North Dakota Preps

just wandering what you thought.

my pick is micheal hillman

sean dichert or michael hillman

Pat Arnason is doin very good for RR

Would it be fair to put Grant Kovacs of Dickinson in the top five? He's having a good year. Numbers-wise, Arneson is having the best year, I would say. Of course, he has the best overall team too.

I watched Hillman and I was impressed. He is like 5-9 , 145 pounds on the roster. Kovacs is like 6-4, 220. They looked like David and Goliath. Hillman, Deichert, Arneson and Kovacs as the top four?

Let me know what the opinion on this is!

     I think it would be fair to say that the two best goalies in the East Region are Sean Deichert of Fargo South and Patirck Arnason of Grand Forks Red River. Deichert will likely go on and continue to play junior hockey next season, he is strong fundamentaly and has good size, he has a history with the Dakota Select program and Elite League( 3 years). Arnason's year on the statistical side is impressive, although he doesnt see many shots as he plays for the number one team in the state. Any time you post a G.A.A. of 0.89 and a SV% of 95% its an indication hes doing his job through 9 games played. I've seen Arnason play 3 times this season he looked pretty composed in 3 victories. Deichert was a member of the All East Region Team, All East Region Tournament Team, All State team and All State Tournament Team. Arnason is a junior who was a backup for the State runner up RoughRiders.
     In the West Region Michael Hillman from Bismarck High and Grant Kovacs of Dickinson are probably the top two. I dont get a chance to see many west games but as "Wildcat" mentioned earlier Kovacs is probably the states biggest goaltender where Hillman could be the smallest starting goaltender in the state. Kovacs has the second best stats in the state and uses his big frame to his advantage. Although I am unsure of Kovacs age( junior? sophomore?) he started last season for the Midgets. Hillman is a 3rd year starter I've seen him and Deichert  more over the years than Arnason and Kovacs. He has a quick aggressive style  I most recently saw him play in Fargo last season and at the State Tournament. He was named to The All West Region Team, All West Region Tournament Team, and All State team. Both Hillman and Kovacs have a history in the Dakota Select program and Hillman was supposed to play Elite League earlier this season but I think he planned on playing in the NAHL at that time. I would assume both Hillman and Deichert would try-out for North Dakota's showcase team after the season.
    Does anyone on this forum have any information on other goalies in the state?

Kovacs is a junior.

What about Grafton-Park River's or Devils Lake?

I dont think he stands a chance after loseing 8-0

Mike Sand
GPR
Sr.
10.2 games played
22 Goals against
 2.06 AVG
9 Wins
2 Losses
0 Ties
91% Save Percentage

Ethan Kline mandan, his coach and players dont really help him much but he is amazing

3sport wrote:Ethan Kline mandan, his coach and players dont really help him much but he is amazing

I hope thats a joke.

ndfootball wrote:

3sport wrote:Ethan Kline mandan, his coach and players dont really help him much but he is amazing

I hope thats a joke.

No its not a joke, hes a junior and he does not get help, hes mandans only chance really at winning games. He's been playing selects as long as i can remeber, and this summer split time with the back-up in the ushl. So you can't tell me he doesn't have talent.

he cant be that bad if his team is that bad and he still has an 88% save percentage.

I beleive the backup in the USHL you are referring to is Eric Hartzell. Eric's dad is Kevin Hartzell, the Head Coach of the Sioux Falls Stampede. Eric did not play in the USHL last year nor is he playing in the USHL this year. However Eric was drafted by the Sioux Falls Stampede in a "prospects" draft earlier this year. Eric is playing for the Dallas Stars AAA Midget team this season.

Ditka14 wrote:

ndfootball wrote:

3sport wrote:Ethan Kline mandan, his coach and players dont really help him much but he is amazing

I hope thats a joke.

No its not a joke, hes a junior and he does not get help, hes mandans only chance really at winning games. He's been playing selects as long as i can remeber, and this summer split time with the back-up in the ushl. So you can't tell me he doesn't have talent.

It has to be a joke because minot put up 11 on mandan

Chachi, do you ever post without mentioning anything about Minot?

in that minot game mandans coach, who is not very popular with the players sat a bunch of there starters because they werent trying in practice the day before...

