If the season ended now

[central hockey fan]

Just trying to start some discussion on who you would have on your all EDC team if the season ended today. Also, who is the top defensemen, top forward, and top goalie? How about coach of the year? Best fans, best place to play?

[some random person]

no doubt Scott Buchholz is the best goalie

[Riders10]

no doubt Scott Buchholz is the best goalie

Wow I thought I was dreaming for a second until I pinched myself and realized that you actually just said that. Buchholz is the most over-rated goalie in the entire state. He faces like 17-20 shots a game and half of them are dump-ins. I have seen south play plenty of times and he is shaky every time. There hasn't been one game this year that he personally kept South in the game, or won the game for them. I could name at least five better goalies them him in the state. Come on buddy use your head.

[fargohockey1093]

fargo shanley has Chris Stokke with the top save percentage in state

[NODOUBT]

actually bucholz has the best save % at 91.9, then medler at 91.3 then stokke at 91.1 but stokke has faced 725 shots bucholz and medler each 310. bucholz is good but not the best goalie in the state, not even the best goalie in fargo - stokke and holland(w.fgo) are better. coach of the year -- matt malm. best place to play - grafton -plus great concessions. forwards - orson and crary. defenseman - hooey and bryce anderson.

[gfhockeyrules]

Wow - interesting selections.... Coach of the year..... Benson, Fargo South, Top Forwards.... Crary, Orson, Boyle, LaDouceur. Goalie.... Bucholz or Friedig(DL), Defenseman(overall - not solely based on offense).... Hooey, Burdick, Cieklinski, Hills, Ray. Best fans ..... Grafton. Best place to play..... Purpur Arena.

[central hockey fan]

No mention of Moody as a consideration for one of the best forwards huh....

[fargohockey1093]

actually bucholz has the best save % at 91.9, then medler at 91.3 then stokke at 91.1 but stokke has faced 725 shots bucholz and medler each 310. bucholz is good but not the best goalie in the state, not even the best goalie in fargo - stokke and holland(w.fgo) are better. coach of the year -- matt malm. best place to play - grafton -plus great concessions. forwards - orson and crary. defenseman - hooey and bryce anderson.

i would definetly have to agree with that. Scott Bucholz has face not very good quality shots period. when teams such as shanley and w.f. have that good of save percentages you know that they are getting good quality shots also

[king1869]

ya but when scott does see breakaways, and some quality shots from other teams he does come up with the save. Its not his fault that he has a good team playing in front of him. when you make an all edc team or whatever as a sophmore your pretty good... Top goalie in state for sure

[king1869]

Central hockey fan.. are you like his dad or something?? you always bring him up.

[Timmay07]

Moody's a decent player, hes a hardnose, scrappy player, maybe not a top state player, but a top second tier player

[HockeyHigh]

Just trying to start some discussion on who you would have on your all EDC team if the season ended today. Also, who is the top defensemen, top forward, and top goalie? How about coach of the year? Best fans, best place to play?

Good questions CHF...

All-EDC Team would be a stretch to do myself, but I'll do a quick one.

For Defense I would probably take the 4 top South defense, plus Anderson of RR and Hills of Grafton.

For Offense it'd be Narveson/Orson/Stellrecht of South, Spicer and Moody of Central, Crary and Ladoucer of RR and Gaustad and Mohagen of Grafton. That makes 6 defense and 9 forwards (3 Lines).

For Goalies I would pick Scott Buchholz of Fargo South and Chris Stokke of Shanley.

I wonder how Stokke would do when he's not facing 50 shots a game though, it makes it a lot more difficult to play well when you're not facing a lot of shots. Contrary to what a lot of people seem to think, even though a better team that forces bad angle shots helps in games where they're still getting shots, when teams (like Shanley, WF, and North) get very few, but some quality chances, it's very hard for a goalie to come out with a good game (Shutout) if their team isn't taking out all of them. These 'weak' goals are really hard on goalies. Either way, you can hardly blame a goalie like Buchholz for the fact that he has a good team in front of him.

----
Top Forward - Right now, I'd pick Orson, comes out big in the games he needs to (Grafton, RR, Central) to help his team win.

Top Defense - I couldn't decide, there's a lot of good defensive players this year. So many that I think a lot of them are becoming offensive defensemen. I'll see how they do through the end of the year.

Top Goalie - Scott Buchholz. Seems to be the hot ticket in this thread, so here's why:
A few people on here knock him because he's facing low quality shots, but I've seen plenty of games and he makes the saves that count in big games. When South played Moorhead, I believe Moorhead got about 40 shots, and he kept them to two goals. These 40 shots were all quality, too. For the most part of the White Bear game he also made big saves, and has stopped numerous breakaways in big situations. Beyond this, he has incredible rebound control, as well as great positioning. He does seem to have a little bit of trouble keeping his focus during 'easy' games, however. Either way, after making All-Tournament team last year, as well as not playing any 'easy teams' in the coming weeks (Central, EDC, State), you'll see his percents go up, as well as play.

Coach of the Year - This will go to David Benson, almost guaranteed. I'm sure this is one of the most winningest seasons from a first year coach in North Dakota history. Although I don't think it's because of him (he has a very talented team and tradition left behind by Wilson, who gave his underclassmen a LOT of ice time last year, including through EDC and State), he will receive the award, and likely win State Coach of the Year as well.

Best Place to Play - Grafton: Good atmosphere, best fan base in North Dakota. No other city in North Dakota has the following or the dedication of the Grafton fans. Win or lose they will always be there, and that's gotta be respected. They also have incredibly good concessions.

I want to say the Urban Plains is a great place to play, but for regular season games it's very dull, and it's too warm. When you have to take off your windbreaker because you're sweating in a hockey rink, that's not good. The pace of the game is also a lot slower there. However, I think this would be a GREAT venue for EDC as well as State. Attendee for the State Tournament will not break 5,000 people, and the UP can sustain this many, and actually appear full with this many. It'd be a great place to host EDC/State in the future, rather than the Engelstad (or on a rotation with the Engelstad), as the Engelstad is far too large for NDHS hockey.

(Longest post in this forum? )

[gfhockeyrules]

Obviously you are from Fargo, and you havent actually watched many games ???

1. Defense - Fargo South has given up 31 goals this year, GF Central 36 (Bloomington Jefferson 8 of them), Grafton 41, Red River 51 How can you have all four of the South players included(LOL), (RR)Anderson and (Grafton)Hills, all ahead of either GF Central Defenseman(Cieklinski, Ray), or are you stictly looking at points?

2. Forwards - I agree with Orson, Narveson, Moody, Crary, LaDouceur. How can you not even list the best Forward on Grafton's team - Boyle. I think it's a close race between (GFC) Spicer, Plutowski, Purpur, (RR)- Bancroft, (Grafton) - Gaustad , Mohagen, (South) - Stellrecht, Huguelet, and(Shanley) Glugoza.

3. Goalie - Agreed, you almost have to give it to Bucholz, but time will tell.

4. Coach - Agreed, Benson of Fargo South

5. Fans - Grafton , Place to play is debatable - but really hate paying $3.00 to park and $4.00 for a coke in Fargo!

[HockeyHigh]

Obviously you are from Fargo, and you havent actually watched many games ???

I am from Fargo, if you haven't noticed . I've watched plenty of games in Fargo, but I don't generally get the choice to go watch out of town games. I also go to Sioux games so that beats the whole weekend game thing unless I don't have tickets.

1. Defense - Fargo South has given up 31 goals this year, GF Central 36 (Bloomington Jefferson 8 of them), Grafton 41, Red River 51 How can you have all four of the South players included(LOL), (RR)Anderson and (Grafton)Hills, all ahead of either GF Central Defenseman(Cieklinski, Ray), or are you stictly looking at points?

South (IMO) has the most difficult schedule in ND, and also has the lowest GA on the year. Additionally, South has had 6 goals against their backup tender. The game between the two, South beat Central 4-1 so that kind of supports that... Either way, I made this list in 5 minutes, and even said I didn't put much time into it. I honestly have only seen Cieklinski/Ray play once this year, so I don't know for sure, but I'll stay with my picks until they come to Fargo next week and I'll see if they change.

2. Forwards - I agree with Orson, Narveson, Moody, Crary, LaDouceur. How can you not even list the best Forward on Grafton's team - Boyle. I think it's a close race between (GFC) Spicer, Plutowski, Purpur, (RR)- Bancroft, (Grafton) - Gaustad , Mohagen, (South) - Stellrecht, Huguelet, and(Shanley) Glugoza.

As I said, I made this list very quickly. I didn't even think about Boyle, that's my bad, and would have probably included him if not based on points solely.

5. Fans - Grafton , Place to play is debatable - but really hate paying $3.00 to park and $4.00 for a coke in Fargo!

They really do need to fix that situation.

[Timmay07]

I think GFC and Grafton have had the tougher schedules this yr.

