Welinski Named UMD Captain

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

Defenseman Andy Welinski has been promoted to the University of Minnesota Duluth’s team captain position for the 2015-16 season while a trio of fellow seniors — forwards Tony Cameranesi, Cal Decowski and Austin Farley — will serve assistant captaincy roles with the Bulldogs.

As a minutes-munching assistant team captain last winter, Welinski set career highs for goals (nine — a number bettered by only one other National Collegiate Hockey Conference blueliner), points (21) and plus-minus (+2) en route to securing a spot on the All-NCHC second team.

In addition, the Anaheim Ducks draft pick generated the second most shots (100) of any league defensman and was one of just five rear guards to score shorthanded. Welinski, a Duluth native and 2012-13 Western Collegiate Hockey Association All-Rookie Team selection, has finished as UMD’s top scoring point man in each of the three previous seasons and will head into his senior year with 58 lifetime points (18 goals and 40 assists) to his credit.

Cameranesi, who like Welinski has skated in all 114 games since joining the UMD program two years ago and is also a National Hockey League draftee (Toronto Maple Leafs), paced the Bulldogs in scoring for the second time in three years this past season, racking up nine goals and 21 assists for 30 points.

Farley was three slots back on the team’s scoring charts with 24 points (eight goals and 16 assists) and tied for the team lead in both power play goals (4) and game-winners (3) while Decowski, UMD’s 2014-15 nominee for the NCHC Sportsmanship Award, chipped in a personal-best 16 points as a junior. That trio took shifts in each of UMD’s 40 outings this past season.