It was an afternoon that 19-year-old Seth Jarvis will never forget. Rather, it was a 24-hour period of jubilation that will likely live on for weeks to come. Making his National Hockey League debut for an undefeated Carolina Hurricanes team in front of a home crowd, the youthful Winnipegger enjoyed every moment of a productive showing, even earning an assist on the game-winning tally.
“I really don’t think it has fully set in yet,” Jarvis told Game On. “I’m still on cloud nine and just having a great time.”
After cracking the roster out of training camp and preseason, Jarvis sat patiently in the wings awaiting his opportunity with the big club. When it came, he was ready. Unfortunately, the highly-anticipated debut was made possible following a lower-body injury to fellow Hurricanes forward Nino Niederreiter.
“Obviously, as I was watching the game, I saw Nino get hurt,” Jarvis said. “You don’t want to see a guy get hurt, but when you see him kind of coming off the ice the way he did, you start to think, okay, this doesn’t just look like a bruise or a charlie horse, but rather something pretty serious. So I didn’t want to get too ahead of myself, but I figured that I might be in.”
Jarvis left it at that for the night and arrived to practice the next day. It was as he was lacing up his skates in the dressing room that head coach Rod Brind’Amour made his way over to the teenager and passed on the once-in-a-lifetime message that he would be suiting up in his first game.
“It was a whirlwind of emotions,” he laughed. “The first thing I did right after we were done talking, I went and texted my brother. I told him and my parents that I was going to be in the next game and that they had to find a way to get down there. My brother was able to get in the night before, but the with a 1:00 PM game time, my parents didn’t end up landing in Raleigh until maybe 11:30 AM or so. They were delayed at the airport but were rushed in by (team PR coordinator) Mike Sundheim. He got them the necessary COVID tests and made sure they were able to come watch the game.”
Come game-time, Jarvis’ thoughts were not exactly on the type of thing one would imagine prior to making his NHL debut. Just days after Minnesota Wild rookie Brandon Duhaime took a spill during his rookie lap, the Canes’ 2020 first rounder kept his eyes on the ice.
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“That was probably where my nerves peaked, just making sure I didn’t step on a puck or fall in my solo lap,” he chuckled. “That was the last thing I wanted to do was fall and then get chirped by the guys, or see myself on Twitter or going viral for doing something like that. But yeah, it’s been my dream since I was tying skates, so I was just out there having a blast and being a kid who’s living his dream. I was enjoying the moment way too much and having way too much fun to even notice the nerves.”
Although Jarvis was unable to pick out his family in the stands of PNC Arena, he did see some wholesome family content post-game.
“I definitely felt support from everybody,” the former RINK Hockey Academy star said. “My uncle Carson Shields (of Wingman Hockey Group) has been a huge influence on my hockey career. I know he brought my grandparents over to go watch the game at his house. I saw a video of him standing up yelling at the TV during my first shift. I love it all and couldn’t ask for a better support system.”
The 5-foot-10, 185-pound forward skated to the tune of 10 minutes, while tacking on 3:32 of special teams time in his debut. It just so happened that he was on the ice as a part of Carolina’s power play unit that found the late game-winner with 2:27 left in the third period.
“I don’t know if you could draw it up much better than that,” Jarvis reflected. “Like you said, the assist on the game-winner, in front of a huge crowd at home for my first game, that’s something out of a story book. It was awesome for me confidence-wise. It helped a lot knowing that Rod had a good deal of confidence in me to go out there and make those plays at a crucial time.”
Suiting up for an 8-0-0 team that has yet to come close to losing a game is not typically the way one begins his NHL career. But nothing has really been typical in Jarvis’ progression to The Show. Often dubbed as too small or undersized, the resilient winger has already faced his share of adversity. Leaping over the boards for his first shift, Jarvis found himself thinking back to his childhood days playing on the outdoor rinks back in Manitoba.
