Wes Jarvis: Reaching the NHL in a Different Era

“I got an old pair of skates that were way too big for me, I believed they were speed skates and got out on the ice. That feeling even now that I’m 65 going on 66 has never changed.” 

Wes Jarvis

Hockey Beginnings

In 1961, when I was about 3 years old my dad built a rink in the backyard and taught me to skate on it. Unlike today, there wasn’t much access to extra ice time or hockey training schools for kids to learn and perfect their game. Instead I got a rink in my backyard and an old pair of skates and my dad taught me hockey. Growing up I spent hours on that outdoor rink and watched Hockey Night in Canada every Saturday night with my dad building a love for the game. This led him to ask me if I wanted to play organized hockey, which of course I answered yes. So, at the age of 5 I signed up to play house league hockey in Scarborough, which was played on an outdoor rink as there were very few indoor rinks in the 60s. After a couple of years, the owner of the AAA team, who happened to be one of my neighbours, contacted my dad about playing for him. That started my AAA career for the Toronto Red Wings at the age of 7 despite AAA not starting until 8 years old in the 60s. Pretty much every year after that the phone would ring with other teams that would want me to play for their team, however I enjoyed playing for the Red Wings and was one of the few guys who stayed with one team my whole minor hockey career.

Wes Jarvis (highlighted) pictured with the rest of the 1975-76 Sudbury Wolves team

“Looking back 40-45 years ago, my fondest Hockey memories were from that year in Sudbury”

Wes Jarvis

Start of a Career

The Majority of my junior career was spent playing for the Sudbury Wolves. Looking back, my time in Sudbury was some of the most fun I had in my career, with the 1975-76 season possibly being my favourite year of my career. I will still argue that we were the best team in the league despite losing in the finals to the Memorial Cup winning Hamilton Fincups. We had an absolutely outstanding roster that year, loaded with 13 future NHL players including, Ron Duguay, Rod Schutt, Randy Carlyle, Dave Hunter and Mike Folingo. One of the main things I remember about my time in Sudbury was just how great the city was. The Wolves back then, similar to today, were an integral part of the community and I remember constantly packing 6000-7000 people in the Sudbury Arena every night. Another one of my favourite memories from that time was in my second year, where we played against the Russian team during one of their tours in North America. During the time that was a very important game as Russia was still a communist state making these tours not only significant in the hockey world but also from a political and social standpoint as well. It was really exciting for us as we got to play against guys who played in the 1972 Summit Series. A big thing from this game I remember is that we weren’t playing Junior guys, we were playing grown men who played a much different game than we did. While in the 70s Canada still had a much more dump and chase focused game, the Russians played a different brand of hockey that was more free flowing, had more puck possession and better passing, much more similar to what you see in today’s game. Overall, it was a real eye popping experience seeing how much stronger and faster they were from the more advanced training methods they used to compliment the style of play they had. In the next year, I ended up getting traded to the Windsor Spitfires as that year in Sudbury we weren’t going to make the playoffs and Windsor was. Unfortunately, that year we also came up short in the playoffs to end my junior career as a player.

“After signing with the Washington Capitals the owner gave me a headline of the paper from the year of the draft that said I could be the steal of the draft”

Wes Jarvis

Wes Jarvis playing for the Washington Capitals

The Draft

After that year I came into the draft off of back to back 100 point seasons, being rated a top 10 player in the OHL and ranked top 30 going into the draft. These rankings caused me to realistically expect to be drafted somewhere in the second to third round. Unfortunately, I was very naive when I was younger and did not understand the business side of what it takes to improve my draft stock and how getting into professional hockey worked. In the 70s the NHL only had about 300 players in the system, with one agency that ruled most of the players. This made it where if you didn’t pick that agency you were on the outside looking in. This is part of what dropped me in the draft as I picked the wrong agent. This caused me from being drafted in the second or third round, all the way down to the 213th overall pick in the 14th round of the 1978 draft by the Washington Capitals. The Capitals then assigned me to the Port Huron Flags of the International Hockey League. Although I was disappointed with my draft position and being sent to play in the IHL instead of the AHL or NHL, I was able to use it as motivation and win the scoring title and rookie of the year to start off my professional career. That performance got me a 3 year contract from the Capitals the next year where I started the year playing for the Hershey Bears before being called up to the NHL later that season. 

