Sports

Boeser yet again showcases transformation as Canucks play to strengths

Published

9 months ago

December 13, 2023

VANCOUVER – First rule about goal scoring: don’t talk about goal scoring.

After scoring 29 times as a rookie, Brock Boeser spoke openly for years about trying to become a 30-goal scorer in the National Hockey League.

“This is the year,” he said before last season. Then he scored 18 goals in 74 games in easily the worst season of his six-plus with the Vancouver Canucks.

And that was the end of Boeser’s predictions for the media. Whatever his personal objectives were for this season, you couldn’t bribe a number out of him.

He will tell you his weight, shoe size, golf handicap, stick flex and the biggest fish he caught last summer. If he trusts you, he’ll tell you his phone number, maybe even his credit card number. But Brock Boeser will not tell you how many goals he hopes to score this season.

“Absolutely not,” the 26-year-old Minnesotan reiterated Tuesday after, ho-hum, another hat trick in the Canucks’ supremely impressive 4-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

But Boeser did reveal one thing after the cameras turned off post-game in the Canucks dressing room: in his dreams, he never expected to have 21 goals in the first 29 games this season.

“No, I mean, not after last year,” he told Sportsnet. “It’s just, like, if I focus too much on scoring — like if I focus on the chances I had the last couple of games and missed — I feel that I get away from my game. I keep reminding myself each day, I’ve got to keep sticking to the details and playing to our structure and then you’ll get looks.”

Now a hat trick ahead of his entire output of goals from last season, it was a profoundly different Boeser — happier and fitter and more self-aware — who reported to training camp this fall after two years of emotional turmoil that preceded and followed the death of his father.

“It’s good to see,” Canuck goalie Thatcher Demko told reporters. “Brock and I are really tight. We’ve been really good friends for pretty much our whole career. It’s awesome to see. I know how much work he’s put in, physically, mentally, spiritually, trying to get to his full potential. And obviously we’ve seen him take huge steps in that direction, so it’s awesome.”

The Canucks have taken huge steps, too.

After slogging through a heavy four-week schedule with inconsistent results to match their inconsistent play, the Canucks have suddenly rediscovered the disciplined structure and consistent intensity that allowed them to surprise the league with a 10-2-1 start. Elite talent at the top of the lineup and deeper talent than expected at the bottom had a lot to do with that torrid first month, too.

Just as it did Tuesday when Boeser scored three times, Quinn Hughes had three assists, J.T. Miller had a pair of helpers while going head-to-head against the Brayden Point line, and Demko stopped 28 of 29 Tampa shots that included a two point-blank, backdoor saves against Steve Stamkos during a Lightning power play.

But amid their longest homestand of the season so far (Tuesday was the fourth game of five), the Canucks have been able to both practise and rest, and have re-set themselves under coach Rick Tocchet.

They’ve won three straight games for the first time since Nov. 9, doing so with strong defensive efforts against teams that usually are difficult for them: Minnesota, Carolina and Tampa.

The Florida Panthers visit Rogers Arena for Roberto Luongo Night on Thursday.

When the Canucks play to their strengths, they are difficult to beat. It really is about them, not their opponents.

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“I think we have to have that mindset,” Boeser explained. “We’re a hard team to play against when we we do those little things right that we always talk about. I think that gives us offence, too. So, we just kind of make sure we’re doing that each and every night.”

Boeser is tied for the NHL goal-scoring lead with Toronto Maple Leaf Auston Matthews, the two-time winner of the Rocket Richard Trophy.

With 15 goals and 42 points in 29 games, Miller is alone in second in league scoring, five points behind Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov, who went pointless in Vancouver as the Lightning were shut out over the final 58½ minutes.

Hughes is tied for third in scoring at 39 points, three more than any other defenceman.

And the Canucks are 19-9-1, first in scoring and fourth in goals-against.

The team’s transformation this season has matched Boeser’s.

