Game notes: Thatcher Demko starts, Poolman and Dickinson to take warmups vs. Vegas

With the early start time today (4 PM Pacific) the Vancouver Canucks didn’t hold a morning skate today.

Rather, they practiced yesterday at Scotia Barn (8 Rinks for the O.G.’s) in Burnaby, and held a media availability this afternoon.

This brought with it some lineup notes that we thought you may like to be aware of.

First, head coach Bruce Boudreau confirmed that Thatcher Demko will start in goal. Yesterday, Boudreau talked about how he felt Demko was managing his workload as a full time starter.

“I think as any hockey player they want to play, and I think he loves it,” said Boudreau. “I mean, I don’t know if he’s tired or not, he never complains about fatigue. But I think every goalie and every player wants to play every game and wants to play as many minutes as they possibly can. I’ve never seen anybody say ‘hey, whoa, I’m playing too much, you got to slow me down.’ So I don’t think that’s a problem.”

Additionally, Boudreau confirmed that both Tucker Poolman and Jason Dickinson will take warmup today.

Poolman skated on the third pairing alongside Travis Dermott at practice yesterday, while Dickinson centred the fourth line in the absence of Brad Richardson, who is out with the same stomach bug that was ailing Canucks captain Bo Horvat.

Poolman has been out since January with migraines and headaches, and Dickinson has been out since February with an upper body injury after he was sent into the boards hard by Flames defenceman Erik Gudbranson.

At 2:48 today, the Canucks PR Twitter account announced that the club had activated both Poolman and Dickinson from IR.

For our full game day article that was published this morning, click below.