FIGHTING SAINTS OPEN CAMP, NAME CAPTAINS

Press Release

DUBUQUE, Iowa – The Dubuque Fighting Saints have announced their captains for the upcoming season as training camp is underway in the Key City. Zemgus Girgensons, who scored 49 points in the regular season for the Fighting Saints last year, will be the captain, while Shane Sooth and Tyler Lundey will be the alternate captains. The full Fighting Saints roster is in Dubuque as the team prepares for their defense of the Clark Cup championship.

Fighting Saints Head Coach Jim Montgomery said that the determination of the captains was left up to the players from last season’s championship squad who went on to college hockey. Overwhelmingly, the former Saints recommended Girgensons to be the captain, and Lundey and Sooth were also given strong support by their teammates.

Montgomery spoke highly of Girgensons, who is expected to be a first round NHL Draft pick after the season. “Zemgus is a tremendous competitor who wears his emotions on his sleeve while he plays,” he said. “But he doesn’t wear them on the bench or in the dressing room. He has matured so much as a young man that he is not afraid to tell his teammates to pick it up or defend his teammates when necessary.”

He did not spare praise for Sooth, either. “Shane Sooth is a gregarious personality who works hard every day in practice and also has a good feeling for when players need a pat on the back, and also when guys need to be loosened up.”

While Girgensons intensity and Sooth’s personality marked them as potential future captains, the choice of Lundey was somewhat more surprising, even to Montgomery. “I never thought at this time last year that Tyler Lundey would be wearing a letter for us. He really matured as a young man last year, especially during the last two months of the season and in the playoffs. He does the right things on the ice, and I think he has learned a lot from last year’s experience about how to conduct himself off the ice.”

With camp opening up, Montgomery is happy to report that he can lean on the experience of his veterans to ease the transition to USHL hockey for his younger players.

“It’s very similar to last year, but the benefit of having these seven guys who have gone through it and understand us as coaches, and understand what it is like to go through a USHL season with the adversities you face, the hurdles you have to overcome, and how staying to the game plan lets you have success is huge,” he said.

“In practice, no matter what we are doing, I can put out three guys who know exactly how we are going to operate. That saves a lot on teaching time because players learn better by watching other players do the drill than they do by watching a coach on the chalk board.”

(Nathan can be reached at fourniern@students.nescom.edu)