Day Two of Training Camp: Virtanen and Juolevi Bounce Back and Kole Lind is Pissed Off
By Faber
4 years agoThe second day of Canucks training camp brought more positive story lines than negative ones, which was a welcome change considering day one with the Virtanen and Juolevi situation’s.
Day two kicked off with a different tempo. There were hard board battles early and the physicality was dialed up quite a bit compared to the easy going feel of day one. Quinn Hughes continued to dominate in many one on one drills where puck possession was the goal. Hughes was again paired up with Chris Tanev throughout practice and the scrimmage that followed.
The combination of Hughes and Tanev has been one of the high points of camp so far and both players mentioned that they have enjoyed playing as defensive partners so far, but both also know that this early experimenting by Travis Green is far from set in stone.
Head Coach Travis Green was more vocal on day two compared to day one. He had multiple times where he would stop the play in practice and show players that their spacing needed to be better and would move a player around to show them what he was talking about. Green may have skipped the bag skate for today but he was very hard on players if they weren’t managing the puck with intent.
Jake Virtanen made his return to the NHL group today after a tough day one. Jake was playing with a chip on his shoulder and made improvements in his game and attitude on day two.
“I know Jake well, I want him to do well, sometimes tough lessons are the ones that sink in the most so hopefully there’s a lesson learned”
-Travis Green
Travis Green was all over Jake during practice with every little mistake and stopped an offensive zone attack to show Virtanen that he needed to understand spacing in the offensive zone.
Jake may have been a little too eager to get back with the main groups at training camp as he had a run in with Thatcher Demko early on in practice. Overall, Jake had a bounce back day and it came from him putting in the effort that he may have been lacking in the off season.
Kole Lind had a very strong practice. He was battling against NHL veterans all day and for the most part he was able to hold his own. Lind had many chances in the scrimmage and looked head and shoulders ahead of his linemates Jonah Gadjovich and Francis Perron when it came to keeping up with the pace of play. I spoke with Lind after practice and he talked a lot about wanting to prove people wrong and that he is ready for a bounce back season in Utica.
“I worked really hard this off season and wanted to make a statement to the coaches and management. I feel a lot better in compete drills and I’m not getting pushed around as much. I feel a lot more confident this year compared to the past.
I want to put up numbers and create offence at the AHL level, I think the first thing I wanted to do this year was to come out and make a statement at camp that I’m serious about what I’m doing this year. I want to prove people wrong, that was something last year that pissed me off. This year I’m ready to go, I’m going to make a statement and start producing at the AHL level and then push from there.”
-Kole Lind
The final group of the day saw the Utica group come together for a practice with Utica head coach Trent Cull. All eyes were on Olli Juolevi as he was beginning what Travis Green called part of his “load management”. Juolevi, who was noticeably struggling at the end of day one looked a lot better on day two.
He took a few spills here and there when doing some crossover steps defending or when he would get tangled up with an opposing player. The arena was holding their breath with every fall but he seemed fine.
He was one of the better players at moving and controlling the puck in the third group and it didn’t appear his knee bothered him at all.
Juolevi was moving up and down the ice without limitations and he used his skating to largely dominate a practice that saw a lot of 200 foot drills from end to end. I really like the way that Trent Cull was running this practice. Due to the group not taking part in the scrimmage you could see that Cull wanted to simulate as many game situations as possible.
Travis Green mentioned that after talking to the medical staff he may end up having Juolevi back with one of the two top groups for day three. If Juolevi was to be back with one of the top two groups we would likely see him compete in the scheduled scrimmage as well.
To quote Ice Cube “Today Was A Good Day”, the biggest stories of yesterday had positive bounce backs and there were a few young players that were shining when important eyes were on them. This is it for me at training camp, Cory Hergott will be taking over for Sunday’s practice/scrimmage and Monday’s preseason game. If you have been following along on Twitter I appreciate it and hopefully CanucksArmy get’s to have this type of media access for years to come.
Read also: Day 1 of training camp recap
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