The news cycle around the Vancouver Canucks is starting to slow now that the draft lottery is in the books and our attention has been hijacked by the beginning of the playoffs.
Expert prognosticator that I am, the teams I picked to advance are 2-6 after their first games. Only the Islanders and Washington came through for me...
But that's why we play seven-game series, right? Some of those losers will bounce back—but admittedly, some probably won't. My indictment of Calgary's goaltending is certainly not looking so clever right about now.
On the World Championship front, we have a couple of updates on possible Canuck participation.
Chris Tanev has officially said no to Team Canada for the World Hockey Championships meanwhile Troy Stecher is on the radar but no commitment yet. With tourney starting later, management has more time to make decisions.
— Rick Dhaliwal (@DhaliwalSports) April 10, 2019
Demko hasn’t been officially asked to play at Worlds, “but my agent said it’s an option.…
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) April 8, 2019
As mentioned here, the tournament is starting a week later than usual this year, so there will be more time to build rosters—and more players that will come available as their teams are knocked out of the playoffs.
So far, it seems like the commitments are pretty sparse for most nations. Canada does have arguably its best starting goaltender in years in Carter Hart. Sean Couturier and Thomas Chabot have also said yes to Team Canada once again.
In addition to Quinn Hughes, it looks like Alex DeBrincat had accepted Team USA's invitation. I've seen a bit of chatter about Adam Gaudette possibly earning an invite—the American team often leans heavily on NCAA alumnae.
Meanwhile, in the OHL playoffs, Canucks goaltending prospect Mikey DiPietro had himself a game on Thursday, making 58 saves in Ottawa's 3-2 triple-overtime win over Sudbury, outdueling Finland's World Junior gold medal-winning goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Highlights from the longest game in #67s history. A triple overtime victory over Sudbury to advance to the Conference Finals!#NoQuit pic.twitter.com/z4MjOm3HSz
— xyz - Ottawa 67's (@Ottawa67sHockey) April 12, 2019
Thursday's game completed Ottawa's second straight sweep. The 67s are now 8-0 so far in the playoffs and DiPietro has played every game. He has a .915 save percentage and 2.26 GAA so far.
Up next, Ottawa will face the winner of the second-round series between Oshawa and Niagara. That series is currently tied 2-2.
Meanwhile, in Utica, the Comets' season wraps up with the team's last three games this weekend. The full postmortem on that squad will come next week, but I was disappointed to hear that Jett Woo won't get a chance to test himself at the AHL level before the end of the year.
Jett Woo has been released from his ATO with Utica.
— /Cam Robinson/ (@Hockey_Robinson) April 6, 2019
With just a handful of games remaining and him battling a nagging injury, it made sense to shut him down. #Canucks
The word is that Woo's injury is a knee issue, and that he has gone to Vancouver to get it checked out by the Canucks' medial staff. Hopefully his prognosis won't be as grim as the one that Olli Juolevi received earlier this year—when what had originally been thought to be a minor issue ended up shutting him down for the year after surgery.
Not strictly Canucks related this year, but the Frozen Four is also taking place this weekend in Buffalo. On Thursday, Minnesota-Duluth and UMass advanced to Saturday's national championship game. On Friday night, Adam Gaudette's rein as the 2018 Hobey Baker winner will come to an end when the next winner is named. That's widely expected to be 20-year-old UMass defenseman Cale Makar, who has had an outstanding sophomore season and helped resurrect the UMass team.
Makar is expected to turn pro almost immediately after Saturday's title game. He could be in the Colorado Avalanche lineup as early as Monday, for Game 3 between the Avs and the Flames.
This year's other two Hobey finalists are also defensemen: Adam Fox of Harvard and Jimmy Schuldt of St. Cloud State.