Latest / Coaches Corner / MHOC Coach Mike Cavanaugh - Media Zoom Feb 4

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MHOC Coach Mike Cavanaugh - Media Zoom Feb 4 · Coaches Corner

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, coach, coming off a bye week, turning our
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: attention back to the home stretch of the season. We
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: got Northeastern on Friday on the road. Just want to
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: get your thoughts headed into into the one game matchup.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think it was a good time
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  Speaker 2: for us to take a little break, you know, after
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  Speaker 2: a really you know, playing in that Connecticut tournament takes
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  Speaker 2: a lot out of mentally and physically, and for us
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  Speaker 2: to have a little break afterwards, I thought was healthy
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: for our team. And now we have to turn the page.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, we've got a great stretch run here
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  Speaker 2: coming up in February and early March, starting with Northeastern,
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  Speaker 2: who played a great game in the bean Pot the
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  Speaker 2: other night. We've played them twice. They're very formidable opponent
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  Speaker 2: that can you know, excellent in goal with Zacher and
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  Speaker 2: Orgaz he's one of the top defensemen in the league.
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  Speaker 2: And they're very very dangerous up front, you know, Rascovian's
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  Speaker 2: and not all league type players. So it's gonna be
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  Speaker 2: a great challenge for us and we're looking forward to it.
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  Speaker 1: Awesome Joe and Dan, I'll let you guys jump in here.
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  Speaker 3: Go ahead, Dan, you were in the Patriots gear. I'll
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  Speaker 3: let you go first.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: A little weird playing Northeastern on the road, not at
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  Speaker 4: Matthew's arena. Is is there anything different when you play
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: at a place that you haven't been to before in
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  Speaker 4: terms of routine or anything like that.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know. We haven't done it really, so it's
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  Speaker 2: not something that we do often. I guess it would be.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: I guess similar to you know, when you go to
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: an NCAA regional. A lot of times you're playing somewhere
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  Speaker 2: that you haven't been familiar with. But as far as
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  Speaker 2: I'm concerned, a rink is a rink, and you know
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  Speaker 2: we'll we'll show up and play.
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  Speaker 4: I think Northeastern it might be hard for you to
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  Speaker 4: top how many different places you've played them over the
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  Speaker 4: last five or so years. Between the your two home rinks, Matthews,
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  Speaker 4: now Bentley, Fenway, the Garden, you've seen him in a
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  Speaker 4: lot of different places.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we have. I didn't even think about that, but again,
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  Speaker 2: it's more about I'm more concerned with the opponent than
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  Speaker 2: I am the venue.
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  Speaker 4: Joe, you can fire anything off, you got.
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  Speaker 3: It, Yeah, definitely, cav it seems like you've settled into
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  Speaker 3: a pretty good rotation on your four lines and your
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  Speaker 3: three pairs of defenseman. I mean, obviously things can get
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  Speaker 3: jangled by penalties and things like that, but it seems
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  Speaker 3: like you've found combinations that have been pretty successful.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so as of late. I think we've
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  Speaker 2: kind of you know that that's always subject to change,
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  Speaker 2: but right now it seems like that's the rhythm we've
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  Speaker 2: been in with those four lines and those d you know,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: and hopefully we can keep can keep rolling.
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  Speaker 3: Him justin Frasier doesn't get a lot of attention, but
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  Speaker 3: he does so many of the little things to to
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  Speaker 3: help you be successful. Where what is it that he
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  Speaker 3: does that you appreciate the most is as his coach, I.
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  Speaker 2: Think he's uh, he just competes really hard, Joe. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: you know, night in, night out, and he does what
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  Speaker 2: he's asked to do. And Uh, the thing I really
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  Speaker 2: appreciate about appreciate about him is whatever role we put
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  Speaker 2: him in, and uh, like I said, ask him to play,
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  Speaker 2: he does it with a smile on his face.
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  Speaker 3: I thought it was cool. When you want Connecticut ice,
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  Speaker 3: how how KRPY was such a big part of the
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  Speaker 3: part of the celebration. Can you just talk about what
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  Speaker 3: he's been able to contribute, even though he hasn't been
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: able to contribute on the ice since his injury.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's certainly a guy that the players all all love.
