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Rapids took this one in OT on a Jonah Bischoff goal last year. I heard Bemidji has upgraded their home rink. I hope both of these teams make it to state. This is a very unpredictable year for GR given the question about starting goalie. However, Mattson-Bischoff-Adams is probably a top 5 line in the state and I think John Stampohar has an immediate impact at D. I'll take Rapids 4-2 with an e.n.

TheHockeyDJ wrote:Rapids took this one in OT on a Jonah Bischoff goal last year. I heard Bemidji has upgraded their home rink. I hope both of these teams make it to state. This is a very unpredictable year for GR given the question about starting goalie. However, Mattson-Bischoff-Adams is probably a top 5 line in the state and I think John Stampohar has an immediate impact at D. I'll take Rapids 4-2 with an e.n.

4 to 1 Bemidji

3-2 bemidji

Rapids 4-2

Bemidji will have already played a game, while this will be Rapids first game of the season. Given the graduation of Peterson and Sheppard, even with the young talent, a Rapids victory would be an auspicious beginning to the season. I'll enter the arena in Bemidji with high hopes, but it will be tough to get the win.

Bemidji tied Apollo tonight 1-1.

THawks by 2.

4-4 tie

Here is the GRHS Hockey Online game preview, along with our prediction.

http://www.grhshockey.com/teams/default ... wsID=33889

Grand Rapids 4,
Bemidji 3

7-4 Rapids. Was 7-1 after 2 and a Rapids was sleep walking in the 3rd. Very impressed with Rapids depth. The top line was better than advertised. I thought Bemidji would be better this year. I expect the Jacks to be hard pressed to make it out of the 4/5 game in 8AA.

Too early to draw conclusions about either team, but Rapids was very impressive. The first 3 or 4 minutes were concerning with BJI keeping the action in Rapids zone, but giving up that first goal seemed to wake-up the T-hawks. I was really impressed with Rapids' crisp passing, rapid puck movement, and moving the puck away from the net in their zone (with a couple exceptions and ignoring most of the third period).

A very encouraging start.

Nice facility in Bemidji; with the renovations, I think they could have invested a bit in a semi-audible/intelligible sound system, and maybe buy a few lightbulbs.

Immigrant Fan wrote:Too early to draw conclusions about either team, but Rapids was very impressive. The first 3 or 4 minutes were concerning with BJI keeping the action in Rapids zone, but giving up that first goal seemed to wake-up the T-hawks. I was really impressed with Rapids' crisp passing, rapid puck movement, and moving the puck away from the net in their zone (with a couple exceptions and ignoring most of the third period).

A very encouraging start.

Nice facility in Bemidji; with the renovations, I think they could have invested a bit in a semi-audible/intelligible sound system, and maybe buy a few lightbulbs.

Bemidji was soft on the puck but they have some nice talent. GR has some depth on forward but the D really struggled. Goaltending was marginal at best. Adams for GR was best player on the ice.

Here is the game recap courtesy of GRHS Hockey Online.

BAM, offensive outburst leads Grand Rapids to season opening 7-4 win at Bemidji

http://grhshockey.com/teams/default.asp ... wsID=33924

offtheglas wrote:

Immigrant Fan wrote:Too early to draw conclusions about either team, but Rapids was very impressive. The first 3 or 4 minutes were concerning with BJI keeping the action in Rapids zone, but giving up that first goal seemed to wake-up the T-hawks. I was really impressed with Rapids' crisp passing, rapid puck movement, and moving the puck away from the net in their zone (with a couple exceptions and ignoring most of the third period).

A very encouraging start.

Nice facility in Bemidji; with the renovations, I think they could have invested a bit in a semi-audible/intelligible sound system, and maybe buy a few lightbulbs.

Bemidji was soft on the puck but they have some nice talent. GR has some depth on forward but the D really struggled. Goaltending was marginal at best. Adams for GR was best player on the ice.

I must have been at a different game.

I did not see a soft Bemidji team last night. I saw a team who came out ready to go and who jumped all over Grand Rapids to get the game started. Their constant pressure and fast in your face attacking play really rocked Rapids back on their heels. That started off looking like a long night ahead for Rapids.

For Rapids, I saw a defensive group who has some learning to do, but played a nice hard working game. I think they will settle in and do fine once the younger kids get into the groove and are able to finish making that jump from Bantams to Varsity which is always harder than it looks. Sure they broke down a couple of times, but I would not write them off or say that they really struggled. If they get into trouble this year it is going to be when they go south to the cities where I am not so sure that their physical style of play will be appreciated. As expected, the BAM line did well and is going to be tough for teams to deal with. Rapids is going to have to get their 2nd and 3rd lines up to speed quickly to support them. The goalie looked pretty solid in his first varsity start. All in all an effort that I would not call marginal by any means. It looked like the team as a whole let down for a little bit in the 3rd period but that is probably more of a function of their relative youth and having a 6 goal lead which will be an easy fix.

Mouse in the corner wrote:

offtheglas wrote:

Immigrant Fan wrote:Too early to draw conclusions about either team, but Rapids was very impressive. The first 3 or 4 minutes were concerning with BJI keeping the action in Rapids zone, but giving up that first goal seemed to wake-up the T-hawks. I was really impressed with Rapids' crisp passing, rapid puck movement, and moving the puck away from the net in their zone (with a couple exceptions and ignoring most of the third period).

A very encouraging start.

Nice facility in Bemidji; with the renovations, I think they could have invested a bit in a semi-audible/intelligible sound system, and maybe buy a few lightbulbs.

Bemidji was soft on the puck but they have some nice talent. GR has some depth on forward but the D really struggled. Goaltending was marginal at best. Adams for GR was best player on the ice.

I must have been at a different game.

I did not see a soft Bemidji team last night. I saw a team who came out ready to go and who jumped all over Grand Rapids to get the game started. Their constant pressure and fast in your face attacking play really rocked Rapids back on their heels. That started off looking like a long night ahead for Rapids.

For Rapids, I saw a defensive group who has some learning to do, but played a nice hard working game. I think they will settle in and do fine once the younger kids get into the groove and are able to finish making that jump from Bantams to Varsity which is always harder than it looks. Sure they broke down a couple of times, but I would not write them off or say that they really struggled. If they get into trouble this year it is going to be when they go south to the cities where I am not so sure that their physical style of play will be appreciated. As expected, the BAM line did well and is going to be tough for teams to deal with. Rapids is going to have to get their 2nd and 3rd lines up to speed quickly to support them. The goalie looked pretty solid in his first varsity start. All in all an effort that I would not call marginal by any means. It looked like the team as a whole let down for a little bit in the 3rd period but that is probably more of a function of their relative youth and having a 6 goal lead which will be an easy fix.

I will give you that Bemidji had a good start but did not make many hard plays with the puck and were bounced around most of the night. The GR goalie did not make any saves he shouldn't have and struggled finding the puck in tight. The young Stampohar kid was a huge bright spot on D but defensively has a lot to learn. The rest of the D group was avg. They will be an interesting group (GR) as they progress as will the Bemidji team. It's too bad they don't play 2 regular season games. Good Luck to both teams it would be fun to see them at the X.