Molino shines in Young Stars victory
PENTICTON Griffen Molino scored a goal on a well executed one-timer. He set up another after deftly winning a puck battle.
And then, in the second period of the Vancouver Canucks opening Young Stars game, Molino skated circles around every Winnipeg Jet skater on the ice. He looked like he could have done it twice, too.
All of it was impressive. None of it was the most impressive moment of Molino’s game. That came early in the first period. The Jets’ giant defenceman, the 6-7 Logan Stanley, lined Molino up for a massive hit. He crashed into the 185-pound forward and something wild happened. He just bounced off him. Molino shrugged off Stanley like a paper airplane hit his shoulder and then proceeded to continue doing what he does better than just about anyone here, and that’s skate.
Molino is fast and on Friday in a 4-2 Canucks win, he was good. He already played a handful of National Hockey League games to end last season after signing with the Canucks.
Could he play some more this fall? It sure looked like it. Other take-aways from Friday: Canucks goalie of the future
■
Thatcher Demko did get beat, but he also stopped two breakaways and seemed to get better as the game went on. Part of it is because he only faced three shots in the first period.
Turns out, Brock Boeser can
■
play. The Canucks’ top prospect did not disappoint, ending Friday’s first period effortlessly outmanoeuvring two Jets defenders before a cross-ice wrist shot that may have produced the save of the game. In the second, Boeser lit up the crossbar, nearly scoring on a 2-on-1.
Vancouver continued to stockpile
■ veterans, signing Scottie Upshall to a professional tryout that coincidentally was announced the same day it was revealed Brendan Gaunce would be out until November, still recovering from shoulder surgery.