Latest / Coaches Corner / MHOC Coach Mike Cavanaugh Zoom Pre HE Semis March 18

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MHOC Coach Mike Cavanaugh Zoom Pre HE Semis March 18 · Coaches Corner

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: All right, coach, coming off a quarterfinal win over Providence.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Amazing last game to have at Tuscano. Now you guys
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: are headed to the TV Garden for a matchup in
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the four o'clock game against Boston University. Just want to
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: get your thoughts as you head back up to the
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Garden and this matchup against BU.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it was certainly excited to be going back
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: to the Garden. You know, we've only had two players
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: who have been there in Hudson and John, but we've
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: got a group in there that's really looking forward to
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: competing for the Lamarillo Cup. We know we've got a
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: great challenge in front of us with Boston University. Since
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Yegorov's come in, he certainly has stabilized their goaltending. You know,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: they have a freshman defenseman and Cole Hudson, who's got
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: forty points and most likely as the rookie of the year.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: I would think in our league two twenty goal scorers
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: up top. So there's not a lot of holes in
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: the Terriers, that's for sure. So we'll have to play
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: extremely well on Thursday to advance to the final game.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: Awesome.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: I will open up for questions if you guys just
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: use the react, we'll get to you. Dom. You want
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: to start us off?
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Calf, how are you good?
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: Dom?
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: I apologize. I know I owe you a phone call.
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: No no, no, no, this will do. I want to
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: make you true your cabbage twice, so this will do.
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: Old baseball phrase.
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: I know we've talked a lot about Hotey all year,
• 1:39
  Speaker 5: and rightfully so, but it kind of is running mate
• 1:42
  Speaker 5: John Spetts, as you mentioned, a veteran of this tournament.
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: Can you talk about what he's meant to the team.
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: Maybe some of it's behind the scenes, because you know,
• 1:51
  Speaker 5: the stat line is different for him, but what does
• 1:54
  Speaker 5: he meant to this group, and particularly in terms of
• 1:57
  Speaker 5: establishing the culture that I know and how he wanted
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: to establish back in the summer.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, First of all, I think that was the main thing,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: you know, when he and Howey decided to come back.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: I thought that was certainly a big step forward for
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: us as far as this year was concerned. That being said, Dom,
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: more specifically to John, we had four new defensemen coming in.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Tomasinio of the six that are playing right now, is
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: the only returner, and I think he's been like a
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: second coach on the ice for them. He really understands
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: the way we want to play. He is always trying
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: to help them out and teach them the little nuances
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: that he's learned over the years that help within our system.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: And he's been a sounding board for them when they
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: get frustrated, and that happens throughout a season. So I can't, like,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: it's really hard to put into words how important he's
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: been to our program, not just this year, but throughout
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: his five years here.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Thanks man, Dan, go ahead.
• 3:12
  Speaker 6: How is Hudson doing? Uh? After getting hurt last game?
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's still you know, I think he's going to
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: be a game time decision. He's getting better every day,
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: but you know, we'll see. I don't have a definitive
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: answer on him right now.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Then.
• 3:31
  Speaker 6: I know he played most of the rest of the game,
• 3:33
  Speaker 6: But is Kayden not right? He's fine. Not that you
• 3:42
  Speaker 6: guys don't roll lines or you're not willing to play
• 3:44
  Speaker 6: all four, but this year that top Lines really separated
• 3:49
  Speaker 6: itself in terms of points and production, which is a
• 3:53
  Speaker 6: little unusual for your team. Usually you're pretty balanced one
• 3:57
  Speaker 6: through four.
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  Speaker 3: But just.
• 3:59
  Speaker 6: What what's it like to have a line that you
• 4:02
  Speaker 6: know you can put out there and there's a pretty
• 4:03
  Speaker 6: good chance that they're going to be able to put
• 4:05
  Speaker 6: the puck in the net.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's great to have a line with
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: that much skill on it. But you know, that being said,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: I think Whitcomb's line, if you look in the second
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: half of the year, you know, I don't know what
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: they have for goals, but they're twenty probably mid twenties.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Taddle has seventeen goals, Perceval has nine, so that line
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: almost has thirty goals. And as I've said many times before,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Sitar's line, they had their game winning goal in the
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Connecticut Ice Championship game. So they're a line that also
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: is very you know, contributes. So I think one of
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: the reasons that makes that top line so good is
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: we don't have to rely on them. We don't have
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: to play them every third shift or you know, we
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: don't feel like we can score. I think they when
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: they're getting on the ice, a lot of times they're
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: rest and they're ready to go, and then their talent,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: their hard work and their skill takes over.
