Tutt king of Panthers
Being the captain of the Pelham Panthers is all about accountability as far as Jordan Tutt is concerned.
The Panthers recently named the 20-year-old native of Erin captain and the hard-working forward couldn’t be more thrilled.
“It’s a huge honour, for sure,” he said. “It’s something I never thought I would be, looking back three years ago, but I’m glad I’m in this position to step up and lead this team.”
Tutt, who has worn the C before in minor hockey, believes it is vital a captain lead the way, both on and off the ice, with his actions more than his words.
“It all comes down to accountability,” he said. “Whatever I say in the locker room, it motivates me to go out there, do it and follow through with my words.
“It’s an accountability factor.”
Pelham coach Chris Lukey named Tutt captain, along with Cody Miskolczi, Tyler Toomey and Jason Gee as assistant captains, but not before discussing it with his staff and the players.
“We talked beforehand, and we kind of had narrowed it down to a few people who we were really looking at as a leadership group,” Lukey said. “I actually went to the players and said, ‘What’s your thoughts on leadership and who do you think should lead the team and an overwhelming majority of the players voted for Tutt.
“So with our pre-discussions amongst the staff, and then speaking to the players, it just fell into place. Everybody was on the same page.”
Lukey said a few chats with Tutt sealed the deal in his mind.
“Speaking with him over the last couple of weeks, it’s a role he wanted,” Lukey said. “He wanted to embrace it, he wanted the role.”
Lukey feels Tutt checks all the boxes of what a good leader should be.
“We definitely wanted an older guy, he’s been here three years and he’s 20 years old,” Lukey said. “The general consensus we got from the room was a lot of players respect him and look up to him. The majority of the room wanted him to be the leader, which is a good thing, because his peers respect him.”
Tutt is comfortable being in the spotlight.
“I think a big part of it is your morale, whether it’s on the ice or off the ice. Having the guys look up to you and being someone they could come to talk about anything,” he said. “You’re the guy that’s watching over your team and communicating with the coaches. It’s a big responsibility and you need somebody that’s going to step up and want to fill that role.”
Tutt feels a strong leadership group is vital, particularly when things are not going well.
“It’s huge,” he said. “We look to the leadership group on this team to try to turn things around if we’re down in the gutter,” he said. “When we need someone to motivate, we look to the leadership group to be the guys that motivate everybody else around them.
“It’s huge to have those guys that you can trust to make change.”
Tutt is in his final season of junior and trying to soak up every aspect of his last season.
“I’m loving it right now,” he said. “I don’t want to think about it. It’s coming quick so I just want to make the best of it throughout this year.”
The Panthers, 2-5-2, are coming off a tough weekend that saw them drop a 3-1 decision in Caledonia Saturday followed by a 4-3 loss at home to Thorold Sunday.
Pelham travel to St. Catharines Friday and host Fort Erie Sunday.
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