year. In an East vs East game in the 3rd place, the game is in the Purpur arena (which is a complete waste, no one wants to go from the Ralph to there, KILLS the atmosphere) and it was clear neither team really cared. Kids were screwing around during the warm up and in the game. It's a shame to ND hockey every year that they get kicked out of not only the TV round but the tournament rink as well. South also played their backup goaltender that game (senior). I believe South was more dominant facing a lot higher caliber teams, but it's an opinion. The best team Central has played this year is Apple Valley, which I hate to say it, isn't the best team. They are actually lower ranked than they were last year when South creamed them in their holiday tournament, yet they worked Central this year.
Either way, comparing year to year doesn't really matter. Central is the best team in the state this year by far, we'll see if they can pull it off. But just because their competition is down doesn't mean that they can't get stood up by a hot goaltender (RR last year is a prime example).