Captain selected: Second-year winger Mike Batovanja will wear the C this year for the Thunder. It’s a good choice by coach Brent Bilodeau. Batovanja is tough and scrappy — he’s only 5-7 but he’ll go with anyone — and he’s as fiery as they come. He’ll be a great role model for the younger players. At Michigan Tech, he was an assistant captain as a junior and co-captain as a senior. Check out tomorrow’s Eagle for Bilodeau’s thoughts on Batovanja.
Leftover camp note: I asked Bilodeau about training camp surprises. With no hesitation, he said that defenseman Greg Cassista has been the most-pleasant surprise. “He hasn’t played for two years, and he’s done really well,” Bilodeau said.
The rest of his answer: “Chris Tarkir and Chris Shudo have showed a lot of speed and some promise. Chris Greene has been a good surprise for me. He’s played really well and worked really hard.”