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Canucks goalie prospect Aleksei Medvedev struggles in preseason match vs. Victoria Royals
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Photo credit: © Tav Morisson-CanucksArmy
Tyson Cole
Sep 5, 2026, 16:13 EDTUpdated: Sep 5, 2026, 16:14 EDT
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It wasn’t a banner draft plus-one season for Vancouver Canucks goaltending prospect Aleksei Medvedev. He struggled early on and lost the starter’s crease as a result.
However, in an interview with CanucksArmy at Canucks development camp, Medvedev shared his positive view on his down season, saying that he felt learning from that adversity early in his development may have been one of the best things that happened to him, as he will be prepared to handle it again if it happens later in his career.
With that fresh mindset, Medvedev is ready to up his game and get back to the level of play that got him drafted 47th overall in 2025. Unfortunately, that did not get off to a hot start.
In mid-March, the CHL announced a “Clash of the Kingdoms” series between the London Knights and Victoria Royals, the first inter-league meeting between the WHL and OHL outside of the Memorial Cup. The clash would involve the OHL’s London Knights travelling out West for a two-game series against the Victoria Royals.
This series kicked off in Victoria on Friday night, with Medvedev earning the start for the Knights. His night did not last long, however, as the Canucks prospect allowed four goals in under 22 minutes and was pulled from the game early in the second period.
Royals forward Miles Cooper got the scoring going, converting on a shorthanded odd-man rush just over two minutes into the game. And by period’s end, former Vancouver Giant and Dallas Stars prospect Cameron Schmidt would double the Royals’ lead with a snipe into the top left corner on the power play.
Then just 10 seconds into the second period, Schmidt strips the Knights defenceman of the puck, walks in and rips an uncontested shot off the far post and in.
*Note: There is a scorebug error in the clip below. It should have read 2-0 for the Royals. This goal was the Royals’ third of the game.
The Royals weren’t done there, as a quick transition play gave Victoria another odd-man rush, where the shooter does a great job of opening Medvedev’s legs as he moves to his backhand and slides the puck through the five-hole.
This was Medvedev’s fourth goal against on just 16 shots. That was the end of his night.
Backup Brian Cooke stopped 24 of the next 27 shots he faced. The Knights narrowly avoided the shutout when Thomas Zocco scored with just under seven minutes to go in the third period to bring the final score to 7-1.
To recap all four goals against Medvedev allowed, there were two odd-man rushes, one power play goal, and a defensive turnover that led to an uncontested look on him. Of course, many would hope Medvedev would have stopped at least one of these, but his team didn’t do him any favours by putting him in challenging positions to make the stop.
So, not all four goals can be blamed on the Canucks prospect; however, it’s not a great look to allow four goals in the first 22 minutes of a preseason game. We will see Medvedev at Canucks training camp in a few weeks, where we will see how goaltending coach Marko Terenius works with him before heading back to London for the OHL regular season.
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