[12345]

Forwards- Souths top six Orson stellrecht Narveson Mauch Sorenson Huguelt Central- Spicer, simonson, purpur, hatt Red River- Crary, Laducer, bancroft, Grafton- Gaustad, boyle, mohagen all good choices in my opinion not based on points all around play

Defense- anderson, ray, ciekilinski, howe, hills, hooey, luecke, burdick, wagner all good defense

Goalie- Bucholz solid goalie

Coach- Malm has a good team despite losing all the players from last year. It takes a good coach to do this.

Place- Grafton always hard to play and win in grafton for opposing teams

[fargohockey1093]

Scotty Bucholz is overated. Where do you think most of his shots are coming from? The opposite blue line? He is a good goalie but he isnt being tested at all because of the team he is on

[central hockey fan]

Interesting choices for all EDC, Im glad im not picking them. South has had a great year and may have a lot of kids on the team. I will say I love watching games in the Purpur but Grafton's atmosphere is hard to beat. Oh, and I mention Moody cuz I love watching forwards, I watch Central a lot and I love the way that kid plays. I always define how well someone plays forward by asking myself these questions:

Does he work hard every shift?
Does he make the people he plays with better?
Does he do all the little things well?
Does he play 2 way hockey?
Does he play well in big games, not just against the doormats of the league?

I think the answer to those questions is yes. I'm sure other forwards will stack up against this list quite well (I have seen Russell Crary play a lot and he belongs in this discussion for sure). I just haven't seen them play enough.

[Sioux4ever]

I wouldn't put too much stock in the South players joining the forum. A few can make the forum a negative place. If you have nothing positive to post, please refrain from posting, or the posts may be deleted.

[central hockey fan]

Thank you.

[fargohockey1093]

-User banned for impersonating a player-

i completely agree. There is no way that one whole team would be picked to play all edc. There is talent out there besides just south

[sportsman101]

Obviously you are from Fargo, and you havent actually watched many games ???

1. Defense - Fargo South has given up 31 goals this year, GF Central 36 (Bloomington Jefferson 8 of them), Grafton 41, Red River 51 How can you have all four of the South players included(LOL), (RR)Anderson and (Grafton)Hills, all ahead of either GF Central Defenseman(Cieklinski, Ray), or are you stictly looking at points?

2. Forwards - I agree with Orson, Narveson, Moody, Crary, LaDouceur. How can you not even list the best Forward on Grafton's team - Boyle. I think it's a close race between (GFC) Spicer, Plutowski, Purpur, (RR)- Bancroft, (Grafton) - Gaustad , Mohagen, (South) - Stellrecht, Huguelet, and(Shanley) Glugoza.

3. Goalie - Agreed, you almost have to give it to Bucholz, but time will tell.

4. Coach - Agreed, Benson of Fargo South

5. Fans - Grafton , Place to play is debatable - but really hate paying $3.00 to park and $4.00 for a coke in Fargo!

agreed with the defensman from south not all 4 are all edc. cieklinski is not a top tier defenseman. disagree however with your forward selections of plutowski and moody the rest are legitimate including boyle. and coach of the year either to pelusso or malm. benson has not improved that south team one bit. seems like they're winning on talent alone and fighting through the mess of line combinations. stellerecht sorenson orson hooey bucholz lead south

[HockeyHigh]

This thread has been cleaned up thoroughly by deleting more than 5 posts. It's a good topic for discussion, but it is no place to pick fights with other users. Personal attacks are ground for timebans.

As for the all-South EDC team, that won't happen. However, I do see plenty of players from their upper two lines getting all-EDC and all-State this year. After playing one of the most difficult schedules in the state they're 16-1-1 (at this point, and likely to keep increasing off that in their next few games), have 98 goals for and only 32 against (with 6 of those going in on their backup goalie). No team in the EDC is even near this ratio, and even Bismarck has more Goals Against, with a weaker schedule.

Even including Minnesota teams into scheduled rankings, I'd mostly agree with the website: http://www.ushsho.com/ndrank.htm
This site shows especially how Minnesota teams effect the schedule of the ND teams. South and RR are rated the most difficult schedules (even), and GFC and GPR are within .2 of them. The rest play mostly intrastate schedules. The website bases the stats on the games that each team has played so far this year, as well as how well who they have played this year has done, and is completely formulated (no bias). It's still far from perfect, and anything can happen come playoff time.

[gfhockeyrules]

Wow Sportsman101, maybe you should change your name to GFC Hater? How can you tell me that Moody or Plutowski are "not Legitimate" and don't belong in this group? Also your quote.."cieklinski is not a top tier defenseman" is totally adsurd - Maybe you should ask most of the coaches in the State? I noticed that you touted a couple of 2nd tier forwards for South, so that pretty much explains where you are coming from.

[Sioux4ever]

We will see what the coaches think when the All-EDC is selected.