VANCOUVER – Last season, when his broken hand was nothing compared to the pain in his heart and doubts in his head, Brock Boeser didn’t score his fourth goal for the Vancouver Canucks until Dec. 3. It was his 19th game.
Wednesday, on opening night, Boeser scored his fourth goal of the season at 5:43 of the third period as the Canucks stunned the Edmonton Oilers – and pretty much everyone else in the National Hockey League – by winning 8-1 at Rogers Arena.
The teams play again Saturday night in Edmonton.
“I couldn’t have pictured a start like this ever, especially after the last couple of seasons,” Boeser said Friday before the Canucks flew east to begin a difficult five-game trip. “But I’m really trying to reset right now, and I’m trying to forget about it. Our line needs to continue to play well and keep pushing our team, lead our team and shut down those top lines when we’re out against them. I think if we can focus on that, the rest of it will come.”
Anyone with a heart by now knows the emotional anguish Boeser endured the last two seasons over the illness and death of his father, Duke, and the son’s guilt and anger that followed. Some fans are probably tired of hearing about it. Like, everybody hurts. All of us at some point deal with loss and grief.
But few have had to deal with mourning as publicly as Boeser did. You didn’t need to ask how the Minnesotan was feeling because you could see it: he was a ghost on the ice a lot of nights the last two years when the “scoring” winger managed just 41 goals in 145 games.
All of that is now the prelude to all of what comes next for Boeser, which is why his four goals, a couple pure skill and a couple pure luck, could be the re-launch of the rest of his career.
Saturday is his 400th NHL game.
“It just starts with a clear headspace,” Boeser said. “I think that’s most of it. If you have a job out there and you’re not motivated and you don’t love it, it’s hard to wake up and get ready and go to work every day. You don’t have that mindset of wanting to get better and motivating yourself. But when you have something you love and you feel that hunger, it’s exciting.
“I think mindset is a big part of whatever we do in life, and I think just changing that mindset and feeling these feelings again (about hockey) has really given me a breath of fresh air.”
After publicly rescinding the trade request he made last winter at the depth of his unhappiness, Boeser told Sportsnet in April that he had made peace with his father’s passing. He no longer resented the game, but had rediscovered his love for it.
“Just really took a step back and realized this was my dad’s dream and my dream to play in the NHL,” he explained then. “Why am I holding it against … why am I angry?”
That was the turning point for Boeser, he said. But he still had to get to work trying to become not just the scorer he has always wanted to be, but the kind of player that new Canucks coach Rick Tocchet wants.
“I really liked Brock a lot but I didn’t know him as a person,” Tocchet said Friday. “Last year, did I want more from him? Did he frustrate me? Yes, he did. But what he did this summer to be the person he wants to be, on and off the ice, is something I really respect.
“We challenged him on wall play — his body position. His body position last year I didn’t feel was up to par. If he wants to play 17 or 18 minutes and he wants to be that player, I felt his body position wasn’t up to par. And he took that to his summer workouts, and then came into the camp and applied those things. I saw twice (on Wednesday) where he used his body position to shield the guy and win the puck battle for us to get the puck out. Yeah, the goals were great. Being in front of the net, which I asked him to be, was great. But it was those plays (along the boards) that for me it was like, ‘Hey, this guy is trying to be the player that we want him to be.’ And he wants to be that guy.”
Besides scoring four times, Boeser screened Edmonton goalies on two other goals.
“I think I was happier that I screened the goalie,” he said Friday. “I really worked hard this summer and I pushed myself. Still, going into the season, I didn’t score any pre-season goals or anything so I was just like, you know, ‘I want to score.’ Scoring those goals gave me confidence. I just feel those feelings again like I can score. I feel confident.”
Boeser said he began his off-season workouts on May 1, earlier than normal, and significantly changed his training routine. He worked in Minnesota with performance coach Tommy Powers, a former player and NHL strength coach who has degrees in kinesiology and nutrition. Boeser gave up ‘Da Beauty League,’ a summer league for pros and college players based in the Twin Cities, and focussed on improving strength and agility. He lost “two or three” pounds and got leaner.
“We had some turf days, we had some hill days,” Boeser said. “Just stuff I haven’t done in the past.”
Tocchet said after Wednesday’s game that Boeser looks quicker.
He has been playing since training camp began with centre J.T. Miller and winger Phil Di Giuseppe on a line that Tocchet plans to match against the opposition’s top forwards. Against the Oilers, the trio outscored Connor McDavid’s line 3-0 at five-on-five.
“I came back and I didn’t have anything bothering me,” Boeser said. “I took care of my body this summer. It was a long summer of training, starting May 1. By about mid-August, I was itching to get back and get ready. I was raring to go.”
“I didn’t know what kind of person Brock Boeser was,” Tocchet said when asked about his initial impressions of Boeser when the Canucks changed coaches last January. “I felt this was a guy where there was more. But having talks with him and understanding his situation — his father was on his deathbed and he’s playing hockey and missing time with his dad — it takes me back. I lost my mom when I was coaching (in Arizona). Yeah, you’re a coach, but you’re also a person. I understood that.
“He needed to have that grief and come to peace with that. He came to terms that his dad’s in heaven and watching him play. And Brock wants to be the best Brock Boeser.”
– After playing with 17 skaters on Wednesday, the Canucks practised Friday with emergency callup Jack Studnicka and injured defenceman Carson Soucy. Tocchet said Soucy (knee) is close to playing, but defenceman Guillaume Brisebois (upper body) and centre Teddy Blueger (leg) are out week to week. The coach is eager to see how his team follows up its 8-1 win.
“This is a big test for us,” he said. “What kind of team are we? Are we going in there fat and happy or are we going to be uncomfortable? I played a lot of hockey games; I used to laugh (when people said) ‘Oh, my god, the other team’s going to come out flying.’ Well, why can’t we come out flying? Of course they’re going to come out flying. Do we back up? No, we’ve got to come out flying, too.”