Junior defenseman Michael Basist and junior forward Andrew Murmes were voted assistant captains for Wildcat hockey.

The new assistants join captain and senior forward Brian Slugocki, who was elected before the season started.

“It’s awesome to have your teammates look up to you and vote for you for that role,” Murmes said. “I just hope that I can keep the morale going and hopefully get us to a national championship.”

Head coach Sean Hogan said they wait one or two weekends to vote on assistant captains to see who the leaders are.

“Both of them, from a coaching stand point, are good leaders,” Hogan said. “I think the guys did a pretty good job electing who they wanted.”

Murmes currently leads the Wildcats with 10 points, nine assists and one goal. Last year Murmes led the Wildcats in points with 52 points, 21 goals and 31 assists.

“Last year was a little bit weird for me,” Murmes said. “I’m normally more of an assist guy than a goal guy, but I was able to find the puck in the net, which was awesome.”

Basist missed most of last year due to injury. This season he has one point and one assist.

Rankings reset

Arizona dropped a spot in the newest rankings and its opponents solidified their domination of the top five and top ten.

The Wildcats fell to No. 20, and now the top 25 includes nine UA opponents, seven in the top ten and four in the top four.

This semester, Arizona will play No. 1 Ohio, No. 2 ASU again, No. 3 Oakland, No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 10 Central Oklahoma, No. 14 Illinois and No. 25 Eastern Michigan. EMU just entered the rankings.

“We have the same thing they do, we just have to go out and prove it,” Murmes said. “So I’m excited that we get to play these teams because we’re just as good, if not better.”

Suspension for ACHA team

Central Michigan received a five-year “death penalty” from its university for hazing.

The Chippewas were charged with violating the school’s alcohol, hazing and registered student organization policies following a Sept. 14 party, which the players posted photos of on Facebook, reported the CMU newspaper, Central Michigan Life.

Hogan said he gave the players an article about the ban.

“We don’t have any hazing issues, but there will never be hazing any here because this is what can happen,” Hogan said.

Eastern Michigan was punished with the one-year suspension in 2003 for hazing, plus a one year postseason ban and one year of probation after that, and the team is still recovering.

“They are still trying to get through that,” Hogan said. “They used to be a top 10 team. They haven’t been ranked, until this last [season], in years.”

Central was one of the top Division II teams.

“We’re trying to bring our team together as much as possible, especially with the amount of new players,” Hogan said.