JANESVILLE, WI — The Jets open a 12-game series with the Springfield Jr. Blues tonight in the Illinois capital.
Tonight the captains’ letters make their season debut on the chests of Carter Hottmann (C), Nick Nardella (C), and Grant Hindman (A).
The team announced Wednesday its captains for the 2019-20 season. It is the second time in franchise history that two captains were named. Defenseman Alex Smith and forward Nils Rygaard opened the 2015-16 as captains, though Rygaard advanced to Division I hockey mid-season at the University of Alaska-Anchorage.
“We felt this year as if Mr. Hottmann and Mr. Nardella were both deserving of the ‘C’ and could share responsibility,” said head coach Corey Leivermann. “They know that. We’ve been very transparent about this whole process.”
The decision from the Jets’ coaching staff was to let the captaincy process play out, rather than name the leadership staff outright at the start of the season.
“We’ve always said we wanted to let the captaincy work itself out,” Leivermann said. “See who really evolves, especially when adversity hits, and that’s been pretty high lately. Injuries, illnesses, results not being quite where we want…we wanted to see who leads by example in tough times like these.”
The Jets, a young roster beset with illness and injury in the schedule’s first quarter, are looking to shake off a pair of home losses to the Chippewa Steel last weekend.
The rivalry with Springfield is the division’s oldest, dating back to the Jets’ inception in 2009.
Fri Nov 1 | 7:00pm CT
Sat Nov 2 | 7:00pm CT
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JANESVILLE JETS
Record: 5-9-1-0 (6th, Midwest)
Road Record: 2-4-0-0
Last Ten Games: 3-6-1-0
Goals For/Game: 2.40 (18th)
Goals Against/Game: 3.33 (18th)
Shots For/Game: 27.87 (22nd)
Shots Against/Game: 31.40 (16th)
Power Play: 19.0% (12th)
Penalty Kill: 80.4% (13th)
Top Scorers: F Nick Nardella (15GP—4G-7A—11TS); F Isaac Novak (9GP—5G-4A—9TS); D Grant Hindman (13GP—1G-6A—7TS)
Goaltenders: Grant Riley (4-6-1-0; 3.08 GAA; .907 SV%)
Rostered Commitments: F Jake Dunlap (UMass Amherst); D Grant Hindman (Lake Superior State); F Max Itagaki (RPI); F Parker Lindauer (Northern Michigan); F Nick Nardella (Michigan Tech); F Isaac Novak (Wisconsin); D Casey Roepke (Wisconsin); F Charlie Schoen (Arizona State)
SPRINGFIELD JR. BLUES
Record: 5-6-2-1 (4th, Midwest)
Home Record: 3-2-2-1
Last Ten Games: 3-4-2-1
Goals For/Game: 2.00 (22nd)
Goals Against/Game: 2.93 (13th)
Shots For/Game: 30.50 (15th)
Shots Against/Game: 28.71 (8th)
Power Play: 13.3% (18th)
Penalty Kill: 76.9% (20th)
Top Scorers: F Adisen Brueck (12GP—4G-5A—9PTS); F Trent DeNuccio (14GP—3G-6A—9PTS); F Danila Larionovs (14GP—6G-2A—8PTS)
Goaltenders: Ryan Wilson (4-3-1-0; 2.72 GAA; .911 SV%); Alex Proctor (1-0-1-1; 2.26 GAA; .908 SV%); Henry Graham (0-3-0-0; 3.41 GAA; .866 SV%)
Rostered Commitments: F Hunter Longhi (Harvard); F Caden Villegas (Union)
100+ NCAA commitments since 2009.