Compher Elected Captain of Wolverines for 2015-16 Season
6/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
June 3, 2015
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Late last week, the University of Michigan ice hockey team elected junior forward JT Compher as its captain, with senior forwards Cristoval 'Boo' Nieves and Justin Selman serving as alternates for the 2015-16 campaign.
"It's an honor to be considered by the coaching staff and your teammates for a leadership position," Compher said. "To wear a letter on a team with such tradition, I think all three of us are excited about the role. We work well together and I think we have a really good opportunity to make a difference on this team.
It was a selection applauded by head coach Red Berenson and the coaching staff, who view Compher as the model for what a Michigan captain should be.
"We're looking for our captain to be a leader in every sense of the word, not just on the ice, or off the ice in the locker room, or the way he goes to school, but in the way he conducts himself, the way he represents the team, the way he interacts with players in good times and in not so good times," Berenson said. "I think JT brings that, as a student, as a person, as a good teammate, as a player and as a leader on the ice as well as off the ice. And that's what we're looking for. I think that's what we've got."
Long before last week's vote in the locker room, Compher, an alternate captain last season, led the team to a decision to stay together in Ann Arbor for the spring term in May and June to train and build camaraderie for the upcoming season. It was Compher that helped come up with the annual theme heading into the 2015-16 campaign: "Create The Difference"
"There's such a difference between the puck going in or not against Minnesota (in the Big Ten championship game) or in one of our later games in the season that determines whether we make the tournament or not," Compher said of the slogan. "For us we want to focus on all of the little things, the attention to detail that can be the difference in us making the tournament versus not making the tournament."
Admittedly, it took a few weeks for Compher to close the book on the 2014-15 season.
It's been over two months since a winner-take-all Big Ten championship game on March 21 at Joe Louis Arena left the Wolverines with a bitter pill to swallow. When the scoreboard clock at the Joe hit 0.00, the final score line read: Minnesota 4, Michigan 2. At 22-15-0 (12-8-0-0 Big Ten), the Wolverines were one win shy of an NCAA Tournament bid for the third straight year.
Yet Compher, an Academic All-Big Ten honoree enrolled in the Ross School of Business and draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres (2nd round, 2013), quickly announced his intention to return to Michigan. And while Compher and teammates supported the decisions of Andrew Copp (Winnipeg Jets) and Dylan Larkin (Detroit Red Wings) to leave the program early for the NHL, the focus remained singular among the group of returning players.
"Once we started working out again as a team, you saw the page turn and we put the old stuff in the rearview mirror," Compher said. "There are things we need to learn from, but the page has been turned and we're excited about the core group of guys coming back. I think no matter who is here and who isn't here from last year, we have a good core and we know that this team can do great things."
"We have one vision -- to win a Big Ten Championship and eventually a national championship," added Nieves. "The guys who are staying will be a part of something special and for the guys that left, it's their loss."
Communications Contact: Jeffrey Weinstein (734) 763-4423
