North Dakota Preps

Are the mandan braves a legit force in the west?

Define "Legit Force?"

They should be the #2 seed, with their current record, but they are by no means heads and shoulders above the rest of the west, like BHS currently is. 2-7 is an absolute toss up. They have Century, Minot, and BHS left, so that should be a good measuring stick heading to WDA. (It all will come down to the WDA tourney anyways.) I would think they could hang with BHS when they match up, for a period or two...

Ok well Damus

I think it is obvious that mandan is a good team. They are solid #2 in West.
played BHS last time real tight.

this is a first for Mandan, playing close games(winning most & losing some).
I have liked their chances from the beginning of the season, just knowing what I know about the team and NEW coach and etc.

plus-- the West is a little more balanced.
I did expect dickinson to be playing better, and more like they started out. Seem to have been a Blue flamer-- (hot at first then fizzling out some)

they will probably garner a #3-4 from the WDA and make state, but that is (like was said) all up to who plays the games well in WDA tourney.

good win for mandan last night though-- 2-1 over dickinson. that puts the Braves in solid #2, and that is huge when it comes to WDA tourney-- finish in #1-3 spots, and the draws are much better(just like in EDC), but be in that 4th-8th and it is tough.
Anyone that wants to advance has to have 2 good games and win those to get to the big stage at State.
Go ND hockey! this is going to be the best two weeks coming up. Can't wait!

Yea they gotta be pretty legit. They got some good forwards with a good defense and a great goalie. If they can skate with bismarck on tuesday then they will havta be legit.

Reason I'm not completely sold, is how does one blow a game to Bottineau? (Same goes for Dickinson) That shows a lack in consistency. (Or an incredible amount of parity)

In all honesty, I'm picking Mandan to be the one at the WDA who goes out. (Similar to Jamestown last year...)

Mandan will be a Top 4 team from WDA when the tourney ends.

I picked them early(before season) and stand by that.
Can't imagine them losing it at tourney time.
The new cooach has gotten them prepared, in my opinion.

they have a way of playing to the comp, and have a way of winning the close ones. No ties in the tourney, so someone will ahve to win.
And I think that the top line of Mandan can go head to head with any of them in the west.
#2 line and #3 lines have been seeing a ton of ice and they will be competing to keep it close.
In a close game I pick Mandan.
goaltending is very good--kline is legit.
And we all know that a Goalie that is on is hard to beat.

BHS-Mandan, should play for the WDa title-- and I wouldn't sell the Braves short on keeping it close and maybe even winning.

Could happen, that is why they play the games.
that is a BOLD comment, but in MY opinion I think this year Mandan goes to state.

dont quote me on this cause i dont know if its true or not but from sources i have heard that kline is facing a leg problem or something? to keep it short is he injured or whats the deal? if this is tru then i dont know how mandan will stack up. im sure he will try to play but does anyone know the seriousness of the injury, if any? once again just what i heard

http://bismarcktribune.videos.vmixcore. ... id=1674149

nice little mandan clip for the fans......friend told me about it and its not too bad, just thought it was appropriate

Big game tonight vs the demons this will prove if they can truely skate with one of the best teams in the state!

ndplaya1 wrote:dont quote me on this cause i dont know if its true or not but from sources i have heard that kline is facing a leg problem or something? to keep it short is he injured or whats the deal? if this is tru then i dont know how mandan will stack up. im sure he will try to play but does anyone know the seriousness of the injury, if any? once again just what i heard

He has had sore groin muscle. He had it wrapped for tonights game. I dont think it effected the score to much. He still stood on his head stopping 42 of 49.

hckywst wrote:

ndplaya1 wrote:dont quote me on this cause i dont know if its true or not but from sources i have heard that kline is facing a leg problem or something? to keep it short is he injured or whats the deal? if this is tru then i dont know how mandan will stack up. im sure he will try to play but does anyone know the seriousness of the injury, if any? once again just what i heard

He has had sore groin muscle. He had it wrapped for tonights game. I dont think it effected the score to much. He still stood on his head stopping 42 of 49.

I'm not really arguing against the Kline kid. I think he is a very good goalie. I just would not call 42/49 standing on your head. That is 85%, a very average save percentage for a game. Now a lot of the shots could have been on 2-1's 3-2's breakaways power plays, etc.. I do not know, I just would not say he stood on his head while stopping 42 of 49 and allowing 7 goals. Still probably a very good game if he is indeed nursing an injury.

