Last year, the Acadia hockey Axemen won the AUHC championship and competed at the University Cup championship in Alberta.

This year, with many of the same players, the Axemen are fighting for their lives, trying to hold off UPEI and Dalhousie for the final playoff berth.

What's the difference? What's wrong with the Axemen? Or is there anything wrong? Is it simply a matter of everybody else getting that much better?

I admit to being as puzzled as the next person by Acadia's poor performance so far this season. Though the team lost some fairly significant players to graduation - notably CIS Player of the Year (and AUHC scoring champion) Kevin Baker, Josh Dill and captain Robbie Sutherland - it's not like other AUHC teams don't lose players, too.

I've heard a lot of possible explanations - all of them total speculation - for Acadia's lack of success this season, one of them being an overall lack of team chemistry.

While it may be part of the problem, it's not major. This year's Axemen are a relatively veteran crew.

Nor do I believe the team lacks leadership, though there is no question a player like Robbie Sutherland was bound to be a hard act to follow in that regard. The Acadia coaching staff named Brandon Benedict team captain this season, charging him with trying to replace Sutherland's presence, both on and off the ice. I thought it was a good choice at the time, and I still do. Any lack of team chemistry, real or perceived, can't be laid at his feet.

At the same time, the fact remains there are two kinds of leaders.

The first is the guy who, when needed, can take the team on his shoulders and lead by example. Benedict is that kind of guy - he filled the role in junior, and he's shown that kind of leadership for the Axemen through his career, especially this season.

The other kind of leader is the one who can look you straight in the eye, get in your face and tell you when you screwed up or when you're maybe not helping the team, and doesn't need to worry about losing your respect or friendship by doing so.

While a coach can do that, I have to think it has more impact - and means more - when it comes from a fellow player.

This type of leader isn't necessarily the top scorer, or even the best player on the team, but he (or she) is invariably the one their teammates respect above anything else.

I'm not saying Benedict is, or isn't, that kind of guy, but I always got the feeling Sutherland definitely was.

That, in a nutshell, might be why players like Sutherland are so rare, and so hard to replace. With all due respect to Benedict, it might be what the Axemen are missing right now - not to mention a lights-out sniper like Baker, but that's another story.

It's not their presence on the ice that makes players like Sutherland special - after all, the Axemen played half of last season without him and still won - as much as it is their presence off the ice.

What the Axemen need more than anything is for someone - not necessarily Benedict - to step up and become that kind of presence.

After all, it's not like there aren't plenty of good candidates. Perhaps the solution is “leadership by committee� - not the ideal situation, but for the Axemen, at this point in the season, it's got to be whatever works.