The Canucks finished up their Young Stars tournament on a half-decent note, pushing the Flames to overtime before falling 4-3. It was an intriguing look at a few lesser-known players in the Canucks system and a few invitees looking to find a place in that same system.
Really, the Canucks held up well in this tournament when you consider their lack of starpower up front. A win, a loss, and an overtime loss isn’t too shabby. Just a little bit shabby.
Three Stars
3rd Star: Joseph LaBate
LaBate has mostly made himself known in this tournament through his physical play, throwing some big hits and getting in a fight in the first game. This time around, he demonstrated his passing ability, particularly after winning battles along the boards, quickly finding teammates with his vision and putting pucks on their tape.
To be clear, the 23-year-old should look good in a prospect tournament like this, as he’s one of the older and more experienced players on the Canucks roster. It was just nice to see him show some of that vision and playmaking that had the Canucks pick him in the fourth round in 2011. It will be interesting to see if he gets a larger role in Utica and can work his way to an NHL opportunity.
2nd Star: Thatcher Demko/Michael Garteig
I’m cheating a bit by putting both goaltenders on one star, but they both deserve credit for their performance. The Flames largely outplayed the Canucks, out-shooting them 43-28. Demko kept the Canucks in the game in the first period, stopping all 13 shots the Flames fired on net, while the Canucks managed just three the other way. While he got beaten three times in the second period, it’s hard to fault him on any of them, and he stopped a penalty shot to boot.
When Garteig stepped in for the third period, he was just as good, stopping all 15 shots he faced to finish regulation. When he finally got beat in overtime, it was on a breakaway. All told, the two goaltenders combined for 39 saves and gave Travis Green reason to be excited about the goaltending in Utica this season.
1st Star: Michael Carcone
Carcone has gotten better every game of the Young Stars, which is impressive considering how good he was in the first game on Friday. He capped it off with a two-point effort against the Flames, opening the scoring with a pin-point perfect shot off the post and in on a two-on-one.
His assist was nearly as nice, hitting Jordan Subban with a perfectly-weighted saucer pass on a two-on-one that Subban finished with a nice deke to the backhand.
But it’s not just the offensive contributions that have me excited about Carcone’s addition to the prospect pool. His tenacity on the forecheck, ability to win puck battles, and awareness in the defensive zone quickly make you forget that he’s 5’9” and suggest that he could have an NHL future.
Honourable Mentions:
- Cole Cassels had another solid game. That’s basically been his tournament: solid, but unspectacular. His assist on Carcone’s goal was a good one, sliding the pass through while taking a hit in the neutral zone.
- Yan-Pavel Laplante sort of had a Gordie Howe Hattrick against the Flames, as long as you ignore that he got a phantom assist. He fought Ryan Lomberg in the first period, for some reason got credit for Cassels’ assist on Carcone’s goal, and had Marco Roy’s centring pass go in off his skate. Honestly, Laplante had a decent game and tournament, but his Gordie Howe impression needs a little work.
- Another good game from Marco Roy, as he led the Canucks with four shots on goal to go with his assist and drew a roughing penalty away from the play. There’s a lot to like about Roy and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him sign a two-way contract from the Canucks and bolster the Comets this season.
- Alexis D’Aoust was much less noticeable than last game, but he still created a couple opportunities in the offensive zone, though he missed the net twice on good scoring chances.
- Carl Neill was the least noticeably bad defenceman for the Canucks in this game, which isn’t exactly a rave review. Though he had a couple shaky moments, he generally made good decisions with the puck under pressure, and picked up a second assist with his outlet pass on Carcone’s goal.
- Jordan Subban’s goal was pretty good.
Dishonourable Mentions:
- The defence was a mess in this game, clearly missing Troy Stecher and Olli Juolevi.
- In the second period, Ashton Sautner lost his edge and fell to the ice with no one near him. He did it again in overtime, but this time it led to a breakaway and the winning goal.
- Partway through the game, I found myself kind of liking Mackenze Stewart’s simple game. He has great reach in the defensive zone and used his stick effectively to angle off attackers and disrupt plays. He also threw a big hit on Matthew Tkachuk in open ice after Tkachuk had hit Tate Olson late. It was great. But then there were just too many times that he took too long to make a decision and lost the puck. His decision-making just isn’t fast enough and he has a tendency to get beat by a skilled player off the rush.
- Cole Candella looked a bit overwhelmed in this game, frequently mishandling the puck and having passes clank off his stick. To be fair, he was the youngest player in the Canucks lineup and still has time to develop.Â
- With Juolevi and Stecher out of the lineup, Jordan Subban was under a lot of pressure to lead the blueline. It didn’t work out all that well. While he scored a great goal and had a team-high four shots, he also took two bad penalties and had a brutal turnover for the Flames’ second goal. His cross-ice pass was nowhere near Stewart and Ryan Lomberg jumped up for the breakaway.
- Tate Olson and Guillaume Brisebois aren’t off the hook either: Olson had a terrible turnover in the second that led to a Sautner penalty and a Flames power play goal, while Brisebois had trouble angling off defenders around the net, allowing one particularly dangerous chance when a skater just went right around him to the front of the net.
- After a standout performance at last year’s Young Stars as an invitee, I really expected more from Rodrigo Abols this year. Instead he was largely invisible all weekend. His most noticeable moment in this game was when Tkachuk walked right around him for a great scoring chance.
