WHL: Barker has bite

These are notes from a regular season game featuring the Medicine Hat Tigers and many of their talented prospects, most notably Cam Barker, who is expected to be one of the crown jewels of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

Cam Barker (2004), D, Medicine Hat

Terrific hand-eye coordination .. uses his excellent vision to find the open forward .. excellent skater and strong on his skates .. forced in to taking a penalty for obstruction holding when he was being beaten wide by a hard rushing forward .. doesn’t need much follow through to let go a heavy slapshot .. isn’t immune to getting chippy in scrums or in the crease by giving a guy a poke in the face .. saw a ton of ice time and was used in every situation and on both special teams .. has to be more diligent about his defensive coverage as he did let the odd player sneak in behind him and in to open ice.

Riley Day (2004), D, Medicine Hat

Saw some time on the penalty killing units .. fairly solid in his own zone .. mobile and cuts down the passing lanes .. had a fight with one of the tougher opposing players and although he didn’t throw a lot of punches he didn’t back down.

Darren Reid (TB), RW, Medicine Hat

Puck tends to find him in scoring areas as he instinctively knows where the holes are .. elusive shooter with a devastating release and laser like slapshot .. likes to beat a defenseman by pulling the puck in close to his body .. likes to lay out some solid hits and doesn’t get enough credit for his forechecking and backchecking .. fairly physical, but is more dangerous by playing offensive style of game.

Tommy Maxwell (2004), RW, Medicine Hat

Tends to wander out of his lane .. communicates with his linemates .. average stickhandler .. needs to put more effort in to his defensive coverage and checking assignments .. good skater .. participated on the penalty kill.

Kyle Pess (2004), C, Medicine Hat

Scratched, but did display an impressive wrist shot during warm-up.

Brett Robertson (2004), C, Medicine Hat

Starter .. takes the body effectively .. supports the defense by coming back and picking up a man .. went to the net and was robbed on a beautiful deflection .. ties up the opposing center after a faceoff .. on the PK.

Cody Blanshan (NYI), D, Medicine Hat

Plays with some aggression and puts in a dependable effort on every shift.

Steven Regier (2004), LW, Medicine Hat

Big, physical winger plays with a bit of an edge .. good skater .. excellent on ice vision .. made a tricky behind the back pass .. delivered a crisp pass to a trailing forward on the tape .. created a turnover on a hit behind the net and passed it out to the slot for a quality scoring chance .. on PK & PP .. hard for even the biggest defensemen to move him when he plants himself in front of the goalie .. will block shots .. skates well with the puck and keeps his head up to find any open man.

Clarke MacArthur (Buf), LW, Medicine Hat

Fleet-footed winger with terrific vision .. found an open linemate with a seeing eye pass .. knows how to shift gears to beat a checker .. not afraid to stick his nose in to high traffic areas .. conscientious defensively .. uses a quick stick to break up passes and create odd man rushes .. awesome slapshot and playmaking make him a double threat manning the point every powerplay .. also plays on the PK .. scored a goal that just beat the goalie sliding across the net .. fearless in both ends of the ice .. blocks shots, takes a hit to make a play etc .. work ethic second to none.

Stefan Meyer (Fla), C, Medicine Hat

Assistant Captain .. on the powerplay .. looks for the holes and usually finds them .. moves the puck effectively .. drives to the net and is a very good skater.

Kevin Nastiuk (Car), G, Medicine Hat

Made a sparkling save on a slapshot that was labeled and kicked the rebound out hard past the forward lurking in the slot .. held on to the puck .. tremendous save off a deflection .. used cat-like reflexes to get an arm on a shot from an open man between the hash marks .. got beat on the short side that he didn’t look set for .. got caught down on his knees and the forward roofed a wrister right under the crossbar .. should stay bigger in his net as he takes away the bottom half, but leaves too much of the top half open.