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  Speaker 2: I think he has everyone's respect and attention. You know,
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  Speaker 2: he's a kid that for four years he didn't play
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  Speaker 2: a whole lot, but he competed day in and day out,
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  Speaker 2: and it's really unfortunate that his career had to come
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  Speaker 2: to an end the way it did. And I think
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  Speaker 2: our guys just appreciate him for who he is, and
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  Speaker 2: that's why they wanted to share that trophy with him
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  Speaker 2: immediately after they got it.
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  Speaker 4: Go ahead, Dan, Sure, it's been a while since we've
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: seen Kevin Fitzgerald in the lineup. Just where's he at
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  Speaker 4: this point in the season and what do you want
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  Speaker 4: to see from him.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's practicing, and he's practicing at a high level.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: There's certainly a chance he could be back into the lineup,
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  Speaker 2: but as Joe alluded to earlier, we've kind of settled
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  Speaker 2: in with the six D that we've been playing, and
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  Speaker 2: you know, he's a good player, but we've got a
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  Speaker 2: good team and it's at some point we're probably gonna
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: have to count on him again, and you know, when
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  Speaker 2: that time comes, I have the utmost confidence that he'll
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  Speaker 2: perform for us.
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  Speaker 4: Owen Simpson's got a good bit of run as the
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  Speaker 4: extra skater. I think it's probably the most he's played
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  Speaker 4: in a Yukon uniform this season. What have you seen
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  Speaker 4: from him and his progress?
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  Speaker 2: He's doing a nice job as well. He's another kid,
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  Speaker 2: you know, similar to Carb, where he hasn't played a lot,
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  Speaker 2: but he has the respect of the room because he
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  Speaker 2: comes up, He shows up every day, he competes and
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  Speaker 2: he's a great teammate.
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  Speaker 4: It's kind of maybe admirable is the right word, or
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  Speaker 4: maybe a rarity in today's day and age that a
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  Speaker 4: guy could not play for two years and not just
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  Speaker 4: hit the portal and go find a school that would
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  Speaker 4: give him a consistent spot every game. So what does
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  Speaker 4: that say about him as a guy that he's still
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  Speaker 4: here having really not seen the much in his first
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  Speaker 4: two years.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that both he and Houston are examples
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  Speaker 2: of throwback players who just appreciate the university, they appreciate
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  Speaker 2: the program. They you know, just because they haven't played,
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  Speaker 2: they still get treated the same way that Joey Muldowney
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  Speaker 2: and Jake Richard get treated here, So I think that's
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  Speaker 2: something that, you know, probably is one of the reasons
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  Speaker 2: you'd have to ask them why they haven't transferred. But
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  Speaker 2: I guess they just really loved, you know, from my standpoint,
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  Speaker 2: they really love the program and love being part of it.
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  Speaker 4: I have happened to either see or be around Brendan Anthony,
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  Speaker 4: and there's a third guy who I don't think I
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  Speaker 4: recognize off the cuff, but it seems like they're together
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  Speaker 4: a lot, doing a lot. What is it like for
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  Speaker 4: guys coming in the same class like Brendan and Anthony, uh,
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: in terms of like getting to know each other and
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  Speaker 4: building those connections, Like are they do you make an
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  Speaker 4: effort to have guys who come in the same classroom together?
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  Speaker 4: Is it just natural because they're the same year coming
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  Speaker 4: in at the same time.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that's just natural. I mean, you come
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  Speaker 2: in with your class and naturally those are the guys
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  Speaker 2: that you gravitate towards. You know, now our team, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I think you're going to see friendships and camaraderie up
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  Speaker 2: and down on the line up, regardless of whether you're
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: a senior or a freshman. But normally, you know the
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  Speaker 2: guys that you are the closest with, the guys that
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  Speaker 2: you come in with, and the guys that are in
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  Speaker 2: your class.
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  Speaker 4: You know anything else, Joe, Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I got a big, kind of a big picture question
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  Speaker 3: CAV a couple of weeks ago. I forget which coach
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  Speaker 3: it was. I asked about the kids coming in from
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: the Canadian Junior League and he said it would take
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  Speaker 3: about three years to figure out if this was a
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  Speaker 3: working situation. It was one of the coaches who's brought
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  Speaker 3: a lot of kids in. Again, I don't remember which
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  Speaker 3: one it was. Do you think that's the case. It'll
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  Speaker 3: be a couple of years before we know whether this
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  Speaker 3: was a good situation or didn't work out.
