Latest / Coaches Corner / Mike Cavanaugh - Dartmouth Week Nov 22

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Mike Cavanaugh - Dartmouth Week Nov 22 · Coaches Corner

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  All right, coach, coming off series against the number three Boston College Eagles,
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  hard bought series, unfortunately came away with two losses. Just want to
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  get your thoughts heading into one game non conference matchup against Dartmouth College and what
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  you're looking forward to, how things are different a little bit with the holiday
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  coming up tomorrow. Yeah. I think it was certainly frustrating because I thought
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  we played better than you know, what we got for results last weekend,
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  with the exception of that first period at BC where I thought they really jumped
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  us. I was pretty happy with the five periods of hockey we played,
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  you know, especially Friday night coming back to tie that game, and it
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  was a heck of a hockey game, and unfortunately, you know, we
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  weren't able to get the extra point in overtime. And then Saturday, I
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  thought we played really well. Is also we might even played better Saturday than
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  we did certainly for sixty minutes and just had trouble putting the puck in the
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  net, which seems to be a recurring theme. So mentally, we just
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  got to keep grinding and Dartmouth is going to pose a certainly a tough opponent
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  for us, you know, just watching them on film. They tied Quinnipiac,
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  they tied Cornell at Cornell, they be Colgate at Colgate on the road,
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  which are tough places to play. So we're certainly gonna have a formidable
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  opponent on our hands Saturday. All right, we'll open up for correct questions.
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  Randy, you want to start us off? Absolutely, thank you,
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  Colin High coach. Hi, Randy, do you you just kind of referenced
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  the five periods of good hockey that you felt you played and you know,
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  the other games where the puck hasn't gone in. Do you kind of subscribe
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  to the theory that if you keep playing that way, eventually things is kind
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  of even out and you know, some of those chances start being converted.
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  So long as you keep playing that way, Yeah, I certainly start.
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  We can't cheat the game. I think maybe we can do a better job
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  of you know, the one area that we're taking a hard look at is
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  sometimes our spacing on the offensive zone. I think maybe that can improve,
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  Randy, But certainly the compete in the effort and the puck battles, if
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  we keep doing that and winning those, you know, in those areas,
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  yeah, you would think that it is going to change, But I do
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  think we can improve our spacing in the offensive zone kind of if I may
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  jump on that spacing, So offensives are you talking about like this like cycling
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  the puck and what? Sometimes I think it's just like think is spacing all
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  over the ice right on the breakout. You can't have five guys in one
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  corner in the neutral zone. You're trying to cover three lanes. Like you
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  don't want to have two guys on the right wing because you're you're not covering
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  enough ice. You know, sometimes you know, when the shot comes from
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  the point, you don't necessarily want to have three guys in front of the
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  net because now you've got six guys because they have three guys covering your three
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  and it's harder to get a pucked down sometimes when you have three guys in
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  front of the net. So just trying to fill all three lanes in every
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  zone. You know, who who stood out to you this weekend? I
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  mean, Chase had a great Friday night, and I know I think you've
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  been pretty happy with he slip all season. Who else kind of maybe stood
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  out to you for playing real solid over the weekend? Well, without question,
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  the Fraser line was outstanding. I thought that he, Ryan Taddle and
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  Joey Muldowney did a outstanding job all weekend long, so I was very impressed
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  with their play. All right, How did you like special teams this past
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  weekend? Obviously BC's of you know, specializes on both both ends. What
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  did you think of your power play in particular? Well, we didn't get
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  any goals. We generated some really good chances, we didn't get any goals,
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  which was disappointing because we could have used one, especially Saturday. I
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  thought our penalty kill. You know, we gave up two goals on Friday
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  night, but they did a great job. The one was just really unfortunate,
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  you know, it went off Harrison Reese's leg right, and the other
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  one they threw a puck to the net with nine seconds left. And of
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  the penalty kill, I should say so, I actually thought we did a
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  decent job killing penalties, all right. And my last one is just now
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  that it's kind of your first year where Tuscanto is your main your main home.
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  I think it was the second game at the Excel Center. What's you
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  know, what's that look like for your team? You know, playing a
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  home game in Hartford, where a lot of guys have familiarity, But as
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  far as preparation and game day routine, not much. We've been so we've
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  done it so many times, and there's so many players on this team that
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  have played at the Excel Center of that, it's just it's just another game
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  for us, you know, it's we don't really prepare any differently for it.
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  All right, thank you, And I'm supposed to tell you that,
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  Bob says, Hi as well. He wanted me to, all right,
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  tell him I as well. I will. I think he'll be there Saturday.
