Simmer’s Skate: Canucks Prospects Face-off, BC Boys Big

Vancouver Canucks 2022 1st-round NHL Draft pick Jonathan Lekkerimaki will play for a bronze medal with his Swedish teammates Saturday afternoon against the Czech Republic. The youngest player on the roster, recently turned 18, Lekkermaki mustered one shot-on-goal in exactly 10-minutes of play in a 1-0 loss to Finland in a Friday semi-final.

That result means Vancouver Canucks 2020 3rd-rounder Joni Jurmo will be playing for Gold against Canada in Saturday evening’s championship game. A 20-year-old left shot defenceman, Jurmo had one shot-on-goal in 13:41 of action against the Swedes.

The Sweden/Czech Bronze Medal game begins at 1 pm pacific, the Gold Medal match at 5 pm.

BC Canada Contributions

British Columbia boys played the biggest part in Canada’s dispatching of the Czechs in the other semi-final. Port Moody’s Kent Johnson opened the scoring and added two assists as Team Canada took a 4-0 lead after two periods before going on to win 5-2.

North Vancouver’s Connor Bedard scored the second goal of the game, Kamloops native Logan Stankoven the third after he picked up a helper.

Stankoven’s Kamloops Blazers teammate, goalie Dylan Garand from Victoria, made 30 saves in back-stopping the victory.

“We were not completely satisfied with our second period, and we knew we needed to have a stronger third period to finish off the game,” Garand told the media postgame. “I thought we cleaned up some things and played better in the third despite giving up a couple goals. Overall, we played well and it is a great feeling. Ever since my first year at World Juniors when we lost to the United States in the gold medal game, I have been waiting for this day to come. It is exciting to be in this moment, but we know the toughest test is still to come.”

Garand has a 92.2% save percentage and a goals against of 2.00.

Stankoven is tied for 5th in overall tournament scoring with nine points, with Bedard and Johnson one point behind. Their teammate, OHLer and nine-game NHL’er (Anaheim Ducks) Mason McTavish, leads the WJC with 15 points.