Latest / Coaches Corner / MHOC Coach Mike Cavanaugh Zoom - March 4

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MHOC Coach Mike Cavanaugh Zoom - March 4 · Coaches Corner

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: All right, coach, final home game of the regular season.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Two games left of the regular season starting Thursday versus
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Providence and the Saturday or Thursday versus New Hampshire. Excuse me,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: and in Saturday versus Providence. Just want to get your
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: thoughts heading into this matchup against New Hampshire.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, right now, we're you know, focused on U n H.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: And you know, I think they've been playing pretty well
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: here the last month. I know, they split with BU,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: they split with U Mass and they split with Providence,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: so uh, you know, they're playing very well. I always
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: have the utmost respect from Mike Sousa and his team,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: and they're always well coached, very good special teams.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: The last time they were here, you know, they had
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: a big third period and they defeated US here at Tuscano.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: So we know we're going to have our hands full
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: tomorrow night with the Wildcats.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: All right, Shoe, you can start us off with questions.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: Thanks Colan, Good morning, coach.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: How are you? I'm great, Joe yourself, I'm.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: Probably not great.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Doing well.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: You've done. You've got You've played pretty well as of late,
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: but having gotten the results, is it difficult to keep
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: the guy's confidence up when that's the story.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: You know, not so much with this group, because we
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: have a senior laiden group and a lot of experience.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: I think that they, you know, remain they understand that
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: it's it's how we're playing this time of year that's
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: more important necessarily than the results. Now, don't get me wrong,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: there's an old saying too, you don't confuse effort with results, right,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: But I think if we continue to play the way
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: we are, it'll bode well for us.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: When you look at the season overall, has there been
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: one or two guys who have exceeded your expectations this year?
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: Well, I think Mike Murtag in some ways jumps out.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: You know, I always thought he was a good player,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: but you know, I think he's had a really good
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: year for us. You know, I'm trying to think of
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: some other players. Maybe, you know, I thought Anthony some
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Aki has been playing at lane. Someaki has been playing
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: really well as of late. I think his game has
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: taken a big jump, you know, up and down the lineup.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of guys I think that have had
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: pretty strong years. But off the top of my head,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: those are probably two.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: One last one for me, we think a kai as
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: such an offensive defenseman, but yet he leads you guys
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: in plus minus. What's the biggest strides that he's made
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: as far as the defensive part of his game is concerned.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess you know, anytime you see a five
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: eight defensemen, you're thinking he must be an offensive defenseman.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: But kai As by far has probably the best gaps
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: on our team. He closes time in space as well
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: as anyone, and he's got an elite stick for you know,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: his size. So the reason why he the reason why
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: he leads our team in plus minus, he doesn't have
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: a goal, he doesn't have a lot of points. It's
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: because he defends so well and he might be one
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: of our best defensive defensemen. So I think it's his feet,
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: his anticipation, how he reads plays, and the confidence to
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: maintain a really tight gap through the neutral zone, knowing
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: that his feet can get him out of trouble. Thank you, sure,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: don go ahead, Yeah, Hey cav, good morning, Good morning,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: tom Uh.
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: I apologize in advance because I know this has been
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: beaten to death. But you know, the light, the light's
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: going out at UMass and particularly the way you know
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: you kind of chose to handle that, which is maybe
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: a little bit differently than some other coaches. I could
• 4:09
  Speaker 4: think of how they might have handled the situation like that.
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: You know, what, what's your your thoughts on the resolution
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: of all that? The league obviously took action, obviously your
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: your team's moving on, you know, just just as you
• 4:20
  Speaker 4: look back on a few days later and digested what
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: what's your your what do you make of all that?
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Like I said, I can't believe all the play it's getting.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: I just think, you know, I'd like to think it
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: was just a mistake Tom. And quite frankly, I'm not
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: sure we need to ban like stroll blights either. Like
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: I think that's a little reactionary and I'm not sure
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: that's the best method. There's a lot of schools that
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: spend a lot of money on that stroll blighting, and
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: I think it's effective and it adds to the fan experience, now,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: you know, making sure that there's a whistle or the
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: play stops. It's probably h import But again, it didn't
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: factor to me into the game the other night. You know,
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: we had fifty three shots on that three went in.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: We had fifty other opportunities before overtime to win that
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: game in regulation, and Mikero Abele played really well. So
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to focus on that. It is what
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: it is. It happened. It was an unfortunate situation. We
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: get faced with unfortunate situations daily in our lives all
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: the time, and you got to deal with it and
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: you move on.
