Quicker Boeser determined to show Canucks he belongs

PENTICTON — Blame modern media.

Brock Boeser’s pro debut was wrenched from a fable. He was home in the Twin Cities playing in the National Hockey League hours after signing his first contract.

He was on an impossible schedule. His college team had been eliminated the day before in double overtime. Still, he played unreasonably wonderful, scoring a goal in a win for the Vancouver Canucks among his four shots on net.

But all anyone seems to remember is, well, you know.

If you don’t, you missed the viral video that counted Boeser saying “you know” 45 times in three minutes. It was quickly viewed more than 100,000 times.

“It was my first game and I was super nervous,” Boeser said. “Oh yeah, I hear about it a lot. Some of my friends just randomly chirp me about it.”

Just so you know, they say it a lot in Minnesota. It’s in his DNA.

“It’s always in my head now when I do interviews,” Boeser said. “I’m trying to cut back on it as much as I can.”

If his post-practice media tour Thursday before the Young Stars tournament is any indication, he’s doing a dazzling job.

But no one really cares if his interviews have improved. That will come. And so will his scoring. What matters here, and in main training camp next week and beyond, is his skating and strength. It’s improvement in these two areas that will determine whether Boeser starts the season in Vancouver, or not.

He seems to be in the right place, at least. In the past two tournaments, Ben Hutton in one and Troy Stecher in the other, there were Canucks who used Penticton as a springboard to unpredictably eye-opening NHL seasons.

Boeser was all set to be the next one. That was until the Canucks signed Thomas Vanek last week, the latest veteran to be added to a “rebuilding” team seemingly making a stealth run at being decent this season.

In a funny twist, Vanek and Boeser spent much of the summer skating together.

“Some of the things he does are just shocking,” Boeser said. “He amazed me and he really taught me a lot this summer.

“[Playing] with him would be a tremendous opportunity but right now my goal is just to make the team.”

Many believe Vanek’s arrival could affect Boeser. He’s a rightshot right-winger expected to help score goals on the power play. It sure sounds like Boeser’s role.

Have the Canucks tipped their hand here on where they think Boeser will begin his season? Are they hinting he needs to be faster before he’s a regular? It’s possible.

But it’s been a long time since this organization had a legitimate Calder Trophy candidate, and right now it’s difficult finding a list of rookie-of-the-year picks without Boeser’s name included. If he really is that good, he’s got to play games in Vancouver and a lot of them.

Boeser said he dedicated much of his summer to improving the explosiveness in his first few steps. Was it enough?

“He has a real good selfassessment,” said Ryan Johnson, the Utica Comets’ GM and director of player development.

“He’s an opportunistic skater. He may go at an even pace but when there’s a loose puck he can get to it.

“We just want him to add another full step to his stride to allow him to be able to have that in the north-south part of the game, in the neutral zone. Separation speed. As we know in today’s game, back pressure takes time and space away fast, the more you can separate.

“We’ve addressed those things. We’ve worked with our skating coach in the summer. And he’s focused on the right things to improve to give him a step up this weekend and heading into main camp.”

The skating may be a question, but there aren’t many. Boeser’s aura oozes prime time. It’s the same here among a group of kids, most of whom will never make it, as it was with the Canucks in March.

“I love guys who have some swagger,” said Trent Cull, the Utica Comets head coach running Vancouver’s Young Stars team this weekend.

“I think that stuff is contagious. I want guys I coach to have that swagger because it puts a good vibe out because we want to be a confident team.”