Canucks Prospects Aleksei Medvedev, Aku Koskenvuo, and Ty Young join Canucks Insider Podcast host Chris Faber to talk about their most recent seasons, development camp, and their training plans this summer.
Medvedev’s last year has been one for the books after winning the Memorial Cup with the OHL’s London Knights and being drafted 47th overall to Vancouver. Being immersed in a winning culture, where he’s pushing himself and his teammates to get better every day has been a great learning experience for him.
“It was such a special year for our group. And just that experience of being on that Memorial Cup winning team, I was so lucky to be there,” Medvedev said. “To learn from those guys, and they're great players, even better people, too. So, you know, just kind of seeing how the locker room looks like, how guys behave and stuff like that, how they're off the ice on the ice so that's great learning, and I hope to bring it here, just that winning culture.”
He’s hoping to defend the Knights’ title and he’s working on his strength and conditioning over the summer to be able to take on a bigger workload next season.
Medvedev got to meet Canucks’ goalie coach Marko Torenius at development camp, enjoying his coaching style and Torenius’ perspective. Medvedev took the opportunity to ask Torenius about his favourite goaltender growing up (Igor Shesterkin) who is one of the many under Torenius’ tutelage.
Ty Young and Aku Koskenvuo joined the podcast to talk about what they’ve learned from Torenius as both of them participated in their fourth development camp. They talk about their love of the Canucks fanbase, the city, and what it means to be part of the organization.
Koskenvuo decided he wanted to continue his education and play high level hockey, so he took his talents to Harvard. He finished his sophomore season posting a .902 save percentage and 2.81 goals against average through 20 games. He skated with the Abbotsford Canucks through part of their playoff run to the Calder Cup and was grateful to experience another level of hockey.
“The pro environment, everyone's so dialed in with the small details, I think that was the biggest difference. A super welcoming group of guys. I think it was the 13th game [of the playoffs] when I got in there, so it was great watching great hockey, all the coaches, all the players, you know, great guys,” Koskenvuo said.
Young looked back at his first pro season in the ECHL and the AHL and what it takes to make the jump from junior hockey to the pros. He won his first career start with the Kalamazoo Wings, stopping 38 of 39 shots he faced, and played in just two ECHL games before being called up to Abbotsford. His first career AHL win was in November as the Canucks beat the Bakersfield Condors 4-2.
“Right from the start, I had a decent first game in the Coast (ECHL), and then that set the tone for the season – prove to myself that I could do it. So, I took it from there and then was fortunate to get the opportunities I did in the A(HL) and tried to take advantage of those as well. It was just a great year for development and I’m grateful for opportunity,” Young said.
They also looked back on how they got into goaltending. Young, a little brother, and Koskenvuo, the youngest in his neighbourhood, both being relegated to net by older siblings and friends. They talk about their earliest role models which include Roberto Luongo, Miikka Kiprusuoff and Carey Price for Young and Tuukka Rask, Pekka Rinne, and Jacob Markström for Koskenvuo.
Watch the latest episode here:
