Little Falls vs. Virginia

[jonnyselanne8]

I will say this about the people who post on here for Virginia . . . they are long winded.

I'm a writer. It happens. Just giving some decent analysis because there seem to be some people on here that just throw out half-cocked comments without knowing what they're talking about.

I know, I am just giving you and some others a hard time. It was a very good post, I disagree with the outcome that you have, but I do believe it will be a very close game. Maybe even OT?

I'll be there doing the game on the radio for a station out of Eveleth. Also, Puckranger and I may be doing online pregame and postgame shows, streaming on prephockeynorth.com if we can get it set up. Should be an excellent game with overtime a definite possibility.

[gwos8301]

Dude check your stats, you haven't seen this team play they are a quality team with pretty much all seniors and they have been to the state tournament all their high school career. Get a clue!

This is always going to be what people argue and their is nothing to do about it.

The X has a bigger sheet of ice for Benny to work with.........just saying.

The bigger ice is going to have no factor in the game.

UR Crazy if you don't think that the ice is going to be a factor!!! 1. its bigger, just like the National Hockey Center, which if you have ever seen the Flyers play St. Cloud Tech you can see that they dominate on a bigger sheet of ice. 2. the X is totally different than high school rinks in that it is quite you can hear a pin drop on the ice. 3. its softer ice.

[GopherPuckPlayer]

Well one more day till the big show. Should be a great match up. Word on the streets of LF is that they have 10 fan buses going down to make the trip to the X to cheer on LF. Cant wait to take in a good game at the X.

[jackstraw]

The ice at the X is bigger than what? That is an NHL sheet, not an olympic sheet.

[hshckfan08]

Well one more day till the big show. Should be a great match up. Word on the streets of LF is that they have 10 fan buses going down to make the trip to the X to cheer on LF. Cant wait to take in a good game at the X.

That is impressive. They must think this is the year they finally make the championship. Tough 1st round draw.

[Bigfan]

They sent 9 buses last year for the STA game. Litte Falls has a great fan base. There will be quite a caravan leading those buses down to the X. Doesn't matter who we play we love our team and we support them.

[lugnutguy21]

UR Crazy if you don't think that the ice is going to be a factor!!! 1. its bigger, just like the National Hockey Center ..... 3. its softer ice.

You are crazy. 1. It is the same size, minus bigger offensive zones. 3. The softer ice can only hurt the speed that LF's brings.

[sid_the_kid]

virginia will win this game i guarantee it. they are the only team to keep hanowski off the scoreboard this year and they will contain him again. they have to much depth and they wear teams down in the third. westin draws about 5 penalties a game and their powerplay is stellar.

va 4

lf 2

[low66]

virginia will win this game i guarantee it. they are the only team to keep hanowski off the scoreboard this year and they will contain him again. they have to much depth and they wear teams down in the third. westin draws about 5 penalties a game and their powerplay is stellar.

va 4

lf 2

That was the first game of the year though, i bet Ben and LF will hold their own this first round with the same score just other way around but im goin with an empty net goal
LF 4
VA 2

[number56]

UR Crazy if you don't think that the ice is going to be a factor!!! 1. its bigger, just like the National Hockey Center ..... 3. its softer ice.

You are crazy. 1. It is the same size, minus bigger offensive zones. 3. The softer ice can only hurt the speed that LF's brings.

I'm glad someone else on here realizes this! The ice at the X isn't bigger than the ice at the Exchange Arena! It may feel way bigger, but it's not! The ice at Mariucci, however, is bigger! Hopefully LF won't have to play there though!

[icechips]

Little falls i have to say, but lets go virginia! make this a great game to watch

[ref17]

quit drinking the purple kool-aid! you are all nervous! 28-0 and out in the first round! DEPTH kills!

4 devils

2 flyers

[BDfan]

Well one more day till the big show. Should be a great match up. Word on the streets of LF is that they have 10 fan buses going down to make the trip to the X to cheer on LF. Cant wait to take in a good game at the X.

That is impressive. They must think this is the year they finally make the championship. Tough 1st round draw.

Virginia has 3 fan buses plus the band. BUT an estimated 200 students at least are driving down themselves to stay for the whole thing!f

[GopherPuckPlayer]

Well one more day till the big show. Should be a great match up. Word on the streets of LF is that they have 10 fan buses going down to make the trip to the X to cheer on LF. Cant wait to take in a good game at the X.

