Vancouver Canucks Training Camp Wraps Up; Sweden Eliminated at World Cup (anton rodin)

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Vancouver Canucks Training Camp Wraps Up; Sweden Eliminated at World Cup

By Carol Schram

Sep 26, 2016 • 2:12 pm

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Daniel and Henrik Sedin kept Team Sweden alive on Sunday, but they couldn't do enough to advance the Swedes past Team Europe into the best-of-three final at the World Cup of Hockey.

Here are Henrik and Daniel setting up Erik Karlsson for the 2-2 goal with 4:32 to play in the third period, with Loui Eriksson providing the screen in front.

Henrik and Eriksson were also on the ice for Tomas Tatar's game-winning goal at 3:43 of playoff-style five-on-five overtime—a messy play that broke down when Henrik Lundqvist failed to control the puck behind the net and ended up flailing on his belly, Luongo-style.

Here are the final stats from the main tournament for the four Vancouver Canucks players on Team Sweden:

Henrik Sedin - 4 GP - 0-3-3 - even plus-minus Daniel Sedin - 4 GP - 0-2-2 - even plus-minus Loui Eriksson - 4 GP - 1-0-1 - even plus-minus Jacob Markstrom - 1 GP - 1-0 - 1.00 GAA - .964 save percentage

Loui Eriksson had 15 shots in four games but after a great start in the pre-tournament games, his only tally of the main tournament came in Sweden's 2-0 win over Finland.

The twins now celebrate their 36th birthdays by making their way back to Vancouver.

Don't expect to see Daniel and Henrik in the mix too soon, though Jacob Markstrom is apparently keen to get going.

Meanwhile, Canucks' fans rooting interest will lie with the underdogs of Team Europe as they try to take on the big dog, Team Canada, starting Tuesday.

Jannik Hansen has one assist in four tournament games, playing about 12 minutes a game on Europe's fourth line with Pierre-Edouard Bellemare of the Philadelphia Flyers and Thomas Vanek, now of the Detroit Red Wings.

Luca Sbisa has played just one game in the main tournament, going minus-1 in Europe's 4-1 loss to Canada in the mean-nothing game that wrapped up the round robin last Wednesday.

Considering how Team Europe got torched by Team North America in pre-tournament play, a lot of the credit for the team's success has to go to coach Ralph Krueger, who has done a remarkable job of building chemistry among a motley group of players from eight different nations. Remember when Krueger coached the Oilers to a third-place finish in the Pacific Division in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season—their best placing since going to the Stanley Cup Final back in 2005-06?

In retrospect, maybe the Oilers should have stuck with Krueger instead of turning to flavour-of-the-month Dallas Eakins...or maybe the Canucks should have given Krueger a long look instead of hiring John Tortorella that summer?

I enjoyed this article over the weekend—"Team Europe: The team with no past and no future," from the Hockey in Society blog.

Also over the weekend, the Canucks have been busy with their training camp up at Whistler. That wraps up today, the first round of junior cuts will be made, then a group will get on the plane to face the San Jose Sharks in the team's first preseason game on Tuesday night in the Bay Area.

Here's a look at the lineups from Sunday's intrasquad game:

And here's the highlight package:

Team White won the game 3-2. Curtis Valk and Wacey Hamilton scored at five-on-five, Ashton Sautner beat Kevin Carr on a penalty-shot goal for Team Blue, then Andrey Pedan and Jayson Megna both capitalized during a full five-minute three-on-three period to give Team White the win.

The Pedan goal is the prettiest of the bunch:

I'm pleased to see the Canucks integrating 3-on-3 and shootout play into their training camp. A lot of points got left on the table last year in those areas, especially early in the season.

I'm also pleased to see Willie Desjardins fully involved. I wonder how much the Canucks' training camp and early season was hampered last year by the hip surgery that hobbled Desjardins through much of the early going?

Here are Willie's post-scrimmage comments:

The highlights:

• Calls Alex Biega "a great teammate" but stops short of saying he'll make the team this year. "It's gonna be interesting in exhibition to see where he fits in."

• Probably just a couple of junior-level players will stick around after camp wraps up.

• I imagine Olli Juolevi will be one of the players who stays. When asked about this year's fifth-overall pick, Willie practically drools. "He's good; he's real smart." Says "his vision and intelligence are high end." Adds that he needs to get stronger—no surprise there.

• It's hard to hear, but I think it's Rodin that he says he's not worried about in terms of quickness, coming off his knee injury. He says that the player is 95 percent there, and maybe getting a little tired at the end of shifts, but nothing too serious to worry about.

• Willie keeps the door open for roster turnover saying "In the end, it's what you're doing now."

Though the guys are all on the same side in the end, that doesn't mean that there hasn't been a little bit of snarl showing through—a good sign for fans that want to see the team be tougher to play against this year. Jon Abbott's on the case:

We won't have TV for Tuesday's game in San Jose, but Abbott should have the call on TSN1040. The other six games of the preseason will all be televised, starting with Wednesday's exhibition home opener against Edmonton, on Sportsnet One.

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