O Captain! My Captain?

by Ryan Fay

The big mystery surrounding the Union men's hockey program is who succeeds defenseman Mat Bodie as team captain.

Bodie, the captain the past two years, graduated and left the captaincy up for grabs. The next captain is expected to be named at media day on Oct. 3. While there are many deserving candidates on the roster, one seems more likely than others.

Vasaturo

That would be senior defenseman Charlie Vasaturo, who had five assists and a team-high 62 blocked shots in 42 games last season.

A team captain needs to be well-respected inside the locker room. That isn't an issue with Vasaturo.

"Everyone respects him in the room," Bodie told the Times Union last season. "He might be a quieter guy in the dressing room, but he's got that quiet respect that everyone gives him. He plays the game right, he plays the game honest."

When Vasaturo suffered a serious knee injury late in the 2012-2013 season, he proved his toughness by getting back to the bench instead of staying on the ice and waiting for an official to blow the whistle. It set the kind of example one would want to see from a captain.

"The epitome of Charlie was when he was injured, how he came back, got up, even with the knee, and made it to the bench," Dutchmen head coach Rick Bennett said last season. "Everybody saw it. It was one of the toughest things I've seen."

There's been a preference towards making a defenseman the captain in recent years. A defenseman has been captain of the Dutchmen for six straight years, going back to when Lane Caffaro was co-captain with forward Matt Cook in 2008-09.

But perhaps most importantly, Bennett has said he wouldn't mind making a captain out of the Sewell, New Jersey native.

"He brings it in the classroom, and he brings it on the ice," Bennett said last season. "He was recruited here to be exactly what he is today. He's a first-class guy. We would have no problem putting an 'A,' or a 'C' on his jersey."

The guess here is Vasaturo's jersey is soon adorned with that 'C'.

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