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, right about Hockey East. Yeah, obviously they used different
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: metrics this year, and I'm wondering if in your mind
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: Hockey East has taken the hit because of that, because
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: it's hard to believe that a league that had six
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: teams in last year, all of a sudden, these teams
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: aren't good, aren't as good anymore, right, I mean, I mean,
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: if it turns out to be only a couple of bit.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Is the league down in your mind?
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: Or are the metrics maybe making it look down when
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: it's really not.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: I don't think the league is down dumb, I think
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: and if you look at it, it's still I mean
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: I haven't looked at it recently, but or this week necessarily,
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: but we still have one, two, three, you know, five
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: teams in the top twenty. I think the difference is
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: and I don't know this for a fact, you'd have
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: to fact check it. But I think last year our
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: non league record was hovering around close to seven or
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: you know, and this year around sixty. And that's the
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: difference when when you when your conference wins a lot
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: of non league games, like they say, a rising tide
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: lifts all boats, and uh that that's the biggest difference
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: I believe this year because I'm gonna say.
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: You see in Big East basketball is well, you know,
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: the metrics are down, but the teams at the bottom
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: are still capable of playing well.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: Sure beating it, you know.
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: And I think that's the case in Hockey East as well.
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: And to me, the strength of the league is more
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: the top to bottom, you know, not necessarily how top
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: heavy a league might be.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: There's no question about that. I believe that our league
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: it's wide open. Who can win the league? I really believe,
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: you know, I'd be no one winning this league would
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: really shock me. Having played all the teams. I can't
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: say that there's one game you go into and say,
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: you know what, we can beat this team with our
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: C game tonight. Yeah, that's not the case. Thanks keV, Sure.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Go ahead, Natalie, Thank.
• 7:51
  Speaker 5: You very much, coach. Good to see you again. Who
• 7:54
  Speaker 5: are you?
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: I see? Is that Starbucks cup you got there, Natalie?
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: This one? Yeah?
• 8:00
  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's Minnesota when I lived in I like to
• 8:03
  Speaker 5: collect these.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: My family does it as well.
• 8:08
  Speaker 5: Oh really, I think I have one from Banff National
• 8:11
  Speaker 5: Park and one from Scotland, even though I haven't been
• 8:13
  Speaker 5: to Scotland. I think some people might see that as cheating,
• 8:15
  Speaker 5: but they're cool.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: It's a good little gift.
• 8:20
  Speaker 5: I just kind of wanted to ask you about this
• 8:22
  Speaker 5: week and in terms of preparation the Thursday game kind
• 8:25
  Speaker 5: of a quick turnaround. How have you just kind of
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: been maximizing the time that you have and is it strange?
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Not really, you know, in some ways it's not bad.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: You know, we've talked as a league about having a
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: Thursday night game of the week or a Wednesday night
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: game of the week, and I don't think it's that bad.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: You know, it really hasn't affected our week a whole lot.
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: You know, we took Sunday off and we practice Monday Tuesday.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: We'll practice today and we'll play. And especially this time
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: of year, Natalie, it's not like we're implementing a whole
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: lot of new stuff. It's just going out trying to
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: get a sweat and maintain our timing, and we might
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: work on some special teams things. We might work on
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: a face off play the other team runs all the time,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: but for the most part, you know, there's no installation.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: It's us just staying sharp.
• 9:20
  Speaker 5: In terms of big picture, is that something you'd be
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: an advocate for having kind of a mid week game
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: and then a weekend game.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would, I think I think you know, we've
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: talked about it. I think Thursday nights are tough because
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: the Bruins always play Thursday nights, but even if it
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: was Wednesday Saturday or Wednesday Friday, you know, I think
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: that would be pretty good.
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: Yeah, that would be kind of a nice change of pace.
• 9:44
  Speaker 5: Probably something you've answered quite a few times. But just
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: given that the unh connection, Mike Susa talks about you frequently,
• 9:51
  Speaker 5: just how often you collaborate, how often you communicate outside
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: of games that you two are playing. What is your relationship? Like,
• 9:58
  Speaker 5: I know you guys started working together in twenty thirteen,
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: but from then till now, how valuable has that been?
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Well?
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: I first met him, well, I first tried to recruit
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: him and lost that battle to Dick yumilly. But then
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: we worked together when he was actually in college. I
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: was coaching a fifteen year old team and he was
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: my assistant. So that's the first time I ever spent
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: time with him. We spent a week, I think, out
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: in Michigan. And then when I got the job here,
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: I had always maintained, you know, a relationship with him.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: And when I got the job here, he was working
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: at Brown and you know, brought him down and he
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: was a great fit for me. For the first couple
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: of years he was he was really really good, you know.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: And then he had the opportunity to go back to
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: his alma mater and they had promised him the head
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: coaching job, and I certainly he did that with my blessing,
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: you know, and I think, you know, he's he's a
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: really really good coach. He is a good coach. His
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: teams are always prepared, and I like bouncing things off
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: him every now and then when we're not playing. You know,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: it's not like I was discussing strategy with him last night.
