Swedes key Canucks sweep
How Swede it was for the Vancouver Canucks at the annual Young Stars Classic tournament at the South Okanagan Events Centre on the weekend.
Highly regarded Swedish forwards Elias Pettersson and Jonathan Dahlen each scored three goals as the Canucks swept a pair of games from the Winnipeg Jets in a matchup of many of the top young prospects from the two National Hockey League clubs.
Petterson scored twice as the Canucks hammered the Jets 8-2 on Friday night, then it was Dahlen with a pair as the Canucks got past Winnipeg in a much closer 6-4 game on Sunday afternoon.
Canucks 6 Jets 4: Vancouver Giants 18-year-old forward Kaleb Bulych netted the go-ahead goal 5:19 into the third period as the Canucks completed the sweep.
Dahlen’s second goal into an empty net proved to be the winner and Pettersson and Adam Gaudette also connected for Vancouver.
C.J. Suess, Alexis D’Aoust, Krystof Hrabik and Jimmy Huntington clicked for the Jets.
It looked like it would be a continuation of Friday’s domination as the Canucks got goals from Gaudette, Pettersson and Dahlen on just 10 shots to grab a 3-0 lead after the first period.
But the Jets came back to life as Suess, D’Aoust and Hrabik connected in the second to tie it 3-3 after 40 minutes.
Bulych put the Canucks ahead to stay and Dahlen made it 5-3 with an empty-netter.
Huntington cut it to 5-4 before the Canucks iced it with another empty-netter.
FRIDAY - Canucks 8 Jets 2: Pettersson collected two goals and a helper and the Canucks exploded for six unanswered second-period goals to drill the Jets on Friday.
Jonah Gadjovich and Petrus Palmu had two each and Gaudette and Dahlen had singles for the Canucks, who led 1-0 and 7-0 at the period breaks.
Michael Spacek and Jansen Harkins responded for Winnipeg.
Also taking part at Young Stars for the first time were the UBC Thunderbirds and the reigning national champion University of Alberta Golden Bears.
Alberta won the first of two matchups 5-2 on Friday, with UBC bouncing back to win 3-2 in a shootout Saturday.