Canucks prospects: Wranglers rivalry heats up, Alriksson will get his licks in

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It’s the most recent version of the prospects tracker, the place we tally up the efforts of the Vancouver Canucks’ highest profile prospects:

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Canucks vs. Wranglers

It isn’t a rivalry till one facet punches again.

Having dropped their first three matchups this season towards the conference-leading Wranglers — together with a 3-1 setback on Saturday by which Abbotsford closely outshot Calgary 42-26 — the Canucks stormed the Saddledome on Sunday en path to a 7-2 demolition of their Pacific Division nemesis.

The Canucks had seven completely different goal-scorers within the romp, however the win got here at a value.

Defenceman Jett Woo — who had two assists within the recreation — took a vicious cross-check to the facet of the top from ahead Alex Gallant halfway by means of the second interval, leaving the Canucks’ 2018 second-rounder woozy on the ice and sending Gallant to the showers with a five-minute match penalty.

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Woo would go away the sport and didn’t return.

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The tough stuff doesn’t are available in a vacuum, and Woo — along with his penchant for large hits — has definitely earned the ire of the Wranglers earlier than. Within the second spherical of final yr’s playoffs, he levelled then-Wranglers star Matthew Phillips with a clear hit alongside the boards, beginning a scrum.

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Woo, 23, has been persistently good to date this season. The plus-2 in 17 video games doesn’t actually stand out, however the 6-foot, 205-pound right-shot D-man has been sound positionally, performs on each the facility play and penalty kill and has seven factors (2G, 5A) to date. He needs to be a call-up choice in some unspecified time in the future this season, barring a severe harm suffered on Sunday.

The tawdry historical past between Gallant and the Canucks actually started late final season, when the Wranglers’ robust man laid a questionably excessive hit on Danila Klimovich on April 12 — a 2-0 Canucks win — earlier than defenceman and former Vancouver Giants captain Alex Kannok-Leipert fought Gallant in a take-no-prisoners tussle.

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Earlier than Sunday’s win, the Wranglers had triumphed in seven of the final eight video games towards Abbotsford, together with a 3-1 collection triumph in final yr’s Pacific Division semifinals by which all three wins had been by one aim — together with two in extra time.

Ahead Aatu Raty (1G, 1A) was named the sport’s first star on Sunday, and got here out of the tunnel waving goaltender Nikita Tolopilo‘s persist with acknowledge the Calgary crowd, in addition to the work of his backup goaltender. Tolopilo was strong within the Canucks’ internet, stopping 29-of-31 photographs to enhance his document to 4-3 in his rookie season.

Raty has 5 factors in his final three video games (2G, 3A) and now has 5 objectives, eight assists and a plus-6 mark in 17 video games this season.

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And ahead Linus Karlsson, who had a one-game call-up to Vancouver a pair weeks in the past, additionally notched two factors on Sunday, each assists, to present him eight factors (1G, 7A) in his final six AHL video games. Karlsson, 24, additionally scored the Canucks’ lone aim on Saturday, as a deflected level shot by Filip Johansson went to Karlsson’s stick, who made no mistake from the again submit.

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The Canucks and Wranglers play eight extra instances this season, together with closing the season out with 4 straight video games towards one another.

If this previous weekend was any indication, the rivalry will probably be at fever pitch come playoff time.

The Canucks (11-5-1-0) are in third place within the 10-team Pacific Division and are 4 factors again of the Wranglers, who’ve performed another recreation.

Vilmer Alriksson

You don’t see Canucks defensive prospect Hunter Brzustewicz get upstaged typically this season.

He did so on Saturday taking part in towards fellow Canucks prospect Vilmer Alriksson.

In a rivalry recreation between two of the OHL’s higher groups, it was Alriksson’s Guelph Storm getting the higher of the Midwest Division-leading Kitchener Rangers in an 8-6 slobber-knocker on Friday by which Brzustewicz obtained burned for a minus-3 mark whereas Alriksson notched a stunning help and obtained his licks in in a heavyweight scrap — his first combat this season.

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The man they name ‘Ricky’ in Guelph held his personal towards defenceman Roman Schmidt, with each combatants touchdown a number of heavy blows.

We’ll name it a draw between the 6-foot-8 Alriksson and the 6-foot-5 Schmidt.

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Alriksson, a 2023 fourth-round choose by the Canucks, had maybe the prettiest help of the affair, holding off defenceman Carson Campbell with one arm on an odd-man rush earlier than slipping the puck throughout the crease with the opposite to arrange Jett Luchanko for a 6-5 Storm lead.

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Alriksson has an help in three straight video games to present him 14 factors (6G, 8A) and a plus-1 score in 23 video games this season, his first in North America.

The Canucks preached persistence with the 18-year-old when he was drafted this previous summer time. Alriksson began final season within the Swedish juniors as extra of a finesse-type participant, however began to seek out his identification within the second half and is changing into extra of an influence ahead who performs a two-way recreation.

Saturday’s displaying is what the Canucks need to see out of Alriksson as he continues to adapt to the North American recreation.

Brzustewicz, in the meantime, had an off-night on Saturday, even giving the puck away for the Storm’s first aim of the sport. The 18-year-old, taken within the third spherical in June, additionally had a six recreation level streak (1G, 11A) snapped in Friday’s 4-1 loss to the Owen Sound Assault, by which he went a minus-1.

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Brzustewicz (24GP, 6G, 34A) nonetheless continues to guide all OHL defencemen in factors by a large margin (10 factors up on Owen Sound’s Sam Sedley), whereas trailing teammate Carson Rehkopf by 4 factors for the league-lead in factors.

Brzustewicz’s Plus-15 score is sixth greatest amongst defencemen within the circuit.

Kirill Kudryavtsev

We’re not finished with the OHL simply but.

Not when there’s one other Canucks defensive prospect piling up the factors.

Kirill Kudryavtsev is on one other heater for the Soo Greyhounds, with the 19-year-old left-shot D-man capping a six recreation level streak with an help in an 8-2 thumping of the Bulldogs on Friday night time in Brantford.

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Earlier than going with no level in Sunday’s 5-2 win over the Mississauga Steelheads, Kudryavtsev had eight assists in six video games and went a plus-4 over that stretch, upping his totals to a few objectives, 19 assists and a plus-9 score in 24 video games this season.

The silky clean 2022 seventh-rounder — signed to an entry-level contract by the Canucks in March — has been an offensive drive for the Greyhounds for over two seasons now.

Since coming over from Russia on the age of 17 to play for the Soo, Kudryavtsev’s defensive recreation has grown and he’s turn into rather a lot more durable for forwards to play towards.

Elsewhere: Defenceman Jackson Dorrington (Rd. 6, 2022) had a monster recreation for Northeastern on Sunday, getting a aim, two assists and a plus-5 score in what was by far the most effective recreation of the sophomore’s NCAA profession to date. Dorrington, 19, is a 6-foot-2, 192-pound left-shot D-man who performs a two-way recreation. He has two objectives and three assists in 9 video games this season.

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