The Express Gazette (Volume III: A sit down with the captain)

[BarzalGoat 728]

When a new manager walks into a locker room there's always a little trepidation, nerves, and most of all a fear of the unknown. When this manager stepped foot in the Cologne locker room one thing became more obvious than anything else, this team had its leader in waiting. When we eventually spoke to the team and voted for our captain it was almost unanimously decided that Zeljko Ranogajec has earned the right to be the first member of the express to wear the C. So this manager thought it was only right to open up our first one on one sit down chat in the history of the Express Gazette with the leader of this team, the presence from the blue line, the captain, Zeljko Ranogajec himself.

 

Dan: Being the Captain and one of the returning members from last year's disappointing squad means that expectations are high for you going into this season. How do you handle the stress of being one of this team's outspoken veteran leaders?

Zeljko: I don’t stress about it too much, the VHLE is a young league, and while Cologne has a storied history as a VHL franchise we have to write our own in the E. I think everyone in the room knows that and we’re turning out the results night in and night out early this year. We know we can keep it up we just have to go out and prove it.

Dan: For a guy who has made his name in this league as a defensive defenseman, you've been putting up a ton of points this year. Was this something that you worked on this offseason, or did something finally click?

Zeljko: I think it’s a little bit of both, the VHLE was a change of pace and it took a bit to get used to. Now that I’m in the swing of it and I had a season to figure out what needed to be worked on, I’m back to the form I had in the VHLM, just against some tougher competition.

Dan: Back to the Captain vote, how does it feel to be the first official captain of the Cologne Express seeing as there was not one in the inaugural VHLE season? 

Zeljko: It feels good. Every player wants a chance to have their name in the history books somewhere, and leading this squad to a championship is something I aspire to do.

Dan: What is your expectations for yourself and the team going into this season?

Zeljko: I felt as though we had one of the stronger squads in the league, and so far that’s held up. The boys look good and nobody should expect less from them. I admittedly had low expectations for myself, last season put a damper on my confidence but tallying 20 points this early certainly helps with that.

Dan: You lead what is arguably the best blue line in the league, how do you guys get along both on and off the ice?

Zeljko: You’ve seen the games, I think there’s some undeniable chemistry there. When we’re on the ice you can count on something happening, whether it’s a nice goal, a massive hit or a big stop in the d zone. I’d like to think it’ll be a 1-2 race for top defenseman at the end of the year if we keep clicking away like this.

 

Humble as always, but some real statements were made here. Zeljko is clearly going to do everything in his power to lead the Express to the cup this year, and I have faith in him to reach this goal.