Granted, the undefeated Dimond High boys have swept the rink heading into this week's Class 4A state hockey championships in Wasilla -- 24 straight victories.
Sure, they have force-fed opponents a steady diet of bagels -- 13 shutouts.
And, yes, their all-junior first line of Tyler Thompson, Daniel Roberts and Shilo Vega has delivered a jaw-dropping 70 goals and 148 points, and their No. 1 goaltender, Thomas Davis, has authored eight shutouts and a goals-against average (0.72) that looks like a typo.
Yet the most unusual number associated with the Lynx is zero, and it has nothing to do with their lack of a loss or penchant for shutting down the other guys.
Zero is the number of Lynx with a letter on their sweater.
No captain, no assistant captains.
And to hear the Lynx tell it, that lack of a hockey hierarchy has made them even more formidable.
"No one's been singled out, so everyone wants to step up and do their part,'' Roberts said. "It's pushing everybody to step up and be a leader. Everyone pushes everyone else, and everyone helps give everyone else confidence.''
Coach Dennis Sorenson said he saw many strong personalities on his club in the preseason and it occurred to him that maybe he didn't need to designate one guy to wear a "C'' on his chest and a couple others to sport an "A.''
"We just said, 'Let's see what happens,' " Sorenson said.
Different players have led at different times. When Dimond quickly fell behind East 1-0 in a Cook Inlet Conference semifinal game last week, Sorenson said, senior winger Adrian Ramos buoyed the bench.
"He said, 'It's not a big deal, let's go,' '' Sorenson said. "He's just an honest player who loves to play the game. He works so hard, and he's always smiling, and the kids respect him.''
Ramos said not having a captain or assistants isn't anything the Lynx even think about any longer.
"There's no, 'Who's the captain? Who has more seniority?' " Ramos said. "Everyone is equal, and that's really helped us out. We have a lot of leaders on our team.''
Just as the Lynx haven't been fixated on letters, they also haven't become prisoners of their undefeated streak. In interviews after several Dimond games this season, not one Lynx mentioned anything about the streak until prompted. What they did talk about time and again was focusing on the game at hand.
"We've been playing hockey for a long time, and we've seen what happens to teams that think a lot of themselves and maybe get cocky,'' Roberts said. "Everyone's focused on our team, they have that end goal, and they want it.
"Every game, everyone buckles down. It's like it's the championship game, every game.''
Ramos said the Lynx, who roll four lines and grind down opponents, show leadership throughout the lineup by continually encouraging one another.
"Usually, we try to stay positive on the bench -- that's the key,'' Ramos said. "If we start bickering, we lose control, and things go down from there.''
Dimond players are generally aware of the school's recent history at the state championships, and Sorenson, in his 20th season, is intimately aware. Since winning state in 2001, the Lynx have been in the championship game seven times in the last nine seasons and lost each time.
As a single-elimination tournament, the margin for error at state is as thin as a skate blade.
"We've been in close games, and we've been behind and battled back, so there's confidence,'' Sorenson said. "The drawback is the state tournament is one-and-done.''
Dimond played two close games in the CIC playoffs last week. The Lynx beat East 2-1 in the semifinals and beat South 2-0 for the title in a game that included Vega's empty-net goal late.
Roberts believes those close games -- the Lynx in the regular season also won a pair of 2-1 games against South, a 2-1 game against East and a 3-2 game against Service -- will serve his team well.
"In those close games, a lot of key goals were scored by guys who don't necessarily score every game,'' he said. "It shows, if you work hard and grind, good things will happen.
"If it comes down to that at state, we'll be prepared.''
Find Doyle Woody's blog at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.
By DOYLE WOODY
dwoody@adn.comAnchorage Daily News
sports@adn.com
Anchorage Daily News