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  Speaker 2: No, I think it's a very good situation. I think
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  Speaker 2: I think it's good for hockey. You know, the pool
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  Speaker 2: of our players has gotten so much bigger. I think
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  Speaker 2: the difficult part is, you know, you may have had
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  Speaker 2: players committed to your program and now they might not
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  Speaker 2: becoming a program because there's a pool of players out
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  Speaker 2: there that are just better. And that's unfortunate in some situations. However,
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  Speaker 2: for the for college hockey, the talent level has gotten
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  Speaker 2: a lot better, right anything else?
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: Guys, Yeah, I'll piggyback off that. From now to when
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  Speaker 4: it got announced that you were going to be able
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  Speaker 4: to have major junior players, has your maybe opinion of
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  Speaker 4: that change or anything.
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  Speaker 2: Been better than expected?
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  Speaker 4: Worse than expected? Like how is your view of that
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  Speaker 4: and how is the change that that's created? Like how
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  Speaker 4: have you just viewed it differently?
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  Speaker 2: Maybe? Well, the one area where maybe I would agree
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  Speaker 2: with Joe's assessment that it might take three years is
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  Speaker 2: getting a lot of the major junior teams on board
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  Speaker 2: with the development process now, you know, whereas before they
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  Speaker 2: were sending players right to the American Hockey League or
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  Speaker 2: to the National Hockey League, I don't know if that's
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  Speaker 2: going to be the case anymore, because I think the
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  Speaker 2: National Hockey leaguague wants to see guys go from prep
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  Speaker 2: school or midget to junior hockey, to college to the NHL.
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  Speaker 2: And yes, there are going to be those kids that
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  Speaker 2: can skip a step here or there, but the majority
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  Speaker 2: of them are going to have to take that track
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  Speaker 2: to get to the National Hockey League and once the
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  Speaker 2: major junior programs because they're still you know, trying to
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  Speaker 2: keep their players a little longer than they probably need
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  Speaker 2: to play junior hockey. Once they get through that and
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  Speaker 2: understand it and understand that they're going to be getting
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  Speaker 2: better players at a younger age and they normally would.
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  Speaker 2: Kids who wouldn't go there because they wanted to play
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  Speaker 2: in college are now going to go there, So they're
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  Speaker 2: going to get better players. They're just going to be
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  Speaker 2: a little bit younger league than they have been in
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  Speaker 2: the past.
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  Speaker 4: For you guys, is it kind of team by team
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  Speaker 4: in terms of who is more willing to play ball
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  Speaker 4: than and maybe other teams. Yes, it's not like everyone
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  Speaker 4: is anti brow.
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  Speaker 2: No.
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  Speaker 4: Has it been an adjustment to kind of get a
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  Speaker 4: feel for each league in terms of how they play,
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  Speaker 4: Like how like you knew what?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, but that's that's true. That was true before Major
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  Speaker 2: Junior was open. The BC League plays different than the
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: us HL, and prep school is different than some midget
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  Speaker 2: So it's that's it for everybody, you know. I think
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  Speaker 2: once the major junior programs understand that we can help them, like,
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  Speaker 2: there's gonna be kids that are committed to us that
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: are gonna need a place to play. And for example,
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: if program acts, uh is amenable to having, you know,
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  Speaker 2: kids come to them and then sending them to college
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  Speaker 2: and program Why isn't you know I'm not going to
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  Speaker 2: send my player to program why if they're going to
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  Speaker 2: make it difficult for me when I I want to
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: go watch my kid play and talk to them after
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  Speaker 2: a game. You know, I'll help program X out before
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to help out program Why. And I think
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  Speaker 2: the quicker they understand that, you know, the better things
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  Speaker 2: will be is.
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  Speaker 4: In the USHL, and I guess to a lesser degree,
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  Speaker 4: now in the BHL, is it more like that where
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: they understand they're sending kids to college and that's a
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: big part of their development plan.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Well they were, yeah, but I mean now you know,
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  Speaker 2: the BHL is almost becoming obsolete for us. The USHL
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  Speaker 2: is still a viable program we're going to recruit from.
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  Speaker 2: But they've always been happy to work with the colleges.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: It's fun finding new cities and new spots out on
• 12:45
  Speaker 4: the recruiting trail that you hadn't been to before.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: If they were in Florida, California and not so much
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: Swift Current and miy not you know anything else? Guys.
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: Yeah, who's your Super Bowl pick?
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: What's that.
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: Who's your Super Bowl pick?
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: I gotta go with the pats Man just making check.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, awesome, awesome,