That is impressive. They must think this is the year they finally make the championship. Tough 1st round draw.

Virginia has 3 fan buses plus the band. BUT an estimated 200 students at least are driving down themselves to stay for the whole thing!f

Good to hear, I hope that they all make it safe. All the better atmosphere.

[tardy4mr.hockey]

CANT WAIT TO WATCH HANO!!!

but would love to see virginia win.... dont see it happening

LF-5 HANO HAT TRICK
VMI-3

[joester]

Have to say Flyers by atleast 2 or 3 goals

[SCSUHOCKEYFAN15]

I have to say I am VERY impressed by the passion that the fans of both of these teams are showing on this thread.

This is why I now love the Class A Tournament more then the AA. I love that in both of the towns tomorrow the last person out will be hitting the light switch. That both teams will have pep bands, and both will have an entire town behind them. I live in the Twin Cities and I can't even name the towns some of the private schools are in. I dislike the fact that there are 3 private schools in the class A tourney this year, but that is a different subject matter altogether now isn't it.. I love when smaller towns like Virginia and LF and Warroad ect, leave their small communities for three or four days and come down to the X to cheer their hero's on.

It is to bad these teams have to face each other in the quarterfinal's, this would have made a great Semi or Final.

Best of luck to both . . . but a little more to LF!

[bluelineenvy]

It's funny how LF is getting ripped for their performance in section play while Virginia is not. Oh, that's right, they are the "Hot" team.

So let's look at how Virginia did in their section play.
First game with Silver Bay/CC (9-14-2) 5-0. Wow, Impressive. Was this is a team they beat 12-1 in the regular season in their building?

Next a match-up with a 10-loss Duluth Marshall team, final score 4-3. Oh, I know Marshall has a tough schedule, but ask anyone who was at the game vs. Cathedrel (2-5) at the end of the season and they will tell you Marshall did not look good. Also credit to SCC...

Now the section final with Hibbing/Chisholm. A 3-1 victory over a "red hot" H/C team that lost 5 of it's last 7 games to end the season. With the two wins coming against Ely and Greenway (1-0). I know PuckRanger I know, Greenway's goalie was hot but come on, 1 goal? I do give H/C credit for a nice section win over IFalls though.

Anyway my point is that they didn't exactly roll over these teams that had not been playing well. If anything after looking into this I feel even more confident about LF's handling Virginia.

Maybe would not rip LF so much for their section final win over Alex if you nay-sayers had actually seen ALEX play this year. They have an awesome Team and had a great year!

As I said in an earlier post I cannot wait til the puck drops and this can be settled on ice. This also should have been a 2nd round match-up, not a first, this may end up being the best game of the tourney!

LF - 3
Virginia - 1

[The Vet]

I'm actually getting sick of people saying how deep Virginia is. Did anyone watch their section final game. Hibbing was at best mediocre. No offense they still made it to the section final, but Virginia got buzzed the entire 2nd and 3rd period! They only scored because of their power play. LF can be very chippy at times, but this is the state tournament, everything is on the line and people may not believe this but being on tv matters to the kids. They don't wanna make themselves look like idiots. Virginia will not score 3 power play goals and 3 goals is what they will need to beat LF.

As goes for Hano not having a point in the first game, people need to remember they had a 4 hour drive on the bus, 1 hour in the hotel then they played. They had bus legs big time. While Virginia was in front of their home crowd. They said Virginia has gotten so much better, i didn't think so at the section final game. They didn't have a forecheck, they chased all 3 forwards to the puck in the neutral zone. It was very disappointing to watch. They can't win at the state tournament when they don't play any systems. I thought you Rangers knew hockey. Ya they are on a roll and winning, but the range is down this year.

Unless the devils learned how to play 5 on 5 hockey in the last week they are screwed.

I'm nervous as heck for this game and can't wait, It makes is even worse i can't watch this game in person or on tv, but LF will win. I put my life on it !!!!!!!

[PuckRanger]

It's funny how LF is getting ripped for their performance in section play while Virginia is not. Oh, that's right, they are the "Hot" team.

So let's look at how Virginia did in their section play.

Ok, lets do that!

First game with Silver Bay/CC (9-14-2) 5-0. Wow, Impressive. Was this is a team they beat 12-1 in the regular season in their building?

