So the U will have co-captains this season. Not a bad idea.

I remember Ryan Stoa last season and what being the lone captain did to him. When things went bad, he took things personally, maybe blamed himself too much.

The media was always asking to talk to him.

Having two captains splits the responsibilities a bit.

Ryan Flynn was an assistant captain last season along with then-senior Justin Bostrom.

“It was evident by the team vote that Ryan and Tony would be our captains for 2009-10,” Gophers coach Don Lucia said in a news release. “Both are extremely hard-working, team focused and representative of the program on and off the ice in a positive manner.”

Tony, of course, is coach Lucia’s older son.

Flynn is a forward from Lino Lake, Minn., who played high school hockey at Centennial for two seasons, then went to Ann Arbor, Mich., and played with the nat’l development team there his last two high school seasons.

He had six goals and 13 assists for 19 points last season at the U in 37 games. He played in every game.

In three seasons at the U, he has 47 points in 118 games.

He is a big forward, 6-3, 210. Flynn committed 31 penalties; all were two-minute minors. He was a plus-5, sixth on the team in scoring. He had 1 pp goal, 1 sh goal.

Flynn, 21, was a sixth round pick of Nashville in the 2006 NHL Draft. His major is finance as is Tony’s.

Lucia turns 22 next month. He played for Wayzata High School and then spent a season with the Omaha Lancers of the USHL in 2005-06.

Last season he had nine goals and eight assists for 17 points in 34 games. He was out briefly with a concussion.

He won the team’s Unsung Hero Award last seaosn.

He has 54 points in 121 career games. His biggest goal was the game-winner in a a 3-2, 2 OT victory over Minnesota State Mankato in the third and deciding game of a WCHA playoff series in 2008.

He was a plus-1 player, committed 16 penalties for 43 minutes, had four goals and four assists on power plays. he is 5-11, 180 and was a sixth round pick of San Jose in ‘05.

This May, Lucia also traveled to Italy, so he is a bit more worldly than before.

His father made a point of “the team” voting for the captains. A year ago, Don Lucia named Ryan Stoa the captain without a vote.

Assistant captains for this season will be named this fall.

Flynn and Lucia are leading the Gophers in off-season conditioning this summer.

“They’ve already started to establish our team’s identity with their hard work in the weight room,” Don Lucia said in the same release.

The 2009-10 team will have six seniors, the biggest senior class in a while, and some talented freshmen coming in like defenseman Nick Leddy of Eden Prairie and forward Zach Budish of Edina.

Expectations will be high. Â

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