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Photo by John Wagner

FAIRBANKS — Steve Vanoosten’s name was mentioned by Dallas Ferguson a few times in May when Ferguson was a finalist to be head coach of the Alaska Nanooks after he served the last four seasons as an assistant coach for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association team.

Ferguson wasn’t singling out the 6-foot-1, 197-pound defenseman from Langley, British Columbia. Vanoosten’s name was only brought up when Ferguson mentioned that some things were going be different this season for a Nanooks squad that finished 9-21-5 overall and 8-16-4 for ninth place in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association during Doc DelCastillo’s only season as head coach.

One change for this season is Vanoosten is taking more of a leadership role, as he’s the only senior defenseman among eight members of an Alaska rear guard that includes five freshmen.

He’s also expected to figure more into the Nanooks’ offensive attack than he has during his first three seasons in a blue and gold uniform. He contributed a goal and two assists in 33 games last season and has 3-11-14 totals in 106 career games.

“We had T.J. and Eckie on the point last year, and they were both wearing letters,” Vanoosten, in a recent practice, said of T.J. Campbell, the team captain last season as a senior, and Tyler Eckford, an assistant captain, All-American and the CCHA Offensive Defenseman of the Year last season as a junior.

“With them gone, I think my leadership role has to change right from the start,” Vanoosten said.

In previous seasons, Vanoosten was mostly an effective breakout, defensive defenseman surrounded by fellow blueliners who are now working on professional careers, including a few in the National Hockey League.

“As a freshman, he was a good No. 5 defenseman, and in the past couple of years, he’s been put into a No. 3 or No. 4 role,” Ferguson, in his first season as a head coach, said. “... It’s kind of like the evolution of a college player — you come in as a freshman, and with his progression, now it’s his time to lead and be a guy back there that we can rely on every night.”

Jordan Hendry, who was a teammate in Vanoosten’s freshman season, is vying to skate with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks for the second straight season.

Darcy Campbell, who skated in one NHL game for the Columbus Blue Jackets in March 2007, is in the Colorado Avalanche’s training camp. Eckford and Jeff Penner, a CCHA All-Rookie Honorable Mention selection who only played with the Nanooks last season as a freshman, are in their first NHL camps with the New Jersey Devils and Boston Bruins, respectively. T.J. Campbell is entering his first season with the ECHL’s Phoenix Roadrunners after playing late last season with the Las Vegas Wranglers, a fellow league member.

Darcy Campbell and Vanoosten were teammates from 2005-07. T.J. Campbell and Vanoosten spent the last three seasons as Nanooks blueliners. Vanoosten only skated with Penner last season and Eckford and Vanoosten came in together as freshmen before Eckford decided last spring to forego his senior season with the Nanooks and sign with the Devils, who drafted him in the seventh round in 2004.

Observing his former teammates prepared Vanoosten for a leadership role as a senior.

“Just in the last three years, watching those older guys and those leaders helped me and got me ready for this point,” Vanoosten said. “They weren’t always the most vocal guys, but in every game and in every practice, they went out and led on the ice, and worked harder than anyone on the ice.

“They didn’t always have to say a lot, but they just went out there and did their job every day and did it to the best of their abilities.”

Junior Dustin Molle sees Vanoosten doing likewise this season. Molle and his sophomore brother Bryant are the next most-experienced Nanooks defensemen behind the 23-year-old Vanoosten; the others are freshmen — Scott Enders, Joe Sova, Aaron Gens, Cody Butcher and Derek Bradish.

“For the most part, he plays well all the time. He’s not really up and down a lot, and that’s what we really need back there this year,” Dustin Molle said of Vanoosten. “He gets his job done all the time, too. He’s played with a lot of great players, he’s been here for a while and he’s learned from it, too.”

One thing won’t change for Vanoosten this season. He’s among the most consistent breakout defensemen in the CCHA.

“That’s the key to any good defenseman, if you can make a good first pass and set up your forwards with it,” Ferguson said.

It’s an ability that Vanoosten takes pride in.

“That first pass is something that I have always been taught to be important,” said Vanoosten, “and I have spent my whole life on working on making a good first pass and being as consistent as possible.

“That’s not always going to work, but if you can be as consistent as you possibly can be, maybe good things will happen.”

Vanoosten showed his scoring touch Saturday night at the Patty Center, delivering a blast from the right point in the third period to seal a 4-0 exhibition win over the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18 Team.

Vanoosten won’t abandon his defensive defenseman traits this season, but Ferguson does plan to use him a lot on the power play.

“He’s got good mobility, he has the feet to break the puck out on his own,” Ferguson said. “He has the feet to create different passing angles as far as finding different options.”

Vanoosten finds himself in a leadership role this season, and he welcomes the opportunity.