Mark Mancari

Another big guy on the team is Mark Mancari. He's come a long way since his arrival in Ottawa. His first year he barely got off the bench and when he did he would usually come screaming up the ice and take a wild slap shot from outside the blue line. Sometimes it even went in! But, he's learned to be more patient. Killer's always liked him, and that belief in him has paid off.

He still plays on defense sometimes when he's needed - he's pretty solid there, but this year he really shined when he was playing on the wing with Corey Locke. He's got good speed, works hard, and can put the puck in the net on a regular basis. He and Locke had a good system where Locke would take the puck out of their own end and feed it up to Mancari who was streaking up the right side. Mancari was able to charge into the zone with the puck and keep it in to make a play.

The talk on the discussion boards is that Mark will be made Captain this year. That should be a good choice, and it would be great to see him take on the leader's role on the team. He's developed well over the last three years - he finally looks comfortable in his 6'4" frame, and if he continues to progress at the current rate, we'll be talking about him a lot this year. I hope we do.

The players up for 'A's on their jerseys this year include Tsimikalis, Akeson, maybe Todd if he comes back, Colbert, and Wharton. Personally I see Wharton developing into a future leader on this team. I think he's got a lot of the traits that made Brendan Bell a great Ottawa 67.