Photo by: Andrew Fielding
Redshirt senior forward Dustin Jackson and junior forward Drew Shore were named co-captains of the 2011-2012 Denver hockey team last Tuesday, becoming the first joint captains since Matt Carle and Gabe Gauthier shared the honor in 2005-2006.
Shore led DU in scoring last season with 46 points on 23 goals and 23 assists. The Denver native eschewed an opportunity to turn pro during the offseason, deciding to return to DU for his junior season.
“Becoming a captain was something that I definitely had in the back of my mind when I decided to return,” said Shore. “I wanted to take on a leadership role, and didn’t know if I was going to be named captain or not, but it’s a pretty big honor with a lot of responsibility and I’m looking forward to it.”
About two weeks ago, Jackson and Shore met with the Pioneers coaching staff, where they were informed of the decision and what individual roles they would be playing.
“Both have tremendous strengths, yet they are different in their strengths,” said head coach George Gwozdecky. “With Dusty, his experience and his maturity means he understands what it takes to play at this level and what the commitment level has to be. He has a powerful voice in that locker room because of that and in some ways he can be an enforcer.
“Drew is younger, and the role he will play will be more of an inspirational one on the ice. He will be playing an offensive role and how he handles that role will certainly go a long way to show the kind of example of how we want to play on the ice.”
While Shore led DU in many offensive categories last year, including plus-minus rating with a plus-29, he is only 20 years old.
Comparatively, Jackson turned 25 over the summer and served as an alternate captain last season alongside classmates Kyle Ostrow and Anthony Miani.
“They’re my good buddies, so obviously I am in contact with them a lot,” said Jackson of Ostrow and Miani.
“Seeing what they went through last year will help me grow as a leader this year, but we have a team full of leaders in the locker room this season, so I don’t think too much of a load will have to go on the captain’s back.”
As for the decision to split the leadership, Gwozdecky said what’s most important is that each captain has a defined role.
“It’s not really a concern,” said Gwozdecky of having co-captains. “For the most part, we’ve utilized one captain, but I’ve used two or three captains before in the past. With one or more leaders, it’s important to define their roles, so that we can utilize their strengths and that way the leadership is enhanced by having two guys handle the responsibilities.”
Although the team isn’t overly experienced with only five seniors on the roster, Jackson and Shore are insistent that leadership isn’t going to be a problem going forward.
Senior defenseman John Lee and junior Paul Phillips were named the team’s alternative captains.
“The captain has a lot of stress on him usually,” said Shore. “I think having Dusty alongside me will make the job that much easier. We’ve got two great alternative captains, and therefore one guy doesn’t have all the responsibility.”
