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Canucks1219

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Everything posted by Canucks1219

  1. These are Virtanen's international statistics (listed on Eliteprospects): *Canada Pacific U17 WHC-17 5GP 5g 2a 7pts 8PIM **Canada U18 WJC-18 7GP 3g 3a 6pts 10PIM +2 *tied for second in team scoring **tied for first in team scoring EDIT: I guess I'll leave his Ivan Hlinka stats too: Canada U18 Hlinka Memorial 5GP 0g 1a 1pts 4PIM -2
  2. That's still pretty good company to be in. He may not be the clear cut No.1 in every category but he is up there for sure and is a combination of it all, which few others are. This package is what makes him so valuable. The thing with "aggression" is that there can be too much of it, unlike the other attributes, so it isn't necessarily a good thing to be the most aggressive guy. Ritchie tends to play the line pretty closely between aggressive and undisciplined. Bob McKenzie said that he took a penalty in the game that could be considered a major during the WJ tournament. I've seen Virtanen play 4 full WHL games this season (I know, not many) and the Super Series games, and what's nice is that he doesn't seem to go out of his way to use his physicality. He'll use it (effectively) to push off defenders and finish checks, but he doesn't get lost in trying to hit everything that moves.
  3. but his hockey iq is da wurst 1 in da hole draft u kno that tho?
  4. An old game but it was just uploaded. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViS1cbnhEtY
  5. Hearing Bob say anything positive about Canucks-related players makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
  6. Was going to watch the NYRvVAN game later, accidentally saw the score on TSN. Well, alright then...

    1. Master Mind

      Master Mind

      If you watch the first 5 minutes, that'll pretty much sum up the game for you.

    2. Canucks1219

      Canucks1219

      I heard there were about 4 consecutive odd-man rushes against, early in the game. "Ah, it's that kind of night."

