It's gold-medal day at the World Hockey Championship, where Canada and Finland will square off for the title for the third consecutive tournament.
The Canadians took top spot with their overtime win in Latvia last year, while the Finns skated to a 3-1 victory in Slovakia in 2019. The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the pandemic, of course.
Finland also won gold at the Olympics in February, where Canada finished sixth — a result that bumped the Finns up to the top of the World Rankings heading into this tournament, where they're serving as hosts. So there's a lot at stake for Suomi on Sunday.
From a Canucks point of view, it means another shot at a gold medal for forward Juho Lammikko. Much like with Vancouver, he's skating primarily in a defensive role, averaging 13:18 per game with one assist.
The 26-year-old was part of the squad that grabbed gold in Bratislava in 2019, but did not play in 2021. He was pointless in 2019, and also in 2016, when he was part of Finland's powerhouse gold-medal World Junior group — which also triumphed on home soil.
In 2019, Canada was one second away from going home in the quarterfinals when Damon Severson scored to pull his team back into a 2-2 tie with Switzerland. In overtime, Mark Stone scored the winner, and the Canadians advanced. Then, Canada easily dispatched the Czechs by a 5-1 score in the semifinal before facing off against the Finns.
This year, Canada looked like it was going home in the quarterfinals after falling behind 3-0 to Sweden after two periods. But the Canadians rallied to tie, with two goals in the last two minutes of regulation, and Drake Batherson delivered the overtime winner. Then, Canada easily dispatched the Czechs in the semifinal — this time by a score of 6-1.
On Saturday, we learned that Vancouver's defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson suffered a fractured foot during the tournament. Serving as Sweden's captain. Ekman-Larsson's injury came from a shot block in his team's second game of the tournament on May 15, according to
Patrick Johnston from
The Province.
Ekman-Larsson played through the injury in a win over Great Britain and the important victory over Finland, but left the 3-2 overtime loss to Team USA early, playing just 16:11 in that contest.
He then skipped the final two round-robin games — wins over Norway and Latvia — but returned to the lineup for the quarterfinal game against Canada. He managed 21:19 of ice time — second only to Rasmus Dahlin on the Swedish team — and drew an assist on Max Friberg's second-period goal, which made the score 3-0. But he was also on the ice for Mat Barzal's extra-attacker goal with 1:23 left to play in regulation, and for Batherson's 4-on-3 power-play winner. Both tough situations to defend. Perhaps his injury was a real part of the reason why Canada was able to come back and punch their ticket to the gold-medal game?
The Canucks' announcement of Ekman-Larsson's injury on Saturday seems to suggest that his recovery shouldn't put too much of a dent in his offseason training. Players typically spend a few weeks letting their bodies recover at this time of year before they re-commit to the gym, and then to skating.
Another fun fact I just noticed — 2011 Vancouver Canucks draft pick Henrik Tommernes was also in the lineup for Sweden this year. Now 31, he spent a season-and-a-half in Utica from 2013-15 before returning to Europe, and has played in the Swiss League for the last five seasons.
As captain of Geneve-Servette this year, he led all Swiss League defensemen with 58 points in 51 games. He also led all defensemen with five points in six games at the Olympics in February, and served as captain of Team Sweden at the 2021 World Championship, where he had five points in seven games.
Those stat lines suggest that even though Tommernes is actually a year older than Ekman-Larsson, he is still improving as a hockey player — and has developed a strong leadership side, as well. He's a lefty with decent size, listed on the IIHF website at 6'1" and 185 pounds.
At the Canucks' season-ending media conference, Jim Rutherford mentioned that assistant general manager Derek Clancey was planning to travel to Finland to scout this tournament. I wonder if Tommernes caught his attention at all. Though there has been a lot of organizational change since he was drafted in the Gillis era, 11 years ago, Thomas Gradin would probably remember that he was once Canucks property. Maybe even the Sedins, too?
Often, we do see teams around the league announce that they've signed European free agents who make good impressions during this tournament. I remember the Canucks scooping up defenseman Philip Holm in 2017, after Sweden won the gold medal in Germany. There should be some announcements of that ilk over the next week or so. I'm curious to see if Clancey's scouting will yield any immediate signings.
Also coming up next week — the NHL Scouting Combine is back for the first time since 2019!
This is always such a fun event. According to
NHL.com, a total of 96 prospects have been invited to Buffalo, where interviews with teams will take place Monday through Friday, medical exams will happen on Wednesday, and then the physical testing will take place once players pass their medicals, with seven of the 11 tests slated for Saturday.
This will be another terrific opportunity to gain more insight into how Patrick Allvin, Jim Rutherford and the rest of their team do business. And a close-up look at nearly 100 prospects will provide plenty of fodder for speculation about prospects as we head into the final month before the draft in Montreal on July 7 and 8.
And finally — this news dropped just after my last blog posted on Friday, but I'd certainly like to send my condolences and best wishes to Brock Boeser and the rest of the family following the passing of his father, Duke, at age 61.
Of course, Duke made an indelible impression on Canucks fans from the very beginning, when he read out the starting lineup for Brock's first-ever NHL game in Minnesota back on March 25, 2017 — and Boeser went on to score the winner in a 4-2 Canucks victory.
Duke has endured a long list of health problems over the years, and Brock was candid at the end of the year about how his father's challenges had been on his mind this season. I hope it gave him some comfort to be able to spend some time with his dad over the last month.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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