After spending a couple of years wandering the junior hockey map, Mitch Crisanti has finally found a place where he can let his talents shine for a championship contending team.
As it turns out, he’s right back where he started. There’s no place like home, they always say.
The North Vancouver native came up in the North Shore Winter Club system and then put up strong numbers for the powerhouse Vancouver Northwest Giants of the B.C. Major Midget League before setting out on what he thought would be a dynamite junior career. It didn’t exactly work out that way. Crisanti played one full season with the Junior A Alberni Valley Bulldogs of the BCHL before beginning a hockey odyssey during the 2013-14 season that saw him bounce from Powell River to Victoria of the BCHL with a Junior B stint in Campbell River. Twice he was traded to teams that he never actually suited up for in a regular season game. The breaking point came when the Cowichan Capitals traded Crisanti to the Dauphin Kings. That’s Manitoba, in case you were heading to Google Maps to find Dauphin.
“I wasn’t interested in going,” says Crisanti, adding that he wasn’t too shocked by the move. “It happens all the time, to be honest with you. Lots of guys get traded out there, and even farther. It’s just kind of a part of it. You just have to kind of take it how you want. I didn’t want to go, so that was that.”
Crisanti bounced around a little more before Matt Samson, head coach of the Junior B North Van Wolf Pack, finally tracked him down and swung a deal to bring him home during the middle of last season. Crisanti, still brimming with talent, joined a team that was on the rise in the PJHL but took a little while to become a leader of the Pack, says Samson.
“Last year it took him a little bit to get in,” he says. “He was still frustrated because he wasn’t where he wanted to be, which is a totally natural thing.”
Soon enough, however, the frustration turned into domination as Crisanti stepped up his game in the playoffs, leading the team with seven goals while tying for the team lead with 12 points in 10 games. The Wolf Pack lost in the second round to the Richmond Sockeyes but it wasn’t for lack of effort, particularly from the new kid.
“Last year he was our best player in the playoffs,” says Samson. “He’s a threat every time he’s on the ice.”
This year the big winger has flourished, as has the team. If the Wolf Pack wins one of its final two regular season games it’ll lock up first place for the first time in franchise history. Crisanti scored his 31st goal of the season in a 7-1 win over the Grandview Steelers Jan. 24, breaking North Van’s club record for goals in season set by Quin Buckellew in 2012-13. He’s up to 32 now with two more games to go.
Crisanti has parked himself on the top line all season alongside star centre Spencer Quon and speedy captain Brodyn Nielsen. All three are in the top-10 for points in the league, with Crisanti sitting in a tie for second with 61 in 39 games. Quon is right behind in fifth spot with 59 in 36 games. Crisanti gives a lot of credit to his linemates for helping him put up big numbers.
“Brodyn is super fast and he works really hard. (And) being a shooter, having Spencer as my centreman — he’s hands down the best passer in this league,” says Crisanti. “He could play in the BCHL and be a top notch centre in that league. He’s an unbelievable player. It’s really a privilege to play with him.”
As for the goal scoring record, Crisanti says he’s got bigger goals to shoot for.
“I’m not really concerned about that — I’m more concerned about the win column and the loss column,” he says. The Pack will be looking for their first league championship once the playoffs start next week. “I think we’re in a good spot. I think we’ve got a lot of depth, we’ve got four lines that we can play all the time and six real good D. I think we have the best D in the league and I think we have a real good chance of making some noise in the playoffs. . . . I think we’re the best team in the league and I think we can beat anyone on any night. We’ve strung together a lot of wins in a lot of different ways. We can blow teams out or we can grind out wins 2-1.”
Much of the credit for that success should go to Crisanti, says Samson.
“The guys love him in the room. He’s good with the young guys,” he says. “He definitely wants to win, it’s his last year. That’s the type of attitude that we need. The other guys see that he wants to win really badly as a 20-year-old.”
It’s not the path that Crisanti envisioned when he jumped into the junior hockey world. He didn’t know much about the Wolf Pack when Samson picked him up, aside from the presence of Spencer and his twin brother Dyllan Quon, a standout defenceman on the team.
“I knew they were good players, and I knew it was five minutes from my house,” says Crisanti with a laugh. “As it turns out, Matt has added some real solid pieces this year and we’ve got a really good team. It was a nice fit.”
Crisanti is hoping to complete the homecoming by bringing the Wolf Pack its first title.
“That would be unbelievable,” he says. “I know this team has been through a lot and some of the guys, like the Quons, have been here for four years and I know their first two years weren’t the most fun to be on. I know that this would be a huge accomplishment for this organization.”
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The Wolf Pack will look to clinch first place this week when they travel to Richmond Arena to take on the second-place Sockeyes Thursday. The final game of the regular season will be Saturday night, 7 p.m. against the Grandview Steelers at Harry Jerome Recreation Centre.
