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Coach Mike Cavanaugh joins the Rob Dibble Show · Coaches Corner

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  Back on The Rob Doubles Show. Joining us now on the Rob Show Hotline
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  is Mike Cavanaugh is a Yukon men's hockey coach. Coach cav How are you,
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  I'm great, Thanks thanks for having me on. Were you pretty satisfied
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  with where are your player went last night in the draft? Oh? I
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  thought it was great. You know, I've been to a few drafts before
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  with kids that unfortunate enough to coach some first rounders, but I've never been
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  there when the host city selected one of our players, and that was pretty
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  special for Maddie. The other night, matthew Wood going to the Nashville Predators
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  coach Ben Darnell. I am just fascinated by the NHL draft. Like,
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  the first thing that I notice is, Dude, these guys are coming from
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  everywhere, every corner of the world, and they're so young. Then I
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  think about you and your recruiting schedule, and like, how do you even
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  think about where to start? I mean, just the talent pool from the
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  ages. Where are we talking about, coach, like thirteen to nineteen.
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  It feels like a huge task to even get eyes on any of these guys.
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  Yeah, it's it's certainly changed over the years. It was a lot
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  more provincial when I first started. There's no question about that. It's become
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  a global sport. You know, we're we've had in our team in the
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  past eight years. We've had Swedes and Fins and follock checks, Russians.
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  It's um you know, it's really fascinating to see what's happened with the game.
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  But most of the kid's been do come over here and play in the
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  US, So it's not like we're traveling call into the earth to recruit these
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  kids. They most of them are playing in the US and that's where we
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  get a chance to see them. Mike, what did you think about what
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  general manager excuse me, Barry Trot said about Matthew that he has one of
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  the highest ceilings of any of the prospects drafted in the first round, even
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  though he's going to go back to college. How does that work? How
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  long do the Predators have basically the rights to him. They have the rights
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  if he was to stay all the next three years of college, they would
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  have to sign more that August he would become a free agent. But most
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  of the time, you know they're gonna put a hard pitch on him.
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  I would guess, you know, after his junior year for him to sign
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  because you certainly don't want to lose a first round asset. How do you
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  do that with because this is going to be the fifth guy on the roster
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  that has a rights to another NHL team. Nick Capone, Chase Bradley,
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  Salman, Ennu, Sir Gav and now Matthew would like, how do you
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  manage that coach and try to still you know, be there the guy that
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  tells them what to do and what not to do, but still with them
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  with the knowledge like, hey man an NHL teams waiting the wings for me.
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  Yeah, you know, I think you have to have a talents.
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  Know, your job is one to create a great team, you know,
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  and get everybody playing a successful That's the most important part. But the second
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  piece I've talked about this with with Gino, and you know, Jim Penders
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  faces it too because he's losing guys early. Gino doesn't necessarily lose guys early,
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  but it's uh, but did you have an obligation to prepare them to
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  turn from uh? You know, I don't want many players on my team
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  that don't have the dream of playing in the NHL, we're recruiting the wrong
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  kids if we don't have those types of kids with that mentality. So a
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  lot of it, you know, is you know, trust gets built up
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  over the years, and I always tell him, listen, I'm not making
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  any money off you, you know, so I'm just telling you, based
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  on experience from the past guys I've coached, this is when I think you'd
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  be ready. Coach. I've been coaching kids from eight to eight team for
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  years now, and talking to Chris Daly at the Travelers last week, it
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  really struck me when she said, we want them to get on a bus
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  and say hello to the bus driver. We want them to get on an
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  airplane and thank the pilots for things like that. Do you feel a sense
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  of that too responsible for these young adults turning them into good people as well
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  as possibly professionals, because you know, ninety five of the guys you coach
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  aren't going to the NHL, but they're going to go out in the real
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  world. There's no question. You know. We have a sign that's hung
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  in our locker room since the day I got there. Treat the custodian the
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  same way to treat the CEO. I just think that's really important, ye
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  because you played pro, and I try to tell these guys all the time
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  when it's time to turn pro, you don't have to get bigger and stronger
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  necessarily. You have to go in there with mentality that you're going to take
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  somebody's job. And that guy likes that job, you know, and he
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  doesn't necessarily want to give that job up. So just don't go in there
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  thinking off, I get stronger, I get faster, I can play in
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  the NHL. No, you better be willing to go in there and takes
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  his job, a job that he's had for a while. And not only
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  that, you better be pretty humble when you do take his job because he's
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  got buddies on that team that he's had for a long time. But you
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  don't want to tick them off because you've got to play with him. So,
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  you know, the maturity piece of it is very big for us.
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  Matthew would thirty four points. He led the team in scoring last year,
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  fifteenth overall pick. That's the highest pick for your program, highest pick for
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  Yukon. Ever, what is something that Matthew Wood's going to work on this
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  next season that's really going to push him over the top and become a great
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  pro. Yeah. You know, I had that conversation with him the night
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  before the draft. They said, you know, I protected you pretty well
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  this year. I had you with two really good players. Yeah, and
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  you're more than held your own. But you know, they did a lot
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  of the dirty work for you, especially early. I said, next year,
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  you're going to drive the line. You know, it's going to be
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  your turn to drive the line and not let others pull you along. And
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  he was all for it. So I think versatility is really important. I
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  think, you know, maybe he only played wing this year, but I
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  might move him the center and have him work on his face off so he
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  didn't kill any penalties. I think that's an area where we could use them.
