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As a Mite player, Brock Boeser was usually the first to volunteer to play goalie. It was a short- lived favorite position however. "Once I realized I didn't like sitting back there and not being able to try and score, I have been a forward ever since." 27 D I D YOU K N OW ? "It's nice to play for something and play with purpose," he said. Canucks Cadence I n f i v e s e a s o n s, B o e s e r a n d t h e Canucks have only made the play- offs once. Injuries have riddled a team that has high expectations among the rabid fan base in this hockey-crazed province. Entering his sixth professional season, Boeser will be looked upon to carry even more of the team's offensive load. "He can change the course of the game. Not many players in the league can do that," Miller said. "He can score goals. He's hard to play against. He has strength. He's t r a n s i t i o n i n g f r o m t h a t s e c o n d , third, fourth year guy to a veteran player. It's a big part of his career. It's a very important time for him and I think he knows what he means to our team and our success." Boeser is aware of the outside pres- sures. He looks forward to deleting his Twitter handle at the start of each season, not to avoid the criticism, but to remain focused on the game that's given him so much. " T h e r e 's d e f i n i t e l y p r e s s u r e , always, but you just kind of have to put it to the side and control what you can control," he said. "I've taken that approach in hock- ey and life. I always say during the season to reporters, that I like to take things a day at a time, and I don't like to look at past situations. I like to learn from them and move on, so that's kind of how I handle that." P Jessi Pierce is a freelance writer and podcast host covering the NHL in St. Paul, Minn. "Honestly, I don't really know how I did it still to this day," Boeser said of competing, helping the U.S. to a third-place finish with six goals and eight points in five games. "I still don't understand why I didn't come home. I think I knew it was an important week and my family and friends told me to stay there and play. It's still the toughest week of my life to this day. Being 16 and not having any of my close friends there or anything, it was tough. I don't know how I did it but I just tried to take it a day at a time and focus on the hockey part. " When I played those games, it helped me a lot. I think that's why I had success there. You just stop thinking about everything that's going on when you get on the ice. It made it that much easier to compete. We got bronze that tournament, so it was a good experience for the hockey part, but outside of that it wasn't the greatest experience." The knobs of Boeser's sticks read: 8.6.14 (the date of the accident), TA 6 (Ty Aleya, No. 6), CB 20 (Cole B, No. 20), TP 7 and MB 31 (the other two involved in the accident), along with Gma2 Gp2 6 with a cross for his grandparents and another 6 for Duke. Yeah, Boeser identifies with No. 6 a lot. Brock Boeser is one of a growing number of talented American forwards in the mix to earn a roster spot with Team USA at the 2022 Olympic WInter Games in Beijing.