By Jeff D’Andrea

Raiders fans ‘in my heart:’ captain Vanstone

Mar 16, 2017 | 6:19 AM

The Prince Albert Raiders may have selected 10 players back in 2011 WHL Bantam Draft, but only one stuck around until his 20-year-old season.

That would be the beating heart of the team—captain Tim Vanstone.

With two games remaining in the 2016-17 campaign, Vanstone currently sits at 297 games played with the Raiders—fourth all-time in franchise history for games played. He’s also one of just four Raiders to have played games in six different seasons.

Many players have come and gone in Vanstone’s time. He played under three different head coaches, (four if you count the one game associate coach Dave Manson stepped behind the bench), two different general managers and three captains before taking the ‘C’ himself.

But if there is one constant for Vanstone in his Raiders’ tenure, it was the support from the Raiders faithful.

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“The P.A. fans, they’re going to be in my heart for the rest of my life. As much as they don’t think they did, they molded me for sure—just to see how loyal they are. You can’t teach loyalty,” Vanstone said. “Through my teachers, my hairdressers, the people I see at the rink, the billets that are playing and the families of those teams—they don’t know me as Vanstone or No. 16, they know me as Tim.”

“They know my family, they know who I live with in P.A., and they want the best for me. That’s the one thing I want to thank the fans from P.A., you guys wanted the best out of me. As much as I tried, I wanted to give the best for you guys and thank you for everything you guys did.”

Although Vanstone has loyally served as the captain for the past two seasons, he was surprised to have been rewarded with the ‘C’ in the first place. 

Vanstone was voted in by the players and coaches to take on the reigns of the team at the beginning of the 2015-16 season.

“I never really thought I was going to be the captain when I was 19, but the boys and the coaches saw that in me,” the Swift Current native said. “It gave me that boost of confidence, ‘Tim, you can do this.’ It was the best thing for my career, I think. I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot about people. I learned about the good and bad that comes with responsibilities.”

“When you have responsibilities, you have to be consistent and you have to be the best ‘you’ you can be.”

As the season is winding down in Vanstone’s swan song season, he hasn’t made a concrete decision on his future in hockey or otherwise. However, he does have a few plans.

“I’m just going to take it slow,” Vanstone said. “I haven’t committed to any schools yet. I’m going to go with the flow, take it easy and play as much hockey as I can until that’s over. In the fall, I’ll be deciding whether I want to go to school or continue trying to play pro hockey.”

The Raiders have two games left, a home-and-home series Friday and Saturday against their biggest rivals, the Saskatoon Blades.

Knowing that the Blades are three points back of the last playoff spot, and the Raiders are a point back of 10th, Vanstone hopes his club can ruin the Blades’ playoff hopes.

“I think it adds to the rivalry. The history of the Blades versus the Raiders is so rich in history. You talk to anybody in Prince Albert, you know they don’t want to see the Blades beat the Raiders,” Vanstone said. “It’s going to come down to the wire and we’re fighting for 10th place… If we can play spoiler, that would be the perfect way to end off the season.”

jdandrea@jpbg.ca 

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW