Latest / Coaches Corner / MHOC Coach Mike Cavanaugh Zoom Feb 11

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MHOC Coach Mike Cavanaugh Zoom Feb 11 · Coaches Corner

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, coach, coming off of one game win over
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Northeastern to wrap up that season series with the Huskies,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: turning our attention to a two game road trip up
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  Speaker 1: to Orno, Maine. Just want to get your thoughts headed
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: into the weekend.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's going to be certainly an exciting weekend.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Main's been playing pretty well at a tough loss,
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  Speaker 2: I know, at BU and overtime, but they've played really
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: well lately. I think we played Providence the week before
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: and another really tight game, overtime game. So we know,
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  Speaker 2: going up to Orno and playing at Alphon, it's one
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  Speaker 2: of the toughest arenas to play in and we're gonna
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: have to be extremely sharp this weekend up there.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: All right, Joe and Dan, I'll let you guys kick
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  Speaker 1: it off.
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  Speaker 3: All right, we'll go with Age over Beauty here morning, Cab.
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: How are you good morning, Joe?
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: I'm great. Thanks.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: The game on at Northeastern at Bentley again Northeastern, obviously
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: everybody looks to the goalie want to shut out and
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Tyler played great again, but can you just talk about
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  Speaker 3: the way that your forwards have responded to what you
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  Speaker 3: and the coaches want to do defensively, Yeah, I think.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: We've been pretty consistent defensively all year long. I think
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  Speaker 2: our defensive system takes all five, So it's five guys
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  Speaker 2: working connected and working together in the defensive zone, and
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: actually it starts in the offensive zone. If we're not
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: giving up oddman rushes, which we did not give up
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: many on Friday night, our defensive play is always a
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: lot better because in zone, I think we're okay, it's
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: we get in trouble and we don't manage ther puck.
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  Speaker 2: Can we give up oddman rushes.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: We've talked about Ethan Gardoula and how he's kind of
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: haveing the Joey Muldowney sophomore type of year. Can you
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: talk a little bit about Ethan Whitcomb and what you've
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: seen as far as improvement in his game is concerned.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, you know, we've kind of moved him
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  Speaker 2: to the wing and he's been playing with merts and guards,
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  Speaker 2: and I really liked that line. They were one of
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  Speaker 2: our better lines, I thought on Friday night at Northeastern,
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  Speaker 2: Ethan Whitcomb he really made the play on the first goal.
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  Speaker 2: He chipped the puck behind the defenseman, beat the defenseman,
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  Speaker 2: for the puck and made a fabulous pass across to
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  Speaker 2: guards for him to chip it in over the goaltender.
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  Speaker 2: So I really like where his game's coming, and we're
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  Speaker 2: going to need him this weekend.
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  Speaker 3: And last for me this time around. You talked a
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  Speaker 3: little bit earlier in the year about checking the NPI
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  Speaker 3: and stuff. Is that become even more of a factor
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  Speaker 3: as we get later into the season.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we're aware of it, Joe, you know, but we
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  Speaker 2: also are aware of you know, you just got to
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  Speaker 2: win your next game. That's the best way to keep
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: climbing up the rankings in the NPI. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: seven of our next eight games are against top twenty
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  Speaker 2: five teams, and uh, it's going to be a really
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  Speaker 2: tough stretch run for us, but it's gonna be really
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  Speaker 2: good too, So we an we have an opportunity to
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  Speaker 2: control our own destiny here.
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  Speaker 3: Ahead for me.
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  Speaker 4: Thanks, Are you guys stopping at Boating or anywhere on
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  Speaker 4: the way up to Maine this time?
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  Speaker 2: We're going to practice here and then probably stop in
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  Speaker 2: Freeport for lunch and then make the rest of the trip.
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  Speaker 4: Need anything new from Lbean?
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  Speaker 2: I don't, but I'm sure some of the kids will
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  Speaker 2: wander in there.
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  Speaker 4: Your defenceman. I remember, probably like five years ago now,
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  Speaker 4: we were talking and you said one of the developments
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: or some of the progress that you feel like the
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: program had made recently was that you were getting offensive
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  Speaker 4: contributions from your defenseman and they were putting up points.
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  Speaker 4: And looking at your group, now everyone has at least
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  Speaker 4: five points. Some guys more assists than others, but it
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  Speaker 4: feels like a balanced group and everyone can kind of
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  Speaker 4: contribute offense in a way that I don't necessarily remember
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  Speaker 4: eight years ago when I started covering you guys. So
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  Speaker 4: is that just a product of having better talent on
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  Speaker 4: the blue line? Is it any tweaks to the system?
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  Speaker 4: Just how of your blue liners been more productive in
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  Speaker 4: the last couple of years.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's probably a combination of both, you know. You
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  Speaker 2: know now, when we first started, we have some talented
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  Speaker 2: defenseman offensively as well, But I think now we've become
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  Speaker 2: more of a positionless team in the offensive zone, and
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  Speaker 2: that maybe wasn't necessarily the case early on here. And
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: now I think that we've have like a good amount
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  Speaker 2: of talent on the team and we've changed a little
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  Speaker 2: bit of our offensive philosophy in the offensive zone instead
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  Speaker 2: of it just being you know, low to hide, D
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  Speaker 2: pounded to the net and maybe they can an assist here,
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  Speaker 2: or if they jump up in a play and make
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  Speaker 2: a three on two, they'll get a point there. It's
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  Speaker 2: more that they're involved now in the offensive zone play
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  Speaker 2: you'll see D rolling down the wall and forwards covering
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  Speaker 2: form and it just gets It's you're much harder to
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  Speaker 2: defend when five guys are involved as opposed to just three.
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  Speaker 4: What led to that change? Was it an increase in
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  Speaker 4: personnel or was it just a natural evolution of your system?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, probably a little bit organic. I think you're always
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  Speaker 2: looking for ways to tweak your team. There are always
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  Speaker 2: different trends, you know, in the sport. And I think
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  Speaker 2: you know, when I first started, there was never a
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  Speaker 2: one to three one power play. No one used that.
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  Speaker 2: It was either a spread or an overload or an umbrella,
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  Speaker 2: you know, And then teams started using the one three one.
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  Speaker 2: Nobody ever pushed down and penalty kill, and then pushed
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  Speaker 2: down became a trendy thing, and then you figure out
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  Speaker 2: a way to beat the push down and then you
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  Speaker 2: go back to straight lines. So it's uh, I think
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  Speaker 2: It's just one of those things where a lot of
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  Speaker 2: teams started packing five guys low to protect the front
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  Speaker 2: of the net, so you had to draw them out
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  Speaker 2: a little bit. And one way to draw them out
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  Speaker 2: or is now get your defenseman involved. So you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's probably a little bit chicken and egg type thing,
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  Speaker 2: but you just try to keep evolving as a team
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  Speaker 2: and getting better. And we felt that we had the
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  Speaker 2: talent and we had the personnel that could be positionless
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  Speaker 2: in the offensive zone, and that's what we'll try to
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  Speaker 2: do at times.
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  Speaker 4: Do you try and recruit maybe a prototype it would
• 7:02
  Speaker 4: be the right word, on defense, or do you just
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  Speaker 4: look for players who are good at the position and
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: you kind of mold them, mold your system to what
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  Speaker 4: you do. How do you recruit that position?
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well you want to find guys that certainly can defend,
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: you know that that's number one. Two. Yeah, you want
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: I think you got to build your defensive course sometimes,
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  Speaker 2: like you build your team, like you don't want a
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  Speaker 2: team full of five eight water bugs, you don't want
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: a team full of six to six you know, monster forwards,
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  Speaker 2: Like there's got to be a mix, I think. And
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: it's the same thing with your defensive corps. Maybe there's
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  Speaker 2: gonna be a one or two that are more offensive
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  Speaker 2: than others, and you can have one or two that
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  Speaker 2: are really big, physical, tough to to play against, you know,
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  Speaker 2: and then you got some guys who can do both,
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  Speaker 2: who can bring offense and defend. So we're trying to
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  Speaker 2: always find a mix on our decor where we're balanced.
