Veteran D-man Stoflet inherits leadership role

Stoflet, a native of West Jordan, Utah, spent a year with Bozeman of the AWHL before coming to Des Moines last season. He says that the USHL has been a different experience for him.

In 2001-02, Stoflet played in 56 games for the Icedogs, where he tallied 11 points on two goals.

Stoflet thinks balance on the Bucs defense will be a key to the club's success. He says that last year's team featured some high-scoring defensemen, like Skinner and Hutchins, and this year he's hoping to see more depth from top to bottom among his defensemen.

"I think the coaches are expecting me to take a pretty strong leadership role this season, and I'm looking to do that. I feel like there's a lot on my shoulders, and that's not necessarily a bad thing," said Stoflet.

Said Buccaneers coach and general manager Bob Ferguson: "Evan was probably the most improved player from the start of last season. If he continues to show this kind of improvement, I have no doubt that he will be one of the league's top defensemen this year."

Stoflet points put that there are both negatives and positives about returning only one defenseman this season. "Obviously, it's tough to start over with a whole new team in this league. Teams with a lot of returning players do have an advantage, but on the other hand, we weren't that strong at defense overall last season, and we struggled during the playoffs. This gives us the chance to rebuild."

Stoflet says that this season, in addition to building leadership skills, he plans to work on "moving the puck ahead, not back" and "keeping tight gaps - with the speed in this league, a gap is a big scoring opportunity."

During Stoflet's first year with the Buccaneers, he tallied two goals for 15 points in 61 games, and earned the Bob Punsalan Memorial Award for his contributions to Des Moines' youth hockey program.

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