BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
The best leaders among us tend to have moments of adversity tucked somewhere inside their resumes. Some of the entries are obvious. Some are subtle. All leave a mark.
Mike Vorlicky, the newly installed captain of the Wisconsin men's hockey team, can speak to the double-hip surgery that forced the rugged defenseman to miss the entire 2021-22 season.
Mathieu De St. Phalle, a two-time alternate captain for the Badgers, can revisit the time the winger began his sophomore year with a goal in the season-opener, then went two months and 15 games without one.
David Silye, the newest member of the UW leadership corps, can tell you how the pandemic derailed a special season in juniors and gave way to the center making multiple trips through the NCAA transfer portal in search of the ideal college hockey experience.
"Adversity,'' Silye said, "shapes who you are as a person.''
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Vorlicky, De St. Phalle and Silye are tasked with helping to oversee one of the most unique transformations in the history of the 75-year-old program.
There is a new coach, staff, philosophy and tone.
Mike Hastings is the first Wisconsin coach to be hired from outside the six-time NCAA champion program since the 1960s.
There are 12 new faces on the UW roster. Four are transfers who played for Hastings during his 11-season run at Minnesota State. Eight are freshmen, all recruited by former coach Tony Granato and his staff.
"One of the things that Coach Hastings said was that it's an adjustment for all of us and it was important for us to grasp that concept,'' said De St. Phalle, a senior from Greenwich, Connecticut. "It's a clean slate for everybody – for guys that have been here, for guys transferring in, for guys that are freshmen – we're all adjusting to a new culture, system, atmosphere.
"It's exciting, honestly. I really didn't know what to expect when we went home for the summer and came back in. There were a lot of things going through my head, but I definitely came in with an open mind and I was really excited once I saw the group coming in. We have a lot of potential.''
The three senior captains embrace their pivotal roles in part because they've lived them before. Vorlicky was the captain for Edina (Minn.) High School when it won the Class 2A state title in 2019. De St. Phalle was an alternate captain for the Badgers last season as well as for Chicago of the U.S. Hockey League in 2019-20. Silye (pronounced sill-ya) was an alternate captain with Mankato last season after wearing the "C'' for Penticton of the British Columbia Hockey League in 2019-20.
"Just because you're wearing a letter doesn't change anything,'' Vorlicky cautioned. "You have to show up and do the same things day and out.
"Each guy has his own flavor to what they bring to the leadership group and to the team. Helping them flourish is kind of a big thing.
"I just want to make sure we're disciplined and working hard at all times. If you can control those two things, which are probably the most important things, that's going to give us the best chance of being successful.''
The three elected leaders spent the summer getting acquainted with one another as well as their new teammates, including Mankato transfers
Simon Tassy and
Christian Fitzgerald, and UMass transfer
Tyson Dyck.
"They both fit seamlessly into those roles,'' Vorlicky said of De St. Phalle and Silye. "They're great leaders, great guys to wear letters.''
De St. Phalle said Silye has made a strong impression.
"With Dave, I'll say it's probably been as easy as it could have been,'' De St. Phalle said. "He's such a good guy, so easy to be around. His love for the game and how hard he works, that's something I'm naturally kind of attracted to.''
Silye said UW "is a team full of leaders'' all eager for the season to begin. The first step comes Saturday and Sunday when Augustana (S.D.) University comes to the Kohl Center to begin its maiden voyage as a Division I program.
"You're an extension of the team – a bridge between the coaching staff and players – so you're listening to the guys and seeing how they feel, but at the same time seeing what the coach wants,'' Silye said of his role as a dressing room guide. "It's being there for each other.''
Adversity has helped prepare the three UW captains for the season ahead.
Vorlicky said his hip injuries helped him appreciate the game from a distance.
"It honestly made me grow a lot watching hockey from an outside standpoint instead of being in the action and always thinking about the next play,'' he said.
De St. Phalle led Wisconsin with 13 goals last season. He said his struggles at the outset of his sophomore season will help him serve as a better sounding board for his teammates.
"I think I was doing all the right things,'' he said of his approach to creating offense, "but they just weren't going in for me.
"If someone else is going through it, I can say, 'Hey, I've been there before. This is how I handled it. This is how I went about my business.'''
Silye, from Arnprior, Ontario, had a host of enlightening experiences before being voted the Central Collegiate Hockey Association Forward of the Year last season.
He helped lead Penticton to one of its best regular seasons in BCHL history (44-12-1) and had the Vees thinking about a national junior A title, but then came the COVID pandemic that canceled the playoffs.
Silye signed with Clarkson, but a lack of playing time prompted him to enter the NCAA transfer portal. That led him to Mankato, where he flourished, helping the Mavericks reach the national championship game in 2022.
"There were a lot of unknowns, but I just knew that where I was at wasn't right for me,'' Silye said of his time at Clarkson. "I had to listen to what my heart was telling me. Luckily everything worked out in my favor.
Silye believes he'll serve as a cautionary tale for his new teammates.
"I've had a lot of different experiences, from being scratched to being in the lineup every night to losing the national championship game,'' he said. "What helps me is when I see guys going through a similar situation, I can relate.
"It's tough when you don't see your jersey hanging up, where your mind goes, so just being a positive voice for them, that it's all part of the process and you're better off for it.''
Who has the biggest challenge, the newcomers adjusting to a whole new way of life in an unfamiliar setting, or the holdovers getting used to new voices and a different vibe?
"That's a hard challenge,'' Silye said of the holdovers, "one where I hope they can lean on me and kind of filter those messages.
Vorlicky called it a push.
"It's kind of hand-in-hand,'' he said. "We probably share similar challenges. We've had a summer together and we've already gotten our feet under us.
"At this point we're all Badgers. We've all grown akin to that. We're breeding that and loving that.''
