"He's a very competitive individual and plays a good hard-nosed style of hockey," Mazzoleni said. "I think his competitive nature is contagious to the other members of the team. We not only need the skill level that Graham brings but we also need his presence."

Morrell injured himself in the preseason, however, and it's not known exactly when he will return.

That is going to put a lot of pressure on junior assistant captain Pete Capouch (5, 10) and senior Tim Stay (0, 3) to step up and carry this defensive core at least until Morrell returns and can help spread the load.

Capouch is easily the team's best offensive defenseman and should once again be a special-teams asset on the power-play and while penalty-killing. He led the Crimson last season with a +5 plus/minus rating and is talented a moving the puck out of the defensive zone.

"Hockey is one of those sports where you generate your offense off your defense by playing an aggressive assertive style of play away from the puck," Mazzoleni said. "We made a commitment when we came here to play a more up-tempo style. Your tempo initiates with your defensive core and they've got to be able to make the play."

That's a lot of pressure to be placing on a young group of players, but Mazzoleni's willing to give them the time they need to develop and improve.

"Any team is going to throw pressure at you but you got to make the play," Mazzoleni said. "I think we upgraded ourselves in that area, but three of our defenseman are first-year players and you've got to be patient. Some of them are going to make mistakes, but as long as they learn from their mistakes they'll improve and they've been productive on the previous teams they've come from."

The good news is the trio of Barlow, McCulloch and Smith will have a year of Division I hockey experience and seasoning before the team will need to really call upon their talent in the playoffs next spring.