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Player Profile: Sammy Walker
11/7/2019 5:14:00 PM | Men's Hockey
MINNEAPOLIS -- Sammy Walker returns to Gopher Hockey this season as the defending Big Ten Freshman of the Year and a newly minted sophomore captain for the Maroon & Gold. GopherSports.com recently caught up with the program's leading scorer for the 2019-20 campaign.Â
You and Tyler Nanne were named co-captains right before the season started this year. What does it mean to you to earn that title from your teammates given the history of this program and some of the guys who have served as captains before you?
Obviously, it's a huge honor…especially looking back over the years and seeing the caliber of guys who have worn a letter over 99 years of Gopher Hockey. I just want to make sure I'm setting a good example, being a good teammate and a good guy and taking care of business on and off the ice. And we have a ton of leaders on this team, it's not just the two guys wearing letters on the front of their jerseys. We've got a lot guys who are willing to step up and do their part to make sure we get where we want to be at the end of the season.
Have you heard from any of the former Gopher Hockey captains and is there a specific example that has stayed with you?
Yeah, I think the one that meant the most to me was just hearing from last year's captains. They said congratulations and told us to wear it with pride. Those guys had a lot on their plates already as seniors with the coaching change, and they still went out of their way to make sure we as freshmen were doing okay and feeling like part of the program. That meant a lot to us…those guys were great leaders and really set a good example for us.
Being a sophomore and having just gone through being the "new guy" on the team, is it maybe a little easier for you to help acclimate the 12 new guys in the locker room since you just went through that yourself?
There's always an adjustment period for the new guys when you get here, and you have to figure out balancing school and hockey at this level. Every freshman class comes in and leans on and learns from the older guys on the team. The benefit I have is that everything from last year is still fresh in my mind. I remember the questions I had or things I struggled with. And now we have opportunity to put our stamp on things as the "older" guys even though we aren't that much older.
You stand out to pretty much everybody as a fun-loving guy. Does that factor into your leadership style at all or is it something you are cognizant of at least?
Definitely, we're kind of starting to settle into our roles a little bit as captains, and I feel like I'm a guy that anybody on the team can talk to and joke around with. I defer to Nanne when it comes to being the "rah-rah" guy.
Do you have a joke for us?
Why don't they play poker in the jungle? Because there are too many cheetahs.
Last one for you…what can you take away from last season to put this team in a better position for success this year?
Last year definitely didn't end the way we wanted it to. We have to learn from that, and we have to make sure the new guys understand that too. We know what the expectations are for this program, and everybody in the locker room has the same goal in mind. We need to play consistent hockey all season long…because nobody is going to take a night off against us. We learned that the hard way last year, and we don't want to be in that situation again this year.
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You and Tyler Nanne were named co-captains right before the season started this year. What does it mean to you to earn that title from your teammates given the history of this program and some of the guys who have served as captains before you?
Obviously, it's a huge honor…especially looking back over the years and seeing the caliber of guys who have worn a letter over 99 years of Gopher Hockey. I just want to make sure I'm setting a good example, being a good teammate and a good guy and taking care of business on and off the ice. And we have a ton of leaders on this team, it's not just the two guys wearing letters on the front of their jerseys. We've got a lot guys who are willing to step up and do their part to make sure we get where we want to be at the end of the season.
Have you heard from any of the former Gopher Hockey captains and is there a specific example that has stayed with you?
Yeah, I think the one that meant the most to me was just hearing from last year's captains. They said congratulations and told us to wear it with pride. Those guys had a lot on their plates already as seniors with the coaching change, and they still went out of their way to make sure we as freshmen were doing okay and feeling like part of the program. That meant a lot to us…those guys were great leaders and really set a good example for us.
Being a sophomore and having just gone through being the "new guy" on the team, is it maybe a little easier for you to help acclimate the 12 new guys in the locker room since you just went through that yourself?
There's always an adjustment period for the new guys when you get here, and you have to figure out balancing school and hockey at this level. Every freshman class comes in and leans on and learns from the older guys on the team. The benefit I have is that everything from last year is still fresh in my mind. I remember the questions I had or things I struggled with. And now we have opportunity to put our stamp on things as the "older" guys even though we aren't that much older.
You stand out to pretty much everybody as a fun-loving guy. Does that factor into your leadership style at all or is it something you are cognizant of at least?
Definitely, we're kind of starting to settle into our roles a little bit as captains, and I feel like I'm a guy that anybody on the team can talk to and joke around with. I defer to Nanne when it comes to being the "rah-rah" guy.
Do you have a joke for us?
Why don't they play poker in the jungle? Because there are too many cheetahs.
Last one for you…what can you take away from last season to put this team in a better position for success this year?
Last year definitely didn't end the way we wanted it to. We have to learn from that, and we have to make sure the new guys understand that too. We know what the expectations are for this program, and everybody in the locker room has the same goal in mind. We need to play consistent hockey all season long…because nobody is going to take a night off against us. We learned that the hard way last year, and we don't want to be in that situation again this year.
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