Brocktober homecoming
CANUCKS IN MINNESOTA: Young forward has made his presence felt in the first handful of games this season
Brock Boeser returns to Minnesota tonight, where his hockey career all started. He’s hoping to help his Canucks tame the Wild in St. Paul
ST. PAUL, Minn. — There remains lots of room for the legend of Brock Boeser to grow.
When he’s out in Vancouver with friend and teammate Jake Virtanen, it’s nearly always Virtanen who gets noticed first.
“They know him more than me,” Boeser said.
Virtanen said: “It’s just because I’m a hometown guy. They do recognize him after a bit.” We predict that is going to change. When the new coach was asked this week how Boeser scored all his goals, Travis Green winced, just a little. I mean, Boeser only has two. I know, it feels like a lot more to me, too.
That will also change soon.
“He’s a good young hockey player, but it may be a little early to start describing how he scores goals.” — Canucks coach Travis Green
“He’s a good young hockey player, but it may be a little early to start describing how he scores goals,” Green said.
He’s not wrong. People have to be careful not to get ahead of themselves. But Boeser is good enough to be a Calder Trophy candidate and it’s been a long time since the Canucks had someone you could write that about.
Boeser has only played 15 NHL games. But, boy, those 15 games have been good.
On Monday, he returned “home.” It’s here where it all started and it’s here people will always refer to when re-telling his story.
His NHL debut in March seemed ripped from folklore.
One day his college team was being eliminated in a double-overtime game. The next, he was scoring the game-winning goal for the Canucks in front of his parents, aunts, uncles and cousins in Minnesota. Oh, and his grandmother.
There are images of him that night embracing her and it’s about the sweetest thing you ever saw in a hockey arena.
“I was running on a lot of adrenalin,” Boeser said. “That night, I was exhausted when I started coming down from the adrenalin high. It was an awesome moment.”
It sure was, and nothing may match it. But Tuesday is the encore, and what a curtain call it’s setting up to be.
When Boeser hits the Xcel Energy ice again, he will do so triumphantly. The season may have started with him benched for two games, but now he leads the Canucks in points with six and shot attempts with 25.
The Canucks have been controlling 53.91 per cent of the shot attempts when Boeser is on the ice. The only forwards with a higher ratio are the Sedin twins.
Boeser has had a positive impact in key possession stats, including shot attempts for and against, which is a pretty good sign he’s doing a lot of the little things right. Just wait until coaches figure out how to use him on the power play.
His off-season determination to get quicker, notably his first step or two, has seemed to help him make up ground against opponents who gave him problems with speed at the end of last year.
“It blew my mind (last year) how fast everyone was out there,” Boeser said. “I think once I get up to speed my speed is good.
“But it’s just getting there. That was a huge thing I worked on in the summer. I’m still working on that today. It has made a difference already.”
So, he’s a little faster, and he’s a little stronger. He’s also a little more mature, having navigated his way through his first Vancouver public firestorm. Things were lit when Green made the unpopular decision to scratch him for the Canucks’ opening two games.
“People I saw were very supportive,” Boeser said. “They told me they couldn’t wait to see me play and they said they hoped I get in soon.” They got their wish. Through it all, Boeser handled it beautifully — which is no surprise to those who know him best.
His dad has Parkinson’s. He lost a good friend in a fatal car crash. His mom worked multiple jobs to support the family. Not playing a couple games?
“I guarantee you he just used the whole situation as motivation,” Troy Stecher, a college and pro teammate, said recently before he injured his knee and was sent back to Vancouver for testing.
“He’s a pretty mature kid, he’s been through a lot in his life. This is one of those times where I just told him to relate this to life. You’ve overcome so much if you don’t just look at the hockey part.”
That’s true, but if you do look at the hockey part these days, it’s difficult not to love what you see.