After culminating the 2016-17 season with its eighth hockey championship and a hat trick of individual honors, the University of Denver’s spring was filled with some anxiety.

The two biggest questions were:

Will coach Jim Montgomery stay, or will he take an NHL head-coaching job?

If  Montgomery left, how many of the Pioneers’ star players would sign with NHL teams?

We know the coach and his staff will lead DU for a fifth season, per our friend Mike Chambers at the Denver Post. We also know that sophomore-to-be He

nrik Borgstrom, a 2016 first-round pick of the Florida Panthers – the same cats who interviewed Montgomery, and junior-to-be Troy Terry, the fantastic five-holer in the World Junior Championships for Team USA and a 2015 Anaheim Ducks pick, have said they will stay. Junior-to-be Dylan Gambrell, a 2016 second-round pick by the San Jose Sharks, also might return.

With that potential decimation averted, the news this week was the Pioneers selecting senior Tariq Hammond as captain and naming senior Adam Plant and Terry alternate captains.

 

 

Hammond, as you may recall, suffered a broken bone in his ankle during the third period of DU’s national championship victory against NCHC rival Minnesota-Duluth. After the game an emotional Montgomery alluded to the fact Hammond was a likely captain next season.

I caught up with him this week to see how his recovery is going and get his thoughts on the Pioneers’ leadership core for 2017-18.

(the link below is in m4a format)

 

“I’m two months past my surgery, and the doctors expect me to be fully healed in four to four and a half months (by September),” said Hammond, who wore an A on his jersey during his final season of junior with the Okotoks Oilers of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. “I’m trying to get back as soon as possible, but I do have time on my side. I’m in great hands with our athletic trainer Aaron Leu.”

Hammond is walking without assistance now after using a knee scooter for six weeks and wearing a boot for nearly three more. The main focus of his workouts at the moment is regaining mobility and strength in his ankle. The first steps in the most recent part of his recover were just that – learning how to take steps again and remain balanced.

“You don’t realize all that goes into walking until you have to learn how to do it after (a surgery,” he said.

How Hammond has handled his injury, and his determination during the recovery process offer more evidence of why he was the choice of players and coaches to lead the Pioneers’ bid to repeat, Plant said.

“The injury highlighted how good of a leader he will be,” the fellow defenseman said. “He never whined or moped and kept moving forward.”

Anyone who has been around the program the past three years will tell you that Hammond, selected the team’s most improved player in 2016, has matured exponentially in every dimension.

“His first year he didn’t play much,” Plant said. “He didn’t let it get him down. That summer he really improved as a player. Now he’s one of our top D and proven why he’s a leader.”

Plant also said Terry, who is just 19 and was the youngest player on DU’s roster each of his first two seasons, has grown by leaps and bounds. He also brings an important intangible quality.

“He brings an experience of winning. We all watched him against Russia and Canada in the World Juniors,” Plant said. “It’s great to have experienced winners because they can show others how it’s done. Obviously, we have a lot of them on our team after last season, but he’s done it at another level, and we have to show a lot of freshmen what the culture is it takes to win.”

Added Hammond, “Troy has grown leaps and bounds since his freshman year, and people really respect him, too, with what he’s accomplished in his young career. He can relate well to the younger guys because he’s the same age as them.”

Then there is Plant, who falls into the let your actions speak louder than your words category.

“Adam Plant has always been a solid player,” Hammond said. “He’s going to be a great leader for us, with how he handles himself on the ice and how people respect him in the dressing room.”

After a bit of uncertainty this spring, the Pioneers again will be in good hands.

©Chris Bayee 2017