Six Vancouver Canucks players are currently in Slovakia for the World Hockey Championship. Let’s check in and see how they’re all doing thus far in the tournament.
The wish for every Vancouver Canucks fan is to watch the team’s players compete in the playoffs at this time of year, rather than the World Hockey Championship tournament. Unfortunately, the Canucks missed the playoffs this year. At least we still get to watch our favourite players play hockey still?
The World Hockey Championship is an interesting tournament. You’ve got teams such as Canada, Sweden, and the United States who are gunning for gold, then you’ve got teams like Great Britain and Italy (shout out to all my Italians out there) who are simply trying not to avoid relegation and compete in the tournament the following year.
It leads to some games that are rather lopsided, but near the end, it leads to some entertaining hockey. Let’s check in and see how the teams with Canucks representation on them have been doing thus far.
Troy Stecher — Canada
Troy Stecher was ecstatic to get the invite to the WHC. Any time a player gets to represent their country, it’s an opportunity very few will pass up. Stecher scored his first goal of the tournament on Monday, in a 6-5 Canada win over the host Slovakia. Here is “Troy from Richmond’s goal”
https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/1128027498510409728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nhl.com%2Fcanucks%2Fnews%2Fvancouver-canucks-iihf-world-championship%2Fc-307404360
“Put it to the net and good things happen,” Stecher said. Through the first three games for Canada, Stecher has a goal and an assist. This morning, he went on Sportsnet 650 and said the following about the experience of playing in the tournament:
"“It has been amazing, it’s a little different playing on the bigger ice surface but we feel the team is getting better everyday.”"
Stecher also doesn’t mind playing along defence partner Thomas Chabot, who, according to Stecher, plays a similar type of game to Canucks’ defenceman, Quinn Hughes.
"“I am playing with Thomas Chabot right now, kind of similar to Quinn Hughes. You can be more creative with the bigger ice and you can see the skill on individual players blossom.”"
Canada currently sits fourth in Group A with a record of 2-1. They will face France tomorrow morning at 7:15 AM.