Des Moines Mihalik a Model Goaltender

Des Moines Buccaneers goaltender Eric Mihalik may not grace the pages of magazines, walk runways, and appear in advertising campaigns like Hungarian supermodel Eniko Mihalik, who most recently appeared in the 2009 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, but he's still a model in his own right. The 18-year-old netminder tracks the puck well, plays a very solid technical game, has the athletic base to make big saves, and maintains his poise at all times. Put it all together, and Mihalik is a model goaltender, evidenced by his backstopping Team USA to the gold at the World Junior A Challenge and his keeping the Buccaneers competitive most nights despite a d-corp very short on USHL experience (only sixth defenseman Ami Peled came into 2009-10 with any USHL experience).

McKeen's correspondent Kevin Wey had the opportunity to catch the Des Moines Buccaneers in action over a dozen times during the first half of the season and enters notes on Eric Mihalik, Toronto Maple Leafs pick Eric Knodel, the 2010-eligible Brandon Carlson, and a few other Bucs on the defensive side of things in their first year of draft eligibility.

Eric Mihalik (2010), G, Des Moines

Stats take a hit due to inexperienced defense in front of him, but he's very solid in almost every area .. stays calm in his crease at all times .. maintains poise on the opponent's dangerous chances and on breakaways .. maintains poise if he puts a rebound in front of himself, which doesn't happen too often .. more often than not, does a good job of directing pad saves into the corners or at least deadening rebounds off his pads .. tracks the puck very well, both when the opponent has the puck and on rebounds .. able to reset very quickly, thanks to puck-tracking abilities and technical skill .. able to make going down, across, and up, or any variation, one smooth motion .. makes smooth pad slides across his crease .. difficult to beat backdoor because he can make smooth sliding butterfly saves .. eliminates holes in the butterfly but can butterfly his legs out pretty far .. adept at allowing no rebound while in the butterfly and taking shots to the chest, making backstop saves .. stays square to the shooter, thanks in part to tracking abilities .. does a good job of keeping his torso upright in the butterfly position, maximizing net coverage .. has the athletic base to make big splits saves and quick saves when needed .. nice extension to his kick saves .. only weakness is his glove hand .. has a quick glove and makes some huge glove saves, but misjudges his glove at times and has shots bank off his glove and in .. will come out and play the puck behind his net and maintains poise with the puck when pressured and moves the puck intelligently .. not a big goalie at 6-foot-0, 180 pounds, but not prohibitively small (size does not appear to be inflated, either) .. does need to hone his glove hand, but is still a very solid goaltender .. stats aren't overwhelming, but Mihalik is still a possible pick for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft .. committed to Colgate .. as of the halfway point, he had played 1090:02 min in over 20 games, had a 7-9-1 record, 0 shutouts, a 3.96 G.AA, and a .884 SV% .. played for Team USA at the World Junior A Challenge and played 240 minutes over four games, had a 4-0-0 record, 0 shutouts, a 1.50 G.AA, and a .940 SV%, backstopping the Americans to the gold.

2010 Draft Grade: C- (Possible pick)

Eric Knodel (Tor), D, Des Moines

What a shot! .. has an extremely hard slapper from the point that requires little wind-up and that he keeps low and gets on net .. like Zdeno Chara in how he can get his 6-foot-6, 225-pound frame into his booming shot and make it look easy .. also has a hard wristshot that he keeps low that just flies off his stick with little effort .. there are times when Knodel misses just wide and the shot's so hard the goalie goes into a kick-save position after the puck has passed him .. makes smooth, crisp, accurate passes on the breakout and at the point .. also makes smooth d-to-d passes to transition the puck .. can skate the puck through the neutral zone, but sometimes gets too East-West along the offensive blueline .. maintains strong poise with the puck under pressure, but needs to play with more urgency .. can slow the game down, but also needs to improve speed and acceleration to use them when needed .. not particularly fast backwards, either .. keeps a fairly wide base backwards and minimizes crossovers, but is easily beaten wide by speed ..wasn't physically engaging very often the first half of the season, but was starting to assert himself more physically at the halfway point .. beginning to back in less and engage physically more often near the blueline .. starting to make some of the improvements he needs to make in his defensive game, but also needs to upgrade speed and explosiveness .. committed to New Hampshire .. as of the halfway point, he had 1 goal and 10 assists in 21 games.

Brandon Carlson (2010), D, Des Moines

One of the best neutral-zone hitters in the USHL .. adept at getting the angle on his opponent and rubbing him out with authority, but also adept at stepping up to make the same kind of hit with the angling toward the boards .. an excellent hip checker who will also catch unsuspecting opponents with Bryan McCabe's "flying cheek" check .. can also lay out some hard shoulder checks in the neutral zone .. also has some puckmoving ability .. he makes hard, crisp, accurate first passes and also does a good job of receiving hard passes .. can connect on the regular short pass but also the long-distance pass, usually leading his man just right .. saw fairly regular time on the powerplay early in the season thanks to his hard pointshot, but Colton Saucerman had taken this position on the powerplay at the halfway point .. also has a hard wristshot and a deceptively quick snapshot .. not as good in his own zone as he is in making an impact in the neutral zone .. has a fairly narrow base backwards, which hampers his mobility backward .. not particularly fast backwards, either .. also needs to get lower backwards to put himself in a power position to stand up opponents while skating backwards .. needs to establish himself physically more in his own zone .. was a gaff-a-game offensively early in the season, be it with that one bad breakout pass to the opponent, or an ill-advised drop pass, turning the puck over in the slot, or maybe getting stripped of the puck behind his net trying to make a move, but has reduced these .. while Carlson has some areas he definitely needs to improve on, every team needs someone who can make the other team hear footsteps in the neutral zone, and Carlson is that player .. stock is dropping a little bit now that Saucerman has passed him on the depth chart, but still has decent odds as a late-round pick .. no college commitment of yet .. as of the halfway point, he had 4 goals and 3 assists in 29 games.

