[Article] Jensen Takes His Best Shot

[JohnLocke]

Niklas Jensen will be playing for Denmark at the world championships.

Great article about him. I love this kid and I hope he will become a star one day!

With the Canucks out of the NHL playoffs, both Jensen and Hansen will suit up for Denmark at the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Belarus. Jensen, who tallied three goals and three assists in 17 games as an NHL rookie, thinks highly of his fellow countryman, even if they dont get to hang out together as much in the 2010 Olympic city as you might imagine.

Janniks got twins and hes busy a lot, Jensen told IIHF.com. But its great to have a countryman in the same dressing room. Even once in a while speaking your own language, getting to talk about home and stuff like that is nice. To have a guy like that is a big help, especially for a young guy coming in.

While Hansen, 28, has 389 NHL games and a trip to Game Seven of the 2011 Stanley Cup final under his belt, Jensen is still establishing himself in both pro and international hockey. He was only drafted from the OHL's Oshawa Generals in 2011 (29th overall).

The 191-cm, 92-kg winger needs more consistency. Although blessed with a tremendous wrist shot, he didnt score a goal with the AHLs Utica Comets until December 15, and five of his six points with Vancouver came in his first seven games after being called up on March 7.

Late in the season, Canucks coach John Tortorella spoke highly of Jensens skating and gumption as a playmaker, although he added that defensively, Nick has got to respect the league a little bit.

Down the stretch, Jensen frequently played right wing on Vancouvers top line with former NHL scoring champions Henrik and Daniel Sedin. In 2013, the twin Swedish superstars keyed Tre Kronor to the first World Championship gold medal for a host team in 27 years in Stockholm.

Continue reading

Even though Henriks 50 points and Daniels 47 points this season were well below their usual rate of production, Jensen still appreciated the privilege of teaming up with the Sedins.

Its amazing, said Jensen. Theyre so unique in this league. Theyre so skilled, two of the best players in the world. Its pretty neat and you learn so much playing with them.

This budding power forward had some important learning experiences with the Danish Lions last year. The most difficult one came at the Olympic qualification tournament. In the crucial game, the host Danes fell 2-1 to Slovenia. Denmark, which has competed in the elite division of the World Championship since 2003, justifiably felt that it should have defeated the Slovenes, who sat 18th in the IIHF World Ranking at the time. Per Backman, then coach of the national team, described it as a depressing loss.

We were so close, said Jensen, who went pointless in two games at the SE Arena in Vojens. So obviously it was one of the toughest losses Ive ever played in. It would have been pretty neat to have the chance to play in the Olympics. But we just gotta focus on what it is. Well hopefully get a chance next time.

Jensen stepped up his game in his World Championship debut three months later. He scored Denmarks lone goal in a 4-1 loss to Switzerland, and followed that up with the 2-0 goal in a 3-2 win over Belarus.

Maybe some of Jensens streaky play can be attributed to an early, formative association with a 1980s Vancouver scoring star. Finnish winger Petri Skriko was a four-time 30-goal man for the Canucks. In November 1986, Skriko registered three hat tricks in eight days. Not surprisingly, his nickname was Streak, and when his NHL career ended in 1993, the Lappeenranta native took his talents to Jensens native Herning. He tore up the Danish league for six seasons and then coached Herning for two more.

He played with my dad [Dan], so I was always in the dressing room, Jensen recalled. Petris son and I grew up together during those years. Its pretty neat, knowing that he was here [in Vancouver] too and he did so well here. He was so skilled and good when he played in Denmark too. Its a small world.

At the Worlds, Jensen has a chance to establish himself as a top-six scoring threat under new national team head coach Janne Karlsson. The squad in Minsk will need all the offensive help it can get, as Frans Nielsen of the New York Islanders, Denmarks leading NHL scorer with 58 points, has been ruled out with a wrist injury.

Still, theres some reason for optimism. After all, Denmarks best-ever World Championship finish (eighth) came in the last Olympic year (2010), and this small Scandinavian nation may be able to take advantage of some unsuspecting or undermanned Group A foes at the Chizhovka-Arena with more NHL players on its roster than ever.

