Team captain hangs’em up

Nick Christensen

Monday, April 11, 2005 | 9:13 a.m.

He's played for 18 teams on two continents, but Las Vegas Wranglers captain Jason McBain has one spot that he knows he belongs.

Portland, Ore., is where he played the last three years of his junior hockey career, the place where he met his wife and where her family still lives.

And next year, it's where McBain will call home.

Friday was a teary-eyed night for the Wranglers' 30-year, 364-day old defenseman, as he's decided to retire from playing hockey and move to the Rose City to begin studying architecture.

"It's been a long time playing the game," McBain said Sunday night. "It's just something that's obviously not easy to do. There comes a time in your life when you want to go in a different direction. Now, I think, is a good time for me."

In his 10-season professional career, McBain scored 110 goals and made 340 assists. He played nine games with Hartford in the NHL, and had perhaps his best season statistically in 1998-99, when he had 46 points with the Las Vegas Thunder of the IHL. After three seasons in Europe, he spent a year in Fresno before coming to Las Vegas' expansion club.

"There have been a lot of things that have been fun, but no real one thing," McBain said. "Winning a couple of championships certainly were a couple of highlights in my career. Going over to Europe was a real interesting experience for my family and me, and coming back to play in Vegas the last two years have been great.

"I got to meet a lot of cool people in town, have a house here and enjoy life for a couple years. It's kind of nice when you can finish a game and go home and chill out."

Last season with Las Vegas, McBain had eight goals and 32 assists in 65 games. He said he felt like he could keep playing but didn't want to see his game fade away as time went on. Plus, architecture beckons.

"It's funny because when you're doing hockey for a living, you lose sight of everything else," McBain said. "I think well, I missed my chance, I didn't do it in college, and I'm getting to be 30, it's almost too late. I look at it now ... you only live once. You've got to take your chance when you have it and now is the perfect time to make that transition."