The Canucks completed their sweep at the Young Stars Classic in Penticton with a pair of come-from-behind performances on Sunday and Monday.
The players came together with different experience levels, some from Junior, some who have played a few AHL games and a veteran group who have played with Abbotsford for one season or more.
It is everyone’s first games back from the offseason and the group had a short timeframe to learn the systems, and continued to build and work on different aspects of the game as the weekend progressed.
Head Coach Manny Malhotra liked how his group built on each game throughout the tournament and was able to stay poised under pressure.
“Having some veteran guys in the lineup really helped in that regard. I thought as the weekend went on, we found our game a little bit more and more and recognized what worked for us in those games,” Malhotra said. “The resiliency of the group to find a way to get to our game and just kind of get out of that hole and take advantage of the game or take control of the game was a real positive for me.”
Ebbs and flows are to be expected during the first few games together and playing in a new system. Canucks forward Aatu Räty was pleased with the wins and felt like the team showed a lot of character battling back against Winnipeg and Calgary.
“Feels good. I feel like we did a good job as a team with the new coaches and a lot of new guys in the short time that we had. We stayed dialed and played the system and that got us the wins,” Räty said.
The 21-year-old said that during off-day practice and pre-game skates, the group worked on being quicker with their breakouts and their defensive zone coverage, specifically having the forward play the high-three to allow the defencemen to stay closer to the net.
Keeping that in mind during the game and focusing on the next play helped them take the lead against both the Jets and the Flames.
“You put up a couple good shifts together, the whole bench gets momentum, the team gets momentum, and the coaches were doing a good job,” he said.
As part of the Canucks leadership group, wearing the ‘A’ on his jersey, Räty led by example over the weekend. A comeback requires taking stock of your game and dialing it in, and the 6-foot-2 forward felt everyone took ownership and stepped up their game when they needed to.
“I feel like everybody knew what they were doing, it’s not like I had to go out there and tell them anything. I just tried to show leadership on the ice and do the best I could and be pretty vocal out there and on the bench and try to have everyone going, but nothing crazy, obviously everyone did their job great,” Räty said.
With the tournament wrapped up, Räty has a short recovery period before training camp kicks off on Thursday. The Canucks’ prospect aims to carry the momentum from the Young Stars Classic into camp as he prepares to compete against top NHL talent.
