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ND girls hockey tournament moving back to Scheels Arena, Ralph Engelstad Arena

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ND girls hockey tournament moving back to Scheels Arena, Ralph Engelstad Arena


FARGO — After just one year in Minot, the North Dakota girls hockey state tournament will be moving back to Fargo and Grand Forks through at least 2028-29.

The girls hockey season will be moved up one week beginning in 2023-24 while the state tournament will return to a combined boys and girls format, beginning with Scheels Arena in Fargo next winter and then alternating with the Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks in the following years.

The recommendations made by the Athletic Review Committee at its May 31 meeting were unanimously approved by the North Dakota High School Activities Association board at its June 6 meeting.

“This recommendation came from the girls hockey coaches through their advisory committee,” said NDHSAA executive director Matthew Fetsch, who oversees the sport of hockey. “And that was the group who pushed to split the tournaments going into last season.”

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Fargo Davies’ Abigail Voeller, right, vies got the puck with Fargo North-South’s Anna Nelson during their North Dakota Girls Hockey Tournament championship game Saturday, March 4, 2023, in Minot.

Michael Vosburg/The Forum

With North Dakota

introducing three classes of basketball this upcoming season,

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Fetsch cited the addition of another state basketball tournament potentially affecting girls hockey media coverage as the primary reason for the switch back to coinciding boys and girls tournaments.

“In all honesty, I think the No. 1 factor ended up being the addition of the third classification of basketball and another tournament falling that weekend,” Fetsch said. “And the priority from the girls hockey community to have television coverage.”

Last season’s girls hockey tournament was at Minot’s Maysa Arena. Feedback from the tournament’s participating coaches at the time was mostly positive.

“I thought it was a great event,” Fargo North-South coach Parker Metz said

after his Spruins repeated as state champions.

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“At the end of the day, I’d love to come back. I know there’s mixed feelings about it, but at the end of the day, it’s about the kids and the experience for them. We had a good time and it was a good venue.”

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Fargo North-South celebrates their North Dakota Girls Hockey championship Saturday, March 4, 2023, in Minot.

Michael Vosburg/The Forum

“I thought the games were all competitive and it was a good showcase for girls hockey,” Fargo Davies coach Josh Issertell added after the Eagles’ runner-up finish. “The facility and the city of Minot did their job and did it well. Kudos to all involved.”

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Fetsch commended Minot and Maysa Arena for their hosting duties but noted that attendance lacked when the hometown Majettes weren’t lacing up the skates.

“I think Minot as a host and a facility were phenomenal,” Fetsch said. “They did everything they could to make it a great experience and it’s definitely a positive there. When they run any tournament, it’s a big deal to that community.

“As far as cons, I think the obvious one that was talked about with the advisory group was the attendance,” he said. “When Minot played, it was a very good atmosphere and very good crowd. But in reality, you had an outstanding championship between two Fargo teams and there were about 200 people there to watch it.”

Perhaps affecting attendance that same weekend were the East Region basketball tournament in Fargo and the West Region basketball tournament in Bismarck. Weather also may have deterred the Fargo crowd from making the trip to Minot, with an early-March blizzard causing travel difficulties for many.

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West Fargo’s Courtney Docktor, center, congratulates Zoey Gervais for her goal against Minot during their North Dakota Girls Hockey Tournament quarterfinal game Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Minot.

Michael Vosburg/The Forum

The 2023-24 girls hockey tournament was slated to be hosted by West Fargo before the recommendation was made by the Athletic Review Committee to bring it back to Scheels Arena.

Fetsch said he wouldn’t completely rule Minot out of hosting a combined hockey tournament in the future.

“I think all of that will come into play with the combined tournament (is discussed) again,” Fetsch said. “Minot’s facility, I raise the question of are they a host for a combined tournament with the facilities they have? It’s probably something that will be discussed more in the future.”

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Ryan Spitza

Ryan Spitza joined The Forum in December 2021 as a sports reporter. He grew up in Marquette, Mich., a city of 20,000 on the southern shore of Lake Superior. He majored in multimedia journalism and minored in public relations at Northern Michigan University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in May 2019. While attending college, Spitza gained real-world experience covering high school and college athletics for both The Mining Journal and The North Wind.

Spitza can be reached at 701-451-5613 or rspitza@forumcomm.com. Follow him on Twitter @ryspitza.





