PENTICTON – The Winnipeg Jets look for another win at the 2024 Young Stars Classic as they face the tournament host Vancouver Canucks at 4 pm CT at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
The Jets rookies beat Calgary on Friday 4-3 in overtime thanks to the heroics of Dmitry Kuzmin. Head coach Mark Morrison liked a lot of what he saw from his group in the opener.
“I thought the game went in motion. Like the first period we were really good, the next thing you know, the second period I thought they (Calgary) took the momentum away from us,” said Morrison.
“In the third we got it back a little bit so that’s expected but we just want to even things out and make sure we are playing the same all the time. A lot of mistakes in the second period and their forecheck kind of got to us and we started to get sloppy. But it’s early and that’s expected but we got it back in the third so that was important.”
There will be some lineup changes for today’s game against the Canucks starting with Dominic DiVincentiis in goal and Ben Zloty, Carson Golder, Ben King, Mark Liwiski and Luke Mistelbacher getting their first chance this weekend.
2023 first round pick, Colby Barlow had a solid night on Friday assisting on the game winning goal in overtime. The Ontario product says he feels much more comfortable to start the Young Stars Classic then he did a year ago.
“Definitely have more confidence, you kind of know everybody in the room, you know the staff, you know everybody around you well now,” said Barlow.
“It gives you confidence when you’re going into these things. First time around you’re kind of meeting everybody, getting to know everybody can be kind of daunting. But this time around it’s a great feeling.”
Barlow played the first game with Brad Lambert and Kevin He; he will have different linemates this afternoon which he enjoys as he tries to get more chemistry with more players in the organization.
“Yeah, 100 per cent. Playing with all kinds of different players, it’s good to have it’s good to learn off each other,” said Barlow.
“We just try to make each other better, it’s great when you are able to interact and play with all the players.”
A player that is perfect for making teammates comfortable is Dylan Anhorn who is known for keeping things light in the dressing room and on the bench, the 23-year-old Calgary native also enjoys the leadership part of the game especially with the younger players on the Jets roster.
“That’s a big part of it, no doubt. You want to have conversations with them, maybe ask them how they felt a little bit and then give your feedback as well too,” said Anhorn.
“I think we have such a great group of guys, credit to management for bringing in such incredible people as well as players. So, it makes it easy and just trying to help out whenever I can."
The Jets have had some interesting game times at this event they played at 4 pm local time on Friday, 2 pm today and they will finish the tournament with an 11 am start on Monday.
“It makes a difference no doubt. There usually is not a morning skate, usually a meal or two in the morning versus three throughout the day trying to prep, carb load right,” said Anhorn.
“It’s definitely an adjustment but in pro hockey that happens all the time there is Sunday matinee, two o’clock games. Every once in a while, games at noon. You gotta get used to it, adjust your routine and go from there.”
