Canucks’ Boeser back where it all began

GAME DAY: VANCOUVER AT MINNESOTA, 5 P.M.

ST. PAUL, Minnesota — 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.” That is going to change. When Boeser’s new coach was asked this week how he scored all his goals, Travis Green winced just a little. I mean Boeser only has two. 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,” 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. Boeser has only played 15 NHL games.

On Monday, he returned “home.” It’s here where it all started and it’s here where 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. Oh, and his grandmother.

There were these images of him that night embracing her.

“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.”

And nothing may ever match it. But today is the encore, and what a curtain call it’s setting up to be. When Boeser hits the Xcel Energy Center 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.

His off-season determination to get quicker, notably his first step or two, has seemed to help make up some 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.”

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.

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 accident. His mom worked multiple jobs to support the family. Not playing a couple games?

“He’s a pretty mature kid, he’s been through a lot in his life,” said Troy Stecher, a college and pro teammate. “This is one of those times where I just told him to relate this to life. You’ve overcome so much.”