I think we have a great team, and were getting better and better as a country, even in the juniors, Jensen said. We set high standards, and we go into the tournament with open minds: one game at a time. We want to do well and make a good name for ourselves.

[Tigs]

(@caption)

[KFBR392]

*

[KFBR392]

Niklas Jensen will be playing for Denmark at the world championships.

Great article about him. I love this kid and I hope he will become a star one day!

[SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME]

Nice find OP.

I hope you don't mind that I'm re-posting an edited version of the article?

I found it a little tough on the eyes in the original form (as there were a few code issues with the paragraph breaks and some of the punctuation).

Also added the link: http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=8777&cHash=84401bf701c123d198921f7fbe374b04

Jensen takes his best shot

Young Dane aims to impress in his second Worlds

06.05.2014

In Belarus, Nicklas Jensen will join a Danish national team that's competed in the elite division each year since 2003. Photo: Andre Ringuette / HHOF-IIHF Images

Nicklas Jensen isn't the best-known Dane who plays for Vancouver. That honour belongs to Jannik Hansen. But the 21-year-old from Herning is on the rise.

With the Canucks out of the NHL playoffs, both Jensen and Hansen will suit up for Denmark at the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Belarus. Jensen, who tallied three goals and three assists in 17 games as an NHL rookie, thinks highly of his fellow countryman, even if they dont get to hang out together as much in the 2010 Olympic city as you might imagine.

"Jannik's got twins and he's busy a lot," Jensen told IIHF.com. "But it's great to have a countryman in the same dressing room. Even once in a while speaking your own language, getting to talk about home and stuff like that is nice. To have a guy like that is a big help, especially for a young guy coming in."

While Hansen, 28, has 389 NHL games and a trip to Game Seven of the 2011 Stanley Cup final under his belt, Jensen is still establishing himself in both pro and international hockey. He was only drafted from the OHL's Oshawa Generals in 2011 (29th overall).

The 191-cm, 92-kg winger needs more consistency. Although blessed with a tremendous wrist shot, he didn't score a goal with the AHL's Utica Comets until December 15, and five of his six points with Vancouver came in his first seven games after being called up on March 7.

Late in the season, Canucks coach John Tortorella spoke highly of Jensen's skating and "gumption" as a playmaker, although he added that defensively, "Nick has got to respect the league a little bit."

Down the stretch, Jensen frequently played right wing on Vancouver's top line with former NHL scoring champions Henrik and Daniel Sedin. In 2013, the twin Swedish superstars keyed Tre Kronor to the first World Championship gold medal for a host team in 27 years in Stockholm.

Even though Henrik's 50 points and Daniel's 47 points this season were well below their usual rate of production, Jensen still appreciated the privilege of teaming up with the Sedins.

"Its amazing," said Jensen. "They're so unique in this league. They're so skilled, two of the best players in the world. It's pretty neat and you learn so much playing with them."

This budding power forward had some important learning experiences with the Danish Lions last year. The most difficult one came at the Olympic qualification tournament. In the crucial game, the host Danes fell 2-1 to Slovenia. Denmark, which has competed in the elite division of the World Championship since 2003, justifiably felt that it should have defeated the Slovenes, who sat 18th in the IIHF World Ranking at the time. Per Backman, then coach of the national team, described it as a "depressing loss."

"We were so close," said Jensen, who went pointless in two games at the SE Arena in Vojens. "So obviously it was one of the toughest losses I've ever played in. It would have been pretty neat to have the chance to play in the Olympics. But we just gotta focus on what it is. We'll hopefully get a chance next time."

Jensen stepped up his game in his World Championship debut three months later. He scored Denmark's lone goal in a 4-1 loss to Switzerland, and followed that up with the 2-0 goal in a 3-2 win over Belarus.

Maybe some of Jensen's streaky play can be attributed to an early, formative association with a 1980s Vancouver scoring star. Finnish winger Petri Skriko was a four-time 30-goal man for the Canucks. In November 1986, Skriko registered three hat tricks in eight days. Not surprisingly, his nickname was "Streak," and when his NHL career ended in 1993, the Lappeenranta native took his talents to Jensen's native Herning. He tore up the Danish league for six seasons and then coached Herning for two more.

