Virtanen gets ticket punched to ancestral land
Winger on loan to Canada for world juniors in Finland
TORONTO• It was supposed to be a two- day road trip. But when Jake Virtanen sat down to pack, he grabbed the biggest suitcase he could find and stuffed it with enough clothes to last a month.
After all, you never know when your bus ride back to Utica will turn into a flight to Finland.
“I packed a decent amount of stuff, just in case,” said Virtanen, a native of Abbotsford, B.C. “My mom helped me, so that’s got to help a little bit.”
The extra clothes will come in handy. Shortly after helping the Utica Comets come from behind and defeat the Toronto Marlies 5- 4 in overtime on Sunday, the Vancouver Canucks announced that Virtanen would be loaned to Team Canada for the world junior championship.
The team leaves for Helsinki on Monday afternoon, now with a player who carries Finnish dual citizenship and who might have been representing the U.S. had his father not accidentally hopped on a flight to Canada many years ago.
“When my dad was really young, they wanted to come to Vancouver, Wash., and they booked the wrong tickets,” said Virtanen, who has the Finnish coat of arms tattooed on his forearm. “They ended up going to Vancouver and ended up liking it there.
“My dad will probably be the most excited to be able to go back to his home country.”
On a day when Canada cut four players — forwards Michael Dal Colle, Pierre- Luc Dubois, Spencer Watson and defenceman Jakob Chychrun — adding a returning player to the 27-man roster who had been playing in the NHL this season was “an added bonus,” according to head coach Dave Lowry.
The team has until Dec. 19 to accept more NHL players, but it seems unlikely that St. Louis’ Robby Fabbri, Vancouver’s Jared McCann or anyone else will be added. But for Virtanen, whose NHL career is now on hiatus, being loaned is hardly bittersweet.
“Vancouver can always call me up after,” said Virtanen, who had no points in two games for the Comets. “To represent your country is always an honour. Last year was a pretty crazy experience for me … winning a gold medal, I want to be able to do that again this year.”
The 19- year- old had been on a two- game conditioning stint in the minors following a hip pointer problem. But with only one goal and three assists this season, his game was in need of a tune- up. Playing in a best- on- best tournament could provide that.
“We felt this was an opportunity for him to get a lot of playing time,” Canucks general manager Jim Benning told reporters, adding no decision had been made on McCann.
With Virtanen added to the roster, Canada has four returning players ( Lawson Crouse, Joe Hicketts and Brayden Point are the others) from the 2015 team that won gold. Virtanen had only one goal and four points in that tournament, but he should have a more prominent role — potentially as a captain — this time around.
“Adding Jake to our roster brings another layer of leadership and experience t hat will benefit the team and our younger players who are going to look to Jake, Lawson, Joe and Brayden as we move along through the championship,” said Hockey Canada vice-president of hockey operations Scott Salmond.
Curtis Lazar, who captained Canada’s 2015 world junior team, and Anthony Duclair were both loaned from their NHL teams for last year’s tournament.
“It would be pretty special,” Virtanen said of possibly following Lazar as captain. “I mean, there’s a lot of good leaders on that team. A lot of returning guys that could deserve it. It would obviously be a huge honour to wear that.”
Either way, a lot more will be expected of the 2014 sixthoverall pick, who scored 45 goals in his draft year.
A top line featuring Dylan Strome, Mitch Marner and Crouse has already been established. But Virtanen is likely to play amongst the top six, possibly on a line with Point and Anthony Beauvillier, who had a hat trick in Sunday’s exhibition game.
“He brings size, skill and a heavy shot,” Point said of Virtanen. “He is a physical player so he brings it all for a team. He is a good guy to have.”