Kent Anderson can relate to every player on the Denver hockey roster.

And there’s no better explanation for David Carle’s decision to choose the senior defenseman to be his program’s latest captain.

Just like his predecessor, Carter King, Anderson is a Calgary native who didn’t play a ton as a freshman. But by the end of his junior season, he was an indispensable piece to a Pioneers team making another run to the Frozen four, playing alongside standout sophomore Zeev Buium on the top defensive pair.

“You’ve seen the growth of him as a human and as a player throughout (his career),” Carle said. “There’s a lot of similarities between him and Carter, just getting a little bit more (out of them) each year. I think that’s why guys look up to players like that. They know they’ve had to earn everything. They can relate to every player on the roster. It allows him to lead from his experience.”

From the outside, Anderson may appear to be one of the more soft-spoken members of the DU roster, but the former Elite 90 Award winner as the player with the highest GPA at the 2024 Frozen Four has the attention of his teammates when he does speak up.

“He’s the best at caring about guys, making sure everyone’s bought in and stuff like that,” senior and associate captain Rieger Lorenz told The Denver Gazette. “I’m super excited to see where he goes and how he grows throughout the year as a leader.”

Before last season, the same could’ve been said for someone like King, who also earned a reputation among his teammates that what he said mattered.

“We’re both from Calgary and I knew him a little bit before coming in,” Anderson said of King. “Being able to see his journey and play under him as a captain — he was a really big leader for me and I still keep in touch with him to see how he’s doing — I’ve learned a lot from him and hope to follow in his footsteps.”

Anderson’s challenge? Get a young team up to speed as quickly as possible as DU tries to get back to the Frozen Four for a third-straight season — a feat the program hasn’t accomplished since the early 1970s.

From the big freshman class that came in together in 2022 — one that featured the likes of Aidan Thompson, Jared Wright and others — only Anderson and Lorenz remain as they’ve seen their classmates sign entry-level contracts in the NHL or transfer out of the program. 

Now, this year’s locker room includes 10 freshmen that have plenty of potential but have yet to prove themselves above the junior hockey level.

“You know the pedigree of the program and you want to add to that, but I don’t think you understand it truly until you get into the meat and bones of the season in January and you’re expected to bring your ‘A’ game every practice, every game, so I think the new guys will learn that even if they think they have an idea,” Lorenz said.

It’s on Anderson to get them there. It hasn’t been much of a challenge so far.

“We have so many great leaders on this team, guys that aren’t wearing letters,” Anderson told The Denver Gazette. “These freshmen are coming in, they’re really excited to get going and they’ve worked so hard from the moment they’ve stepped on campus. It’s been easy to get these guys on board so far.”