Zajac bucks a family tradition, goes 'D-man'

CEDAR RAPIDS - Nolan Zajac figures it's the million-dollar question that's been asked at least a million times.

They all want to know how he became a defenseman.

“I've been asked that my whole life,” the second-year Cedar Rapids RoughRider said. “No one knows the answer, not even my parents. I just always remember playing D-man when I was little, and that's it.

“I actually always wanted to be a goalie when I was really little. But I started playing defense, and it's never been anything different.”

Well, it is different from everyone else in his family.

Oldest brother Travis is one of the top two-way centers in the NHL, a fifth-year member of the New Jersey Devils. Brother Darcy is a forward in the Devils system who has split this season between the American Hockey League and ECHL.

Brother Kelly is a junior at Union College in New York, averaging a point a game. The boys' father, Tom, played three years at the University of Denver.

Yeah, he was a forward, too.

“There's always that question ‘Are they going to be as good as their brother?'” Nolan said. “It's different for me, though, as well, because they're all forwards ... I'm a D-man.”

You've seen the continuing maturation of the 18-year-old from Winnipeg, Canada. He's scored his first three USHL goals and is close to doubling his point total of 2009-10.

He leads the RoughRiders and is tied for sixth in the league in plus-minus rating at plus 15. You get a plus-one every time you are on the ice when your team scores a goal at even strength and a minus-one when the opponent scores.

“I guess that means I've been playing pretty well defensively this year. Better than I was at the beginning of the year,” Zajac said.

He hopes to keep racking up a gaudy plus-minus rating.

“I think that shows how his play has improved,” Carlson said. “This might not make any sense, but I think a lot of times that (statistic) is overrated when it's not good. But I think when it's good, when it's favorable, it says something that a guy is doing a lot of correct things on the ice. Good decisions with the puck, good decisions without the puck.”