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: Not to put you on the spot, but any other
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  Speaker 4: evolutions that you can pinpoint from your play style, your
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  Speaker 4: philosophy since you've gotten here, let's stand out to you.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: No, I've always wanted a team that would play fast
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  Speaker 2: and pressure the opponent, and I would say we found
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  Speaker 2: different ways to do that. I think we've gotten better
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  Speaker 2: doing that and been more efficient in how we do it.
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  Speaker 2: So from that standpoint, yes, but the overall philosophy has
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  Speaker 2: always been, you know, we want to pressure you, we
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  Speaker 2: want to force you into mistakes, we want to be
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  Speaker 2: the aggressor.
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  Speaker 4: This is a high level question maybe, but like how
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  Speaker 4: do you come up with that? Is it just your
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: experience coaching and seeing a lot of styles and you
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  Speaker 4: saying this is what I want to do. Is it
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  Speaker 4: like just how do you come to that being your
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: style and what you want to do.
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  Speaker 3: Well.
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  Speaker 2: Some of it is dates back to when I was
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  Speaker 2: a player. That's how I like to play. You know,
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  Speaker 2: I didn't like sitting back in a trap. I thought
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  Speaker 2: that was boring. And then you get into the coaching world,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, when I was at BC, we were
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  Speaker 2: always a pretty high octane team, and I had started
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  Speaker 2: studying teams that won national titles and very rarely would
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  Speaker 2: you see a team that would sit back in a
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  Speaker 2: trap and try to win the game. One nothing on
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  Speaker 2: the power play win championships. It was more of the
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  Speaker 2: teams that we're going to go and get after you.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, I think it's the same thing in
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  Speaker 2: a lot of sports. You know, you look at the
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  Speaker 2: best defenses in football are usually ones that can pressure
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  Speaker 2: the quarterback, right, uh, yeah, exactly. Yeah. You know, so
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  Speaker 2: anytime that you can apply pressure to your opponent, I
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  Speaker 2: think it makes it tougher on them. When you give
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: good players a lot of time and space, they're going
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  Speaker 2: to hurt you. So that's kind of where it came from,
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  Speaker 2: basically from when I was a player, and then throughout
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  Speaker 2: my years of coaching, it's been the style that's to
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  Speaker 2: me the most fun to coach and the most fun
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  Speaker 2: to play.
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  Speaker 4: It also feels like it can elevate your team a
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: little bit when you might not necessarily have the talent.
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  Speaker 4: Like I think of that first Semia that went to
• 10:34
  Speaker 4: Hockey East, and that was the best team I'd seen
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  Speaker 4: you guys have, and then compared to where you guys
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: are now, that team feels like it's in the Stone
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: Age talent wise. With all due respect to that team,
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: but like it feels like that style allows you to
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: maybe outperform your talent a little bit.
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if they're all working together and they're all you know,
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  Speaker 2: that style too can create a lot of odd man
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  Speaker 2: rushes if guys aren't connected. So you know, you still
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: have to play with structure. You can still be very
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: aggressive and uh offensive and play with structure, and that's
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: the most important thing.
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: You got anything more, Joe, I'll hand it back to you.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: I don't. I wanted more Super Bowl analysis, but I
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: think that's a sore spot.
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: So I think my connection.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: It was boring game is what it was. You know,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: it was fine. I would have been fine with the
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: outcome if it was a good game. I thought the
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: game boring.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I mean the Patriots defense played great.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: They played great. Yeah, but I mean three and our
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: three and out six out of the first whatever it was.
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: That's yeah, a little bit tedious, Yeah, but they out there.
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  Speaker 3: That's the thing.
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  Speaker 2: I can still play it. There was still better than
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: the Giants, so well.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: Caps