Cyclone Hockey has named senior forward Chase Rey and junior defenseman Kody Reuter as its captains for the 2016-2017 season.

Rey and Reuter will share captain duties for a Cyclone Hockey team coming off a runner-up finish in the American Collegiate Hockey Association National Championship game. The captains were named during an April 2 team banquet. 

This is the second consecutive year the Cyclones have gone with co-captain duties because the votes, cast by the players, were so close.

Rey has often been referred to by Cyclone Hockey coach Jason Fairman as one of the most skilled players on the roster, but with only eight points total last season, injuries, more so than anything else, kept him off the scoreboard.

“Injuries are something that happen and I’ve been somewhat injury prone during my years of playing,” Rey said. “Next year is a new year, and I’m hoping I am not injured and I’m sure the other guys are hoping the same thing. Whether I am in the stands or on the ice, I can still be a leader on the team so I was really honored to be selected as a captain.”

Rey had a front row seat to see what it takes to be a captain for Cyclone Hockey last season. Rey served as an assistant captain to his roommates Cory Sellers and Alex Stephens, who split the captain duties a season ago.

“It will definitely be tough to replace two guys like that. They were great captains and two of the best captains I’ve ever had,” Rey said. “What I really take out of those two is leading by example whether it was off the ice or in the locker room or in the classroom and that’s something I’ll take into next year.

“I’ll try to lead by example and if the guys voted me as captain I am hoping they will follow in my footsteps with how I am going to be carrying myself in the next year.”

Reuter scored the first goal of his Cyclone Hockey career last season and is known as much more of a physical presence than an offensive threat. Fairman said there will not be any problems with Reuter being a junior opposed to the usual senior status most captains carry.

“I think for me it’s more on the ice coming ready to play and be a model to all the players and putting 100 percent into everything,” Reuter said. “I focus more on that than having the title of a leader.”

The team is currently doing off-season workouts and meeting with players to discuss their roles. The role of the captains leading up to the season will be to meet with Fairman and talk about the culture and where they want to go with their team.

“They should have a good sense of what type of team they want to have,” Fairman said.