Just like that, Vancouver Canucks training camp is nearly over. Typically, a scrimmage like the one we saw today signals the end of camp, but this year, the Canucks will be back on Sunday at the South Okanagan Events Centre after a busy Saturday. While a good number of players stayed to participate in the scrimmage in front of the Penticton crowd, the Canucks also had to send a group to fly down to Seattle to play in the club’s first preseason game on Saturday night. Of course, we’ll have full coverage of that game, but first, let’s get into our Instant Reaction from today’s scrimmage!

Note: The two teams played one 30-minute period with a continuous clock.

The Canucks posted their rosters for this morning’s scrimmage to social media.

TEAM WHITE
3 Joe Arntsen
4 Jamie Oleksiak
6 Brock Boeser
17 Filip Hronek
23 Marco Rossi
26 Anri Ravinskis
30 Chris Driedger
34 Cole Clayton
39 Ty Mueller
47 Paul Cotter
52 Bennett Schimek
53 Isaac Belliveau
77 Filip Chytil
80 Austin Brimmer
85 Ty Young
92 Liam Öhgren

TEAM BLUE
2 Luke Schenn
5 Tom Willander
7 Brendan Gallagher
8 Zeev Buium
18 Drew O’Connor
32 Kevin Lankinen
36 Aku Koskenvuo
38 Gavin White
40 Elias Pettersson
42 Tim Rego
49 Yaroslav Bryzgalov
65 Gabriel Chiarot
74 Jake DeBrusk
79 Ben Berard
81 Brooks Rogowski
94 Linus Karlsson

Liam Öhgren got the crowd into the game early as he ripped one past Kevin Lankinen after moving in on a 2-on-1 with Brock Boeser and looking off the sharp shooting Boeser to let go of a shot of his own. 1-0 Team White. 

On the BRÖ line’s very next shift, Öhgren once again scored, this time from the other side of the ice, and once again, it came off the rush. That’s two shots from Öhgren where he beat Lankinen cleanly with no bodies in front of the Team White goaltender.

Shortly after the second Öhgren goal, Ty Mueller benefited from Team Blue being stuck in their own end and snapped one past Lankinen to make it 3-0 for Team White in a hurry. It was all Team White to open this scrimmage.

Elias Pettersson had Team Blue’s best chance of the game 8 minutes into the game when he moved in on a 2-on-1 with Brendan Gallagher, and tried to beat Chris Driedger short-side, but Driedger got enough of a piece of it to keep it out.

Shortly after, Pettersson took a big hit in the corner from Cole Clayton. The hit was clean, but was near the boards and drew a big “ooo” from the Penticton crowd. Encouragingly, on the very next shift, Pettersson threw a big but clean hit of his own on Clayton, which drew a cheer from the crowd. Let’s call it even.

Team Blue got on the board just under 11 minutes into the first half when Drew O’Connor and Brendan Gallagher connected on a rush before O’Connor ripped a shot past Driedger. Brendan Gallagher was certainly a bright spot for Team Blue.

Team Blue got their legs under them a bit when, after nearly scoring on a pretty passing play kickstarted by Elias Pettersson, Jake DeBrusk scored to bring Blue within one. And yes, the goal was at 5v5! 3-2 White.

Elias Pettersson was starting to put on a bit of a show. He played with speed, made clean passes, and, most importantly, attacked the net with that same speed. Pettersson scored a beauty of a goal when he batted the puck out of the air a couple of times, the final time, up and over Ty Young to tie this one up with less than 10 minutes to go.

Both Team Blue and Team White switched goaltenders at the halfway mark of the scrimmage. Aku Koskenvuo replaced Lankinen for Blue, while Ty Young replaced Driedger for Team White.

After 30 minutes of play, the two sides were tied, so the shootout meant a LOT!

Blue: EP40 – STOPPED by Ty Young.
White: Schimek – SCORES on a beauty backhand past Aku Koskenvuo.

Blue: Berard – STOPPED by Young
White: Öhgren – NARROWLY STOPPED by Koskenvuo, who got his right pad out after a nice move from 92 in White.

Blue: Chiarot – STOPPED by Young, so technically Team White won this game on that save.
White: Cotter – STOPPED by Koskenvuo

Blue: LUKE SCHENN BABY – SCORES much to the delight of the Penticton crowd and his bench.
White: Koskenvuo with another save.

Alright, everyone is shooting it looks like, so we’ll just stop here. Team White takes this one by a final score of 4-3. 

Some takeaways from the game:

-Elias Pettersson wasn’t particularly noticeable on the first day of camp, and while he was one of our day two standouts, he without question stood out in today’s scrimmage. Hopefully this can be the start of a decent bounceback year for him.
-Zeev Buium skated the puck out on a couple of occasions under pressure. He looked calm and poised, and made a couple of nice plays at both ends of the ice. He also showed no hesitation to jump up in the rush when the opportunity presented itself.
-Brendan Gallagher is going to be a nice sparkplug for the Canucks this season.
-Tom Willander showcased some poise and nice hands on a couple of occasions. On one, he moved in from the point along the half wall before making a quick move to the middle of the ice and getting a backhand attempt off on Ty Young.
-Both Koskenvuo and Young made some beauty saves in the shootout.

We will have a full breakdown of today’s scrimmage on a special Saturday edition of West Coast Conversation, so be sure to subscribe to the Daily Faceoff Vancouver YouTube channel to watch it live! Watch it below: