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“I don’t know if I have the words for it,” he told reporters. “It’s a great feeling. I’m just happy.”

And he should be. So should the Canucks.

The remarkable resilience by the 28-year-old Nilsson — his shutouts were 14-save efforts against France and Austria and 41 saves against the U.S. in the semifinal — has put the Canucks’ crowded-crease conundrum back on the front-burner.

Was Nilsson really that good? Or did the larger international ice surface, where more shots come from a distance and there’s more time to recover after initial shots put him off balance, keep the 6-foot-6 goalie from being exposed?

In the final, he finished with 25 saves, including a pair of Kevin Fiala in overtime, before stopping four of five attempts in the shootout.

“I’m just excited for him to finish off the year like that,” Canucks goalie coach Dan Cloutier said Monday. “It’s a huge accomplishment. There was a lot of pressure on him and he’s going to be more positive in the summer and that’s going to make his workouts better.

“We all get to the point where we have to take the next step and he’s there now. I’m not using it as an excuse, but it takes time to adjust to a new team and people underestimate a baby during the season, too. All of a sudden, your practice habits aren’t the same.

“And now we have people knocking at the door, too. (Jacob) Markstrom and (Thatcher) Demko have taken huge steps and Nilsson just finished on a high. They’re all going to have good summers and come to camp and then we’ll see what happens.”