Walski in the 2001 state tournament with whatever he had 70+ saves, Lamoureux last saturday night, that is more of what I could consider standing on one's head.

Sioux4ever wrote:

hckywst wrote:

ndplaya1 wrote:dont quote me on this cause i dont know if its true or not but from sources i have heard that kline is facing a leg problem or something? to keep it short is he injured or whats the deal? if this is tru then i dont know how mandan will stack up. im sure he will try to play but does anyone know the seriousness of the injury, if any? once again just what i heard

He has had sore groin muscle. He had it wrapped for tonights game. I dont think it effected the score to much. He still stood on his head stopping 42 of 49.

I'm not really arguing against the Kline kid. I think he is a very good goalie. I just would not call 42/49 standing on your head. That is 85%, a very average save percentage for a game. Now a lot of the shots could have been on 2-1's 3-2's breakaways power plays, etc.. I do not know, I just would not say he stood on his head while stopping 42 of 49 and allowing 7 goals. Still probably a very good game if he is indeed nursing an injury.

Walski in the 2001 state tournament with whatever he had 70+ saves, Lamoureux last saturday night, that is more of what I could consider standing on one's head.

ya thats an alright performance but i wouldnt compare kline to those goalies, those goalies play at und for a reason and kline is not what you call D1 material, good goalie yes but....

good goalie yes-- Great NOT yet. one of the better in the State of Nd this year-- ya I think so.
without kline--Mandan is below average, in the West- with him they are above average-in the West.

mandan played pretty well last night, from my stand-point.

they battled and they were not suppose to win anyway.

I still like their chances at WDA. Getting a good seed at WDA are important, so they still have some games to win to make sure they are #2 seed for WDA, and then have to play some good hockey to make state.
they can do it.

Sportshound wrote:good goalie yes-- Great NOT yet. one of the better in the State of Nd this year-- ya I think so.
without kline--Mandan is below average, in the West- with him they are above average-in the West.

mandan played pretty well last night, from my stand-point.

they battled and they were not suppose to win anyway.

I still like their chances at WDA. Getting a good seed at WDA are important, so they still have some games to win to make sure they are #2 seed for WDA, and then have to play some good hockey to make state.
they can do it.

Mandan played well last night??? ohh you must have left after the first period than???

Saucesauer wrote:

Sportshound wrote:good goalie yes-- Great NOT yet. one of the better in the State of Nd this year-- ya I think so.
without kline--Mandan is below average, in the West- with him they are above average-in the West.

mandan played pretty well last night, from my stand-point.

they battled and they were not suppose to win anyway.

I still like their chances at WDA. Getting a good seed at WDA are important, so they still have some games to win to make sure they are #2 seed for WDA, and then have to play some good hockey to make state.
they can do it.

Mandan played well last night??? ohh you must have left after the first period than???

Amazingly i agree with sauce. After the first period mandan just seemed to be scambling around trying to keep up. Very different game then the first meeting in mandan.

What are everyones thoughts on mandans season and how they will be next year?

Great group of senoirs and i felt they made the most of it. 5th place at state would have been nice. As for next year they need a goalie to step up big, right now they dont have a goalie that would keep them in a game.

ya. pretty crazy they didnt even make the wda tourny last year and they were 2nd seed this year......biggest turnaround ever possibly?

yea why didnt theyre coach win coach of the year?

flyguy wrote:yea why didnt theyre coach win coach of the year?

ya......either him or the bismarck coach shouldve won it.........doesnt make any sense

You have to admit it though, the look on Malm's face when he got the award was priceless, but so very, very saddening.

HockeyHigh wrote:You have to admit it though, the look on Malm's face when he got the award was priceless, but so very, very saddening.

I think when it comes to personal accolades, those are a distant 2nd to Coach Malm with the overall team outcome being the primary goal. After watching him a number of years, I think he is almost humbled by winning these types of awards. He would give it up for the team to have won the state championship. He has won the coach of the year award other years and his look on his face has been similar. Maybe someday he will sit back and look at his coaching achievements from back when he coached the Grand Forks Bantams to a national championship to his current high school coaching, with a few state championships and a few coach of the year awards, and say, wow, what a run.... No disrespect to the Mandan coach, he did a heck of a job as well!

Sioux4ever wrote:

HockeyHigh wrote:You have to admit it though, the look on Malm's face when he got the award was priceless, but so very, very saddening.

