UND men’s hockey coach Dave Hakstol announced on Thursday that senior defenseman Dillon Simpson will serve as team captain for the 2013-14 season. Junior forwards Michael Parks and Stephane Pattyn will serve as assistant captains.

Simpson, an Edmonton, Alberta native, is the 10th-youngest captain in UND history — the youngest since Greg Johnson in 1991-92 — and was named UND’s Most Improved Player last season after leading the team’s defenseman with five goals and 19 assists in 42 games. In his three years in a North Dakota jersey, Simpson has tallied nine goals and 43 assists in 114 career games.

He is three-time all-WCHA Academic Team selection and two-time WCHA Scholar-Athlete, pursuing degrees in managerial finance and corporate accounting. Simpson also is a fourth-round draft pick (92nd overall) of the Edmonton Oilers in 2011.

Parks was named UND’s Rookie of the Year in the 2011-12 season after posting 12 goals and 10 assists in 42 games. Although he was limited to 25 games last season because of injuries, Parks contributed seven goals and one assist. Parks is a general studies major and has received UND’s Engelstad Family Foundation Endowment in each of his prior two seasons. In the 2010 NHL draft, Parks was selected by Philadelphia in the fifth round (149th overall).

Before arriving at UND, Pattyn served as captain for Portage in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League in 2010-11 season. Pattyn, a native of St. Anne, Manitoba, is an entrepreneurship major and missed just a single game in his first two seasons at North Dakota, when he collected six goals and five assists in 83 games.

UND will begin its season Sunday in an exhibition games against in the University of Manitoba in Ralph Engelstad Arena before hosting Vermont Oct. 11-12.