“The only thing I could think of was me, my brother and my buddies just spending hours upon hours having the time of our lives skating outside in minus-40 weather in Winnipeg,” Jarvis said. “It was a little bit emotional just coming out on the ice and re-thinking everything. I’ve also had some of the best coaches who got me where I am today, so I obviously put them in my thoughts too. I actually received a few texts from some of them too, which was super nice of them just to reconnect.”
When asked what he would have responded if someone had told him back in 2015 as a member of the AAA Winnipeg Monarchs that in six years he would playing in the NHL, Jarvis said he would be both shocked and excited.
“At that time, I would probably believe you,” he laughed. “But there would definitely be a lot of doubt, especially back then being still a smaller guy. People always told me that I’m not going to make it on to the next level because of my size, so that doubt kind of creeps in your head a bit at that age. But I think I would have put on a front that I was confident and I would have said “yeah, okay”. But I think there would have been a little bit of disbelief for sure.”
Now spending every day with the best team in hockey, Jarvis has been able to fully live out his childhood dream. Earning his way to a spot in the lineup, the explosive sparkplug knows nothing is just handed over without hard work and can easily be taken away. But for now, he will continue to enjoy his time with the undefeated Hurricanes as they look to continue with their franchise best start to the season.
“Everyone here understands that there is a job to do, they understand what we need to do and how seriously we need to take this,” he said. “But at the end of the day we are all just a bunch of big kids. Everyone is just having a great, fun time and no one takes themselves too seriously. Like you said, when I’m not playing, my main job is go in there with a big smile on my face, joke around with everybody and have a blast every single day. I need to continue bringing the hard work, so when my name does get called I’m ready to go.”
“I don’t know if you could draw it up much better than that,” Jarvis reflected. “Like you said, the assist on the game-winner, in front of a huge crowd at home for my first game, that’s something out of a story book. It was awesome for me confidence-wise. It helped a lot knowing that Rod had a good deal of confidence in me to go out there and make those plays at a crucial time.”
Suiting up for an 8-0-0 team that has yet to come close to losing a game is not typically the way one begins his NHL career. But nothing has really been typical in Jarvis’ progression to The Show. Often dubbed as too small or undersized, the resilient winger has already faced his share of adversity. Leaping over the boards for his first shift, Jarvis found himself thinking back to his childhood days playing on the outdoor rinks back in Manitoba.
“The only thing I could think of was me, my brother and my buddies just spending hours upon hours having the time of our lives skating outside in minus-40 weather in Winnipeg,” Jarvis said. “It was a little bit emotional just coming out on the ice and re-thinking everything. I’ve also had some of the best coaches who got me where I am today, so I obviously put them in my thoughts too. I actually received a few texts from some of them too, which was super nice of them just to reconnect.”
When asked what he would have responded if someone had told him back in 2015 as a member of the AAA Winnipeg Monarchs that in six years he would playing in the NHL, Jarvis said he would be both shocked and excited.
“At that time, I would probably believe you,” he laughed. “But there would definitely be a lot of doubt, especially back then being still a smaller guy. People always told me that I’m not going to make it on to the next level because of my size, so that doubt kind of creeps in your head a bit at that age. But I think I would have put on a front that I was confident and I would have said “yeah, okay”. But I think there would have been a little bit of disbelief for sure.”
Now spending every day with the best team in hockey, Jarvis has been able to fully live out his childhood dream. Earning his way to a spot in the lineup, the explosive sparkplug knows nothing is just handed over without hard work and can easily be taken away. But for now, he will continue to enjoy his time with the undefeated Hurricanes as they look to continue with their franchise best start to the season.
“Everyone here understands that there is a job to do, they understand what we need to do and how seriously we need to take this,” he said. “But at the end of the day we are all just a bunch of big kids. Everyone is just having a great, fun time and no one takes themselves too seriously. Like you said, when I’m not playing, my main job is go in there with a big smile on my face, joke around with everybody and have a blast every single day. I need to continue bringing the hard work, so when my name does get called I’m ready to go.”
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