Shots on goal: Virginia 62, Silver Bay/CC 10. Don't let the score fool you, Silver Bay was never in the game. Maybe at best a total of 2 minutes of play was in the Virginia end in the entire game. I was at this game, and lets just say it sounded like Christmas with all the pipes that were hit in this one, and Neill Kelly (SB goalie) made about a dozen highlight real type saves.

Next a match-up with a 10-loss Duluth Marshall team, final score 4-3. Oh, I know Marshall has a tough schedule, but ask anyone who was at the game vs. Cathedrel (2-5) at the end of the season and they will tell you Marshall did not look good. Also credit to SCC...

SCC tends to do that to some teams. Marshall played one bad period in that game and SCC made them pay. Marshall also had the bus legs after a long haul. If your going to base Marshall's abilities on just one game, perhaps you should use the St. Thomas Academy game. Unless you saw this team play a few times, you really have no basis for your remarks. They were a very good squad, and despite having 11 (not 10) losses, they were still highly competetive in most of their games. Plus, you don't know the history that sits behind the Virginia/Duluth Marshall rivalry.

Now the section final with Hibbing/Chisholm. A 3-1 victory over a "red hot" H/C team that lost 5 of it's last 7 games to end the season. With the two wins coming against Ely and Greenway (1-0). I know PuckRanger I know, Greenway's goalie was hot but come on, 1 goal? I do give H/C credit for a nice section win over IFalls though.

Hibbing did not play Ely - and yes, they were awful against Greenway (this game wasn't all on the Greenway goalie). Doesn't have any relevance on the section final. Yes, they hit a bump in the road at the end of the season, but it was not because of their overall play - it was because they could not buy a goal to save themselves. Also, They played their best game of the year against International Falls in the semi's, so to say they came in playing good hockey would be quite accurate.

Section 7A was one of the tougher sections to get out of this year. Most of the year there were four top 15 teams in this section. 6A had just two.

Anyway my point is that they didn't exactly roll over these teams that had not been playing well. If anything after looking into this I feel even more confident about LF's handling Virginia.

A false sense of security is much better than feeling insecure.

Maybe would not rip LF so much for their section final win over Alex if you nay-sayers had actually seen ALEX play this year. They have an awesome Team and had a great year!

As I said in an earlier post I cannot wait til the puck drops and this can be settled on ice. This also should have been a 2nd round match-up, not a first, this may end up being the best game of the tourney!

Agreed!

*****************************************************

I'm actually getting sick of people saying how deep Virginia is. Did anyone watch their section final game. Hibbing was at best mediocre. No offense they still made it to the section final, but Virginia got buzzed the entire 2nd and 3rd period! They only scored because of their power play. LF can be very chippy at times, but this is the state tournament, everything is on the line and people may not believe this but being on tv matters to the kids. They don't wanna make themselves look like idiots. Virginia will not score 3 power play goals and 3 goals is what they will need to beat LF.

People are saying they are deep, because they ARE deep. Four lines play regularly, no other team in the A tournament can say that. I'm not sure what game you were watching to come to the conclusion that Virginia got "buzzed" in the 2nd and 3rd periods. There were 5000 people at the game, and tens of thousands also watched it on TV - I'm quite sure that you are in a very minute minority with this opinion.

While Virginia's powerplay is good (not spectacular), they never have and aren't going to be relying on it to do all of its scoring. They only scored one powerplay goal in the semifinals against Duluth Marshall, and in fact the even strength goals came from a line 1/Line 4 combo in the middle of a change, then line 2, and one from line 4. This team can win a game several ways.

As goes for Hano not having a point in the first game, people need to remember they had a 4 hour drive on the bus, 1 hour in the hotel then they played. They had bus legs big time. While Virginia was in front of their home crowd. They said Virginia has gotten so much better, i didn't think so at the section final game. They didn't have a forecheck, they chased all 3 forwards to the puck in the neutral zone. It was very disappointing to watch. They can't win at the state tournament when they don't play any systems.

Obviously, there are some differences in what you saw and what actually happened in that section final game. That "forecheck" you saw was called a nuetral zone trap - and Virginia played it nearly to perfection... That is how they protected that two goal lead, and that is why it appeared that they were producing no offense - because they weren't trying to do much in the offensive end. Just because they don't play a system you recoginze doesn't mean they don't play within a system. You haven't seem them play enough to make that kind of judgement. If you honestly believe they are the same team as when you saw them in the first game of the season, you could be in for a bit of an eye opener!