Wes Jarvis attempting to steal the puck from and opposing player while playing for the L.A Kings

Reaching My Dream

The start of my NHL career looked a lot different than how players in today’s game debuts look. Teams today will take care of getting players to the game as well as bringing their family and making it a whole experience. When I got called up I was playing in Hershey, about an hour and a half away from Washington, and was just told “you’re playing tomorrow night in Washington. Make sure you get here.” I got there and was lucky enough to play my first NHL game against the Red Wings that night. I didn’t end up playing much, only having about 6 or 7 shifts before being sent back to the AHL after the game. Two days later I got called back up where I stayed for the rest of the season. I played about three solid years for the Capitals before signing with the Minnesota North Stars where I spent the majority of the year playing in the Central Hockey League for the Birmingham South Stars. In Birmingham I dominated the league putting up 108 points in 75 games, good enough to earn me the MVP award of the league. After that season I signed a contract with the Los Angeles Kings. While playing for the Kings I got to meet a lot of movie and tv stars as well as famous athletes. I would go to a bunch of Laker games and watched legends like Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul Jabbar win an NBA championship. I even met Muhammad Ali and have a picture of me shaking his hand. I had some of the most off the ice fun of my career in LA however after that season I had my first child on the way and my wife and I decided to move our family back home by signing with the Leafs. 

Wes Jarvis playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs

Returning Home

Playing for the Leafs was an absolutely amazing experience, as I grew up a huge Leafs fan. With the Leafs I was more of an up and down player between the AHL and NHL. This however led me to become the player to wear the second most all time different numbers for the leafs. Back in the 80s if you moved up and down you would just take the number of the guy you were replacing for that game, which had me wear 5 different numbers in my 3 years with the team. While on the Leafs I was a Black Ace. This meant that I was on the team’s playoff roster but not in the regular starting lineup. All three years I was a Black Ace and managed to get into two playoff games. Just like today, playoff hockey was a much different game. It was a lot faster and more intense. The best way to describe it is like playing in my kitchen, from how little time and room you had when you touched the puck. Later in my career I had other offers to move away from Toronto, but ultimately decided to stay to keep my family all in one place. Although turning down some of these offers might have cost me from being on two different cup winning teams in Edmonton, I don’t regret it as keeping my family in Toronto instead of moving around all the time was the best decision for all of us. Looking back at my NHL career, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. 

Wes Jarvis Pictured with Connor McDavid and Mike Gartner among others after playing a NTR charity game in Newmarket

Giving Back to the Game

After my playing career ended I started my coaching career with the Newmarket Hurricanes where I stayed for 9 years before becoming an assistant coach for the Barrie Colts from 2000-2004. My overall goal from coaching was not to coach in the NHL but instead was to help other players try to reach their goals and dreams of playing professional hockey. I had the privilege of coaching many players who went onto have success in university hockey, junior hockey, the AHL and the NHL. Of all the things in my career to be proud of this would be right there at the top as it was very satisfying for me to watch many players I coached or helped succeed in hockey. To this day I still keep in touch with many of them. After my coaching career I started a business with one of my former teammates and Hall of Famer, Mike Gartner, called National Training Rinks. We were one of, if not the first hockey school to train athletes one on one for stick handling, skating and hockey skills. We have had many NHL players come through such as Connor McDavid, Brent Burns, Steven Stamkos and Brian Elliot among many other names. We now have rinks in Barrie, Newmarket and Richmond Hill still training top level players to this day. While the first 10 years I was very much involved with on ice training, these days I am more invested in the ownership side of the business where I am still looking to help young players reach their full potential.

Wes Jarvis after donating $20,000 to Child and Youth Mental Health on behalf of National Training Rinks