last nite found myself in the PA area and before I lost all my money at the local casino I thought I'd take in the local hockey game before heading west ..

                      ......on Wednesday the Ice lost 3-2 to the Saskatoon Blades in a shoot-out ...Maxwell and the Ice are a potent team and are currently ranked second in the WHL in overall power play (21/80 =26.3%) and are tied for third on the road (6/26=23.1%) .

                           heading into last nite's tilt against the Prince Albert Raiders the Ice were 4-3-0-1 while the Raiders were 4-3-1-0 .....so it looked even ....well it wasn't , at least not on this nite ....Ben Maxwell and the Kootenay Ice were too much for the young Raider team ....

                        ..the one day off seemed to rejuvenate the Ice and they were flying right from the first whistle ...the Raiders ran into penalty problems and the Ice made them pay ..

                         ..Maxwell scored one goal , rang one shot off the post , killed penalties , played RD on the power play and took two penalties ......he looked dominant last night and was named second star of the game ..Kootenay's goalie was first star ...on his goal Maxwell took a pass on the left side just over centre , streaked in on the left side with a PA Dman desperately trying to backpeddle and cut off the angle ..Maxwell was about two or three stides over the blueline and let go a wrist shot that caught the top corner ..it was a lazer ....I was listening to radio and one of the commentators said " well there's not many in the WHL who can do that "......                  Maxwell skated well last nite , always in the play yet efficient , I think he reads the play well and is opportunistic ....the play will be going along and if a hole and or mistake opens up ...well then you see him crank it up a notch .....Maxwell will burn you in a big hurry

                      he was not that good on face-offs last nite , losing at least 50% ....and I think he suffers from " post draft syndrome " ...we have all seen this , they play like hell to get noticed and then once drafted take some nites off ......I'm not sure he's playing as hard as he can on a consistent basis .......I'm sure he'll get told that

                     there were a number of scouts at the game , the Raiders are a young team having eight 18 year-olds , eight 17 year olds and two sixteen year olds ....( two in particular caught my eye ...rookie Andy Smith , a slick ,smooth skater who already has 4goals and two helpers , ....he's listed at 5'10" , 171 ,if he grows an inch or two ands adds 15lbs ....can this kid skate ...he's got lateral movement that would put most figure skaters to shame , ...                 draft eligible smooth skating PA dman 6'4" 202 Justin Palazzo is a good pick but needs a mean streak .....but the guy that made me think wow ! is sixteen yr.old Jordan Trach ..he's 6'0" , 215lbs , a friggin tank at 16, skates very well , hits like a truck ...P.A. used him on the PK so his defensive skills are not in question .....the Ice also have a 16yr old Kevin King who will make you sit up and notice )

                     alas , it wasn't all good , PA used to have the best burgers on the WHL circuit , I don't know what happened ...but it ain't so anymore ...I'm almost sure my pre-game burger was some puck-like replica ..........they sure have fixed up the arena ....it reminds me of Kingston arena ....where I once saw , baby Lindros &co vs. Rivet , Kelli Korpse and others