Happy New Year!
Hope you were able to ring it in enjoyably, and within the restrictions in place wherever you live.
For me — the best part of all the New Year Eve's that I spent in the DJ booth was the fact that I'd typically get paid time-and-a-half. It might even have been double for Y2K? All very foggy. But those nights were a grind, with longer hours than usual, parties that took awhile to get going, and everybody a little uncomfortable in their formalwear. I remember sore feet from my dress shoes, getting hiccups from champagne, and then the sheer impossibility of getting a cab at the end of the night. One year I walked home in the snow in my stocking feet, because I couldn't wear those shoes for one more minute. It was not a glamorous situation.
There were some fun ones, too. Moreso in the later years, I think, when I'd learned how to better manage all the issues.
This is my long way of saying that my New Year's Eve this year was perfect. I watched three hockey games, was asleep before midnight, and didn't even get woken up by commotion that we have in my neighbourhood when the clock strikes 12 in normal years.
I do miss the Winter Classic, though — I love that spectacle. Glad to hear reports that the league is going to try for a couple of fan-free outdoor games in Lake Tahoe in February.
I'll get back to World Juniors in a minute, but let's start with the Canucks.
They'll be holding media day on Sunday, with their first on-ice sessions on Monday.
We don't have an *official* roster yet, but it looks like the list pretty much aligns with
what I projected about 10 days ago.
There are a few items to note:
First, to the surprise of probably no one, Rick Dhaliwal is reporting that Micheal Ferland will not be in camp as he continues to work through his health issues.
With the team allowed to have 36 skaters and an unlimited number of goaltenders in camp, Ferland's absence leaves room for both depth defenders who I thought would be on the bubble: Mitch Eliot and Josh Teves.
Thomas Drance also has notes on two Europeans — forward Lukas Jasek and goaltender Arturs Silovs.
We'll be able to get more clarity on these two players' quarantine timelines and if there is a training-camp roster spot for Jasek during the Media Day presser on Sunday.
Canucks players are currently skating informally at Rogers Arena, and there is a plan in place for media to attend on-ice camp sessions.
Officially, the province still has not yet signed off on allowing the Canucks to play their games in their home rink. I do expect that announcement will come sometime next week, assuming everyone is following protocols and there isn't a Covid outbreak on the team over the next few days.
Another key announcement came down on Wednesday: the AHL has approved a plan to start its season as hoped, on Feb. 5.
Details are still being worked out, presumably including what to do about the three U.S.-based AHL affiliates of Canadian NHL teams — Vancouver/Utica, Calgary/Stockton and Edmonton/Bakersfield. But even if call-ups aren't going to be easy, at least it sounds like the Canucks' AHL-level prospects will have somewhere to play, starting next month. That's promising!
One other note on the Canucks before I turn to World Juniors: in his
latest column of Bold Predictions, Sportsnet's Iain MacIntyre spills the tea on what went sour between the Canucks and Josh Leivo, who he calls "the ex-Canuck the team will miss the most."
MacIntyre suggests that Leivo could have been a good candidate for that second-line right-wing spot. "But Leivo, his feelings hurt by the offer of a substantial pay cut from last season’s $1.5 million salary, chose to leave Vancouver for Calgary on a one-year, $875,000 contract that was a paltry $50,000 more the Canucks were offering."
That does segue nicely into World Juniors — where Vasily Podkolzin's play for Russia in the last two games of the round robin has been impressive and encouraging. If he keeps this up, maybe it's not a stretch to imagine him getting a crack at making the Canucks when his KHL season wraps up.
After his breakout three-point game against Austria on Tuesday, he continued to play heavy and hard as Russia snapped Sweden's 54-game World Juniors round-robin winning streak with a 4-3 overtime win on Wednesday.
Podkolzin had one assist in that game, had seven shots on goal, and was second on the whole team with 21:23 of ice time in the second game of a back-to-back. Only defenseman Artemi Knyazev played more.
He also set the tone right off the opening draw, on a play that was ultimately called back due to goaltender interference.
Here's the assist:
The other fantastic part of Wednesday's game was that none other than fellow Canucks prospect Arvid Costmar was put into a matchup role. He did a brilliant job of making a pest of himself against all of Russia's top players, including Podkolzin. Can't wait to see these two go up against each other in battle drills at Vancouver's fall 2021 training camp!
Costmar took an enormous 29 draws in that game, winning 16 times, and played a very significant 19:17.
He picked up his second goal of the tournament in the first period, tying the game at 1-1 at that point.
He finished the night as a plus-one, but got dinged for a hold with 25 seconds left in overtime. The Russians scored on the power play 19 seconds later, ending the game with just six seconds left on the clock.
After that battle with Russia, Sweden ended its round-robin on a lackluster note, dropping a 4-0 decision to team USA on Thursday. Costmar played 17:02 but went just 5-for-15 in the circle against the Americans, and finished the night as a minus-one.
Now, things get interesting. The four quarterfinal knockout games will roll out one after another on Saturday — and the two Canucks prospects will play in the first two games.
The U.S. win over Sweden gave them first place in their group, so second-place Russia will start the day against third-place Germany (!) at 9 a.m. PT. Then, third-place Sweden will face the second-place Finland at 12:30. That's followed by Canada vs. Czech Republic at 4 p.m., with USA/Slovakia finishing things off with a 7:30 puck drop.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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