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  So he's going to get a lot more responsibility this year. Talking to
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  Mike Kavanaugh, Yukon, a men's hockey coach, wanted to ask you about
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  I mean, hockey's grown so much in the last twenty years. You guys
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  actually got in the NHL our former director of the Players Association Don Fear for
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  many many years and totally grew salaries. But as far as the youth,
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  it's exploded. I mean it's like European soccer and these different academies and stuff
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  like that. Can you touch on that, guys. We're looking at the
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  draft and it's Sweden won, and Sweden too and all these different world federations
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  of junior hockey. How is all that tie into not just college but the
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  pros well. As you know I alluded to earlier, it's just become a
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  global sport and even in the United States. Just stay focused on that.
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  You know, when Wayne Gretsky went out to LA I mean, hockey grew
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  exponentially out the West coast. You know, the Dallas Stars won a Stanley
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  Cup and all of a sudden you've seen a lot of players from the Dallas
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  area. Florida and Tampa Bay have had really successful programs. We have a
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  boy coming in this year, Jake Rashard from Florida. So is this even
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  in the United States. It's incredible how much the game has grown. You
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  know, it's always been a staple in Sweden and Finland, but here in
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  the US it's been fun to watch. Are the game's grown? Tell us
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  about your Travelers Championship experience. We know how well of a golfer you are.
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  All you hockey players. Man, your hand eye coordinate is just perfect
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  for the game of golf. You play a lot of golf. You played
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  TPC River Highlands. What was your week? Like, I know you're in
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  the celebrity game or the celebrity match and also too easy coach TPC River Highlands.
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  Too easy, of of course. Yeah, maybe for Rory McElroy,
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  not me though, I'll say that. You know, it's always a fun
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  event, and I think what you know, Andy Bissett and Nathan Grouve have
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  done the growth. It's just remarkable to see, you know whatever it was
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  seventy five of the top seventy seven players or at that event something. It
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  was some crazy number like that, and they've continually done it. I know
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  it was an elevated event this year, but they've done it when it wasn't
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  an elevated event. To be able to do it the week after the US
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  Open, which we all know is such a grind, it's such a tribute
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  to them. I think it's great for the community. All Right, who
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  is who's your favorite golfer that came into the Travelers that came in? Yeah,
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  yeah, you know, anybody who do you in a gallery? I
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  of course, I like them all. You know, there's not many guys
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  I don't like. Um. I was really rooting for Ricky Fowler and troyed
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  watching the process where he was on top of book diamond. Uh, struggling
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  in the fact that he's he's been grinding. Oh, I think we lost
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  him. Yeah, I don't know if it was Rory mclroy Baue. Rory
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  just shut off his phone, shut him down. Okay, I think we
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  may have got him back. Hold on one second, Kurd's gonna try again.
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  You're gonna try again. Kurt's gonna try again. Yeah, try again,
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  all right, Coach. You're talking about how Rory McElroy was taking it
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  pretty easy on the course, but the seventy five out of seventy seven players
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  being at that tournament. Yeah, I just think it's remarkable. I was
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  saying, Uh, it's such a tribute to Andy Bissett and Nathan Grouve and
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  the travelers to be able to do that after the US Open, which we
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  know is such a grind, and to get guys to come from the West
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  Coast as soon as he starts getting into My hats off to them. Oh,
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  Harry coming back, coach, how many what is the hockey plan like
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  until we get to the ice, Like, what's your summer include? And
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  when did the guys when we get back to campus and get started. Well,
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  you know, an old coach told me a long time ago the best
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  three things about being a hockey coach of June, July, and August.
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  So I'm gonna try to enjoy those months and then the grind will begin.
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  But I'm really looking forward to next year. We got a great team coming
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  back in some fantastic leaderships, so it should be a fun season. I
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  didn't get to ask you what did you think of the new complex? What
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  do you think of your new rink? Oh, it's dynamite. If it's
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  one of the top in the country, I think, you know, with
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  the generosity of Dan Piscano and the facility that was built, it has everything
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  we need for our players, the resources to develop to become the very best
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  in the sport. It's just we're so fortunate to have a facility like that
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  on campus now, and the fans love it. Man. I love watching
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  a game there. It's one of my favorite places to watch hockey. You
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  can even be outside, look through the window and watched on the jumbo tron.
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  Coach, you don't even need to get in that place to watch your
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  team. Well, you guys are always welcome. Just let me know when
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  you want to come. Bring it beautiful, I'll bring my skates. We'll
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  get Ben out there. He can take some shots on me. Excellent.
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  How'm gonna use you in front of the net, Rob, Yeah, I
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  can fill up the net. Just lay down. Thank you, coach,
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  Thank you, Sarah. All right, guys have a great day too.
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  Oh my god, I love him. I love hockey. He wants me
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  to get into that shooting room. They have a shooting room. That's all
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  they do is shoot. I mean it's with the hockey stick, and it's
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  not you know, it's not a shooting range like the ones you're used to.
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  If we used to play in the locker room, we a lot of
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  us had sticks, um you know, some giving it for the reds,
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  yes, and we use a tennis ball or a rolled up sock with tape
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  on it. And they kind of frowned on it because guys would take it
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  in the face and be like a big welt. I'm sure you were checking
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  each other into the lockers and everything too, Which was that was yeah,
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  exactly, marg No, no, absolutely, all right, we'll take a
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  quick break, we'll come back, we'll do the first tips question of the
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  day. Happy Friday, leading into a great Fourth of July weekend and the
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  sun starting to peek out. Hopefully we don't get all out of rain,
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  so we'll be right back with the first dips question of the day.