The Unlikely Donor: The NHL's Brendan Witt By Katie Westfall Brendan Witt, who plays for the NY Islanders, is described as one of the most aggressive defensive players in the National Hockey League. His stats read that he is 220 pounds, 6’2”, has played 767 games in the NHL and has spent 1275 minutes in the penalty box. But these stats completely miss Witt’s compassionate side off the ice. He is a SurfAid Ambassador, passionate about stopping the spread of malaria. And surprisingly enough, this hockey player from Canada is also an avid surfer who spends his off-season tracking swell and chasing waves. SurfAid: You guys played Colorado Avalanche last night. Was it s good game? WITT: Yeah, it was close. We lost in overtime. SurfAid: Who do you play next? We’re up in Edmonton Canada. We play the Oilers tomorrow and then we play Vancouver [Canucks] Tuesday and then Calgary [Flames] on Thursday. SurfAid: Wow, that is quite a schedule. Do you enjoy traveling as much as you do? It’s a grueling schedule, but I’ve been playing hockey since I was four up in Canada. It’s a nice way to make a living playing a kid’s game. And the traveling is really good experience. SurfAid: Traveling with the team, do you go to any places you can surf? Four years ago, I was playing for the Washington Capitals at the time, and we were going out West. I looked at the surf forecast and it looked like there was some going to be some swell. So, I brought my wetsuit and I surfed Huntington Pier on my day off. SurfAid: What about the off-season? Do to go on any surf trips? Yeah, actually I do. I went with a couple of my surf buddies—I live in Florida in the off-season—to Costa Rica for two weeks. Then after that I went with my family to Kauai for three weeks. Last year, I went back to Costa Rica for five days. SurfAid: So, what originally sparked your interest? How did you start surfing? It’s funny because I am a prairie boy. I was born in Saskatchewan, Canada. Who would ever thought that I would become a surfer? What happened was I broke my wrist my rookie year. And do you know the clothing line SMP? Well, the main rep from Maryland was a huge hockey fan. He said, “When the cast comes off you should come to Ocean City and surf.” This was like 13 years ago. Well, I never really took him up on it because I had to go through rehab for my wrist. Then a few years later, my neighbor around the corner from me in Annapolis used to drive to Ocean City all the time. So, I did the three-hour drive to Ocean City. He gave me a 10-foot Walden single fin longboard, and I got up the first day. It wasn’t that long of a ride, but it was enough to get me hooked. SurfAid: I see. The surf bug bit you. You know, it’s the feeling you can ride nature. The next week I went down to the local surf shop and bought myself a 9’6’’ Robert August. From there, he and I would get up at 4:30 in the morning and do the three hour drive to Ocean City, surf for three hours and then truck back. SurfAid: How did you get involved with SurfAid? I read a lot and I always wanted to give back to the community. I’ve known about you guys for a while and this year I really wanted to help out. So, I contacted Brian and asked if there was anything that I could do. SurfAid: What is it about SurfAid’s mission that draws you to them? It’s not fair. We have such good healthcare here while people in the Mentawai Islands are living with malaria. No one should have to deal with that this day in age. Where I grew up in Saskatchewan, we have some sloughs and ponds with huge mosquitoes, but we don’t have malaria. I don’t wish that upon anybody. That’s not something that anyone should have to go through. SurfAid: You grew up in Canada. Tell me what it was like growing up in Humboldt, Saskatchewan. It is really tiny. Humboldt has five thousand people. My dad worked on the railroad and my mom was a nurse. And when there is nine months of winter out there, you just play hockey. I was fortunate enough to move on with my skills and play professional hockey. There is not much there. You’re either a farmer or where I come from it is one of the biggest producers of mustard. When I grew up there were two stoplights and there’s a main street. It would take you two minutes to drive through my town. It’s so tiny, similar to North Dakota. We would always joke that you could watch your dog run away for days. It’s really cold in the winter. It gets like minus 50 because there are no trees. It’s a different world. The biggest city I would say is Saskatoon, which is an hour away and has about 200,000 people. SurfAid: No desire to stick around to make mustard for a living? So, when did you leave Humboldt? With hockey I left home at an early age. I went to live in Seattle at 16, playing junior hockey there for three years, and at that time I got drafted to the Washington Capitals for the National Hockey League. I went from there to the NHL to play professionally. It was good to go to Seattle because it was an eye opener. If you come from small town and there are two million people in a city, it was a change. Being young, you grow up fast living with a host family. From there, you either go to junior hockey or college. I went to the junior hockey route because I wanted to be a professional hockey player. Things worked out. I was in the right place at the right time. Thirteen years later, I’m still playing. I think that average pro hockey player’s career is about six to eight years. So, I’ve been very fortunate. SurfAid: You’ve been in New York playing with the Islanders for more than a year now. How are you enjoying it? It’s really unique. Family loves it. We can go to the city. It’s very cultural. Great food. Great museums. And it’s still close to the ocean. SurfAid: What do your teammates think of your interest in surfing? They think that I am nuts because there are sharks in the water. Especially in Florida, there are a lot of bull sharks. They think I’m crazy to go in that environment. I tell my teammates, “Come to Costa Rica with me and see if you can surf eight hours.” SurfAid: And you spend the off-season in Florida? Yeah, I live in Jupiter, so I do a lot of trips up to Sebastian Inlet. I love Sebastian Inlet. It is the best break in Florida. I am like an hour and 10 minutes from where I live. And by my house I have like five good beach breaks, so it good. Florida is good because it teaches you to ride anything. We’re not picky about our waves. We pretty much surf anything. I guess that helps with my surfing because I ride a longboard and now I’ve worked my way down to a 6’6”. Going to Hawaii and Costa Rica have been wonderful opportunities. SurfAid: Do you find any parallels between hockey and surfing? It looks a lot easier than it is because it is all timing. But it’s really good for balance and flexibility. I love it. It’s my passion next to hockey and my family. I’m addicted. I’m so happy my neighbor introduced me to it. I’ll surf for the rest of my life. It’s just funny because I grew up in a landlocked area and I’m not even supposed to be doing what I’m doing. SurfAid: So, you have two little girls, right? Are they little surfer girls? My oldest lives in Florida. She goes to surf camp and enjoys it. They are beach girls. They love to be on the beach and love to be in the water. My youngest, she’s five now, but when she was three I had her on my longboard, riding on her stomach. You know just introduce them and let them know that it’s a fun way to kill some time and to learn to respect the water and the environment. SurfAid: I read that article that Sports Illustrated did about your tattoos. You have 14 tattoos, right? 15 actually. It’s funny if you see me in a suit, you would never know, but if you saw me in a t-shirt and shorts, you would think I was a criminal. My whole left arm is all sleeved. I got one on a few months ago on the arch of my foot. It says, “Without love humanity cannot survive.” It’s a quote from the Dalai Lama. SurfAid: What was the inspiration for that one? As I have gotten older, I have become more spiritually aware. As a young kid you think you’re invincible. Then you grow up and have your own kids and you don’t take anything for granted. I almost lost my wife after our second child, and now we don’t take anything for granted. When we say that we are going to go travel to Morocco, we go do it. Live life to the fullest because you never know when it might end unfortunately. SurfAid: Now that you have the ears of the SurfAid supporters, is there anything that you would like to mention? I am so happy to be a part of the SurfAid family and to spread awareness any way I can. I like how a lot of the surfers who are in the limelight have gotten involved. I think that it is great that they are helping out, but I think that it is also important for other people that are well known for other reasons to get involved like myself. It shouldn’t just be the surf community working for this cause. It should be everyone as a whole because fighting malaria is a global problem.