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Devils captain Bryce Salvador grew up less than two hours from Winnipeg.

(Photo by Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger)

WINNIPEG, Manitoba – The man who wears the ‘C’ for the Devils seems like a natural.

Bryce Salvador plays the tough minutes on the ice and gives the tough speeches in the dressing room when the situation calls for it. Six weeks into his captaincy, it is clear that he was the right choice to succeed Zach Parise in that role.

“He’s unbelievable,” right winger David Clarkson said. “I was roommates with Sal when I was young and he took care of me. He deserves that ‘C’ more than anybody. He’s a leader, somebody who I have more respect for than I can say.

“He plays hard every night. He’s the type of guy that leads by the way he plays. He battles and he’s very vocal in that room. He’s been fantastic for this team.”

So it might be surprising to know that Salvador, who grew up less than two hours from here in the small city of Brandon (population 37,000 in the late 1980s), never thought he had a chance to play in the NHL.

“From Brandon the NHL was just a pipe dream, especially for me,” Salvador recalled. “We had no hockey in our background. Growing up I didn’t really make any traveling teams. I played house hockey until I was nine and (junior league club) Lethbridge saw me by fluke.

“The (Lethbridge) Hurricanes happened to see me when I was 15 and said to my dad, ‘We’re going to protect your son and put him on the list.’ My dad said, ‘What does that mean? Is it going to cost me something?’ He had no idea. Now there is a bigger emphasis on grooming your kid to be in the NHL. With the internet, there is so much more information. You go to a parent in Canada now that has a seven year-old, he’s going to know what junior hockey is. My era might be the last.”

Eugene Salvador is of African and Brazilian descent, having moved to Manitoba for schooling. He encouraged his son to play hockey and volleyball and to run track, but he knew more about soccer.

Collyne Salvador, Bryce’s mom, is Ukrainian and was raised in Manitoba. His parents’ heritage brings a smile to the defenseman’s face.

“I always say there’s probably only three of us in the world with that combination—my sister, brother and I,” he said.

The family has been involved with social work, raising mentally-challenged children. They'd take in hardship cases and sometimes as many as four at a time would be living in the family home.

Bryce Salvador missed all of 2010-11 with a concussion, but he still plays a physical game.

Salvador played hockey because that’s what you did as a kid in Canada. Back then Brandon had about the same population as Montclair, N.J., does today, but it is approximately 30 times larger in square miles.

“My house was literally a block away from an outdoor rink,” he said. “I can remember tying my skates inside the house, walking down the stairs and walking down the street with no skate guards because there was enough snow and ice to skate down the street.

“We spent the whole day there. Everyone was still brave enough to let their kids out alone. It’s sad it’s not still like that. You’d be out there as a 7 or 8-year-old playing against 30-year-olds with the (Dale) Hawerchuk jerseys on making a bunch of young kids look bad.”

It wasn’t until much later that Salvador started making others look bad.

“I didn’t even understand the path to make it to the NHL. I went to Lethbridge to try out for camp with, literally, one pair of jeans and a tooth brush,” Salvador said. “I made the team and they said, ‘You’re going to stay here.’

“I said: ‘What do you mean I’m going to stay here?’

“My dad said, ‘Well, I have to talk to his mom first.’ But when I was 14 or 15 obviously I was playing at a level that people knew I could play the game.”

Every now and then he'd see a game in the old Winnipeg Arena and marvel at Hawerchuk, Teemu Selanne or defensemen Randy Carlyle and Dave Ellett.



"We used to go to Winnipeg all the time," Salvador remembered. "We were really close to cousins in Winnipeg. We'd go there and spend the summers. I saw a couple of games in the old barn."



The Tampa Bay Lightning drafted Salvador in the sixth round (138th overall) in 1994, but didn't sign him.

"I didn't really have a good 18-year-old year. I wasn't signed," he said. "I played my overage year (with Lethbridge). I knew we had a good team. We went to the Memorial Cup that year and lost in the Finals. I was talking to McGill University. I'd won scholastic player of the year. I liked business, kineseology and nutrition, but you don't close any doors."



His break came when the St. Louis Blues signed him as a free agent in December of 1996, and after three seasons in the AHL he broke in as future Hall of Famer Al MacInnis' defense partner.



"He was a true professional from day one," MacInnis said. "His eyes were always wide open. He was a great skater and strong as a horse."



After almost seven seasons with the Blues, the Devils acquired Salvador on Feb. 26, 2008, in a trade for Cam Janssen.



A cochlear concussion, suffered during the 2010-11 preseason and which forced him to miss the entire year, has been well-documented. But Salvador played all 82 games last season, and all 24 playoff games, and on a team with stars such as Ilya Kovalchuk and Patrik Elias, along with highly-regarded forwards Travis Zajac and Clarkson, it was Salvador who was named captain on Jan. 17.



"He's been great. It's lead by example, prepare, say the right things," coach Pete DeBoer said. "Not too high, not too low. He's done a great job."



Salvador said the 'C' sewn on his No. 24 jersey no longer looks strange.



"I think being the captain has now kind of settled in. It's not something new every day," he said. "It's been a great experience. You can tell this group of guys supported the decision, which is all you want.



"Wearing the captain's 'C' brings a certain amount of pressure, but it's great to have that. It's something you can feed off. The guys here really help make the captain. It isn't a one-man sport."



But it seems they picked the right man.

Rich Chere: rchere@starledger.com; twitter.com/Ledger_NJDevils