I think when it comes to personal accolades, those are a distant 2nd to Coach Malm with the overall team outcome being the primary goal. After watching him a number of years, I think he is almost humbled by winning these types of awards. He would give it up for the team to have won the state championship. He has won the coach of the year award other years and his look on his face has been similar. Maybe someday he will sit back and look at his coaching achievements from back when he coached the Grand Forks Bantams to a national championship to his current high school coaching, with a few state championships and a few coach of the year awards, and say, wow, what a run.... No disrespect to the Mandan coach, he did a heck of a job as well!

haha ya malms obviously a good coach but he had a lot of talent to work with, same with bhs's coach......Mandans coach budeau took a team that failed to make the WDA tourny!!.....and turned them into the WDA 2nd seed his first year as coach..........last years mandan team was quite possibly the WORST team in the STATE.....they lost to whapeton!!.....and just to show how things changed they beat whapeton with ease 10-0 this year. Nobody expected them to be anything this year but they played solid and they even gave state champ grafton a scare first round........budeau not getting state coach of the year is pretty much a rip off........him not getting WDA coach of the year is absolutely ridiculous.

demon_fan14 wrote:

Sioux4ever wrote:

HockeyHigh wrote:You have to admit it though, the look on Malm's face when he got the award was priceless, but so very, very saddening.

I think when it comes to personal accolades, those are a distant 2nd to Coach Malm with the overall team outcome being the primary goal. After watching him a number of years, I think he is almost humbled by winning these types of awards. He would give it up for the team to have won the state championship. He has won the coach of the year award other years and his look on his face has been similar. Maybe someday he will sit back and look at his coaching achievements from back when he coached the Grand Forks Bantams to a national championship to his current high school coaching, with a few state championships and a few coach of the year awards, and say, wow, what a run.... No disrespect to the Mandan coach, he did a heck of a job as well!

haha ya malms obviously a good coach but he had a lot of talent to work with, same with bhs's coach......Mandans coach budeau took a team that failed to make the WDA tourny!!.....and turned them into the WDA 2nd seed his first year as coach..........last years mandan team was quite possibly the WORST team in the STATE.....they lost to whapeton!!.....and just to show how things changed they beat whapeton with ease 10-0 this year. Nobody expected them to be anything this year but they played solid and they even gave state champ grafton a scare first round........budeau not getting state coach of the year is pretty much a rip off........him not getting WDA coach of the year is absolutely ridiculous.

its true some of the teams malm has had teams that monkeys could lead to a state title but he is a dang good coach, and mandan wasnt that bad this year and the west except for BHS was down this year, but lets see what he does next year and i will be a believer lets see how he does with no haugen and klien

Saucesauer wrote:

demon_fan14 wrote:

Sioux4ever wrote:

HockeyHigh wrote:You have to admit it though, the look on Malm's face when he got the award was priceless, but so very, very saddening.

I think when it comes to personal accolades, those are a distant 2nd to Coach Malm with the overall team outcome being the primary goal. After watching him a number of years, I think he is almost humbled by winning these types of awards. He would give it up for the team to have won the state championship. He has won the coach of the year award other years and his look on his face has been similar. Maybe someday he will sit back and look at his coaching achievements from back when he coached the Grand Forks Bantams to a national championship to his current high school coaching, with a few state championships and a few coach of the year awards, and say, wow, what a run.... No disrespect to the Mandan coach, he did a heck of a job as well!

haha ya malms obviously a good coach but he had a lot of talent to work with, same with bhs's coach......Mandans coach budeau took a team that failed to make the WDA tourny!!.....and turned them into the WDA 2nd seed his first year as coach..........last years mandan team was quite possibly the WORST team in the STATE.....they lost to whapeton!!.....and just to show how things changed they beat whapeton with ease 10-0 this year. Nobody expected them to be anything this year but they played solid and they even gave state champ grafton a scare first round........budeau not getting state coach of the year is pretty much a rip off........him not getting WDA coach of the year is absolutely ridiculous.

its true some of the teams malm has had teams that monkeys could lead to a state title but he is a dang good coach, and mandan wasnt that bad this year and the west except for BHS was down this year, but lets see what he does next year and i will be a believer lets see how he does with no haugen and klien

haha very true.......but idk about mandan next year.....i think they will be pretty bad talent wise(no offense or goaltending).......so if they do anything at all its the coaching