  7. Highlights available over on TSN: CLICK 1:07 mark "Ja-Jack Virtanen..."
  8. Canada gets exhibition victory over Toronto CIS Selects
  9. Damn, didn't catch his third assist. On what goal was it?
  10. First assist was 1.5 minutes into the game on a Nick Ritchie goal. Second was on Point's powerplay goal.
  11. For what it's worth, Virtanen plays the left point on the power play in Calgary and that is where he would be most effective. So I'm not sure if it will be a forward to take his spot. Obviously in a different team structure they will have different roles, but I don't know why you'd want him anywhere else on the man advantage.
  12. It would be a damn waste not to use him on at least the second power play unit. He'll have one of the most accurate and easily the hardest shot amongst forwards on the team.
  13. Watching him play his last two games has been a real treat. He was easily one of the best (or at least top 2) players in both games. Seemingly every shift for him in both games were "good" shifts. The Hitmen beyond Virtanen, Tambellini, and Sanheim aren't much. His speed is as advertised. He often takes the puck down the right side and around the back of the net with complete ease as no opposition defender can keep up. There are instances of the Junior league left-to-right move entering the offensive zone that won't be easy to pull of at the professional level. Jake is not excessively physical but does finish checks and will be at the heart of a scrum if there is one. He is also good at receiving checks, maybe an underrated trait, with the checker sometimes being the one to fall when trying to hit Virtanen. He loves to blast away on the powerplay (which worked successfully against Moose Jaw) and had a number of opportunities with that wrist shot. I was hoping to see him shoot off the rush but that didn't really happen much. He is a much better passer than anyone ever gave him credit for coming into the year. His passes back to Sanheim on the PP are sometimes too hard but in general it has been good. A criticism we all heard was that he could learn to use his teammates better and he has done just that. He will always be the shooter on his line, but there were a couple times where he found his teammates in great places for scoring opportunities, which was very encouraging. Defensively he's got work to do, as many skill-players do. He can sometimes be slow on the backcheck and can be a bit of a "spectator/wanderer" at times in his own end. Luckily, this sort of thing can be coached, and with a better understanding of the defensive side to go with his size and speed, he could become quite reliable defensively. Yeah, I think Jake is a definite lock barring the (and I won't specify it) "unexpected". People shouldn't underestimate Sanheim either. He skates well for his size (6'3"), is fantastic on the point on the PP, and is just a very reliable player. He doesn't shoot a ton from that point but is adept at setting up teammates and is even good at holding the puck in the zone. There were numerous times in the games I watched where he was able to keep a puck from going offside keeping the o-zone pressure alive. An underrated trait to have. I would be surprised to see him not on the team. Not from what I've seen, though it's a small sample size. It's not so much a knock on Virtanen as much as it's a testament to the accomplishments of Corey Perry. I don't know how fair it is to anyone to compare a great junior scorer with a perennial 40-goal candidate in the NHL. They both have an edge but Virtanen's physical dynamic is much more prominent. I will say that Virtanen on the powerplay looks like a Stamkos/Ovechkin. He's on that left side and has that absolute bomb of a shot that his unit tries to set up. Now, remember, that's just a "comparable" and not a "projection".
  14. Virtanen and Sanheim leave the Hitmen on Thursday to head to the selection camp for the World Junior team. If all goes well, Virtanen won't be playing a WHL game for a while. I'd like to record his games but I don't know if there is an official Canadian stream for the World Juniors. It needs to be official because I want to be able to rewind the broadcast and those "other" methods don't allow that.
  15. For sure. Jake has played in 11 games since the Super Series and he has 14 points (7g, 7a) in those games. Even with the whole no training camp/shoulder rehab stuff, Virtanen has been producing points relatively consistently all year. Only once has a pointless streak reached two games (Nov.4-5). Aside from those two games, every other time he has been held pointless (5 games), he has collected at least one point in the following game. Including his two-game "slump", here are his bounceback games . 1 point game x2 2 point game x2 3 point game x2 Those are pretty good ways to get back on track. I know some people were concerned with the actual goal production (3g in first 11 games), but he was able to find other ways to contribute when one part of his game was not clicking.
  16. I don't think I'm eligible because it's copyrighted material.
  17. Thanks for watching! I'm glad people enjoyed the video. :- ) As for people who are offering money, that won't be necessary. The plan was just for me to watch it on my own and take notes of Jake's performances anyways. I can't start taking money because I'm now making a video out of it. I appreciate the offer though.
  18. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI6L5Qyl3e0 A few notes: - The video is still not finished processing so the quality is not great. (At the time of this writing anyways. It might be fine when you watch it.) - The commentary for the game was actually out of sync with the game (the actual archived game was desynchronized), so I had to resynchronize it during editing. I apologize in advance if it's still a little off but I think it should be fine. - Because of the 15 minute limit on video length -- I'm sorry, I'm not giving Google my cell number to "verify" my account and remove the limit -- I had to cut out some shifts. Nothing important is cut though. I cut the faceoff for certain shifts and got rid of some shifts altogether. The "whole shifts" that I cut were useless anyways. Those were where the play lasted about 10 seconds because of a quick whistle. - The framerate for this video is a little choppier than the last one. I used the exact same settings so I'm not sure why it turned out this way. It's sort of tiring for the eyes, so sorry about that.
  19. Okay, finished the game. Video should be up in an hour-ish.
  20. McKeown has just 8 points in 26 games. All assists. Imagine what people would be saying about him if he were a Canucks prospect...
  21. 'Twas a beauty. His second goal was a beauty in a different way. Wicked slapshot goal on the PP.
  22. Finally... Virtanen had 2 goals, 4 shots, and 2 PIM today. Brings his season totals to... 20GP 9g 14a 23pts +5 34PIM Of note: Jake has 13 points (6g , 7a), is +7, and has 20 PIM in the past 9 games. I just finished watching the Canucks game (wish I didn't see it at all) and will now watch the Hitmen game (yay!). With watching (incl. the pausing, rewinds), editing, and uploading, it's going to be a couple hours before a video is up.
  23. I need to calm down. Watch that Hitmen game. Phew...

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