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Quinn Hughes and other Canucks prospects showing well as Showcase concludes |
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It's been a fun week of future-watching! The World Junior Showcase wraps up in Kamloops today with its two final games.
After a spirited meeting during the split-squad games, Canada takes on the U.S. at 2 p.m. PT, followed by Finland and Sweden at 5 p.m., with television coverage once again on the TSN family of networks.
I caught Thursday's games, both decided in overtime, before heading back to Vancouver on Friday.
In the early game on Thursday, Team USA spotted the Swedes an early 2-0 lead before coming back to log the 5-4 win on Josh Norris' goal off a Quinn Hughes setup with just 1.5 seconds remaining in overtime.
Quinn was the best player in the game by a mile, recording three primary assists.
He got the U.S. team on the board when he combined with Jack for this goal at 11:19 of the first period.
I'd been watching Jack for this entire shift; it wasn't even halfway through the first period, but it already felt like it was time for a big play from him, and he didn't disappoint. He was thwarted on his first attempt at moving out of the defensive zone before circling back, grabbing the puck again, and skating it up the ice before dishing it off.
During Team USA's practice on Wednesday, I chatted with Sportsnet's Mark Spector about the tantalizing possibility that maybe somehow the Hughes brothers could step into the Sedins' skates as the Canucks' next superstar brother combination. As he points out in this story, it's not like anybody really thought back in the day that Daniel and Henrik would land together in the NHL, either...
Early in the second period on Thursday, it was all Quinn, as he set up Jason Robertson to make the score 3-2 for Sweden. Loved the way he used his ice, and his pinpoint pass for the easy goal.
Overtime was interesting in both games. The kids were far more willing to trade scoring chances than what we see in the NHL. Quinn and Jack played in different combinations for U.S. coach Mike Hastings, and Quinn was at the end of a long shift as the final seconds ticked down.
The scorer on that goal, Josh Norris, is teammates with Quinn (and Will Lockwood) at Michigan. Quinn said after the game that he did have an idea of what Norris would do when he made the play.
Thursday's game was the best I've seen so far from Quinn, and has me very excited about what he'll bring to the Canucks when he arrives. From what I saw, he has been the best defenseman in Kamloops this week.
That being said, I'm now also a Noah Dobson fan. He had two goals in Canada's 4-3 overtime win over Finland in Thursday's late game and was strong at both ends of the ice in both games that I saw him play for the Canadians. At 6'3", he has great size. He said after the game that he's trying to pattern his game after Alex Pietrangelo; he's working on his strength, leadership and adding more of a physical element to his game; he also laid out a sweet open-ice hit at centre ice during Thursday's game.
Heading into the draft, the debate raged about whether Dobson or Evan Bouchard was the best Canadian defenseman available in the class of 2018. I'm now firmly in Camp Dobson.
Canucks prospect Toni Utunen was named Finland's player of the game against Canada on Thursday. I asked Finnish coach Jussi Ahokas about Utunen after the game—he's the opposite of Hughes in terms of flashiness but Ahokas complimented him for his steady, reliable defensive game.
On Friday, Quinn was given the day off as the U.S. team beat Finland 2-1 in a rather flat affair. In the late game, three quick goals in the last minute of the first period set the stage for Canada's 4-1 win over Sweden.
Canucks prospect Jett Woo assisted on Canada's first goal and brought a strong physical component in his split-squad game earlier in the week. I suspect he'll be on the bubble to make the final cut for Team Canada, but because he plays for Canadian head coach Tim Hunter in Moose Jaw, he'll get more opportunity to make his case if he gets off to a strong start in his 2018-19 WHL season.
After struggling in his first appearance for Team Canada, where he gave up five goals in half a game, Michael DiPietro looked much stronger on Thursday. He came into the game midway through the second period after Matthew Villalta had stopped all eight Swedish shots that he faced. DiPietro was much busier, stopping 18-of-19 to earn the win for Canada.
No word yet on the exact lineups for today's games, but here's what Tim Hunter said on Friday about how he'd build his team today:
After that fiery split-squad game on Tuesday, I'm expecting we'll see another competitive contest today. I would imagine Quinn will be back in for the U.S.; with any luck, we'll also get one more look at Woo, DiPietro and Utunen.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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