Greening, Kennedy Lead Icers

They’re all Canadian. All but one played junior hockey with the Nanaimo Clippers of the British Columbia Hockey League, and they have all starred on the ice at Lynah Rink, yet 2008-09 co-captains Michael Kennedy and Colin Greening and co-alternate captains Tyler Mugford and Jared Seminoff will lead the Red in very different ways this season.
“Some people talk more, some people lead more on the ice,” Greening said. “One thing that we have all learned is that you kind of need to have both. You can’t necessarily be a person that just says ‘I lead by example on the ice.’ I think you need to be able to talk to guys, as well. Also, you can’t [just] be a guy that yells at guys in dressing room or talks to them all the time, you have to be able to perform on the ice.”
The forward from St. John’s, Newfoundland led Cornell in scoring as a sophomore, so performing on the ice shouldn’t be a problem for him.
And though Greening is the youngest of the bunch, he has the most experience in a leadership role at Cornell — the junior served as a co-alternate captain last year, along with defenseman Doug Krantz ’08. Greening was the only sophomore to be given an official leadership position during Schafer’s time as Cornell’s head coach.
As an alternative captain for the Clippers when he was still a rookie, Greening came into Cornell with experience assuming a leadership role early on.
Kennedy’s path to the job of captain, on the other hand, has been a little different from his counterpart’s. Though a solid contributor in his first two seasons in Ithaca, the forward from Dorchester, Ont., had a breakout year in 2007-08, finishing as one of the Red’s top-5 scorers, with 10 goals (doubling his total from the previous year) and 16 assists.
“I’m definitely talking to the younger guys, seeing how they’re doing and how they’re fitting in,” Kennedy said.
Since he used to be one of those younger guys trying to find his niche, Kennedy has developed a comfort with his style and doesn’t plan to transform himself in his last year at Cornell.
“I don’t try to change who I am from past years just because I am wearing a letter,” he said. “I try to do the same things that I have been doing throughout my career here. I kind of just go in to the rink, get down to business, have a little bit of fun off the ice and then get back at it the next day.”
It is much the same for the other seniors in positions of influence. Senior co-alternate captain Tyler Mugford, a mainstay on the Cornell checking line, will now push teammates to succeed in addition to pushing around the other team’s top line.
The converted center, who hails from Prince Albert, Sask., seems to have taken the “lead by example” part to heart — after notching only one goal in each of his previous seasons, Mugford scored in the Red’s first exhibition game this year, as well as notching Cornell’s only goal of regular season play so far in the 1-0 win over Princeton last weekend.
Continuing the tradition of having one defenseman and one forward as alternate captains, senior blue-liner Jared Seminoff joins Mugford in the assistant positions.
The defenseman’s only goal last year came in the Red’s loss to Boston University at Madison Square Garden, demonstrating his steadiness under stress. Seminoff has been a key contributor every since he first came to Cornell from hometown Nelson, B.C., getting playing time in all 35 games during his rookie year.
All four bring something different to a well-functioning Cornell squad, with this added role for the 2008-09 campaign.
“Colin is a power forward, Mike can really score, Mugford can kill penalties and Seminoff [too], but they all have that thing [in common] that they compete extremely hard,” said head coach Mike Schafer ‘86. “That is why they have the respect of their teammates. Their consistent competitiveness has earned that accolade, as far as being captain is concerned.”