North Dakota Preps

I don't like how Drpepper just comes in here and rips on all west teams. So pepper please, if your not going to comment on east teams and just sit and rip on the west go somewhere else. And I think jamestown coming to the west next year will not bring them to state, even with the west being down next year. Devils Lake would have not lost one game in the west, but i believe if DL improves over the offseason they will be top 3 in the east for the next 2 years. Figuring all goals scored by them in state were from sophmores. 2 of them plus one called off were scored on the SR packed south state champ team. 1 in the Minot game. Only RR has more points from sophmores in the state. But RR's 07 class is lacking big time. Which DL and south's are not. Next season south and RR will battle for 1st and DL,GPR, and GFC will fight for 3-4.

NDHockey6b:

I agree with you on the Century situation. I feel they can and will win as a team. They have 3 average/solid forward lines. They won't blow you away but all have adaquat skills and if they play together no line will be soft. The issue with them will be on defense, i feel they need to consider putting Drew Flanagan and possibly Drew Fluer both back on defense. They need solid leadership there, outside of zach Wentz they do not have an experienced, physical, or particularily stunning group. I think here again team defense will be whats needed. 

Do you agree with Century having a 4 point game with Dickinson this upcoming year? yes they might be better then Dickinson next year but after a year going 1-3 agaisnt Dickinson and the first game being 9-3. I don't know, your giving alot of disrespect to dickinson and their team.

under armour:

Was unaware of the 4 pt. game with CHS and DIX this upcoming season. What I do not like is the credit you seem to be giving Dix for next year. By the way their head to head was Dix 2-1 games not 3-1. Dix had an excellent crew of seniors, they are all now gone, the goalie is fair at best, and I am not convinced Frenzel and the others with experience will make much impact without the lost seniors. I think CHS will have to be "blue-collar" next yr, they will not blow alot of teams out but thay should be in the top 3 in the west, I also feel Dix will be in the lower group of the west, above Botno, Mandan, and along with Hazen/Beulah, in that 6 to 9 seed area.

I look to Minot to be the best initially, on paper BHS and CHS is a toss-up, with CHS really having the edge, at least in varsity experience coming back, CHS does have some issues, they only have 5 total defensemen in the system back. I feel Drew Flanagan will be moved back to defense and the obvious other choice to me would be Drew Flurer. Flurer plays offense like a defenseman, has solid skills for the position and has proven to be not much of a point producer as a forward, why no put him back at a position where he can help the team and better utilize his skills.   

tomjof64:

Your statement regarding Dix returning over 10 players is a bit misleading. They had to fill the roster, numbers were short, yes they got experience, but loosing the group of seniors they had will be too tough for them to absorb, they truely do not have more than Frenzels 10+ points back offensively, and I would venture to guess that a good percentage of those points were scored with the long gone seniors on the ice as well. Jamestown will not walk through the west, they were supposto be better last year, a year when Century ( a rebuilding year), beat them. I expect them to be 4th-6th when the west concludes next season.

I'm not trying to say that Dix will be good next year, I honestly think they are going to have alot of trouble with losing their entire offense. I just think that it is a slap to Dix face.

under armour:

Point taken.

dude. won some respect of bein a competitive team this past season but i think will probably loose it all again 4-5 games into the new season. Jamestown will be 3-4 place at the worst...but they will not take first.

How about Williston in the upcoming season.  There hasn't been much talk about the squad from that corner of the state.  Losing a pretty talented senior class will hurt their chances of a state tourney birth.  Any thoughts and/or predictions?

the state tournament will be dominated again by the east. the west hasnt won a first round game in the last 3 years. they just arent up to speed with the east style of hockey.

Dizzle

Did those guys across the river kick your dog a few too many times, so you have go and poke at the folks in the west. IMO, anyone could beat anyone this year. Minot, BHS, CHS, and Jamestown have solid teams this year. I think that everytime they come to state, they not only have the pressure of beating whatever east team they play, they feel as if they have to beat the entire EDC. That's a lot on their plate.

If i were to take a stab at who would be playing in the championship game this year i would predict another South, Red River game this time around South is the team coming off of a East region tournament victory.

I disagree with the statement made by bench ranger. I do think any team can be beaten on any day and there is some talent in the west but on the other hand in reality the west is down quite a bit. I do not think the the East will walk all over the West but the overall depth is in the East and the proper mentality is in the East. I would think at least 2 if not 1 West team will suprise some of their East region counterparts at some point in the season but I would not think that the top 4 West teams would all be on the same page as the top 4 East teams.

hey benchranger have you not watched the state tournament at all the last 3 years because the west has not won a first round game. A perfect example would be of minot who walked all over the west teams, but lost to all the east teams (especially a central team at state last year, that had lost to shanely prior in the year). Or even that minot team a year before who was undefeated going in to the state tourney, and what happened? They lost. It could very well be the mentality of the west teams but they just arent up to par to the east teams. I have a hard time myself seeing that trend of east teams winning at state being broken this year, especially with devils lake and jamestown switching conferences.

The past two state tournaments have been an East sweep but three seasons ago Bismarck High beat Grafton Park River 3-2 in OT and lost to South 2-1 in the semifinal game.

my mistake i forgot about that game but when was the last time a west team was in the championship game?

The last time it happened was the only time it happened. 1992 Minot high against Bismarck High, Minot won 8-7 . There were some noteworthy players on each side, a combined 5 players( correct me if I'm wrong) from that game went on to play Division 1 hockey.

Ok ya i thought that it only happened once but i wasnt sure. But there must just be something with the west, whether its mentality or skill, but they just dont seem to match up well with the east. They should spilt up the conf like bantams with north and south conferences. That way they would be able to have the best 8 teams at state most of the time (provided no upsets).

you play sports for the upsets if there werent any would we bother watching them if we knew who was going to win and i think CHS beat north maybe the first round 4 or 5 years ago when they were the 4 seed from the west on a shot in ot by sophmore defensemen Dallas Bossert

yes i remember being at that game. that was a huge upset with everyone expecting north to just run over everyone and win the title that year. thats true thats why you live to play sports.

benchranger-

you know that even if that is their mindset that they have to beat the whole edc at state, then why do they always lose during the regular season too?

Another good game Iam thinking of was State 2 years ago when #4 CHS played #1 South wasnt the end score like 7 to 8 South iam pretty sure it was high and CHS had like 15 shots to Souths 52

i would have to say one of the best games was the state championship 3 or 4 years ago, when south gave up those two goals in the last 45 seconds to lose the title by one to central. It was unfortunate to see south lose a game that they played great in for almost the whole game, but it was at the same time amazing to see that kind of comeback that central made, and how they never gave up.