Grant Kovacs from Dickinson is doing amazing this year. He's one of the reasons why Dickinson is doing good this year. I think he is like 2nd in the state right now or something like that.

highheat wrote:sean dichert or michael hillman

Im sorry but people need to realize you could place any varsity goalie in South's net and they are going to be the best in the state.  Diechert hasn't really improved in my opinion since he switched from Shanley. He has gotten bigger and has bought huge pads... other than that not much to him.

kline had 44 saves against century last night

3sport wrote:kline had 44 saves against century last night

Thats great.  Century is what on the year now? 3-13 and a few ties?  That must of been a great game for Kline.

 

Deichert is good, anyone who can play and do well in the Elite is good.

Hillman, Kovacs, and Arnason all have a shot at playing D1 in the next few years.  Kovacs is bigger than Arnason but Arnason has better fundamentals, it also helps that he has the best defense and best team in the state in front of him.

I'd say they will give 3 goalies all state honors again this year, Arnason, Deichert, and Hillman.

What grade is Kovacs?

coast2coast wrote:

3sport wrote:kline had 44 saves against century last night

Thats great.  Century is what on the year now? 3-13 and a few ties?  That must of been a great game for Kline.

 

Deichert is good, anyone who can play and do well in the Elite is good.

Hillman, Kovacs, and Arnason all have a shot at playing D1 in the next few years.  Kovacs is bigger than Arnason but Arnason has better fundamentals, it also helps that he has the best defense and best team in the state in front of him.

I'd say they will give 3 goalies all state honors again this year, Arnason, Deichert, and Hillman.

Your just a pure hater, just cause kline doesn't have the supporting cast like Arnason and deichert have doesn't put behind him he has been playing selects the last 4 years with the 90's so your telling me in his time there hasn't been not one east goalie he has knocked off the team? get over yourself, it makes a difference when your not seeing an average of 30-40 shots a game like kline does. How many shots does deichert and arnason see a game? Plus how many defenseman do they have backing them up that are going to go on and play after high school, it makes a deference when your getting uncontested rebounds in front of the net, somthing he see's every night.

Don't go and hate on him because he is from the west, if he was from the east you would have no problem with the kid. Put arnason or deichert in the situation kline has they would get lite up just as bad.

coast2coast wrote:

3sport wrote:kline had 44 saves against century last night

Thats great.  Century is what on the year now? 3-13 and a few ties?  That must of been a great game for Kline.

 

One of those ties was to crookston 4 to 4  that is the same crookston team that your boy dichert had a whooping 15 saves and the end score was 5-2 with south on the short end

Ditka14 wrote:

coast2coast wrote:

3sport wrote:kline had 44 saves against century last night

Thats great.  Century is what on the year now? 3-13 and a few ties?  That must of been a great game for Kline.

 

Deichert is good, anyone who can play and do well in the Elite is good.

Hillman, Kovacs, and Arnason all have a shot at playing D1 in the next few years.  Kovacs is bigger than Arnason but Arnason has better fundamentals, it also helps that he has the best defense and best team in the state in front of him.

I'd say they will give 3 goalies all state honors again this year, Arnason, Deichert, and Hillman.

Your just a pure hater, just cause kline doesn't have the supporting cast like Arnason and deichert have doesn't put behind him he has been playing selects the last 4 years with the 90's so your telling me in his time there hasn't been not one east goalie he has knocked off the team? get over yourself, it makes a difference when your not seeing an average of 30-40 shots a game like kline does. How many shots does deichert and arnason see a game? Plus how many defenseman do they have backing them up that are going to go on and play after high school, it makes a deference when your getting uncontested rebounds in front of the net, somthing he see's every night.

Don't go and hate on him because he is from the west, if he was from the east you would have no problem with the kid. Put arnason or deichert in the situation kline has they would get lite up just as bad.

 

Kovacs has a very bad team in front of him and he is still able to put back 93%.

Deichert has a bunch of individuals in front of him, hardly what you would call a team.  Shouldn't the weak wing pick up the slot?  South's weak wing is at the blue line before anyone gets to the puck.

Arnason is lucky, great D, good coaching, good fundamentals, and a great overall team.  Not to mention he is on the team to beat in the state, every forward puts all he has into shots on him.

Hillman, I'm suprised he came back to BHS, but it's obviously helping them (tied for first in the West with subpar forwards).  I haven't seen him play yet this year, but I'm sure he is only better.

