North Van Wolf Pack captain Brodyn Nielsen has a heck of a playoff beard considering the postseason began a little more than a week ago.
In fact, the beard is a little too good. Those who have been watching the high flying forward all season know that he’s actually been growing it for much of the year. They’ll also know that the 20-year-old has been playing full-speed playoff type hockey for most of the year too. The beard, in fact, is more than just a trendy fashion statement.
“This is my last year so I thought, like, playoff mentality the whole time,” Nielsen told the North Shore News.
Fair enough.
Nielsen did play a big role in helping the Wolf Pack win the PJHL regular season title, and he has kept on scoring now that it’s full-on beard season for everyone. Nielsen is tied for the league lead with five playoff goals in three games, adding three assists as the Pack has taken a 3-0 lead over the Delta Ice Hawks heading into Game 4 scheduled for tonight at the Ladner Leisure Centre. One more win would put North Van into the conference finals for the second straight year, a position that Nielsen could hardly dream of the last time he played for the Wolf Pack.
Nielsen is the last player left on the Wolf Pack who suited up for the team when it was still based in Squamish. He was a local top prospect — born in Langley but living in Squamish since age five — and at the age of 15 was already getting a shot with the junior B squad as an affiliate player. He played nine games over two seasons in Squamish and then moved with the club when the Wolf Pack came to North Van in 2011, scoring 38 points in 41 games during the 2011-12 season.
During that time he was drafted by the Western Hockey League’s Saskatoon Blades and ended up on the roster of the Vancouver Giants, playing 15 games in the WHL. Junior A stops in Chilliwack, Trail and Whitecourt, Alta. followed over the next two seasons as Nielsen bounced around without ever finding a secure spot.
Nielsen put a positive spin on his years spent searching for a hockey home.
“It was kind of an up and down time for me,” he said. “I got to meet a lot of new people, got a lot of experience in different leagues, learned a bunch of different things
from coaches.”
The travels ended when he was traded to a team in Manitoba. Nielsen isn’t exactly sure what team it was.
“Honestly, I don’t even remember,” he said. “I thought that was a little far away from home as a 20-year-old. I decided to come play a season here with my buddies, live at home, work with my dad.”
That’s how he ended up back on the Wolf Pack for his final junior season. And things look a lot different now than they did back in Squamish.
His first short stint with the Wolf Pack was during a season in which the team won 16 games and finished last in their conference. The next year the team won six games.
“The six wins — some pretty bad seasons,” said Nielsen with a chuckle when asked what he remembered about those early Wolf Pack days. He came back this year to a much different Wolf Pack team, and with him on board things look even better. At the start of the year head coach Matt Samson had several star candidates to be the team’s captain but in the end the decision to give Nielsen the C was a relatively easy one.
“Everybody was on board,” said Samson. “With his experience playing at different levels — the WHL, B.C. Junior, Alberta Junior — and just knowing the type of kid he is, he’s a quiet leader. He’s vocal when he needs to be but a lot of his talking is done on the ice. . . . He’s going to command a lot of respect.”
Samson said Nielsen’s calling card when he was a major junior prospect was as a hard-hitting energy guy. Now back at the junior B level he’s a skill guy — one of the fastest players in the league — but Samson wants him to keep that rough edge as well.
“We’re looking to him for offence, but I wanted him to take those parts of his game that got him to the Western League — the speed, the bodychecking, the back checking, all the little thing that got him to that level — if he could incorporate that it would just help him become more of a complete player. That’s what we need him to do for the playoffs, and he’s definitely done that so far. . . . I know as a 20-year-old this wasn’t where he envisioned himself, but he’s a great hockey player and we’re happy to have him here for sure.”
The feeling is mutual. Nielsen is having his most productive season by far as a junior player and is on a team that is a serious title contender.
“When I was 16 we didn’t even have a sniff at playoffs. This is completely different mentality here,” he said. “I’m really happy with my decision. Great group of guys, great organization here. . . . From top to bottom it’s unbelievable. It helps coming in first in the league and having a strong start to the playoffs here.”
And how would it feel to wrap it all up with a championship win?
“That’d be the biggest dream come true,” he said. “To get the boys and Dean (owner Dean Samson) and Matt a championship, to go all the way would be just unbelievable.”
• • •
If Delta wins Game 4 the Wolf Pack will host Game 5 on Saturday starting at 7 p.m. at Harry Jerome Recreation Centre. The winner of the series will meet the winner of Grandview vs. Richmond in the conference finals. As of Tuesday third-ranked Grandview had a 2-1 series lead over second-ranked Richmond.
