OHIO Hockey
New Bobcat hockey captains assume leadership responsibility
By Zach Swartz, Sports Editor
September 27, 2007 | 10:59 p.m.
The 2006-2007 Bobcat hockey team had gone 27-8 before entering the Central States Collegiate Hockey League tournament. The team took surprising defeats in its last four postseason games, but it had something to give that would outlast the bitterness of their unlikely defeat: leadership.
Of the nine seniors who took the ice last year for the Bobcats, seven had been a part of the team’s 2004 American Collegiate Hockey Association championship, and four played at least 30 games for that squad. When championship experience like that is mixed with talent and a top three national ranking for most of the season, it can’t help but rub off a little on the rest of the team.
There are some new leaders in the locker room this year, and they are more than ready to erase the unfortunate ending to last season.
Center and senior captain Dave Fitzgerald leads the seniors in games played, scoring 37 goals and 66 assists in 95 games over the past three seasons. Forward Brandon Steffek, despite decreased production last season, has notched 31 goals and 21 assists in 83 games for the green-and-white.
But perhaps no one has had a greater impact on the Bobcats than forward and senior captain Jim Fuhs, who, despite missing two weeks of last season playing in a tournament in Europe, managed to score 10 goals in just 15 games played, according to the Ohio Bobcats Web site. Fuhs has been a regular on the ice since his freshman season and has put up career totals of 49 goals and 69 assists (both team highs).
“For Jim, he’s one of those guys that the game kind of comes easy to him,” coach Dan Morris said of his senior captain. “But he’s also, if you break him down technically, he’s got a great shot, he’s got a great stride, he’s big and strong—he’s one of the strongest guys pound for pound on our team. He works hard, he’s one of the hardest workers in the gym, and he works hard on the ice. If you tie all of that together, it gets you a pretty good hockey player.”
There is no doubt this year Fuhs will be nothing less than indispensable. Indispensable, no question, but maybe not in the way most people are expecting. It is because Fuhs has become such an indomitable leader on this team, both on and off the ice, that fans may not see the offensive production that has become so commonplace for the senior.
“Usually at the start of the year [Fuhs’] production will be pretty high,” Morris said. “His production will be low because he’s worried more about the well-being of his team rather than himself, but hopefully if he gets that under control, gets the leadership role taken care of, then later in the year we’ll have the Jim Fuhs that is lighting it up and putting in a lot of points. But I think early on you’ll see that he probably won’t be up to his normal amount of points. That’s just him dealing with the leadership role responsibilities.”
The transfer of leadership
That quality leadership is what the Bobcats have been looking for over the last few seasons since their national championship.
“The biggest thing [for us to do as captains] is probably to lead by example,” Fuhs said. Although the Bobcats have had good leaders the past three years, the teams have had problems with the lack of desire to win every game, so the captains this year are striving to relight that spark of desire in their team, Fuhs said.
“We have a large senior class this year, and it’s kind of tough for guys to separate themselves from the pack, as far as leadership goes, to get a guy that kind of stands out amongst his senior classmates,” Morris said. “So we’re trying to deal with that, to try to get the leadership skills out of these guys right now, and it’s tough, it’s not an easy chore.”
Even though last year’s nine seniors are gone, nine freshmen and one new transfer student will take the ice this year, and judging by the team members’ reaction after their first two games, these 10 newbies have a lot to offer as well.
Nick Frasse, a freshman forward from Tampa, Fla., got significant playing time this past weekend at West Virginia. Defenseman Steve Osacky and forwards Bill Hemann, Gerry Raymond and Bill Molnar, a sophomore transfer from Bowling Green, were all credited by Coach Morris as being solid, hard-working players who will all get significant time on the ice this season to fill some of the gaps that may have been present last year.
“[The younger players] all can make good guys,” said sophomore forward and captain Jim Roach, who, since transferring from Penn State in 2005, has played in 29 games and scored 4 goals. “They all do everything they can, and that’s what we ask them to do, so we expect them all just to make an impact and play as hard as they can, and do what they’re capable of doing.”
Fellow captain Dave Fitzgerald agreed. “Some of these younger guys, they’ve been around before too. They come in, they give their all, and right now, those younger guys are like a single entity right now. They’re gelling together, making connections.”
Making connections is what it takes for a team to win, and the only way that these connections can be made is if there is strong leadership and experience to draw from. Players like Fuhs and Fitzgerald have proved that they can provide that leadership, and so far, the new freshmen have appeared to be taking it all on well.
“They’re willing to do whatever it takes to win, whatever we tell them, they’re in for,” said Fuhs. “We’re not worried about them having any problems throughout this year.”
Putting it all together
The Bobcats, new and old, enter this season ranked No. 5 in the nation. This weekend the team takes on No. 9 Iowa State, and over the next month and a half it will face preseason-ranked No. 3 Oakland, No. 1 Penn State, No. 12 Michigan-Dearborn, No. 10 Lindenwood and No. 18 Eastern Michigan. Such a tough schedule at the beginning of a season, especially a season directly following a season that ended in disappointment, can make or break a team.
But the No. 5 ranking is not sufficient motivation. The players who were there last season feel they have a lot to prove and a lot to make up for, and the only way for them to do that is to win, and win a lot.
“We try not to think about [the ranking] right now,” said Fuhs. “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish, and we obviously didn’t get off to a good start, but we’ve been working hard this week in practice, and we’re going to try to start over this week and go from there, and hopefully win a national championship.”
"Not getting off to a good start” refers to OU’s 1-1 record to begin the season. For many teams, that would not be something to be down about, but for a team that for years has been considered one of the top in the country, no loss is acceptable and a national championship is the only goal. That goal ended in frustration last season, but this year, with a talented corps of new players and an impressive group of experienced ones, it’s a whole new ball game.