I'm not hating on him, I'm stating that he can't steal a meaningful game against a team that has put up a whopping 68 goals this year.  47 shots on net is alot of shots, but according to gfparks.org, Mandan put on 30.  So the game was by no means a blowout, you could hardly call that lopsided.  I'd say both team's defense must struggle.  If you can't steal a game like that, you shouldn't be considered to be one of the top goalies in the state.  I don't see why a kid like that wouldn't move to Bismarck, if he truly loves hockey and plays for the selects (which doesn't take much anymore), he might as well go to Century and beat out their goalie and have a shot at going to state.

 

Sauce, sounds like you play for Century or have played for them.  Reality check, 5-12-3 in the West.  Seriously, a tie for you against Crookston must be equivalent feeling of Red River winning at state.  I hope you make it to state and get a chance to play against South.  Regardless of what happened against Crookston and the way they play right now, it will be double digits.


I'm not here to hate, I'm here to tell the truth.  The East is better than the West, but the West is closing the gap and its players are having success in higher levels to prove it.  We won't be seeing 2 west and 2 east teams in the TV round for another decade, that is just how it is.  With strong programs Minot and Bismarck did fine for a few years in the 90s, I see them both getting back to that point soon.  With young, new coaches both teams are leading the West and playing with some of the East, hopefully good things continue to come for them.

coast2coast wrote:

Ditka14 wrote:

coast2coast wrote:

3sport wrote:kline had 44 saves against century last night

Thats great.  Century is what on the year now? 3-13 and a few ties?  That must of been a great game for Kline.

 

Deichert is good, anyone who can play and do well in the Elite is good.

Hillman, Kovacs, and Arnason all have a shot at playing D1 in the next few years.  Kovacs is bigger than Arnason but Arnason has better fundamentals, it also helps that he has the best defense and best team in the state in front of him.

I'd say they will give 3 goalies all state honors again this year, Arnason, Deichert, and Hillman.

Your just a pure hater, just cause kline doesn't have the supporting cast like Arnason and deichert have doesn't put behind him he has been playing selects the last 4 years with the 90's so your telling me in his time there hasn't been not one east goalie he has knocked off the team? get over yourself, it makes a difference when your not seeing an average of 30-40 shots a game like kline does. How many shots does deichert and arnason see a game? Plus how many defenseman do they have backing them up that are going to go on and play after high school, it makes a deference when your getting uncontested rebounds in front of the net, somthing he see's every night.

Don't go and hate on him because he is from the west, if he was from the east you would have no problem with the kid. Put arnason or deichert in the situation kline has they would get lite up just as bad.

 

Kovacs has a very bad team in front of him and he is still able to put back 93%.

Deichert has a bunch of individuals in front of him, hardly what you would call a team.  Shouldn't the weak wing pick up the slot?  South's weak wing is at the blue line before anyone gets to the puck.

Arnason is lucky, great D, good coaching, good fundamentals, and a great overall team.  Not to mention he is on the team to beat in the state, every forward puts all he has into shots on him.

Hillman, I'm suprised he came back to BHS, but it's obviously helping them (tied for first in the West with subpar forwards).  I haven't seen him play yet this year, but I'm sure he is only better.

I'm not hating on him, I'm stating that he can't steal a meaningful game against a team that has put up a whopping 68 goals this year.  47 shots on net is alot of shots, but according to gfparks.org, Mandan put on 30.  So the game was by no means a blowout, you could hardly call that lopsided.  I'd say both team's defense must struggle.  If you can't steal a game like that, you shouldn't be considered to be one of the top goalies in the state.  I don't see why a kid like that wouldn't move to Bismarck, if he truly loves hockey and plays for the selects (which doesn't take much anymore), he might as well go to Century and beat out their goalie and have a shot at going to state.

 

Sauce, sounds like you play for Century or have played for them.  Reality check, 5-12-3 in the West.  Seriously, a tie for you against Crookston must be equivalent feeling of Red River winning at state.  I hope you make it to state and get a chance to play against South.  Regardless of what happened against Crookston and the way they play right now, it will be double digits.


I'm not here to hate, I'm here to tell the truth.  The East is better than the West, but the West is closing the gap and its players are having success in higher levels to prove it.  We won't be seeing 2 west and 2 east teams in the TV round for another decade, that is just how it is.  With strong programs Minot and Bismarck did fine for a few years in the 90s, I see them both getting back to that point soon.  With young, new coaches both teams are leading the West and playing with some of the East, hopefully good things continue to come for them.

He has other personal reasons why he doesn't leave and go play hockey else where so right now in his life thats really not an option. Lets get real is playing at BHS or CHS really going to make a difference? I could see BHS, though i don't see the CHS program picking it up anytime soon.