Fighting for his team’s respect
It’s not a job Vannieuwenhuizen necessarily likes, but one he’ll take on
His father is a police officer. Wes Vannieuwenhuizen just plays one for the Vancouver Giants.
With six fights in seven games, the 19-year-old stay-at-home blueliner seems to be relishing his role as his teammates’ personal law enforcement. You do something untoward to a Giant, Vannieuwenhuizen will undoubtedly be arriving on the scene soon, and looking for reprisals.
You can debate the merits of fighting in hockey. You can’t argue with how gut-wrenching the role must be.
In this little stretch, Vannieuwenhuizen has fought three of the nastiest hombres in the WHL in Everett Silvertips defenceman Josh Caron, Spokane Chiefs winger Darren Kramer and Edmonton Oil Kings winger Klarc Wilson.
All told, he has 17 fights in 58 games this season, which, heading into Tuesday’s slate of matchups across the league, put him third in the WHL, five behind front-runner Kramer. It’s one fewer than Vannieuwenhuizen had last season in 64 contests.
“I try not to think about it too much,” said the 6-foot-3, 208-pound Vannieuwenhuizen, of that part of his job description with the Giants.
“It’s not one of the things that’s on my mind going into a game. I know it’s obviously part of my game. I’m one of our bigger guys and I have to fill that role sometimes.
“Sometimes fights come my way. I got asked a couple of times. Other times, I saw one of their guys taking advantage of somebody else. Guys don’t like to see that with their teammates. You always have to stick up for each other and be there for each other. That’s the biggest thing.”
You could argue that he comes
“You always have to stick up for each other and be there for each other. That’s the biggest thing.”
— Defenceman Wes Vannieuwenhuizen
by toughness quite naturally. His father, Len, is a Chilliwack RCMP officer. He was a football player growing up.
“He’s not a huge fan [of fighting], but he understands,” said Vannieuwenhuizen. “He knows sports are physical.”
Coincidence or not, he’s grown out his hair lately, giving him a more wild, off-kilter look. He’s says he’s got better technically, but he doesn’t have anywhere near the pugilistic prowess of say a Milan Lucic or a Garet Hunt when they were with the Giants.
He gets by largely on give-a-damn factor, like he does with most aspects of his game. He’s a penalty killer, he’s a shot blocker, he’s a crease clearer. He has three goals, nine points, and a minus-five rating on the season, but he’s regarded as one of Vancouver’s leaders, and is one of their alternate captains.
That makes perfect sense with this crew that coach Don Hay has taken to calling a “junkyard dog team.”
Their star sniper, Brendan Gallagher, is a smidgen over 5-foot-8. Their goalie, Adam Morrison, couldn’t get into playoff action in his last WHL stay in Saskatoon despite two solid regular seasons and didn’t sign with the Philadelphia Flyers, despite being a third-round draft pick.
“What’s my winning percentage? I don’t know about that,” chuckled Vannieuwenhuizen, knowing full well that he’s been on the wrong end of his share of bouts.
“To me, it’s the showing up. Whenever a guy sticks up for a teammate, I really respect that from a guy,” he said.
That’s a common refrain across hockey. Hunt scored 16 goals over three and a half seasons with the Giants. In many ways, he ran the dressing room during his time there. There were more than a few players who would have followed him into fire had he said that made sense.
“Wes fights the big, established tough guys in the league and he obviously has a lot of jam to be doing that,” said Giants defenceman Brett Kulak, 18.
“Guys look up to him, for sure. If he’s got something to say, it’s important.”