I thought you Rangers knew hockey. Ya they are on a roll and winning, but the range is down this year.

OK, you really struck a chord with me here. If you want to sit down face to face with me and talk high school hockey, PM me. I'm more than willing. I can bring in a pretty good sized group of other "Rangers" as well.

I am curious as to how many high school games you have seen this season -- or perhaps over the last few years. I'm willing to bet I've seen at least five times as many. And if you believe a conference with Virginia, Hibbing, International Falls, and Grand Rapids is "down", then so be it. Compare it to the Central Lakes... and well, there really is no comparison.

Unless the devils learned how to play 5 on 5 hockey in the last week they are screwed.

************************************************

This will be my final word on this game as I am getting ready to head down to the X, so you folks won't have to wade through anymore of my 10 paragraph posts.

GOOD LUCK TO BOTH TEAMS! I hope the game lives up to the hype.

[Mite-dad]

Sorry to burst your Nico Saccetti bubble, but had Festler stayed in LF, he'd have put the scoring title out of touch for just about everybody.

[defense]

It's funny how LF is getting ripped for their performance in section play while Virginia is not. Oh, that's right, they are the "Hot" team.

So let's look at how Virginia did in their section play.

Ok, lets do that!

First game with Silver Bay/CC (9-14-2) 5-0. Wow, Impressive. Was this is a team they beat 12-1 in the regular season in their building?

Shots on goal: Virginia 62, Silver Bay/CC 10. Don't let the score fool you, Silver Bay was never in the game. Maybe at best a total of 2 minutes of play was in the Virginia end in the entire game. I was at this game, and lets just say it sounded like Christmas with all the pipes that were hit in this one, and Neill Kelly (SB goalie) made about a dozen highlight real type saves.

Next a match-up with a 10-loss Duluth Marshall team, final score 4-3. Oh, I know Marshall has a tough schedule, but ask anyone who was at the game vs. Cathedrel (2-5) at the end of the season and they will tell you Marshall did not look good. Also credit to SCC...

SCC tends to do that to some teams. Marshall played one bad period in that game and SCC made them pay. Marshall also had the bus legs after a long haul. If your going to base Marshall's abilities on just one game, perhaps you should use the St. Thomas Academy game. Unless you saw this team play a few times, you really have no basis for your remarks. They were a very good squad, and despite having 11 (not 10) losses, they were still highly competetive in most of their games. Plus, you don't know the history that sits behind the Virginia/Duluth Marshall rivalry.

Now the section final with Hibbing/Chisholm. A 3-1 victory over a "red hot" H/C team that lost 5 of it's last 7 games to end the season. With the two wins coming against Ely and Greenway (1-0). I know PuckRanger I know, Greenway's goalie was hot but come on, 1 goal? I do give H/C credit for a nice section win over IFalls though.

Hibbing did not play Ely - and yes, they were awful against Greenway (this game wasn't all on the Greenway goalie). Doesn't have any relevance on the section final. Yes, they hit a bump in the road at the end of the season, but it was not because of their overall play - it was because they could not buy a goal to save themselves. Also, They played their best game of the year against International Falls in the semi's, so to say they came in playing good hockey would be quite accurate.

Section 7A was one of the tougher sections to get out of this year. Most of the year there were four top 15 teams in this section. 6A had just two.

Anyway my point is that they didn't exactly roll over these teams that had not been playing well. If anything after looking into this I feel even more confident about LF's handling Virginia.

A false sense of security is much better than feeling insecure.

Maybe would not rip LF so much for their section final win over Alex if you nay-sayers had actually seen ALEX play this year. They have an awesome Team and had a great year!

As I said in an earlier post I cannot wait til the puck drops and this can be settled on ice. This also should have been a 2nd round match-up, not a first, this may end up being the best game of the tourney!

Agreed!

*****************************************************

I'm actually getting sick of people saying how deep Virginia is. Did anyone watch their section final game. Hibbing was at best mediocre. No offense they still made it to the section final, but Virginia got buzzed the entire 2nd and 3rd period! They only scored because of their power play. LF can be very chippy at times, but this is the state tournament, everything is on the line and people may not believe this but being on tv matters to the kids. They don't wanna make themselves look like idiots. Virginia will not score 3 power play goals and 3 goals is what they will need to beat LF.

