I was all hyped up to catch Mikey DiPietro in action on Sportsnet on Saturday afternoon, as his Ottawa 67s take on the Oshawa Generals. But now that I actually look, Mikey's on the bench, with Cedrick Andree in goal for for the 67s.
Oh well. The game was still a good jumping-off point for me to see which other Canucks prospects will be earning some TV time over the next couple of weeks.
Tyler Madden's Northeastern Huskies were on TSN on Friday night, but dropped a 4-1 decision to Providence.
Will Lockwood had a goal and seven shots on Thursday night as Michigan beat Penn State 5-1. Quinn Hughes was held off the scoresheet.
From earlier - William Lockwood pounces on the loose puck and chips it in for his 9th of the NCAA season (a NCAA career high in goals for him)#Canucks pic.twitter.com/AWN7HZNJnU
— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) January 25, 2019
The same two teams face off again today at Madison Square Garden as part of the NCAA's Super Saturday. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m. PT.
Lockwood has been a bit of a forgotten man in our discussions of Canucks prospects, but he's had a very solid season after missing a big chunk of time last year following his injury in the outdoor game at World Juniors in Buffalo. Lockwood is one of the Wolverines' four alternate captains and is having his best year yet—third in team scoring with 9-10-19 in 24 games.
Lockwood is finishing up his junior year and turns 21 in June, so the Canucks will need to sign him this summer if they don't want to risk losing him as an unrestricted free agent after he plays out his fourth year of college eligibility.
He's still listed at 5'11" and 172 pounds but now that we're into the Elias Pettersson era, that no longer seems like it would prohibit him from playing in the NHL someday. He plays a feisty, aggressive game and if you look at this photo on his profile page, you can see that he has matured significantly compared to the draft-era picture on his Hockey DB page.
Next weekend, Michigan plays a pair of games in Minnesota against the Golden Gophers. Those will both be broadcast on TSN.ca.
Then, we're into the Beanpot on February 4-5, which will also be on TSN and TSN.ca. That was such an amazing coming-out party for Adam Gaudette last year, when he won the tournament's MVP honours on the way to his Hobey Baker Award.
This year, Canucks fans will have two teams to watch: Tyler Madden with Northeastern, and Jack Rathbone with Harvard. The freshman defenseman is off to a good start in his college career, with 3-7-0 so far in 18 games with the Crimson.
#Canucks prospect Jack Rathbone picks up the primary assist as his shot goes off Kerfoot's foot and in. pic.twitter.com/77y0Czb5a9
— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) January 19, 2019
Of course, Quinn Hughes is top-of-mind as the Canucks' most important NCAA prospect, with the hope that he could be in a Vancouver uniform within a couple of months. Quinn currently leads his team in scoring with 3-19-22 in 19 games and is the only Canucks prospect included in the long list of nominees for the 2019 Hobey Baker Award.
Preliminary fan voting is now open until March 10.
#vote4hobey #hobeybakeraward #startstonight #collegehockey https://t.co/X59IxuWL9A
— Hobey Baker Award (@HobeyBakerAward) January 16, 2019
Down on the farm, the Utica Comets head into their AHL All-Star Break off a 3-2 shootout loss to Rochester on Friday night. Reid Boucher had both goals and Ivan Kulbakov stopped a career high 48 shots in the losing effort.
Now with 19 goals and 41 points in just 34 AHL games, Boucher will be the Comets' representative at the All-Star Festivities in Springfield. The Skills competition goes Sunday and the All-Star Game will run on Monday—both available free to view on the AHL TV app.
As for the NHL's All-Star Festivities—the biggest headlines out of an entertaining Skills Competition in San Jose on Friday revolved around the women.
A last-minute replacement for injured Nathan MacKinnon in Fastest Skater, Team USA spitfire Kendall Coyne Schofield proved she can literally skate with the big boys when she completed her lap in 14.346 seconds. Connor McDavid won the event for the third straight year with a time of 13.378—after cutting his hair to make sure he'd be able to see. Only a week removed from his return after his knee injury, Elias Pettersson placed fifth with a time of 13.930 seconds.
Pettersson also participated in the Puck Control contest, but finished last after baubling the puck during the first stage of obstacles—and didn't get a do-over like Miro Heiskanen did in Fastest Skater.
A woman made headlines again in the Premier Passer competition. Leon Draisaitl was declared the winner of the tough challenge with a time of 1:09.088, but Team USA's Brianna Decker actually did the demo for the event three seconds faster.
BRIANNA DECKER IS A GODDESS
— Abby @ all star (@ArrowsandDemons) January 26, 2019
Here’s her absolutely KILLING it!!! #NHLAllStar pic.twitter.com/e4Z8povq85
Event winners at the Skills Competition are each awarded $25,000—barely a drop in the bucket for a guy like Draisaitl, who's making $9 million in real dollars this year. But $25K would be big money for Decker, who's playing for the Calgary Inferno of the CWHL this year—a league which pays its players between $2,000 and $10,000 per season, with a total cap of $100,000 per team.
Hence, the #PayDecker hashtag that popped up on Saturday on social.
We’re gonna #PayDecker. pic.twitter.com/TbWSD7NAQP
— CCM Hockey (@CCMHockey) January 26, 2019
The other highlight for Canucks fans on Saturday was Kevin Bieksa's appearance between the benches for Hockey Night in Canada. He kicked off his night with a chirp toward Ryan Kesler and was terrific throughout the night, showing off his ascerbic wit which carries more edge than we're used to seeing on NHL broadcasts. I hope he's back for the games on Saturday—and eventually starts doing the Canucks' national broadcasts.
Saturday's festivities kick off at 4:30 p.m. PT, with Pettersson and the host Pacific Division taking on the Central at 5:15, then Metro vs. Atlantic at 6:15 to determine which two teams will square off in the final.