Familiar faces to lead River Rats

ALBANY -- Albany River Rats head coach Jeff Daniels said today that forward Pat Dwyer will reprise his role as team captain this season.

Dwyer, 26, is in his fourth season with the Rats, and will have worn the captain's 'C' in parts of three of them. Current assistant coach Geordie Kinnear is the only Albany player to be captain for three full seasons (1996-99).

"It's an honor and it's something I strive to be, a leader on this team," Dwyer said following practice this morning. "At the same time, in developing these kids, I have to make sure I just play my game and go out there and do what I do and lead by example. I'm not a huge overly vocal guy so I'm just trying to show these kids what it takes to be a professional."

Forward Mike Angelidis will be Dwyer's full-time alternate; defenseman Brett Carson (home games) and Bryan Rodney (road games) will share alternate's duties.

"They set the tone for practice every day," Daniels said. "They lead by example more. They're not big rah-rah guys, and that's what I told them. I don't want them to change what they do and how they play. I picked them because of the example they set every day. They're very professional. The off-ice part of it, their fitness and the way they stay on top of things. Hopefully, the young guys can look up to those guys and learn from them."

Like Dwyer, Angelidis is in his fourth season with Albany. He also wore an 'A' last year.

"I'm comfortable with it," Angelidis said. "Regardless of how young we are, I think we have some mature young players on the team and us older guys have to help them out and show them how to play certain situations and guide them through living away from home and little things like that in the transition, diet and getting rest and not partying all hours the day and night. Just be there to help the guys out."

Rodney and Carson were both given long looks in Carolina Hurricanes training camp before being returned to Albany, where they lead a solid defensive unit that will be the Rats' foundation until the young offensive guys get going.

"Anytime you get recognized as one of the leaders, it's a good feeling," Carson said. "We've got a young group in here, so I think for us older guys it's a little more important to kind of show the way and make them feel comfortable, and at the same time to push them a little bit at times and make sure they know it's not going to be easy this year. Hopefully I'll do a good job with it."

Said Rodney: "I guess a little bit more responsibility is always nice. I take it as a challenge. We've got a young group here so to be looked upon as one of the leaders is a real honor. It's not going to change the way I handle myself. I always took it as a responsibility of mine to help the young guys coming through because we were all young guys at one point starting out and I had those guys that were there for me along the way. I like to pass that on and hopefully they do the same when they're in my shoes."

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Line combinations from practice today were: Zach Boychuk-Brandon Sutter-Pat Dwyer; Drayson Bowman-Mike Angelidis-Nicolas Blanchard; Chris Terry-Nick Dodge-Jerome Samson; Steve Goertzen/Brad Herauf-Stefan Chaput-Harrison Reed.

Defensemen Jamie McBain, Benn Olson, Zack Fitzgerald, Brett Carson, Jonathan Paiement, Bryan Rodney and Brett Bellemore rotated through their pairings.

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Players have been breaking in the black pants and helmets they will wear on opening night, to go along with a special black sweater. The black uniforms are a modification of an earlier design that dates back to the Rats days as a New Jersey Devils affiliate. The Devs wouldn't allow Albany to wear an alternate jersey, so they were sold as souvenirs instead ..... In addition to the gaudy yellow charity auction sweaters the Rats will wear again this season, a special edition for games with the rival Adirondack Phantoms is also in the works ..... Injured forward Matthew Pistilli remains sidelined indefinitely. "I have two extra guys, one extra forward and one extra 'D', so from a body standpoint, we're all set for this weekend," Daniels said. "He's just day to day. He tried to skate today but he didn't feel great, so hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for him."