• 5:06
  Speaker 6: What have you seen from Jake Percival recently, It's been
• 5:09
  Speaker 6: a little bit since he's scored, but just what have
• 5:13
  Speaker 6: you seen.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: I thought he was excellent against Providence. I really did.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: He's always been one of our first guys over the boards,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: killing penalties. He's got an elite stick, he skates well.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: But I thought he created a lot as well against
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Providence on Friday night. So we need that line, like,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: that's an important line for us because a lot of times,
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: you know, they get a tough matchup too. Like I
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: trust them against pretty much any line in the country,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: So you know that that's something that's very significant with
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: a team when you can kind of control those types
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: of matchups. Now we'll be the away team on Thursday,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: but again, it's a nice feeling to know that I
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: can I trust any line that we have to go
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: out and play against their best.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Awesome, George will jump over to you.
• 6:10
  Speaker 7: Cool coach, thanks for taking the time today. Congrats on
• 6:13
  Speaker 7: get into the garden. You mentioned you know that freshman
• 6:16
  Speaker 7: line with a Wickcombe. What do they do for the
• 6:18
  Speaker 7: team that I understand the goal scoring, but I feel
• 6:20
  Speaker 7: like having a freshman line, especially when it's potent is them.
• 6:23
  Speaker 7: It's something great to have on the team because they're freshmen,
• 6:25
  Speaker 7: their first year guys are having a lot of fun
• 6:27
  Speaker 7: and on this historic run, is there something where it's
• 6:30
  Speaker 7: beyond the ice, but maybe in the dressing room, maybe
• 6:32
  Speaker 7: on the bench, maybe on the day to day. It's
• 6:35
  Speaker 7: great to have freshmen that are contributors, but also in
• 6:37
  Speaker 7: a way of meaning, you know, they keep things light,
• 6:38
  Speaker 7: they keep the team young in a way.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: Maybe Yeah, to some extent. I think there's a group
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: of them that's a pretty big class, and I know
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: they're all pretty tight. I think the biggest where I've
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: seen the biggest improvement with that line is defensively. They
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: you know, earlier in the year, I think they had
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: a hard time picking up some of the concepts. But
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: right now, you know, I trust them implicitly against any
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: any line that they have to go up against. They've
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: done a really really good job of understanding how to
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: take away time and space in our defensive zone and
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: in turn use that in the transition game. So they've
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: really grown up quite a bit, and they're a line
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: that I could see, you know, being a major factor
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: in this tournament.
• 7:34
  Speaker 8: Awesome and who how were they able to kind of
• 7:37
  Speaker 8: grab that? Was that a certain coach pulling them aside,
• 7:40
  Speaker 8: really teaching them defense and film or is it just
• 7:43
  Speaker 8: you know, time on ice, more games more, all of
• 7:46
  Speaker 8: that they picked it up eventuallyial for them to pick
• 7:48
  Speaker 8: that up.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know they spend a lot of time with
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: Nick Perusi going over film every week. But to their credit,
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: they're all they love playing hockey, they hear all the time.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: They want to get better. So a lot of them,
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: I got to give it is on them. They're always
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: looking to improve. So but they do meet with Nick,
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: I know, once a week and they go over their shifts.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: So I think that's also really important part of their development.
• 8:13
  Speaker 8: Awesome and last one from me, Ryan Taddle. I know
• 8:16
  Speaker 8: he didn't start this season with an A. He got
• 8:19
  Speaker 8: him mid year. Can you kind of take me through
• 8:20
  Speaker 8: that story? Was that your call?
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: Was it the team?
• 8:23
  Speaker 8: Was it the captains? How did that come to be?
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  Speaker 8: And why in your eyes did he earn that right
• 8:28
  Speaker 8: to have it A put on a sweater mid season?
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: Well, he was very close to being named one earlier
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: in the year. I don't make that call. I let
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: the players vote, and you know he was very close
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: during the vote, but we had three and we were
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: going to go with three, and then I think his
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: commitment how hard he's worked throughout the year. But I
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: think what really put it over the top was we're
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: out in Wisconsin and he was literally puking in between
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: periods and still managed to play eighteen minutes that night.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: And I think a lot of guys Hudson, Chandor came
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: to me and said, as a team, we've talked about
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: it and we'd like to do this. So I said,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: I've never done it in my career, but if you
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: feel that strongly about it, it's your team. I'm happy
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: to do it. So that's how that all. That's the
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: genesis of that story. That's awesome. Unless it felt really gratifying,
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: well for him, I'm sure. Yeah, I was happy for
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: him too. Yeah, awesome, thanks coaching. Sure, Brian. We'll jump
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: over to you, Thany cav How we doing good? Brian?
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: How are you doing good?
