Cote Primed, Ready Chiefs Captain Looking Forward To Helping Team Meet High Expectations

Saturday night.

The Spokane Chiefs and the Tri-City Americans.

Prior to the drop of the puck, two banners will go up high on the far wall beyond the new video screen in a packed Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.

Brandin Cote will be caught up in the celebration that is both collective and personal.

The newest championship flags - one for the regular-season division title, the other for backing that up in the playoffs - will hang in permanent tribute to last year’s team, for its improbable march from worst to first.

Even more moving to Cote will be the moment he’s announced as Chiefs captain.

Cote was named Thursday to wear the captain’s C.

The appointment was at least two years in the making.

Two years and a lifetime.

Cote says he welcomes the responsibility and pressure of leadership, just as he embraces the honor.

“It’s almost humbling to think of myself in the company of guys who’ve been captains here before,” Cote said a few minutes after coach Perry Ganchar confirmed the appointment. “Derek Schutz. Trent Whitfield. It’s a great honor that I’ve been working towards for the last two years.”

The captain is a liaison, the conduit connecting coach to referee, players to coach, veterans to rookies.

It won’t change what No. 10 does on a typical shift on the ice. The sturdy 5-foot-10, 19-year-old out of Yorkton, Saskatchewan, will still drive to the net, vacuuming for loose pucks. He’ll still draw the opposition’s top center. Defense will remain the priority.

“I’m the same guy,” Cote said, “the hard worker who focuses on the defensive side. That’s an important role, playing against the top line, shutting them down.

“But when I get chances, I’m going to bury the loose pucks in front of the net. Or walking out of the corner, I’m going to put it upstairs. It might take a while, I don’t know, but when the chances come, I’m going to bear down and put them in.”

Criticism of Cote in the past has been that he does everything but finish. He’s worked overtime between seasons, trying to be the scorer that he was at every level on the way up.

He’ll center a versatile line with Matt Keith and Mason Wallin on the wings. Keith is emerging as a bruiser with a touch. Wallin could be the next Tim Smith, quick and fast and hard with his shot.

Cote should have a strong influence on Wallin as Wallin tries to pick up his game on the forecheck. Keith’s impressive big-man’s skating skills will be stretched by the speed of Wallin and Cote.

It’s an interesting mix.

“It might sound weird but this (being named captain) takes pressure off of me,” Cote said. “I’ve always been a leader. When I was the main guy (in minor hockey), I always seemed to perform better.

“We’ve got a leadership core. Lynn Loyns. Kurt Sauer. Shawn Thompson and Ryan Thorpe. Leadership is not just one guy.”

General manager Tim Speltz linked Cote with a captain’s role almost from the day that Cote was plucked out of the bantam draft.

“There is so much more to him than numbers or statistics show,” Seltz said. “When you consider all the intangibles on and off the ice, the character and personality, you find a player with the ability to make everybody around him better.”

The “C” in itself is a guarantee of nothing. The honor is tied to ongoing performance. Reminded that Joel Boschman was once traded within weeks of being named Spokane captain, Cote smiled.

More than in words, his reaction was written in a spreading grin and the gleam of an eye.

Bring it on.