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Just a couple of thoughts on how the team/players played.

Horvat- Best player on the ice for either team. He won puck battles all night and was very good in all three zones. The goal he scored was almost a little reminiscent of a certain No. 17 we all know. Looks like the combo of Hunter and Bo might be Vancouver's version of Starsky and Hutch.

Shinkaruk- He played with a ton of energy and certainly showed that his size is not an issue. What I liked best about his game was that he didn't wait around for bigger players to hit him, but rather, he went looking to mix it up with them – just ask 6'3 Mirco Mueller. He also looked very dangerous whenever the puck was on his stick.

Blomstrand- He took a couple of big hits to make some plays out there. If you're a coach, you have to like it when players play like that. The assist he had on the Jensen goal also showed his skill, work ethic and hockey sense. One issue I had with his game was I'd like to see him become more of a hammer than a nail.

Cassels- He quietly played a real solid game and I love the fact that he stood up for his teammate after a dirty hit on a teammate. I'm still not sure where he'll slot in at the NHL level, but if he plays like he did tonight, he's well on his way to a solid career.

Subban- Well, he is definitely not P.K. He looked real comfortable when the puck was on his stick and he showed a lot of poise as well. At times, he reminded me a bit of Brian Campbell. One thing I think the Canucks need to find for him is a strong, physical, stay-at-home type of guy to pair with him.

Eriksson- The goals, well, they were soft. But on the Brightside he made a lot of good saves and he won the game. Overall, I think we can chalk the bad goals up to rust seeing as he hasn't played a game in something like five months.

Jensen- I was kind of 50/50 on him last night. I loved what I saw about of him in the offensive zone, but I thought he looked way too passive and disinterested in his own end. I've said this for a while now, he needs to be more aggressive and go after the puck in his own end – especially in a setting like last night. This is a tournament that given his age, experience and skill set, he should stand out a lot more than he did last night.

Gaunce- Honestly, I can't really rate him as he was pretty invisible out there. This was a tad disappointing given how well he played a few weeks back at the Canadian Junior camp against similar-type players.


All in all, not a terrible game by Vancouver. They did some good things last night, but one thing I took away from the game was this team still looks really passive. To win at the NHL level you need to go out and go after the other team. I would say that a large part of the roster last night was letting the play happen rather than making the play happen. Hopefully we'll see a little more intensity of them going forward, because last night was a game that they should have been lucky to get a point out of.

Still, 1-0 this year isn't a bad start.

Until tomorrow my friends, stay classy

Ian

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