First off—don't forget to tune in to the Memorial Cup today at 1:30 PT to catch Cole Cassels and the Oshawa Generals kicking off their tournament against the Rimouski Oceanic.
The Oceanic beat the Memorial Cup host Quebec Remparts in double overtime of Game 7 to take the QMJHL title earlier in the week, led offensively by undrafted 21-year-old centre Alexis Loiseau, who finished third in playoff scoring with 26 points in 20 games.
The Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks will also face off in Game 4 of their Western Conference Final series at 5:00. Game 3 was a bit of a letdown after the triple-overtime classic earlier in the week, but both teams seemed like fatigue was an issue as they kind of mailed it in after the first period on Thursday.
Closer to home, if you missed it, Jason Botchford posted
this story about Jake Virtanen's instant impact with the Utica Comets on Friday in
The Province.
Two weeks ago, Virtanen was fused with the Utica Comets when his junior season completed. In his first practice, he was slicing in on goal. On the move, he ripped a shot that exploded off his stick. It then cut clean through the net.
Shea Weber did something similar. His shot was at the Vancouver Olympics and in a game. They made a commercial about it. People still remember with awe. But the Weber torpedo was a wind-it-up one-timer from the point. Virtanen’s was a shot on the fly.
It’s not like it never happens. And it will happen again, some day. When it does, it will impress other hockey players. It always does.
“The guys were all going ‘Wow,’” Vancouver GM Jim Benning recalled.
Virtanen is expected to stay in the lineup when the Comets face off against Grand Rapids to start their third-round series on Sunday.
Also from Botchford, a little musing on how B.C. boy Cody Franson could help shore up a patchwork Vancouver blue line. That story is
here.
I like Franson's 6'5" frame but am not so excited about the fact that he has never had more than 30 minutes in penalties in any season in his NHL career. He has shown some ability to score from the point but it's troubling that he only posted two assists in the playoffs for Nashville—even with Shea Weber sidelined for much of the series, meaning more power-play time would have been available.
Also, the fact that he spent the better part of four seasons in the dysfunctional culture of the Toronto Maple Leafs concerns me. He's one of the higher-profile unrestricted free agents that will be on the market this summer, so he'll come with a high price tag and will likely command a long-term contract.
I'm not sure the Canucks can afford to ante up $5 million or more for five seasons or more for a player who hasn't shown that he's a reliable shutdown defenseman that can score consistently.
Weekend Wine-ing
To wrap up today, a little bit of wine talk.
I'm out of town again, in the Okanagan for the Half-Corked Marathon.
Click here to read a bit about it. I also wrote
http://www.bcbusiness.ca/tourism-culture/the-business-of-getting-half-corked this piece for BCBusiness about the event last year.
We're headed out in about an hour to run through the vineyards in the hot summer sun, sampling the wares at 13 vineyards along the way. They'll be trying to convince us to come back and make purchases before we return to Vancouver tomorrow.
So—you wine types—do you have any recommendations? What vineyards should I be targeting? All input is welcome.
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