OMAHA, Neb. – Omaha head hockey coach Dean Blais announced today that senior center Dominic Zombo and defenseman Brian O'Rourke will serve as team captains for the 2014-15 season.
“Both Dominic and Brian have shown great leadership for our team this summer, and both are very deserving of the role,” said Blais. “With 11 freshmen on our team this year, we will be counting on them to mentor these players and help them in their transition to college hockey.”
Zombo served as an alternate captain last season. The native of Ballwin, Mo. tied for second in team scoring with a career-best 17 goals and also 17 assists for 34 points. He tied for the team lead with eight powerplay goals while playing in all 37 games.
O'Rourke will be the lone senior on the Mavericks' blue line. In 35 games last year, the native of St. Louis, Mo. had a goal and two assists for three points while tying for second on the team with a +5 plus/minus rating.
In addition, senior forward James Polk will be an alternate captain. In 32 games last season, the native of New York, N.Y. had three goals and a career best six points.
In other news, Blais announced that forward Kyle Mountain will join the team for the 2014-15 season.
“Kyle brings experience to our program, having played two seasons at Vermont,” said Blais. “He will add more depth to our group of young forwards.”
Mountain, a native of Bryn Mawr, Pa., will be a senior at UNO. His most recent season for the Catamounts was 2012-13 when he scored a goal and had three assists in 19 games. He also had 21 penalty minutes. In 43 career games, he had two goals and five assists for seven points and 31 penalty minutes. As a freshman, he was a member of the Hockey East All-Academic Team. He did not play during the 2013-14 season.
Prior to joining Vermont, Mountain played the 2010-11 season for the Penticton Vees of the British Columbia Hockey League where he was a teammate of current Maverick James Polk. In 60 games, Mountain had 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 points.
The Mavericks open the 2014-15 season on Monday, Oct. 6 when they host the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in an exhibition game at 7:07 p.m. Their regular season begins later that week when they host Minnesota State on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 10-11.
Season tickets are now on sale through the UNO ticket office in the Sapp Fieldhouse and on-line at OmahasTeam.com. Single game tickets may be purchased at the Sapp Fieldhouse, the CenturyLink Center box office and through Ticketmaster.