He scored his first goal against the Lightning on a low-slot rebound from Miller’s shot, hammered the second past goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy from 40 feet on a one-timer beautiful teed up by Hughes, and scored the third into an empty net.

“I’m thinking about our team structure, the way we need to play,” Boeser said. “The bigger picture is winning and getting to the playoffs, and I think that’s where my mindset is at. And then whatever comes along with it. . . I know I need to produce and our line needs to produce, and we hold each other accountable.

“I don’t know, I just feel like deep down I knew I was capable of scoring a lot of goals in this league. Mentally, the last couple of years, it was just kind of a barrier. It feels like I’m past that now.”

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Sports

Red Wings sign Moritz Seider to 7-year deal worth nearly $60M

Published

5 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings made another investment this week in a young standout, signing Moritz Seider to a seven-year contract worth nearly $60 million.

The Red Wings announced the move with the 23-year-old German defenseman on Thursday, three days after keeping 22-year-old forward Lucas Raymond with a $64.6 million, eight-year deal.

Detroit drafted Seider with the No. 6 pick overall eight years ago and he has proven to be a great pick. He has 134 career points, the most by a defenseman drafted in 2019.

He was the NHL’s only player to have at least 200 hits and block 200-plus shots last season, when he scored a career-high nine goals and had 42 points for the second straight year.

Seider won the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie in 2022 after he had a career-high 50 points.

Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman is banking on Seider, whose contract will count $8.55 million annually against the cap, and Raymond to turn a rebuilding team into a winner.

Detroit has failed to make the playoffs in eight straight seasons, the longest postseason drought in franchise history.

The Red Wings, who won four Stanley Cups from 1997 to 2008, have been reeling since their run of 25 straight postseasons ended in 2016.

Detroit was 41-32-9 last season and finished with a winning record for the first time since its last playoff appearance.

Yzerman re-signed Patrick Kane last summer and signed some free agents, including Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year contract worth $9.5 million after he helped the Florida Panthers hoist the Cup.

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Veterans Tyson Beukeboom, Karen Paquin lead Canada’s team at WXV rugby tournament

Published

6 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

Veterans Tyson Beukeboom and Karen Paquin will lead Canada at the WXV 1 women’s rugby tournament starting later this month in the Vancouver area.

WXV 1 includes the top three teams from the Women’s Six Nations (England, France and Ireland) and the top three teams from the Pacific Four Series (Canada, New Zealand, and the United States).

Third-ranked Canada faces No. 4 France, No. 7 Ireland and No. 1 England in the elite division of the three-tiered WXV tournament that runs Sept. 29 to Oct. 12 in Vancouver and Langley, B.C. No. 2 New Zealand and the eighth-ranked U.S. make up the six-team WVX 1 field.

“Our preparation time was short but efficient. This will be a strong team,” Canada coach Kevin Rouet said in a statement. “All the players have worked very hard for the last couple of weeks to prepare for WXV and we are excited for these next three matches and for the chance to play on home soil here in Vancouver against the best rugby teams in the world.

“France, Ireland and England will each challenge us in different ways but it’s another opportunity to test ourselves and another step in our journey to the Rugby World Cup next year.”

Beukeboom serves as captain in the injury absence of Sophie de Goede. The 33-year-old from Uxbridge, Ont., earned her Canadian-record 68th international cap in Canada’s first-ever victory over New Zealand in May at the Pacific Four Series.

Twenty three of the 30 Canadian players selected for WXV 1 were part of that Pacific Four Series squad.

Rouet’s roster includes the uncapped Asia Hogan-Rochester, Caroline Crossley and Rori Wood.

Hogan-Rochester and Crossley were part of the Canadian team that won rugby sevens silver at the Paris Olympics, along with WXV teammates Fancy Bermudez, Olivia Apps, Alysha Corrigan and Taylor Perry. Wood is a veteran of five seasons at UBC.

The 37-year-old Paquin, who has 38 caps for Canada including the 2014 Rugby World Cup, returns to the team for the first time since the 2021 World Cup.

