Canucks Jake Virtanen talks about being blamed for loss at WJC


Virtanen had a nightmare tournament. He finished with a lone assist in five games, and led the team in penalty minutes (10). Six of those minutes came in Saturday's loss, including four late in the game, when Virtanen was issued slashing and tripping minors on the same play.


Virtanen said:

It's hard coming back from losing out there. We are a strong team, we just couldn't put it together for the win. It's social media, people can say whatever they want to, but I believe we did good just couldn't put the pieces together to get the win.

Hockey Canada president and CEO Tom Renney lamented Canada's lack of discipline at the tournament. Canada allowed seven power-play goals and finished with a 58.8 percent "success" rate on the penalty kill.

Renney said Canada could have gone further with a more mature team. And it was Virtanen, who cracked the Canucks lineup this season, who was supposed to bring maturity to the Canadian squad. The Canucks, meanwhile, are sticking by Virtanen, and are looking forward to having him back: