WHL: 15-year-old Jason Reese impresses

These notes are from an exhibition game between Vancouver and Everett Silvertips (September 13th). Everett played like a well coached team, which isn't unexpected given their coach is Kevin Constantine who has coached at the NHL level. The loss of so many Vancouver forwards away at pro-camps turned the game in to a snore-fest.

Martin Ruzicka (Everett Silvertips), RW:

Very smooth skater - glides effortlessly on the ice .. lack of power behind his shot, although it appears accurate .. adept stickhandler .. on pp .. displays a willingness to fight through traffic .. got rewarded with an assist by getting in the crease .. backchecks hard.

Stewart Thiessen (Everett Silvertips), D:

Effective skater, very mobile .. hard accurate shot .. received pims for roughing and interference.

Lukas Pulpan (Vancouver Giants), D:

Got destroyed by a clean hit in the Giants' slot, which led to an Everett goal .. turned over the puck with little pressure while on a pp .. displayed a powerful slapshot .. dished out a solid bodycheck to create a turnover .. still needs to work on his strength as he gets knocked down a lot, but bounces right back up .. knows how to use the boards to his advantage when moving the puck .. will have trouble making the jump to NHL given lack of size.

Jason Reese (Vancouver Giants), LW-C:

15-year old first round bantam pick from the 2003 WHL Bantam draft doesn't look out of place when given room to roam .. excellent speed and mobility .. not surprisingly (given his age and size) gets outmuscled fairly easily, however is still trying hard .. got in a bit of a wrestling match and although clearly overmatched didn't look tentative .. plays with an edge and can be a bit of a pest .. on pk and pp .. can be a bit of a spectator in his own zone .. promising offensive potential, at least at the WHL level.

Joe Logan (Vancouver Giants), D:

Passed puck in to the feet of his teammate ruining a decent scoring chance .. hard, accurate wrist shot and impressive slap shot .. took to long to take a shot and consequently briefly lost the puck, however, he held up the opposition forward long enough so that he was able to regain it .. poor passing displayed, a question of effort level?

Mitch Bartley (Vancouver Giants), F:

Got his nose dirty to score a garbage goal as well as a ton of other scoring chances .. lots of good shots, but just can't capitalize.

Jordan McLaughlin (Vancouver Giants), G:

Continues to be scorched by coming out of his net to play the puck .. he tends to lose sight of pucks in amongst his feet .. lacks concentration .. good reflexes.

Mark Ashton (Vancouver Giants), D:

Played on the pk .. pretty good at keeping the man to the outside .. moves the puck reasonable well .. doesn't do anything exceptionally well .. good strength and jam along the boards and in high traffic areas .. is most effective when he plays within himself and not try to be too fancy .. has the ability to play a physical game .. underrated acceleration and skating stride.

Gilbert Brule (Vancouver Giants), C:

Got a charging PIM when he lost his temper after getting nailed with a cheapshot .. Reminds some of Pavel Bure .. One of few Giants to play with any passion in this game .. generally can be counted on to make a few spectacular plays a game .. could work on holding up the opposition center on face-offs.