By Tim Morris
Every time he went to the gym in the summer, Owen Cole wore his Bogart Cup championship hat.
For the Ottawa Junior Senators center it wasn’t about what his team had achieved in 2018-19. Every weight he lifted and every mile he ran was for the 2019-20 Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) season.
“I wore the hat as a reminder,” Cole said. “All summer I was thinking in the back of my mind what do we do, what we need to do to win again.”
It was this individual drive combined with his commitment to making the team better that impressed the Junior Senators’ coaching staff enough to name him the team Captain. It was something that Cole sought.
“I was hoping to be one of the captains,” said the 19-year-old. “The opportunity to wear the letter on my uniform was important to me. I’m excited. Leading by example is part of my game.”
Ottawa Head Coach & GM Martin Dagenais obviously agrees. “Owen is an ultimate leader, and it was an easy choice to make him the team captain. Last season, he came out of nowhere, and became one of the league’s top forwards. He has a remarkable work ethic. He never stops. With him leading the way both on and off the ice, our young players will be in good hands.”
Cole knows that leadership requires a number of roles.
“Being a leader, if I’m going to tell my teammates what they have to do better, then I have to be doing things right,” he explained. “I have to make sure the guys are talking.”
One way of getting the team to bond, Cole pointed out, is for teammates to go out to dinner to strike up friendships and camaraderie.
You might say that Cole comes by his leadership naturally. His father Dave, played college and junior hockey himself and was a captain of every team he played on. So has Owen, who played prep hockey at Ridley College before joining the Junior Senators last year.
Besides leadership, the Dunnville, Ontario native provides scoring to the line-up along with speed and solid two-way play. In his 48 games with the Junior Senators last year he was among the CCHL’s leading scorers with 61 points on 23 goals and 38 assists.
“I want to have the puck on my stick,” he said. “I look to be an impact guy.”
A strong playmaker with superb vision on the ice, Cole said he will be looking to shoot more this season to help out a Junior Senators team that had a large turnover from the group that won the Yzerman Division for the seventh straight year and second straight Bogart Cup (CCHL) and Fred Page Cup (Canadian Eastern Junior A) championships.
Cole uses his skating talent and speed to break down defenses and create open ice for his teammates as well as scoring opportunities for himself.
Despite his big production last year Cole said he doesn’t feel pressure to put up big numbers.
“It’s more important to play the right way,” he said.
Because of the importance that Dagenais places on defense, it’s an area of his game that Cole is working on for this season.
“I’m looking to improve my defensive zone play, being stronger pinning guys and poking the puck away,” he remarked.
Cole has committed to the University of Massachusetts-Lowell where he will be continuing his hockey career.
With his future set, don’t expect Cole to relax. He will still give nothing less than 100 percent on the ice and off as the captain. Every game he will go out with something to prove to help Ottawa win another championship. The Junior Senators were one win away from playing for Canada’s National Junior A Championship in 2019 and taking that next step is a driving force for this 2019-20 Senators, Cole said.