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  Oh great, all right, thanks coach. Yep, Joe will head
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  over to you. Thanks Colin cav It seemed like Tomasineo was stepping up more
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  of the offensive play, especially on Saturday. Was that something that the coaches
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  encouraged him to do. Did he take it on himself? And and what
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  can he bring at the offensive end kind of like that he brings at the
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  defensive end. I thought, well, we encourage all our defensemen to step
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  in and jump in offensively, especially when the when the play is there.
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  You know, we don't want riverboat gamblers and playing you know, as renegades.
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  But when the opportunities there. We're encouraging all our defensemen to jump in
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  offensively. And I thought he had a great weekend as well. I thought
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  his physical play was really impressive. And how does a game you haven't played
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  Dartmouth in a couple of years. Did they reach out to you? Did
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  you reach out to them needing a game? Thanksgiving weekend? How did this?
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  How did this game come about? Yeah? I think we went up
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  there a couple of years ago and they owed us a game and this was
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  just the weekend that it worked out. Okay, thank you see tomorrow.
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  Okay, sounds good. Joe Daniel will head over to you. How do
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  you come to find the spacing thing where, hey, this is something we
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  need to look at. Is that from looking at film? Is that just
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  someone coming up with an idea? Yeah? No, I think it's watching
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  film, you know, and you watch film and you look at your scoring
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  chances or you know, we went back over the past couple of years and
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  looked at all the goals we've scored, and you start seeing tendencies that,
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  oh wow, this has created a lot of goals for us, and you
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  know, you just pick up on it and realize we're not doing this as
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  well as we should be doing it. Is spacing the number one thing that
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  stood out looking back at all those goals? Or was there something else that
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  really jumped at you? You know, it's hey, there's a it's a
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  multitude of things. Dan. It's first, you got to win puck battles,
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  because if you don't have the puck, doesn't matter what your spacing looks
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  like, you know. And then you got to make the play to the
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  open guy, like if you if you're kicking it out to your defenseman,
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  if they're the the option that's you should be making at that time. Now
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  does the defense we get it back down to the net, you know,
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  like can you get it by that first layer? There's so many different things
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  that go into creating offense. You know, is our rush play good?
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  Could we be better off the rush? Yeah? I think we can be
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  better off the rush our power play. You know, I've said many times
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  I think there's three ways to score. It's off the rush, power play,
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  or your ozone play. And you know, all three areas can improve
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  and can help us score goals. I just think in the ozone play at
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  times we've got to do a better job spreading out the zone. How do
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  you work on that in practice? Is it showing guys film of where they're
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  a little cramped or is it certain yeah, drills. Yeah, it's as
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  simple as that. I think, just showing film and because the picture is
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  worth a thousand words, and they see it and they said, oh yeah,
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  maybe I should be off the back post. And we already have a
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  guy in front of the net. So just working on those things. Joe
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  will go to you, cav One, I'm sorry. One final question.
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  Obviously home hasn't been that friendly yet this year. Is it harder sometimes to
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  play at home than on the road? I know sometimes in the pros they
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  talk about they try to do too much on home ice and and on the
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  road it's a little more, you know, just play the game. Do
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  you get the feeling you guys are gripping the sticks a little tighter at Tiscato
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  and the XL thus far. I don't know, you know, I thought
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  last year we had I think we had a pretty good record at home.
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  I don't know. It's just it's funny sometimes I remember being part of a
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  National championship team where we had a losing record at home. Sometimes it's just
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  happens in a year. I don't know, it's I don't think our guys
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  are going into the game with a different approach at home than they do on
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  the road. Just right now, we haven't had a lot of success at
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  home, but there's plenty of time to change that. Anything else for coach
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  go ahead, Daniel, regardless of the results. Is it nice to get
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  a weekend where you don't have to get on a bus and only have one
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  game and can just get a little bit of a break, not a full
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  break, but a little bit of something. Yeah, you know, in
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  the last I was just looking at it. I think we've gone seven straight
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  weekends with back to back games, so it is kind of nice just to
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  have a one game weekend for sure. We can focus on that game.
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  Yeah, how you're doing healthwise going into the weekend. I know we're pretty
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  far away, but yeah, we're pretty good. Oliver Flynn wasn't it practice
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  today, so I don't know what his status is going to be for the
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  weekend yet, But for the most part, I think we're okay. Upper
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  lower upper Anything else for coach guys, Kat, What what year was that
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  national champion team where you know you struggled at home and still won a national
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  championship two thousand and eight. Thank you. It would be good time.
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  Yeah, so I'd take a losing record at home if it means a national
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  championship, I would take that of course. Awesome. Well, thank you
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  everyone, Thank you, coach. Enjoyed that. You guys have a great
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  Thanksgiving all right, thank you too, Thank you. Enjoy the game. We