2010 Draft Grade: C (Seventh round)

Colton Saucerman (2010), D, Des Moines

Starting to establish himself as a top-four defenseman .. looked like a prime candidate to be a top-four defenseman at the start of the season, and now his skating, skill, and effort are making it difficult not to give him top-four icetime .. has explosive acceleration and good top speed .. very agile .. is able to make tight turns at speed to spin and circle away from opponents .. agility at the point is earning him powerplay time with Danny Heath injured .. adept at walking the blueline and is able to make quick swivels to receive passes, make passes, or fire shots .. has a very quick release on his shot, thanks to his mobility and quick hands .. has a hard slapper from the point and a crisp wristshot .. makes crisp, accurate breakout passes and is also a good puck distributor from the point .. transitions the puck well with his d-partner .. has shown good chemistry with Eric Knodel .. able to corral difficult passes .. has good acceleration backward, maintains a wide base, maintains a short gap, and engages physically .. despite his mobility and generally having the angle on his man, he gets sidestepped more often than he should or than one would expect .. stout at 5-foot-9, 185 pounds and can make some big hits .. also makes some timely pokechecks .. very competitive and scrappy .. would expect Saucerman to equal Nick Bailen over time, but is still an extreme long shot to be selected in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft at his size without Eamonn McDermott's resume .. committed to UMass-Lowell .. as of the halfway point, he had 2 goals in 30 games.

2010 Draft Grade: D+/D (Long shot to extreme long shot)

Connor Frick (2010), D, Des Moines

Has missed time to both injury and illness and missed almost all of December .. has quick feet and excels in short races to the puck .. uses his quickness to go for loose pucks, or keep pucks in at the point, or to engage physically .. has good straight-line speed, too, and good stride extension .. also has strong backwards acceleration .. displays both speed and agility backwards .. lets his gaps close and will engage physically, although he is only moderately successful at 5-foot-9, 163 pounds .. also good with pokechecks .. makes hard, crisp, accurate passes .. appeared to pass Saucerman on the depth chart early in the season, but is now often a healthy scratch .. isn't as strong as Saucerman or as physical .. an extreme long shot for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, but does project to become a good USHL defenseman .. no college commitment of yet .. as of the halfway point, he had 1 goal and 4 assists in 15 games.

2010 Draft Grade: D (Extreme long shot)

Garrett Orhn (2010), D, Des Moines

Joined Des Moines in November after Greenway (Minnesota high school) had to scale back the hockey program and leave Iron Range Conference and play a 17-game independent schedule .. has decent cruising speed with the puck and can execute some nice speed bursts .. makes smooth turns with the puck .. brings his feet up too much in the recovery phase of his stride .. generally makes crisp, accurate, breakout and transitional passes .. reads off his forwards well for offensive purposes .. plays forward for the Bucs at times when they're in a pinch .. defensively, he needs to maintain a small gap and back in less .. a smaller defenseman at 5-foot-11, 170 pounds .. an extreme long shot for the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, but benefiting greatly from making the jump from Greenway to the Bucs .. no college commitment of yet .. as of the halfway point, he was pointless in 10 games .. played for Team North in the Upper Midwest High School Elite League and had 4 assists in 21 games .. played Minnesota high school hockey for Greenway and scored 3 goals and 7 assists in 16 games.

2010 Draft Grade: D (Extreme long shot)

Charles Williams (2010), G, Des Moines

Risked being released early in the season, but has pulled his game together and is hanging on .. able to make some nice butterfly pad slides from the standing position .. not able to load up with a leg and get across the crease like Mihalik .. fairly quick across his crease in standing position, but needs to be able to load up better when already down .. able to go down into the butterfly and back up quickly .. reasonably quick resetting, but not as fast as Mihalik .. rebound control appears to be getting better, but still an area for improvement .. prevents rebounds in some key situations and gives up juicy rebounds off his pads and chest at others .. plays a little deep in his crease, forcing him to rely on reflexes some .. active in tracking the puck and seems to be focusing better, getting beat cleanly less often .. willing to come out of his crease and play dumped pucks around his net .. able to make some decent passes and clears .. seems to have reduced the frequency in which he goes down and commits early .. as a 5-foot-9.5 goalie, he was an extreme long shot even as a standout USHL goalie, but has virtually no shot at selection in the 2010 as a small backup goalie .. no college commitment of yet .. as of the halfway point, he had played 658:38 min, over 13 games, had a 5-7-0 record, 0 shutouts, a 4.10 G.AA, and a .884 SV%.

2010 Draft Grade: D- (Virtually no chance)