Michael McNamee has been unstoppable this season.
The Ravens forward is off to a great start to the season with 18 points in only eight games and was named captain of the men’s hockey team.
Three of those points came during the Colonel By Classic against the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees on Oct. 19, when he netted three goals in his first night as captain.
After the memorable performance, McNamee said his success was due to hard work and the help of his teammates.
“I don’t think the captaincy had anything to do with the performance, sometimes you have those nights, sometimes you don’t,” he said. “It’s good to produce and good to help out. You do what you can, and like I said, we had other guys step up. [Brett] Gustavsen, [Adam] Chapman, it’s good to see them help out too.”
McNamee succeeded former Ravens forward Joey West as captain of the team. After graduating last year, West now plays with the Gothiques d’Amiens in the Ligue Magnus, the top men’s hockey division in France.
Ravens head coach Marty Johnston said he may have been hesitant to project him as a future captain during McNamee’s first season, but after watching him grow over four years, Johnston said he believes appointing McNamee as captain was the right choice.
“I truly believe he is an elite player in this league,” Johnston said. “He’s become a captain through the four-year process.”
The decision to name McNamee captain was something that Johnston said he had been thinking about for some time, and he added McNamee had something about him that made him worthy of the captaincy.
“We knew who the leadership group should be and we just wanted to see how training camp went and see if anybody emerged,” Johnston said. “We felt that [McNamee] had really good composure. He was kind of the veteran of the leadership group.”
At the start of the season, McNamee served alongside Brett Welychka, Ryan Van Stralen, and David Weckworth as assistant captains.
When it came time to choose between the four of them, Johnston had his work cut out for him, and said it was hard to choose between “four exceptional people.”
Weckworth is no stranger to taking on a leadership role among his teammates by bringing consistency and a positive attitude to every game and practice, which he said comes from experience.
“Between four years in the [Quebec Major Junior Hockey League] and two years at Carleton, I’ve played with so many great players and been a part of teams ranging from championship contenders to being an [assistant captain] during a rebuild year,” Weckworth said. “I’ve learned and dealt with various kinds of pressure and scenarios.”
“It helps me try and be a stable presence in the room, no matter what the team is going through,” he said.
—With files from Daniel Bertuzzi