People are saying they are deep, because they ARE deep. Four lines play regularly, no other team in the A tournament can say that. I'm not sure what game you were watching to come to the conclusion that Virginia got "buzzed" in the 2nd and 3rd periods. There were 5000 people at the game, and tens of thousands also watched it on TV - I'm quite sure that you are in a very minute minority with this opinion.

While Virginia's powerplay is good (not spectacular), they never have and aren't going to be relying on it to do all of its scoring. They only scored one powerplay goal in the semifinals against Duluth Marshall, and in fact the even strength goals came from a line 1/Line 4 combo in the middle of a change, then line 2, and one from line 4. This team can win a game several ways.

As goes for Hano not having a point in the first game, people need to remember they had a 4 hour drive on the bus, 1 hour in the hotel then they played. They had bus legs big time. While Virginia was in front of their home crowd. They said Virginia has gotten so much better, i didn't think so at the section final game. They didn't have a forecheck, they chased all 3 forwards to the puck in the neutral zone. It was very disappointing to watch. They can't win at the state tournament when they don't play any systems.

Obviously, there are some differences in what you saw and what actually happened in that section final game. That "forecheck" you saw was called a nuetral zone trap - and Virginia played it nearly to perfection... That is how they protected that two goal lead, and that is why it appeared that they were producing no offense - because they weren't trying to do much in the offensive end. Just because they don't play a system you recoginze doesn't mean they don't play within a system. You haven't seem them play enough to make that kind of judgement. If you honestly believe they are the same team as when you saw them in the first game of the season, you could be in for a bit of an eye opener!

I thought you Rangers knew hockey. Ya they are on a roll and winning, but the range is down this year.

OK, you really struck a chord with me here. If you want to sit down face to face with me and talk high school hockey, PM me. I'm more than willing. I can bring in a pretty good sized group of other "Rangers" as well.

I am curious as to how many high school games you have seen this season -- or perhaps over the last few years. I'm willing to bet I've seen at least five times as many. And if you believe a conference with Virginia, Hibbing, International Falls, and Grand Rapids is "down", then so be it. Compare it to the Central Lakes... and well, there really is no comparison.

Unless the devils learned how to play 5 on 5 hockey in the last week they are screwed.

************************************************

This will be my final word on this game as I am getting ready to head down to the X, so you folks won't have to wade through anymore of my 10 paragraph posts.

GOOD LUCK TO BOTH TEAMS! I hope the game lives up to the hype.

If you really want to keep dreamin' go ahead...fact is the CLC is NOT that different from the Iron Range. I'm not going to convince anyone, fine..I just know that great hockey is played in more places than north of Hiway 2 and in the metro.

[jimsmithers]

I suppose everybody likes an undefeated team - to see if they can go all the way. And, Little Falls has a very supportive booster club.

However, schedules do mean something... I remember a Little Falls team a few years ago who had a great record but got schlocked by Duluth Marshall in the semis and barely got by Mankato East (?!). This team is better - they will win today, but I am not so sure they win everything.

[grindiangrad-80]

Should be a great game.
Good luck to both.
Have some fun- best day of the year.

[east hockey]

It's funny how LF is getting ripped for their performance in section play while Virginia is not. Oh, that's right, they are the "Hot" team.

So let's look at how Virginia did in their section play.

Ok, lets do that!

First game with Silver Bay/CC (9-14-2) 5-0. Wow, Impressive. Was this is a team they beat 12-1 in the regular season in their building?

Shots on goal: Virginia 62, Silver Bay/CC 10. Don't let the score fool you, Silver Bay was never in the game. Maybe at best a total of 2 minutes of play was in the Virginia end in the entire game. I was at this game, and lets just say it sounded like Christmas with all the pipes that were hit in this one, and Neill Kelly (SB goalie) made about a dozen highlight real type saves.

Next a match-up with a 10-loss Duluth Marshall team, final score 4-3. Oh, I know Marshall has a tough schedule, but ask anyone who was at the game vs. Cathedrel (2-5) at the end of the season and they will tell you Marshall did not look good. Also credit to SCC...

SCC tends to do that to some teams. Marshall played one bad period in that game and SCC made them pay. Marshall also had the bus legs after a long haul. If your going to base Marshall's abilities on just one game, perhaps you should use the St. Thomas Academy game. Unless you saw this team play a few times, you really have no basis for your remarks. They were a very good squad, and despite having 11 (not 10) losses, they were still highly competetive in most of their games. Plus, you don't know the history that sits behind the Virginia/Duluth Marshall rivalry.