Canada opens the tournament Sept. 29 against France at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver before facing Ireland on Oct. 5 at Willoughby Stadium at Langley Events Centre, and England on Oct. 12 at B.C. Place.

The second-tier WXV 2 and third-tier WXV 3 are slated to run Sept. 27 to Oct. 12, in South Africa and Dubai, respectively.

WXV 2 features Australia, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa and Wales while WXV 3 is made up of Fiji, Hong Kong, Madagascar, the Netherlands, Samoa and Spain.

The tournament has 2025 World Cup qualification implications, although Canada, New Zealand and France, like host England, had already qualified by reaching the semifinals of the last tournament.

Ireland, South Africa, the U.S., Japan, Fiji and Brazil have also booked their ticket, with the final six berths going to the highest-finishing WXV teams who have not yet qualified through regional tournaments.

Canada’s Women’s Rugby Team WXV 1 Squad

Forwards

Alexandria Ellis, Ottawa, Stade Français Paris (France); Brittany Kassil, Guelph, Ont., Guelph Goats; Caroline Crossley, Victoria, Castaway Wanderers; Courtney Holtkamp, Rimbey, Alta., Red Deer Titans Rugby; DaLeaka Menin, Vulcan, Alta., Exeter Chiefs (England); Emily Tuttosi, Souris, Man., Exeter Chiefs (England); Fabiola Forteza, Quebec City, Stade Bordelais (France); Gabrielle Senft, Regina, Saracens (England); Gillian Boag, Calgary, Gloucester-Hartpury (England); Julia Omokhuale, Calgary, Leicester Tigers (England); Karen Paquin, Quebec City, Club de rugby de Quebec; Laetitia Royer, Loretteville, Que., ASM Romagnat (France); McKinley Hunt, King City, Ont., Saracens (England); Pamphinette Buisa, Gatineau, Que., Ottawa Irish; Rori Wood, Sooke, B.C., College Rifles RFC; Sara Cline, Edmonton, Leprechaun Tigers; Tyson Beukeboom, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England);

Backs

Alexandra Tessier, Sainte-Clotilde-de-Horton, Que., Exeter Chiefs (England); Alysha Corrigan, Charlottetown, P.E.I., CRFC; Asia Hogan-Rochester, Toronto, Toronto Nomads; Claire Gallagher, Caledon, Ont., Leicester Tigers (England); Fancy Bermudez, Edmonton, Saracens (England); Julia Schell, Uxbridge, Ont., Ealing Trailfinders (England); Justine Pelletier, Rivière-du-Loup, Que, Stade Bordelais (France); Mahalia Robinson, Fulford, Que., Town of Mount Royal RFC; Olivia Apps, Lindsay, Ont., Lindsay RFC; Paige Farries, Red Deer, Alta., Saracens (England); Sara Kaljuvee, Ajax, Ont., Westshore RFC; Shoshanah Seumanutafa, White Rock, B.C., Counties Manukau (New Zealand); Taylor Perry, Oakville, Ont., Exeter Chiefs (England).

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Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

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Sports

Vancouver Canucks star goalie Thatcher Demko working through rare muscle injury

Published

6 hours ago

September 19, 2024

Anne Joseph

PENTICTON, B.C. – Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he’s been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season’s playoffs.

The 28-year-old all star says the rehabilitation process has been frustrating, but he has made good progress in recent weeks and is confident he’ll be able to return to playing.

He says he and his medical team have spent the last few months talking to specialists around the world, and have not found a single other hockey player who has dealt with the same injury.

Demko missed several weeks of the last season with a knee ailment and played just one game in Vancouver’s playoff run last spring before going down with the current injury.

He was not on the ice with his teammates as the Canucks started training camp in Penticton, B.C., on Thursday, but skated on his own before the sessions began.

Demko posted a 35-14-2 record with a .918 percentage, a 2.45 goals-against average and five shutouts for Vancouver last season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

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