By Dave Pollard, Guelphstorm.com Exclusive

To fully understand Tyler Carroll's worth to the Guelph Storm, you need to look beyond the numbers. Because goals, assists and points don't tell the whole story. Not even close, in Carroll's case.

To understand why the Storm coaching staff values Carroll so much, why his teammates see to look up to him and expect him to provide leadership and character, you need to delve a whole lot deeper.

Only then will you be able to comprehend why Carroll, one of four over-agers on the Storm roster and liable to be rotated in and out of the lineup like fellow 20-year-olds Sam Lofquist, Chris Van Laren and Mathew Sisca, has suited every game early this season. And why his teammates voted him captain ahead of NHL prospects like Peter Holland, Taylor Beck and Michael Latta.

"You watch any coaching show, whether it's football or NHL coaches talking, they never talk about the skill guys, they're always talking about the warrior guys that are in the trenches, that pay the price and do the little things," Storm Head Coach and General Manager Jason Brooks said. "Tyler is one of those guys. He's great in the room, he's all about team first. He's our best penalty killer, he's our best shot blocker, he's a character guy.”

"Ultimately, you can say, do you want a 20-year-old to be certain things? To me a 20-year-old is a guy who has to set examples for the other players, whether he's a leader in wearing a letter or not is irrelevant. At 20 years old, your job is to be a leader and Tyler does that."

No, Tyler Carroll is not your prototypical over-age forward. He's not going to score 40 goals or rack up 90 or more points like some of the other OAs around the league.

But he doesn't want to be those guys. And that, in part, is what makes him so valuable on a team that has plenty of pure skill up front.

"I feel I have the offensive ability but I don't put much emphasis on points," Carroll said. "I enjoy winning, I like to see the team win. The guys seem to like me and what I bring to the table every night. I feel people respect me enough that I can voice my opinion.

"I'm not here for recognition. All the guys in the room know about it. If people in the stands don't see that, then whatever. I'm here to win."

If you get the impression Carroll isn't too concerned with what people think of how he plays the game or if he doesn't meet the expectations of the fans when it comes to a fourth-year OHLer, you'd be bang on. That's something else that makes him important to the Storm's success -- he checks his ego at the door and puts on his work gear, setting aside personal achievements for the betterment of the team.

That's not to say he's incapable of scoring, he simply defers to others. He had a career-high 15 goals and 39 points in 61 games last season, respectable numbers for a defensive-minded forward (he was plus-14, third-best on the team behind Beck and Latta).

"I definitely want to match last year's point total, definitely exceed it," said Carroll, a 6-foot-2, 202-pounder from Strathroy. "But if we're winning and I'm not putting up points, I'm definitely not arguing."

As far as Brooks is concerned, Carroll will do whatever it takes to win. Those "little things" you hear coaches talk about all the time -- sometimes referred to as paying the price, which many players really aren't willing to do -- are usually the parts of the game that hurt, that leave players nicked and bruised and sore all over.

"When you're killing penalties like he has been, it takes a chunk out of you," Brooks said. "Your body takes a beating. He's a shot-blocking machine and he's black and blue all over. It takes a pretty special person to be doing that. If he's doing it, guys follow it and it makes your team that much better. That's what makes him so special, he goes and digs and drives and works hard on the wall. And he's a penalty killing machine.”

"Tyler takes pride in it. He gets ticked off when he gets scored on. He gets ticked off when he doesn't win a battle on the wall. He gets ticked off when he doesn't block a shot. When you have a player like that, who has that mentality, it rubs off on other guys."

Carroll is the type of player the Storm doesn't have in spades this season. He's also the type of player Brooks knows he needs to have to complement players with other skill sets.

"He's the type of guy who doesn't get the glory, don't get the fanfare, but they're the guys you win with," Brooks said. "If you had all a bunch of skilled guys, they'd never get the puck because there's not enough of him. That's what makes him so special, he goes and digs and drives and works hard on the wall. And he's a penalty killing machine.”

"Obviously you want him to contribute offensively. I'm not telling him to pitch a zero all year. But I think the beauty of Tyler is you can put him on the power play and you're fine, you're comfortable. He'll score his goals. Because of his smarts he puts himself in a position to get those chances. That's something I think is very positive and a big part of his game."

If Carroll plays like he's got a chip on his shoulder, there's good reason. It hasn't been an easy road to where he is now, captain of the Storm and the only one of the four over-agers who isn't going to be traded or released at some point in the near future.

A sixth-round pick in the 2006 OHL draft, Carroll started his major junior career slowly. He didn't make the Storm as a 16-year-old then was hindered by a shoulder injury heading into training camp in 2007. He returned to the lineup and played just 25 games before being sent to the junior B team in his hometown to finish the season.

In 2008-09 had five goals and 11 assists in 61 games before setting career highs last season. All in all, nothing's come easy for Carroll.

"When we drafted him and watched him play, we thought, jeez, if he can just get his stride a little better, a little quicker, we knew he could think the game," Brooks said.

"Early in his career you fit him on the fourth line. He just couldn't get there (fast enough to play on an offensive line). He's worked hard at his game, worked hard at his conditioning to be able to play now.

"He is a kid who, as a coach, you can (now) put on any line. You can put him on the first line and play him with your two skilled guys. Defensively he'll do the job and offensively he's got enough skill to put it in. Or you can play him in a different role, a checking role and have him bang and crash and shut people down. Systematically he's very, very reliable."