Now the section final with Hibbing/Chisholm. A 3-1 victory over a "red hot" H/C team that lost 5 of it's last 7 games to end the season. With the two wins coming against Ely and Greenway (1-0). I know PuckRanger I know, Greenway's goalie was hot but come on, 1 goal? I do give H/C credit for a nice section win over IFalls though.

Hibbing did not play Ely - and yes, they were awful against Greenway (this game wasn't all on the Greenway goalie). Doesn't have any relevance on the section final. Yes, they hit a bump in the road at the end of the season, but it was not because of their overall play - it was because they could not buy a goal to save themselves. Also, They played their best game of the year against International Falls in the semi's, so to say they came in playing good hockey would be quite accurate.

Section 7A was one of the tougher sections to get out of this year. Most of the year there were four top 15 teams in this section. 6A had just two.

Anyway my point is that they didn't exactly roll over these teams that had not been playing well. If anything after looking into this I feel even more confident about LF's handling Virginia.

A false sense of security is much better than feeling insecure.

Maybe would not rip LF so much for their section final win over Alex if you nay-sayers had actually seen ALEX play this year. They have an awesome Team and had a great year!

As I said in an earlier post I cannot wait til the puck drops and this can be settled on ice. This also should have been a 2nd round match-up, not a first, this may end up being the best game of the tourney!

Agreed!

*****************************************************

I'm actually getting sick of people saying how deep Virginia is. Did anyone watch their section final game. Hibbing was at best mediocre. No offense they still made it to the section final, but Virginia got buzzed the entire 2nd and 3rd period! They only scored because of their power play. LF can be very chippy at times, but this is the state tournament, everything is on the line and people may not believe this but being on tv matters to the kids. They don't wanna make themselves look like idiots. Virginia will not score 3 power play goals and 3 goals is what they will need to beat LF.

People are saying they are deep, because they ARE deep. Four lines play regularly, no other team in the A tournament can say that. I'm not sure what game you were watching to come to the conclusion that Virginia got "buzzed" in the 2nd and 3rd periods. There were 5000 people at the game, and tens of thousands also watched it on TV - I'm quite sure that you are in a very minute minority with this opinion.

While Virginia's powerplay is good (not spectacular), they never have and aren't going to be relying on it to do all of its scoring. They only scored one powerplay goal in the semifinals against Duluth Marshall, and in fact the even strength goals came from a line 1/Line 4 combo in the middle of a change, then line 2, and one from line 4. This team can win a game several ways.

As goes for Hano not having a point in the first game, people need to remember they had a 4 hour drive on the bus, 1 hour in the hotel then they played. They had bus legs big time. While Virginia was in front of their home crowd. They said Virginia has gotten so much better, i didn't think so at the section final game. They didn't have a forecheck, they chased all 3 forwards to the puck in the neutral zone. It was very disappointing to watch. They can't win at the state tournament when they don't play any systems.

Obviously, there are some differences in what you saw and what actually happened in that section final game. That "forecheck" you saw was called a nuetral zone trap - and Virginia played it nearly to perfection... That is how they protected that two goal lead, and that is why it appeared that they were producing no offense - because they weren't trying to do much in the offensive end. Just because they don't play a system you recoginze doesn't mean they don't play within a system. You haven't seem them play enough to make that kind of judgement. If you honestly believe they are the same team as when you saw them in the first game of the season, you could be in for a bit of an eye opener!

I thought you Rangers knew hockey. Ya they are on a roll and winning, but the range is down this year.

OK, you really struck a chord with me here. If you want to sit down face to face with me and talk high school hockey, PM me. I'm more than willing. I can bring in a pretty good sized group of other "Rangers" as well.

I am curious as to how many high school games you have seen this season -- or perhaps over the last few years. I'm willing to bet I've seen at least five times as many. And if you believe a conference with Virginia, Hibbing, International Falls, and Grand Rapids is "down", then so be it. Compare it to the Central Lakes... and well, there really is no comparison.

Unless the devils learned how to play 5 on 5 hockey in the last week they are screwed.

************************************************

This will be my final word on this game as I am getting ready to head down to the X, so you folks won't have to wade through anymore of my 10 paragraph posts.

GOOD LUCK TO BOTH TEAMS! I hope the game lives up to the hype.

Have fun down there, Ranger. Good luck to the Devils!

Lee