Photo: Courtesy of The Denver Post
Colin Staub will be wearing the captain ‘C’ for the Pioneers for the 2018-2019 season, replacing Logan O’Connor who departed for the Colorado Avalanche. And, like another former Pioneer captain, Grant Arnold, his path to team leadership was a winding one.
After graduation from Palmer High in Colorado Springs, he played three seasons for the Wichita Falls Wildcats in the North American Hockey League. Frank Serratore recruited Staub to play for the Falcons at the Air Force Academy. However, a degenerative eye disease, Keratoconus, a condition which thins the cornea, kept him from admittance to the academy but not, ironically, from playing hockey. Serratore went to bat for the high-energy, high effort Staub to, then, DU hockey head coach Jim Montgomery.
Staub was accepted by DU on a partial scholarship and has shown strong leadership and improved productivity during the course of his career at Denver. He started out with five goals in 32 games as a freshman. Then, 10 goals and 10 assists his sophomore year. Last season, Staub collected 7 goals and 15 assists. But, as with the tradition of how hockey team captains are selected, it is less about star power and more about leadership and respect than anything else. At DU’s recent season-ending awards banquet, Colin Staub received the Dr. Ken Bredesen Award for the Most Sportsmanlike Player on the Denver squad.
Staub is a solid selection to lead the Crimson and Gold into what many are calling a rebuilding season. But Staub has faced bigger hurdles than this in his hockey career.
Jarid Lukosevicius, Tyson McLellan, and Ian Mitchell will serve as alternates.
What is that empty feeling I have every July-August? Oh right… letsgodu on summer break.
Thanks JP…just be patient. We put the pedal to the metal in less than a month.
What is that empty feeling I have every July-August? Oh right… letsgodu on summer break.
Thanks JP…just be patient. We put the pedal to the metal in less than a month.
To help ya’ll pass the time…some trivia:
Aside from Ian Mitchell, who are the other sophomores to have been chosen to wear a letter since, let’s say, 1980?
Kevin Dineen was Captain as a Sophomore in the early 80’s, maybe 81-82?
To help ya’ll pass the time…some trivia:
Aside from Ian Mitchell, who are the other sophomores to have been chosen to wear a letter since, let’s say, 1980?
Kevin Dineen was Captain as a Sophomore in the early 80’s, maybe 81-82?
Kevin Dineen was THE sophomore DU captain in 1982-83, not just an assistant captain. It was his last DU season, as went on to play for the Canadian Olympic Team the next season and then on to a 20+ year NHL career. Hardest-working Pioneer I’ve ever seen.
Kevin Dineen was THE sophomore DU captain in 1982-83, not just an assistant captain. It was his last DU season, as went on to play for the Canadian Olympic Team the next season and then on to a 20+ year NHL career. Hardest-working Pioneer I’ve ever seen.