Ben Maxwell and the Kootenay Ice ran into a red hot goaltender , Saskatoon Blades's Braden Holtby and lost 3-2 in OT. The Ice outshot Saskatoon 42-21 and were clearly the dominant team . Ben Maxwell didn't gain a point however his play indicated why he was of interest to the Habs . He is currently listed as 6'0'' , 175 but looked and played bigger . Maxwell is an above average skater although he still needs to improve that first few steps acceleration . His team mate Ryan Russel the only other drafted player on the Ice has that explosiveness , so there was something gauge the rest by . Maxwell is a very good stick handler and can pivot on a dime turning either way with equal ease . He is a utility type player who showed good strength in the corners .He is definitely a good grinder when he has to be . He killed penalties , played the point on the power play and was the first Kootenay player in the shoot-out , unfortunately for his team he failed to connect . During the warm-up and throughout the game he demonstrated that he has a very good wrist shot and slap shot . Unlike a lot of CHL players these days he has a very good back hand , ala Chipchura .

                           Overall I was pleased with what I saw , Maxwell was a dominant player , unfortunately he and his team ran into a hot goaltender and a very determined and gritty effort by a clearly outmatched Saskatoon squad ....Saskatoon has a Dman Teigan Zahn who is not draft eligible untill 2008 .........now here is a talent to watch .........Saskatoon was also without their leading scorer , their enforcer and a veteran Dman who were sat for disciplinary reasons by Coach Lorne Molleken for missing a team meeting earlier in the day ......one of the locals I spoke to said ....you don't mess with Molleken .....