At last—hockey on TV!
Canucks prospects Jett Woo, Carson Focht and Toni Utunen are all on the ice as Canada takes on Finland on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. PT at the World Junior Summer Showcase—with coverage on TSN.
Here are the lineups for both teams:
The game's in the first period as I'm finishing up this blog, and the Finns have jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead. Low-key Toni Utunen came through again, opening the scoring for the Finns before the game was two minutes old. He doesn't put up many points, but after scoring the overtime goal that eliminated Canada in the quarterfinal of the World Junior Championship here in Vancouver, he's building a reputation as a Canada-killer.
Nice goal!
Later on Wednesday, the U.S. will take on Sweden at 1 p.m. That game will only be on TSN3 and TSN5. There are also rebroadcasts of both games later in the day on TSN2.
On Tuesday, the Athletic's Corey Pronman checked in with Sweden's coach Tomas Monten, and posted his
Q&A on the site. Of interest to Canucks fans—Monten's very positive comments on Nils Hoglander:
CP: Even though Nils Hoglander (Vancouver) isn’t here, I presume he’s a strong candidate for your team.
TM: For sure, and he should be on our team that goes to Russia for another tournament for a month. He felt that he wasn’t where he wanted to be physically, so he wanted time to prepare.
CP: It was at that tournament, the U20 Four Nations, that I remember him really going off last year.
TM: Yes, absolutely. He’s a top guy for our team if he’s healthy.
Woo and Focht were not in the Canadian lineup on Tuesday, for the non-televised tuneup game against the U.S. The Canadians made a nice debut with a 4-1 win. Kirby Dach and Nolan Foote had three-point games, while Olivier Rodrigue stopped all 17 shots he faced in the first half of a game that featured most of the big gunners from the NTDP on the U.S. side. True to his reptuation, Cole Caufield scored the only goal for the Americans—a third period power-play marker that made the score 2-1, set up by Matthew Boldy and Cam York.
Now, on a more somber note — You may have seen Brock Boeser asking for prayers for his father Duke on his Instagram Story on Tuesday. Word is that his father's lung cancer has returned in a big way, and he's currently in hospital in critical condition.
Duke has been a fixture by Brock's side throughout his time with the Canucks, and has also been on the bench of summer hockey as part of Da Beauty League.
Sending positive vibes to Brock and the rest of the Boeser family—here's hoping Duke's fighting spirit shines through once again!
As for Da Beauty League, their website has
now been updated with stats for this season so far. After winning MVP honours as the league's leading scorer when he returned to action after his back injury last year, Boeser has been quieter this summer, with a goal and two assists in three games so far — although his Team Bic sits in second place in the league standings with a 2-1 record to date.
Bic also boasts the league's leading scorer so far. Derek Stepan has eight points in three games.
A pickup league like this doesn't do any favours for its goalies, as Canucks prospect Jake Kielly is learning. In three starts for team RBC, Kielly has given up 20 goals and is still searching for his first win. He has a 6.85 GAA and .714 save percentage.
Vancouver free-agent signing Zane McIntyre appeared on the league's initial roster list, but hasn't seen any game action yet.
Of course, the main talking point around Boeser this summer — other than that oddly placed towel — is his need for a new contract. Still no movement among his class of top-level RFAs. Duke's health crisis makes the negotiation process seem trivial, by comparison.
One final note to close off today: Don't be surprised to see Chris Higgins back with the Canucks next season.
Higgins was part of the on-ice crew that helped shepherd the Canucks prospects through their paces at Development Camp just after the draft last month. Now 36, his playing career ended three years ago, and Higgins has settled in Vancouver. He was acquired by the Canucks at the 2011 trade deadline and had eight points in 25 games during Vancouver's run to the Stanley Cup Final.
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