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: Oh I did have a conversation with him last night,
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: but that was just about ice time. So, yeah, we
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: have a great relationship professionally and away from the rink
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: as well.
• 11:26
  Speaker 5: Yeah, did I remember you guys play golf together in
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: the summer? Is that is that true?
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Or yeah we did? Oh yeah, we try to play
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: at least once every summer. Yeah.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: I think he's a member out here at Wentworth, which
• 11:37
  Speaker 5: is Envy, which.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: I'm still waiting to play.
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I know, right, have to get that invite. Finally,
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: one I wanted to ask you about Tyler music. Of course,
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: from the time that he's arrived at Yukon. You know,
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: seeing him senior night was kind of made me feel
• 11:52
  Speaker 5: old because I remember when he first came to college
• 11:55
  Speaker 5: and no, just always wish him the best, But what
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: has it been like to develop relationship with him in
• 12:01
  Speaker 5: his two years and just how much he's grown.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: He's been great, He's been really good. He's he's been very,
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: very professional his entire time here. I mean last year,
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: at the end of the year, we decided to go
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: with Callum Tongue not him, and he handled it like
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: a pro. And I really like, you know, we have
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: a highly touted freshman goaltender and Cam Hendrickson he's a
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: good goaltender, and you know, Tyler came in and he
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: was a mentor to Cam. He wasn't you know, threatened
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: by Cam. He treated him extremely well and at the
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: same time he was like, but I want this net.
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: And you know, I appreciate that. I watched Scott Clementson
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: do that with Timmy kellerher way back when I was
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: at BC, and you know that's how Tyler's been. But
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: he's an outstanding student. He's a fabulous kid away from
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: the rink, and I think he has a chance to
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: be a really good pro goalie.
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: Great, awesome, Well, thank you so much.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Sure, Natalie Dan, we'll go over to you.
• 13:04
  Speaker 6: We're waiting a couple of weeks on it. But Joey
• 13:06
  Speaker 6: finally got the Hockey East ere A goalscoring record against
• 13:11
  Speaker 6: UMass On. I think it was Saturday. Just what's that
• 13:17
  Speaker 6: say about him? And what's to say that that record
• 13:19
  Speaker 6: stood for as long as it did relatively given that
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: it was one of your first one of the first
• 13:26
  Speaker 6: guys that you recruited to play in hockey Stin Spencer
• 13:28
  Speaker 6: and Oss that held it.
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't even know that. But you know, he's
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: a really good player, Joey. He just he does a
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: lot of things. And the thing I really appreciate about him.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: He loves being a Yukon Husky, like he just he's
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: a throwback I think in today's world. You know, I
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: know that. You know, he was offered an HL deal
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: last year and he stayed, you know, loyal to our program.
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: He he loves being here, he loves being part of
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: the team, and I think he's driven, you know, not
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: only by goals. I think he'd love to be the
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: all you know, like you saw Alex Caravan being the
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: all time winning as player at Yukon. I think that's
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: probably one of Joey's goals as well.
• 14:20
  Speaker 6: How much do you see? Like I remember talking with
• 14:23
  Speaker 6: I think it was Kayden after the Merrimack weekend and
• 14:27
  Speaker 6: I asked him basically just like how excited were you
• 14:30
  Speaker 6: to score? And completely dead pen He's like, I don't
• 14:33
  Speaker 6: really care as long as we win, and I'm like, well,
• 14:34
  Speaker 6: it must be nice to win, even it must be
• 14:37
  Speaker 6: even better when you win and you score, and he
• 14:39
  Speaker 6: was like no, Like, is Joey kind of the same
• 14:42
  Speaker 6: way that he is more concerned with winning or does
• 14:46
  Speaker 6: he still actually like to score.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: Without a doubt He's more concerned with winning, you know,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: I think all goal scorers are driven to score and
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: that's what makes them great. But it's hollow if your
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: team does and win. And I think, you know, we
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: got a lot of guys on the team who, uh like,
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: ego is good, Like I don't want to take their
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: ego away from them. That's what makes them great as
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: long as it's, you know, ego within the process of
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: what we're trying to accomplish. And I think with both
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: of those kids that you mentioned their prime examples of that.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Thanks anything else for coach guys awesome, Thanks for doing
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: guys today.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: I want another slogan like rising tides lift off boats.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: I like