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An update from U18 after day 2. Future Considerations: Scouting top players at U18 World Championship (msn.com)

Boy that was basically Game 2 in reverse. Huge win by the Canucks and a hell of a battling performance by DeSmith.

Beck 0pts 4 shots in 3-1 loss (Sam Dickinson 2a for London)

A bit of a rope-a-dope finish but a win is a win. 🙂

Canucks special teams are ON POINT tonight

I've barely seen the Canucks this year ... but I have to take my hat off for their PK work.

But it's not like Soros has sucked. Basically that's what Nashville got last game - opportunistic scoring. It's good for Van that Miller and Boser scored. Their big guns need to deliver. Now Pettersson needs to break the playoff goose-egg, and they can put that narrative to rest.

2-0 after two periods, on seven shots. .500 shooting on PP--and only three shots five-on-five. That is crazy!

It's that kinda series. The Canucks are an elite defensive team and Nashville is blocking shots and collapsing in front of the G like crazy.

How are the shots 5-3 after that period? Five PPs and enormous Ozone time. Gutless to knock down a goalie like that.

Zdorov is having one hell of a series. He can be dodgy over 82, but damn is he a beast in a short series. Pettersson looks better tonight, but Hughes seems rattled by all the hits. McCarron has been a factor in the series, but the hit on Shakey DeSmith was outrageous and I'm glad Miller made him pay.

Different time, when a grad student working part-time could afford a standing-room ticket. I would have driven a bus through the doors to see that game, though. Nothing was going to stop me. As cherished as that memory is - I can still see Roy looking right at us and raising the Cup, roaring in triumph - I was also there for Game 2 of that series. The McSorely stick/Desjardins game. No single moment has ever been more ecstatic for me as a hockey fan than to be in the building when Desjardins blasted it past Hrudey to tie it up with a minute left. It was INSANE.

I think that's the first projection I've seen of him being a top-line forward. Apart from the Commandant, that is.

What a start for Nashville. I don’t think that boarding penalty was even a penalty. Survive this period Nucks

How amazing to be in the old Forum on the day that the Habs won the cup. I was quietly jumping up and down and shaking my fists - trying not to waken my wife. As you say, the speed and skill of today’s players are off the charts. Even today’s big players have speed and skill.

It was on all of the Sportsnet channels this afternoon. Very true Don. It was great to watch Damphouse again

I was at that game, in the Forum, and remember thinking that it was actually a pretty boring hockey game. Of course none of us cared, we were just ecstatic at what was happening. The point being, it may have been a dull game even by the standards of the time. I do believe that the quality of the hockey today is ummatched in my lifetime, though. The speed, the skill is off the chart, and there remains enough physicality to keep things edgy. It's absolutely a great product right now.

Its relative though, as the game/training/diet/equipment/etc has all evolved over last 30 years.

Future Considerations: Scouting top players at U18 World Championship (sportsnet.ca) "Konsta Helenius, Forward, Team Finland On Day 1 of the tournament, he was one of the more visibly active players among the teams present. He plays quickly and fast. ... NHL Projection: Top-line speed forward, reliable offensive producer at even strength and on the power-play."

Where did you find that? I can't find it on my app.

Of course its not just the under 18. You look at their entire body of work including WHL and La Liga seasons.

It's just another data point. You should never make a decision based on a single tournament, but it can still supplement the information you have gathered otherwise.

If Kotkaniemi teached us something, it's not to take too much from the results at this U18 tournament. Guessing the scouts go there to evaluate some specific skills and character aspect of players' game more than how they actually perform.

Sportsnet is showing 1993 Stanley cup finals game 5. Montreal against the Kings. I’m really struck by the amount of hooking, holding, slashing, interference that happens as routine play. The hockey is slow and grinding. It’s funny just how much I idolized those players for being so great and I’m not sure that most of them would survive in today’s NHL. Nostalgia vs reality is a funny thing.

T-minus 14 days