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Jaden Schwartz?s leadership skills were obvious before he even arrived at Team Canada?s training camp.
He was the obvious choice as captain and had the C stitched onto his Team Canada jersey Thursday.
Coaches love guys who have character and experience, guys who have battled.
Schwartz has fought through an emotional battle most teenagers, luckily, don?t have to deal with.
The Colorado College winger did everything he could to help his sister, who played hockey at Yale, during a two-and-a-half year fight with acute myeloid leukemia.
His 23-year-old sister, Mandi, died last April.
?It just puts everything in perspective,? Schwartz said of the hard lessons he?s learned over the past few years.
?To go through adversity like that, it was one of the hardest things ever to deal with.
?If you can get through that, you can get through anything.?
When Schwartz was drafted ? 14th overall by the St. Louis Blues at the 2010 NHL Entry Draft ? he used his moment in the sun to direct traffic to a website (Become Mandi?s Hero) that helped during a worldwide search for a bone marrow match.
That search didn?t produce the match the Schwartz family was hoping for, but with everyone from the New York Times to ESPN picking up the story, more than 10,000 people signed up as donors.
Other lives have been saved.
?I learned a lot from that and I learned a lot from Mandi,? Schwartz said.
?I?m just trying to lead by example and be a good guy off the ice.?
Schwartz said his family was excited to hear he had been named Team Canada captain.
?It?s a tremendous honour and a huge privilege,? he said. ?It feels pretty special, but I?m not going to change who I am or the way I play.
?I?m just going to be myself.?
Brett Connolly, Devante Smith-Pelly, Quinton Howden and Brandon Gormley will rotate as alternate captains.
Schwartz is one of four returning players, but he broke his ankle in the second game of last year?s tourney.
Showing the character of a future captain, he came back on the ice and even scored a goal.
But once team doctors saw the fracture, his tournament was over.
He?s not taking this second kick at the can for granted.
?It?s a second chance and something you dream of,? he said. ?Last year, it was a tough way to go out.
?I?ve been waiting for this since last year?s tournament ended.?
Head coach Don Hay said handing the C to Schwartz wasn?t a difficult decision.
?With Jaden, he?s a real mature young man,? Hay said. ?He seemed to be a logical choice.
?The players gravitate towards him and he?s a personable young man, and he?s got experience.?
Hay said he expects his new captain will lead through action rather than words.
?He seems very mature in his approach to the game and his approach to life,? Hay said. ?He?s prepared and he works hard.
?Those are important things, to have someone who?s prepared to practice and then in the games, he quietly goes about his job.
?He?s not going to be a big vocal guy, but when he talks, the players will listen.?
Hay was intent on giving his most experienced players the remaining letters.
?I think it?s a strong leadership group,? he said. ?The guys have world junior experience, Memorial Cup experience, NHL experience.
?So we?re comfortable with the group of guys we?ve chosen as leaders.?
Source: http://www.torontosun.com/2011/12/22/schwartz-named-canadas-captain
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