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Early morning crash in north Fargo kills one person, injures two others

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Early morning crash in north Fargo kills one person, injures two others


FARGO — One person was killed and two people were injured in an early morning crash in north Fargo.

The single-vehicle crash happened around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 26, in the 1200 block of 10th Street North, the North Dakota Highway Patrol said in a news release.

A 2012 Dodge Journey was going north on 10th Street North at a high rate of speed and as the vehicle crossed 12th Avenue North, the driver lost control and the SUV left the roadway, the patrol said.

The vehicle, with three males inside, hit the rear bumper of an unoccupied parked vehicle in a driveway before colliding with a large tree on the boulevard.

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The driver sustained serious injuries and was transported for medical treatment. He is under investigation for possible charges, the patrol said.

A passenger died as a result of injuries from the crash, the patrol said. A second passenger suffered life-threatening injuries and was transported for medical treatment.

The North Dakota Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.

Our newsroom occasionally reports stories under a byline of “staff.” Often, the “staff” byline is used when rewriting basic news briefs that originate from official sources, such as a city press release about a road closure, and which require little or no reporting. At times, this byline is used when a news story includes numerous authors or when the story is formed by aggregating previously reported news from various sources. If outside sources are used, it is noted within the story.

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Obituary for Clinton Perry Stowman at Lerud-Schuldt-Mathias Funeral Home

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Obituary for Clinton Perry Stowman at Lerud-Schuldt-Mathias Funeral Home


Clinton Stowman, age 97, of Valley City, ND, died Thursday, October 23rd at Sanford Health in Fargo, ND. A memorial service will be held at 1100 AM on Tuesday, October 28th at Epworth United Methodist Church in Valley City. Visitation will be held one hour before the service at the



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Trump approves disaster declaration for Aug. 7-8 storm damage in North Dakota

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Trump approves disaster declaration for Aug. 7-8 storm damage in North Dakota


BISMARCK — President Donald Trump approved a presidential disaster declaration for severe storms on Aug. 7-8 that caused significant damage to mostly electrical infrastructure in the state.

The presidential declaration makes public assistance available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which notified the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services that the request had been granted.

Gov. Kelly Armstrong submitted the declaration

request

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on Sept. 4.

“We appreciate President Trump and FEMA again granting our request and aiding our recovery from this summer’s extraordinary storms, which tested the capacity of our first responders, emergency managers, utility providers and citizens,” Armstrong said. “This assistance will especially help our utility providers by defraying their recovery costs and helping them hold down rates for the North Dakota residents they serve, who showed incredible grit and resiliency in quickly recovering from these severe storms.”

The Aug. 7-8 storms brought damaging straight-line winds, large hail and numerous tornadoes.

The declaration, approved Wednesday, Oct. 22, covers Barnes, Grand Forks, Griggs, Kidder, Nelson, Steele and Stutsman counties.

Straight-line winds up to 100 mph caused damage in Jamestown and to a farm north of Courtenay. The storm also caused power outages to some Jamestown residents after straight-line winds downed power lines in the area.

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In Jamestown, the storm took a roof off the west side of an apartment building at 713 14th St. SE, displacing residents. The roof landed on vehicles outside the apartment building.

At the farmstead surveyed north of Courtenay, the National Weather Service in Bismarck said significant damage occurred to buildings and grain handling equipment.

The weather service also said significant damage, primarily to trees, occurred over the southern part of Jamestown.

Winds up to 90 mph caused severe damage to a grain elevator in Thompson, power outages for some Grand Forks residents and downed trees.

It was the second time this year that Trump granted Armstrong’s request for a presidential disaster declaration. In September, Trump declared a disaster for the June 20 storms.

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In September, Trump

approved

Armstrong’s request for a 19-county presidential major disaster declaration covering damage from June 20-21 storms that spawned more than 20 tornadoes, resulting in four storm-related deaths and causing more than $11 million in damage to public infrastructure as well as significant damage to utilities, grain bins, homes and other private property.

For more information about storm recovery, including the Grain Storage & Facility Rebuilder Program created in response to the June storms, visit

www.ndresponse.gov

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Masaki Ova joined The Jamestown Sun in August 2021 as a reporter. He grew up on a farm near Pingree, N.D. He majored in communications at the University of Jamestown, N.D.





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