WHL: No Sauer Grapes

Brendan Mikkelson (2005), D

Smooth skating, skilled defender displays imagination in the offensive zone .. excellent hand-eye coordination .. very quick hands and feet, can turn on a dime .. although he is accurate and usually gets his shots through to the net, he isn’t likely to overpower too many goalies with a blast from the point .. has some trouble clearing bigger players out of the crease .. allowed his man to get in between himself and the goalie .. made a number of crisp, tape-to-tape passes .. has the ability to back-off checkers due to his elite top speed and mobility, as well as excellent stickhandling skills .. communicates well with his defensive partner .. dishes out terrific breakout passes .. looked slick leading an odd-man rush while killing a penalty .. is a mainstay on the PP .. uses a lot of motion in his game .. aggressively pressures the puck carrier, sometimes taking himself out of position .. was leveled behind the net with a late hit and needed assistance to get back to the bench, where he sat for a few shifts .. would like to see him play the body more as he tends to prefer to try and stick check.

Sasha Golin (2006), RW

Young Portland winger is already displaying glimpses of what is to come .. blessed with excellent mobility and sizzling first step acceleration .. played on one of the Winter Hawks top lines with Darrell May and Brandon Dubinsky .. nice zip to his wrist shot .. can take the pass at full speed and without breaking stride .. has the top end speed to beat a defender wide .. lacks the strength to fight off checkers while driving to the net and gets knocked off the puck a bit too easily.

Frazer McLaren (2006), LW

Surprisingly quick for his size and gets a pretty good jump out of the blocks, although he appears to be rather awkward which limits his overall speed and mobility .. his hands haven’t caught up to his feet .. played on a line with Nick Hotson and Kyle Bailey .. supports the defense by coming back and picking up his man .. work ethic looked good on this night and he kept his feet moving away from the play .. tends to react to the play instead of initiating it .. got destroyed with an open ice hit after hanging on to the puck for far too long .. proved once again that he can handle himself in a fight late in the game.

Michael Sauer (2005), D

Plays defense with a subtlety and poise that belies his age .. is a steadying influence on the backend where he is partnered with Braydon Coburn .. active stick on the penalty-kill .. good pop to his wrist shot .. made a few nice moves through center ice to gain the zone .. got himself out of trouble in his own end by not panicking and then beating a forechecker one-on-one .. although he isn’t flashy in any one area, he is extremely competent in every facet of the game .. runs just enough interference, without taking a penalty, to give his partner more time and space .. judiciously pinches in from the point to look for a pass .. played a ton of minutes in the third period with his team protecting a one goal lead.

Game Notes: In his first game after being named intern captain, Triston Grant got in to a fight .. Jason Reese has gotten a reputation as a pest, but he backed up his agitating style with a valiant loss to Alex Aldred .. Braydon Coburn proved once again that players should think twice about trying to fight the hulking defender as he made short work of J.D. Watt .. ex-Canuck draft pick Ty Morris didn’t look out of place playing the entire game on defense for the injury-ravaged Giants blueline corps.