"He played with my dad [Dan], so I was always in the dressing room," Jensen recalled. "Petri's son and I grew up together during those years. It's pretty neat, knowing that he was here [in Vancouver] too and he did so well here. He was so skilled and good when he played in Denmark too. It's a small world."

At the Worlds, Jensen has a chance to establish himself as a top-six scoring threat under new national team head coach Janne Karlsson. The squad in Minsk will need all the offensive help it can get, as Frans Nielsen of the New York Islanders, Denmark's leading NHL scorer with 58 points, has been ruled out with a wrist injury.

Still, there's some reason for optimism. After all, Denmarks best-ever World Championship finish (eighth) came in the last Olympic year (2010), and this small Scandinavian nation may be able to take advantage of some unsuspecting or undermanned Group A foes at the Chizhovka-Arena with more NHL players on its roster than ever.

"I think we have a great team, and we're getting better and better as a country, even in the juniors," Jensen said. "We set high standards, and we go into the tournament with open minds: one game at a time. We want to do well and make a good name for ourselves."

LUCAS AYKROYD

I suppose there's not really all that much "new" information in the article, but it's still nice to see Jensen get a write-up from a media source (IIHF.com) that's not from Vancouver (or from Denmark for that matter).

The one thing that I really didn't know alot about was the story regarding the close family ties between the Jensen and Skriko families. It's kind of interesting to see just how far back Nick Jensen's connections to the Canucks actually go. "Small world" indeed!

I'm definitely hoping that Jensen (and Team Denmark) have a good showing at the Worlds.

[PuckFather]

Do I remember correctly that we could have picked Brandon Saad instead who was drafted in the 2nd round?

[Connauton]

Do I remember correctly that we could have picked Brandon Saad instead who was drafted in the 2nd round?

Yeah we could've gotten Lucic and Subban as well. Wow, we should be stacked right now... dammnit Gillis!

[Rick Grimes]

Yeah we could've gotten Lucic and Subban as well. Wow, we should be stacked right now... dammnit Gillis!

Oh please, I get tired of reading crap like this; for every Milan Lucic or PK Subban you find, you get 10-20 Alex Daigles/Brett Lindros'/Nikita Filatovs/Patrick Stefans/

[oldnews]

Interesting that he grew up watching "Streak", first of the great Finnish Canucks.

Have been impressed by Jensen at every stage. I hope his shoulder heals well over the summer - t'll be great to see what he manages to do this coming season.

[Absent Canuck]

Plus 1 for you OP

Nice read . Thank you.

[mpt]

Oh please, I get tired of reading crap like this; for every Milan Lucic or PK Subban you find, you get 10-20 Alex Daigles/Brett Lindros'/Nikita Filatovs/Patrick Stefans/

Yea the difference is here everyone was asking for Lucic at the time of the draft; so we are all a little bitter.

[Rick Grimes]

Yea the difference is here everyone was asking for Lucic at the time of the draft; so we are all a little bitter.

There is no difference, every year its the exact same crap.

Fans want player X.

Management drafts player Y.

Fans learn to deal with it.

[Monteeun]

There is no difference, every year its the exact same crap.

Fans want player X.

Management drafts player Y.

Fans learn to deal with it.

Why can't you just let us be bitter?

[bernzie71]

Yeah Draft JAKE VIRTANEN that'll shut em up !!!

[Vancanwincup]

Yea the difference is here everyone was asking for Lucic at the time of the draft; so we are all a little bitter.

We did not have a second round pick that year and no one was asking for Lucic at 14th overall.

[Plum]

Going to be fun watching play, I can see him being the best player for Denmark with his speed and skill.

Do I remember correctly that we could have picked Brandon Saad instead who was drafted in the 2nd round?

It isn't always who you draft but how you develop them. PK Subban might not be the player who he is today if say he was drafted by Buffalo, Vancouver or any other team than Montreal.

[thehamburglar]

I sure hope he can come back even stronger and maintain some consistancy