Well this is my first blog ever.
I haven't the foggiest clue on what I am doing or what I will say. But these are my thoughts and ideas on hockey, teams and players in the hockey world.
Well to start off I am a Canucks fan who lives in Calgary, which is not a Canucks market by any stretch of the imagination. Everything I usually see is Flames or Oilers. Obviously it's mostly Flames.
Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy hockey regardless of what team is involved or what league it is.
But it would be nice to have a little more coverage of the team I support the most. With that said, I would like to talk about my favorite team a little.
I have followed the Canucks for quite a while and only just recently (a couple years now) the junior players coming up through the ranks. It is however, hard to track and follow some junior players since they play in different leagues in various parts of the country. The ones I watch the most play in the WHL. Most specifically Vancouver's 1st selection in the 2014 draft, Jake Virtanen.
I have watched Virtanen play with the Calgary Hitmen for the last few seasons and from the start have been impressed with this guy. He was Calgary's top draft pick from the Bantam draft in 2010 (maybe 2011) I think, and since then has become a building block for the Hitmen. He started as a young kid playing 9 games (regular season) in the dub and earning himself 4 points in that short time. He looked good in those games for the most part. Still a young guy growing into his skin and trying to prove he belonged on the roster next season. A strong skater and smart with the puck. Watching him play you can tell he loves to play the body. If the hit is there, look out because he is coming. In those 9 games it cost him a few times, but still it was ok because he was still learning to play in a bigger, faster league.
In his second year, he played 62 games. Mostly on 2-3 lines. He was still learning and growing, that was obvious, but he was developing quickly and earning more ice time the more he played. He scored 34 points that year and was a +25 in plus minus in the regular season, and scored 6 points in playoffs that season. Now watching him play that season was interesting. I don't know if it was because he was still so young and having to earn his way onto the team full time, or if after some games the coaches didn't like what they saw, or if he just needed a break because he wasn't used to the schedule of a WHL team. But it seemed as though he would play well for a few games, not so well for a few and then sit for a game. Regardless of what the reasoning was, he always came back and played like he wanted to make sure it wouldn't happen again.
Multiple times while we watched (myself and a close friend Trent) we would look at each other and say how good he was doing, how far he was coming along. He was a player that would skate, hit and fight when he had to. Sometimes not at the best of times, but he was never going to back down if challenged.
The biggest thing you could notice was his speed. He could turn it on when he wanted to and blow past anyone. I can remember watching a game against Kootenay where he made an overage player, with 2 or 3 years more experience in the league, look silly with an inside out move that left the crowd somewhat in awe. As the season moved along, that seemed to be more of what was expected when you saw Jake with the puck. Watch the speed, wait for the moves and listen for the cheer.
Now don't get me wrong, even with all the positives he brings, there are some times when (like anyone who has played before will tell you) when he would lose his cool and take silly penalties. Almost never when they were winning, but if there was a bad game, if you looked at the score sheet, he would have some PIM's. I guess that comes with that playing on the edge style he seems to have.
After a decent year and some ups and downs, he impressed me even more.
It was at this point where I started to wonder how high up on the draft list this guy could get. I wasn't sure exactly what I was looking for or what would determine a good draft pick, but I knew that if there were scouts at the game (which there always was) he would most likely be on a list somewhere.
Now by year 3, the draft year, Jake had played 71 games (regular season) and racked up just 38 points. But that was all about to change for him. He moved up to the first line with the departure of some veteran players (Sylvester,Humphries and Macek) and was given time on special teams.
He would play in, and match his WHL career high, 71 games but would prove that not only could he play against the oppositions toughest players he could get a point a game doing so.
Jake had put home 45 goals (team best, league 5th) in his third season on the team and added 26 helpers to go along with that and make him third on the team in points. He did however still manage to get 100 PIM's in that time frame as well.
His speed and size had grown even more, and his hands were still just as good to go along with it. He still had those momentary lapses in judgement where bad plays and penalties would sometimes get the better of him, but he was still being noticed by every scout that came in to watch a game.
Now as it would happen, 2014 would be Jake's eligibility year to be drafted into the NHL. Not only that, Jake was climbing the ranks of the scouting lists being compiled all over North America.
The highest I had seen him on a list was 9th, but that wasn't high enough it seemed for Jake. As an added bonus in 2014 the CHL Top Prospects game was to be held in Calgary and Jake was to be a part of it. Now there were obviously big names in that game, Ekblad, Reinhart and many others who we have all seen or heard of. But it seemed to me as I watched from my seat at that game, Virtanen had something he wanted to prove. He played hard and fast and did everything he could to score and be noticed a little bit more.
It seemed to work. Because when draft day came around, Jake Virtanen had jumped from his projected number nine ranking up a few to number six. And at number six he would be drafted by his home province team, the Vancouver Canucks.
Now at the time I thought of Jake as a smaller version of Ryan Kesler (my favorite player), who played on the wing instead of center. Even today I can still see that same style of play that Kesler brought to the Canucks showing through in Virtanen.
Will it be enough for him to crack the team in his first year? I don't think so. But many others feel he may have what it takes this year to make the opening night roster.
In the end, I think Jake will be better served with one more year in junior hockey and take a solid run next season at the big clubs roster. But who knows, he has managed to show every time he is challenged that he can rise to the top. So maybe this is his year.
I guess we will have to wait until Sept. and find out.
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