It could be a sign of the changing times in hockey. There are no Canadians among the Big-Three prospects — Brock Boeser, Thatcher Demko and Olli Juolevi — in the Vancouver Canucks development camp taking place this week at Shawnigan Lake School.
“Players are developing from all over the world and that’s cool to see,” said winger Boeser from Burnsview, Minnesota, the Canucks’ 2015 first-round draft pick.
Maybe that’s no big surprise since Minnesota, because of its climate, has long been established as a thriving U.S. centre of hockey, and even a rich vein of talent for the Victoria Royals of the Western Hockey League.
But how does one account for Demko, the Canucks’ potential goaltender of the future, who is from San Diego, of all places.
Get used to it. England gave soccer, rugby, field hockey and cricket to the world and the world took them over. Canadians should view it as a good thing that a sport they gave the world is being embraced by others.
“Even some of the southern U.S. is beginning to produce players,” added Boeser, who will return next season to the University of North Dakota.
“California and Arizona could be the future of hockey.”
Despite growing up amid the palm trees and beach sand from La Jolla to Coronado Island, Demko said he was “in love with the game of hockey” since he was a kid.
Even if he had to go to a more traditional hockey-playing part of the U.S. — Boston College — to truly advance his career in the NCAA and sign a pro contract with the Canucks.
Finns, meanwhile, need little introduction to hockey. Even at that, this current golden generation is something to behold. Defenceman Olli Juolevi, the Canucks’ first-round pick in the 2016 NHL draft, is among three Finns taken in the top five of this year’s draft, along with Patrik Laine to the Winnipeg Jets second overall and Jesse Puljujarvi to the Edmonton Oilers fourth overall.
There was only one Canadian selected in the top five and just two in the top 10.
“It’s good for hockey in Finland, and it’s good for hockey [in general], that it’s not just always Canada, the U.S.A., Russia and Sweden,” said Juolevi, after he stepped off the ice Monday at the Shawnigan Lake School rink.
“And next year is also going to be a good draft year for Finland.”
There really wasn’t much more Juolevi could have done this past season, from club to country to personally, with gold at the world junior championship, the Memorial Cup title with the London Knights and being a top-five draft pick.
“London didn’t win the [Ontario Hockey League] regular-season championship,” Juolevi deadpanned, of maybe the only blemish on his season, despite that the Knights won the ultimate Memorial Cup prize.
“You are never perfect. You can always improve.”
Well, you can come close to perfection, which Juolevi certainly did this past season.
But this is not a sentimentalist who dwells much on what’s already happened, only what lies ahead.
“That’s all now in the past. I have to get ready for next year,” said Juolevi, clearly a young man who doesn’t rest on laurels.
Whether next season will be in the pros or back in junior with London remains to be decided.
“You never know. Everything is a possibility,” said Juolevi.
“I will come to [Canucks] camp and show my best. If not [turning pro] next season, then the season after. I do not feel pressure.”
So, it’s steady but sure at Shawnigan Lake for this even-keeled Finn and his two equally elite and likely future Canucks teammates, Boeser and Demko, from south of the border.
The Canucks development camp, featuring 33 players, continues at Shawnigan Lake School with on-ice sessions today and Wednesday from 9:15 a.m. to noon. On Thursday, it’s from 9:30 a.m. to 11:15 a.m., with a 5 p.m. scrimmage.
All sessions are open to the public.
This is the second consecutive year the Canucks have held their NHL development camp at the Island institution, which includes the rink, dorms, dining room, and fitness, cardio and weight rooms all handily within the campus precinct.
“With the dorms and all, this is [a] similar set-up to college,” said Demko.
“But college to pro is a big step.”
Which is the step these young players hope to eventually take and why they are gathered this week on the Island.
