Advertisement 1

Canucks prospects tracker, WJC edition: Podkolzin gets his points on Day 6

Article content

It’s the Day 6 edition of the World Juniors tracker, where we tally up the efforts of the Vancouver Canucks’ prospects playing in the tournament:

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content

Vasili Podkolzin

The points were bound to come.

Article content

Podkolzin played the role of set-up man in Russia’s 6-1 win over Germany on Tuesday, getting two assists and doing much of the dirty work that led to a couple of other goals.

The Canucks’ 2019 first-round pick had been snake-bit of late, but his Russian teammates provided the perfect antidote by finally converting on his playmaking ability.

Podkolzin’s first assist came on a first period power play, with the 18-year-old threading a perfect pass through the German penalty killers to linemate Kirill Marchenko for his second goal of the game.

Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

Then early in the third, Podkolzin made a heads-up play along the boards in the neutral zone to find a linemate streaking up the ice. He was credited with a secondary assist on what was the 6-0 goal for Russia.

Article content
Advertisement 4
Story continues below
Article content

Podkolzin could have had more. Late in the second period, he took a pass at the opposition’s blue-line and deked through the whole German team before dishing the puck to a teammate, who couldn’t find the net with his shot.

It would have been one of the plays of the tournament had it been converted into a goal.

Advertisement 5
Story continues below
Article content

Though it won’t show up on the stat sheet, Podkolzin contributed to two other Russian goals. He made a clean zone entry to set up the play on another power play goal, and set a screen on the 5-0 goal. The 6-foot-1, 192-pound forward was also a menace on the penalty kill.

Podkolzin finishes the group stage with one goal, two assists and a plus-one rating in four games. Russia will face Switzerland in the quarter-final round on Thursday.


Nils Hoglander

Hoglander picked up an assist — and the puck again — in Sweden’s 6-2 win over Slovakia.

The assist came on the game’s final goal. Hoglander, playing along the right wall on the power play, whipped a pass through the Slovakian penalty killers to Samuel Fagemo, who wristed the puck home.

Advertisement 6
Story continues below
Article content

But that wasn’t the only highlight from the 5-foot-9, 190-pound dynamo.

Earlier in the game, Hoglander took the puck into his office behind the net, and scooped it up off the ice. The defenceman, standing at the near post, expected the lacrosse move. We all did. But the Canucks’ 2019 second-rounder tried something else. Instead of wrapping the puck around the post, Hoglander flipped it over the top of the net towards a teammate in the slot, only to have the play broken up.

Advertisement 7
Story continues below
Article content

TSN’s tweet about it said Hoglander is changing the game from behind the net, but Canucks fans have seen this play before. Pavel Bure once flipped the puck from behind the net to himself for a scoring chance.

And then there’s that other Pavel who played for the Detroit Red Wings. Datsyuk tried it a few times, even in a playoff game against the Anaheim Ducks.

Not bad comparables for the young Swede.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Advertisement 8
Story continues below
Article content

Hoglander had the assist, four shots on net and a plus-one rating in 17:10 of ice time in the win. He finishes the group stage tied for second in points with seven (three goals, four assists) and a plus-five rating.

Sweden plays the hometown Czechs in the quarter-final on Thursday.


Team Finland’s Toni Utunen at the World Junior Championship gold-medal game at Rogers Arena in January of this year.
Team Finland’s Toni Utunen at the World Junior Championship gold-medal game at Rogers Arena in January of this year.

Toni Utunen

The Finns were upset 5-2 by Switzerland on Tuesday and the Canucks prospect didn’t factor into the scoring.

Utunen, a 2018 fifth-rounder, had two shots on net and a minus-one rating in 11:25 of ice time.

The 19-year-old defenceman registered one assist and a plus-two rating in four group stage games. Finland plays Team USA on Thursday in a quarter-final rematch of last year’s gold medal game.


Karel Plasek

Plasek was a non-factor as the Czechs got plastered by Canada 7-2 on Tuesday.

The Canucks’ 2019 sixth-rounder had two shots on net and a minus-one rating in 14:22 of ice time. His group stage ends with the forward registering one assist and a minus-three rating in three games played.

mraptis@postmedia.com

twitter.com/mike_raptis

Article content
Comments
You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
Join the Conversation

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.

Latest National Stories
    This Week in Flyers