Sunday was another terrific day for the Vancouver Canucks' prospects at the junior and minor-league levels.
The Oshawa Generals became the first team in the Memorial Cup tournament to punch their ticket to the semi-final with a 5-4 overtime win over the host Quebec Remparts. Once again, Cole Cassels was a pivotal player, with assists on the tying goal on the power play late in the third period and the overtime winner.
That goal came off a clean face-off win by Cassels on his first shift back after blocking a shot painfully with his foot.
Cassels is limping and looks like he’s hurting, but he’s also staying int he game and is out right now for a face-off. #phew
Here's a look at the play—and if you fast-forward to 1:57 of this clip, you'll hear goal-scorer Stephen Desrocher drop a casual F-bomb when describing how it all went down:
Today's game features Rimouski playing against Kelowna. A win by the Oceanic would catapult Oshawa straight into the tournament final.
As well as Cassels has played through his postseason, never forget that he's 20 years old and playing out the string at the junior level. He has taken huge steps forward this season but plenty of impressive 20-year-olds have failed to make an impact at the NHL level after impressive junior careers.
Nevertheless, it has been thrilling to see Cassels continue to show big heart in high-pressure situations. The Canucks brass should be making a point of working hard with him this summer. Don't forget, Cassels missed out on last year's YoungStars tournament after coming down with a case of mono in early September.
Comets Win Game 1
The Utica Comets also took early control of their AHL Western Conference Final series with a 2-1 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins on Sunday.
After some time in the press box during the last round, Nicklas Jensen made an early statement with his second goal of the playoffs, just 35 seconds into the game. Brandon DeFazio made the score 2-0 before the end of the first period, then the Comets hung on for the win.
Jacob Markstrom stopped 25 of 26 shots and was once again named the game's first star.
Utica and Grand Rapids get right back at it tonight. Game 2 goes at 4 p.m. PT from the Aud.
Lots of detailed notes from Mark Caswell Jr. in this playoff notebook. Jim Benning is making a point of staying directly involved with the players as the postseason progresses:
11:45pm: Quite a sight in the locker room post-game, Vancouver Canucks’ General Manager, Jim Benning, has made it his routine to be in the locker room and have a chat with individual players after games. You can tell the players genuinely enjoy the interaction, and it is something the new Vancouver regime has done during every visit this year.
Solving the Defensive Puzzle
Back with the big club, click here for a new story from Jim Jamieson at The Province looking at the Canucks' lineup on defence.
Jamieson points out that the Canucks have five defensemen under contract (Tanev, Edler, Hamhuis, Bieksa and Sbisa) plus four RFAs who need to be re-signed, all of whom will be subject to waivers next season (Weber, Stanton, Clendening and Corrado).
But before you go trading Hamhuis or Bieksa to get the list down to eight, listen to what Benning says here:
We’ll start with eight defencemen, but we want to have 11 D capable of playing in the NHL. That’s something I learned this year from being in the West. The travel wears the team down a bit and it seems to take a toll on your defence.
Benning says the team's personnel decisions won't be made until management sits down with the scouts after the NHL's pre-draft combine, which runs next week from June 1-6.
My guess is that the plan will be drawn up by about June 10th. Then, we'll see if Trader Jim's ready to live up to his nickname again at this year's draft.
He leaves the door open for changing the blue line this summer, but don't expect a big-money free agent signing:
“If there’s a player out there who could benefit our team and be a good fit,” he said. “But we won’t be in the high end of the market, the $5 million or $6 million guys.”
This may come as a disappointment to Cody Franson, who sounds like he's warming up to the idea of coming home to B.C.—as long as he gets paid.
Franson on #Canucks : "It would be a very intriguing spot, 3 years with the Giants, Vancouver is a very interesting place to play."
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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