On Eve of First Game, Texas Names Cole Schneider Team Captain

Schneider, then with Milwaukee, works to top a puck past Landon Bow (Credit: Andy Nietupski/Texas Stars)

The Texas Stars have a captain. Newcomer Cole Schneider will be the eighth captain in team history, replacing the departed Dillon Heatherington. Schneider is the first captain since the opening season to have no prior experience with the club before being named captain. However, while that is uncommon in Texas, it is not uncommon in the league at large.

"He's a new face to the organization, but he established his leadership qualities very quickly and throughout training camp,” noted head coach Neil Graham.

Schneider was a solid player for a Milwaukee team that was headed for a deep run last year before the COVID shutdown. He is the most experienced member of the team as many players who would have been captaincy candidates were soaked up by the Dallas taxi squad.

Texas will wait to name alternate captains for now. 

“We had so many guys step up in camp and show good qualities already. We just want to make sure that we give guys as much opportunity as possible,” Graham said. “Yes, we have a young team, but we have a lot of guys doing things the right way, so [we decided] let’s not jump the gun and make sure we are comfortable moving forward.”