Game played on 11/22/2024.
General Game Notes: The hometown Kelowna Rockets scored six unanswered goals in the second period routing the Vancouver Giants 8-3. Andrew Cristall again led the way with five points (1 goal, 4 assists), giving him an amazing 38 points in just 14 games. Jake Pilon was steady in the net again for the Rockets making key saves when he needed to. With the score 2-1 Giants he stoned sniper Cameron Schmidt on a clear breakaway which seemed to light a fire under his teammates.
Kayden Longley (C, L, 6’1″, 177, Kelowna Rockets, 01/09/2006)
Grade: B
Comments: As an observer that is seen the Rockets on several occasions this season, Longley has shown a marked improvement in several areas. He comes in as an average skater, but by no means is he slow. He handles the puck efficiently and is more suited to make plays on the walls as opposed to on the attack. With that, it is clear that there is a lot more trust with him from the coaching staff as he plays much more, and in more important situations. His success comes at the same time as his move to the centre ice position, where he is reliable and effective on the down low coverage as he competes hard and is quite good with his hit and pin technique. He has also become a constant on the penalty kill for the Rockets. One area for growth is at the faceoff dot as his win percentage is not very good at this point sitting at a 36% success rate.
Colton Alain (D, R, 6’4″, 195, Vancouver Giants, 05/10/2007)
Grade: B
Comments: Alain is a big defenseman, checking in at 6’4′, that is a project, but definitely has some upside. His skating mechanics are quite good, but he needs to work on his overall quickness and speed. That being said he gets around the ice quite well, bringing the overall quality traits of a true defensive defenseman. He gets back on retrieval quickly and routinely shoulder checks, knowing where his teammates are. Using this skill he made many successful partner chips, allowing his team to easily break out. On another occasion, he went back for a puck and used a great stick fake free himself from the oncoming fore checker, accelerated on the wheel behind the net and quickly moved the puck to his waiting winger on the wall. He handles the puck quite well and showed excellent poise with it on his first shift. He received it on a reverse on the wall at his own hash marks from his partner, quickly turned up ice, stopped up allowing a would be forechecked to peel off, then made a great tape to tape pass to his waiting forward on the wall at the far blueline.
Ryan Lin (D, R, 5’11”, 170, Vancouver Giants, 04/18/2008)
Grade: B+
Comments: Lin is a talented offence of minded defenceman that brings a high-end skill set to the game. He is an excellent skater with excellent mobility and a fast top end speed. He loves to use it to get up ice into the attack either leading the rush with the puck, or jumping in to join. He also has excellent Puck handling skills that he does with his head up all the time, and passes the puck hard and flat all the time. On one occasion, he received a D to D pass from his partner, quickly accelerated, made a nifty chip/sauce pass to his winger, then immediately jumped in to receive the Park back and led the attack. At the offence of blue line, he showed very good awareness before he pinched as he turned his head and checked off the F3 support first. This 2026 draft eligible player led the team in ice time on this night with 24:06 minutes.
Aaron Obobaifo (C, L, 5’9″, 179, Vancouver Giants, 02/13/2007)
Grade: B
Comments: Obobaifo is a small but solid, stocky forward that is a good mechanical skater that has good top end speed but not elite. He possesses a very good hockey IQ thus he is a very good compliment to the ever dangerous Cameron Schmidt. He is a very good puck handler, both skating at full speed and handling in tight on the walls. He can be evasive in those in tight situations, protects very well with his head up and can effectively find his teammates coming off of these wall battles. He has an apparent level of toughness and bite to his game that was very evident in this physical matchup versus the Rockets. He willingly pushed back hard in any would be physical confrontations. That being said, he seemed to want to be on the outside on point shots too often rather than using his aforementioned toughness and going to the paint where he would be tough to handle, and a big netfront problem. He does have a good shot with a quick release as demonstrated several times in this contest.
Cameron Schmidt (C, R, 5’7″, 150, Vancouver Giants, 01/19/2007)
Grade: A-
Comments: Schmidt brings an elite offensive skill set to the game. He is a great skater, with lightning quick feet, excellent acceleration and the ability to stop and change direction on a dime. Combine this with his high offensive IQ and he is an offensive threat every time he’s on the ice. He uses this combination on the attack, constantly backing the defense off the blue line. These skills make him very difficult to handle down low in the offensive zone as he will shield the puck with his body, then roll off the defenders quickly and attack seams or make plays to his likewise dangerous linemates. His passing skills are also of the highest level as his head is always up when he has possession, which allows him to not miss any open teammates. His passes are hard and flat all the time. He scored a goal scorers goal, when he received a great cross ice pass from Mazden Leslie, quickly adjusted his feet and rifled his hard, quick release wrister into the top corner of the net before the goaltender could get adjusted. He willingly joined his linemates in netfront battle situations both before and after the whistle. At times he would rely on his teammates to much to retrieve pucks for him, as he is still work in progress learning how to win battles as he was only successful 37% of the time. That being said you could see his gifted situational awareness along the walls as he knew when to slide away from the pile and get open or, put his body into a protect position before the puck arrived.
Jakob Oreskovic (C, L, 6’0″, 175, Vancouver Giants, 01/10/2007)
Grade: B
Comments: Oreskovic is a speedy player that has a strong skating base and handles the puck quite well. This combination was on display with limited ice time (11:48) as he would carry the puck with pace through the neutral zone and show some evasive one on one skills. On one occasion he pulled the puck to his backhand side, protected and drove to the middle of the ice and had a great scoring opportunity. On point shots he would battle to get to the netfront as opposed to hanging around on the outside. On a defensive zone breakout he made a very good play showing excellent awareness receiving a pass that was wrapped around the wall, chipping it on his backhand side, to his low and slow centre curling centre for a clean breakout. He also showed some prowess on faceoffs as he was used on several occasions on his strong side. On the defensive zone coverage some shortcomings did surface as he did not angle well on a few occasions and he was beaten one on one. More physical engagement would also benefit his game.
Mazden Leslie (D, R, 6’0″, 201, Vancouver Giants, 04/15/2005)
Grade: B
Comments: Leslie brings very good skating and passing skills to the game. He has plenty of top and speed and uses it to accelerate away from would be checkers. He showed this in the offensive zone as he went ‘around the world’, protected the puck, went backhand to forehand for a very good scoring chance. He also has very good puck skills, handling with his head up and is a very good, hard passer. He always pre-scans the ice allowing him to know where his teammates are at all times. A great example of these skills in one package was when he received a pass from down low in the offensive zone, and in motion quickly walked a couple of steps to the middle and spotted his teammate Schmidt on the doorstep and fired a perfect pass to him, where he buried it top shelf.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling/Hickling Images