Virtanen’s patience is getting a good workout
They say patience is a virtue.
Jake Virtanen will also tell you it’s hard.
The joy of cracking the seasonopening roster of the Vancouver Canucks has been tempered by the fact Virtanen is one of the odd men out.
He is expected to sit out as a healthy scratch for the second straight game when the Canucks play their home-opener tonight against the Calgary Flames at Rogers Arena.
“It is part of the process, right, so you just have to go with it,” Virtanen, the 19-year-old Abbotsford native, said after Friday’s practice.
“But you want to get in the lineup as quick as possible. I want to get in there and get my first game. The guys played good last game and they deserve it, so you just have to wait your turn and hopefully I can get in the next game.”
Coach Willie Desjardins was not in a mood to change anything after the Canucks opened the season Wednesday with a 5-1 win over the Flames in Calgary. At Friday’s practice, it looked like Virtanen and defenceman Yannick Weber were once again going to be the two healthy scratches.
Desjardins said he plans to get Virtanen into the lineup sometime soon.
“What I have told our guys is that I believe everyone that is here can play,” he said. “It’s not that I am worried about putting a guy in the lineup. If you put a guy in, that means you take somebody out. If you take somebody out it’s hard for them; it’s like, well, I am not playing that good or whatever. But Jake will get into the lineup somewhere along the line. We’ll find a spot for him and when he does I know he will play hard.”
Virtanen said he found himself in a similar situation when he began his junior career with the Calgary Hitmen.
“Yeah, when I was 16 I got scratched about 10 games or so,” he said. “So I have been through this before. You want to be in the lineup and helping the team win and you want to be a team guy and it’s tough … you just have to stay calm and go out there and work hard.” PRIOR HISTORY: Desjardins conceded that Jacob Markstrom’s hamstring injury may change his goaltending rotation, but stressed he has lots of confidence in Utica call-up Richard Bachman.
“I have coached him before (with the Texas Stars),” Desjardins said. “When the Oilers went on a pretty good run near the end of last year he was the guy that was playing well. He is a real good person and a real competent goaltender.”
SPECIAL GUESTS: Rookie defenceman Ben Hutton will have his parents, Janet and Jim, in from Ontario at tonight’s game.
“They are pumped up,” Hutton said. “They are very excited.”
Hutton hopes he will be a little more calm for the start of tonight’s game. He acknowledged being a bundle of nerves before the puck dropped in Wednesday’s season-opener in Calgary.
“I was sitting on the bench and my leg was just shaking before the first shift,” Hutton said.
“Hammer ( Dan Hamhuis) just turned to me and put his hand on my leg and gave me a look like, you are going to be OK, don’t worry. It was a small thing, but it makes a big difference.”