NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Phil Kemp, a junior defenseman with plenty of career leadership and championship experience, has been voted captain of the 2020-21 Yale Men's Hockey Team. He is thinking the Bulldogs have some unfinished business.
 
The 2019-20 Elis were coming off a double-overtime win in game three of a best-of-three ECAC Hockey playoff series with Union at Ingalls Rink last March when the season came to an end.
 
"The team is fired up to get back to school," said the 6-foot, 3-inch, 215-pound Greenwich, Conn., native who has skated in 88 college games. "Having our post-season canceled, we're all itching to get back on the ice together."
 
Kemp, picked by Edmonton in the seventh round of the 2017 NHL Draft, was assistant captain for a U.S. U-18 World Championship gold medal winner after serving as captain of the U-17 team. While on the blueline for the U.S. National Team, he also helped the team win a pair of Five Nations Championships before coming to New Haven.
 
Since he's been a Bulldog, Kemp earned a silver medal with the U.S. National Team at the 2019 IIHF Junior World Championship.
 
Prior to heading to Ann Arbor, Mich., to be part of the U.S. National Developmental Team Program, he attended Brunswick School and skated to a pair of Empire Cup Championships.
 
"I think it is great that our players selected Phil as their captain. He embodies all the qualities we need in a leader," said Keith Allain '80, Yale's Malcolm G. Chace Head Coach. "Phil is selfless, hard-working, and ultra-competitive!  He has earned the respect of his teammates and his coaches and will set the perfect tone for our group as we strive to become a championship team."
 
Like his head coach, Yale is in Kemp's blood. Grandfather, Phil Kemp '50, played football and baseball for the Bulldogs and was part of the nation's first two College World Series events. Great uncle, Frank Kemp '42, was a star on the Yale football team, while another great uncle, Bruce Kemp '45, died while serving the U.S. Army in Okinawa during World War II.
 
It took 67 years to get another Kemp back to campus, but neither of the new Yale hockey captain's siblings took their athletic talents to New Haven. His brother, Larken, played lacrosse at Brown and now plays for the Redwoods of the Premier Lacrosse League, while his sister, Elizabeth, rowed at Harvard.
 
His primary job isn't point production, though he's contributed eight goals and 19 assists over three seasons while earning All-ECAC Academic honors. Kemp's focus has been stopping opponents and showing on-ice leadership.

There are eight in the class of 2021 on the Yale roster, and all positions are covered among the veterans. The message from Kemp, a history major in Pauli Murray College, is clear, more inclusive and simple.
 
"There are a lot of leaders in our locker room. It doesn't matter if you're a first year or a senior for us to be successful, it'll take all of us."