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: Jersey? It's good to see you. I'm happy happy you
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: guys got in. I get to watch you up close.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: I know I wish I had a Brian Boyle center
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: in one of my lines.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you. My question is kind of more just
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: for you and your approach as a coach of a program.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: You've been there a long time, done a great job.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: It might be a little long winded, so bear with me,
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: but you know, the college landscape and all the sports
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: has changed, and it's crazy for you guys to do
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: well this weekend is huge for you in your program.
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: You've had a good year all year. But do you
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: kind of let the players know exactly like how big
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: this is for Yukon in terms of you know, you
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: get in there, you go to Boston, you win, you
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: win a title, or do they understand like the gravity
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: of it, Like do you not want to give them
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: too much or put more pressure on them, or do
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: you think maybe they can handle it or maybe that's
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: a pregame speech for Thursday, you know, prior to game
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: time or maybe not, like sort of like what's going
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: through your head in terms of how you're going to
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: motivate all these players or is it you know they're
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: self starters? There from the sounds of it, it's like
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: these guys are pretty much self starters. They've done they've
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: done a good job of their own getting better. You're
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: not afraid to give them too much?
• 11:01
  Speaker 6: Uh?
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: No, that I think that's a good question. And I
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: think a lot of my philosophy h comes from having
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: worked for Jerry and you got you played for him,
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: and you know that we talked about the four majors.
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: We talked about it all the time.
• 11:15
  Speaker 7: Uh.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: And I've kind of adopted that philosophy myself. I don't
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: this year. I was posting the pairwise up every week
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: after after January first, I was like, I want you
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: guys to know where you are, or don't want you
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: come to me at the end of the year and say, geez, coach,
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: I didn't know if we'd beat Quinnipiac that would have
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: got us into the tournament. Like I wanted them to know.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: We talk about the trophies all the time, and now
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: it's become second nature where the players are talking about it.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: It's not I don't even have to do it anymore, Briy.
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: They just Uh. I've got really good leadership. And it
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: was no different than when you and Runs were captains
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: and you were letting the younger guys know the magnitude
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: of the game we're playing in. And now I have
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: the same thing here. I've got Hudson and John Spets.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: They've played in this tournament, they know, and they're letting
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: the guys know how important it is that being said,
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: I also will temper that with you know, it doesn't
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: define who you are as an individual. It defines the
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: twenty twenty four to twenty five Yukon hockey team. It
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: doesn't define who you are as an individual. So don't
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: go into that game or this and if we lose,
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: I'm a failure. That's not the case at all. It's
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: you're a very successful person and you're in a position
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: that there are so many kids out there that would
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: kill to play in the guarden in a Hockey East championship,
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: and I think that they also there's a balance in life, Brian,
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: which I'm pretty I'm sure you know very well that
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: you've got to be grateful and for the position you're
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: in in life in a lot of areas. And yeah,
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: we want to go out and win that because we're competitors,
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: but at the end of the day, I'm really also
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: focused on them being the best human being they can
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: be as well on and off the ice. Fantastic, Thank you, yep,
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: Eric will jump over to you.
• 13:20
  Speaker 9: Yeah, I have good to talk to you again. Congratulations.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: Thanks r.
• 13:24
  Speaker 9: Just like looking back on that game on Friday and
• 13:26
  Speaker 9: not to say that that was your end goal, because
• 13:29
  Speaker 9: I know your end goal is to win this weekend
• 13:31
  Speaker 9: and going forward, but can you just put into perspective,
• 13:36
  Speaker 9: you know your goals for this Yukon program, what you
• 13:39
  Speaker 9: hope to be, and then to see it kind of
• 13:42
  Speaker 9: play out that way, to be hosting a quarterfinal game
• 13:45
  Speaker 9: in front of that environment in the new building, to
• 13:47
  Speaker 9: be able to win like that with this group of players,
• 13:50
  Speaker 9: a lot of which has been with you kind of
• 13:52
  Speaker 9: in this stretch. Again, not that it's the end, but
• 13:55
  Speaker 9: that must have been gratifying. I would think for you
• 14:00
  Speaker 9: it is.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: My goals in this program haven't changed since the opening
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: press conference, and it was I want to graduate players,
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: I want to make them better men, and we want
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: to compete for trophies. And I can very confidently say that, well,
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: Hudson and John have graduated from Yukon there, without a doubt,
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: better men than when they came here. I can tell
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: you that just watching their maturity has been that that's
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: one of the reasons why you get into coaching. And
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: then two, here we are Eric, we're playing for a trophy,
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: so we're I think accomplishing that. I thought the building
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: in the atmosphere was electric on Friday night, and I've
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: said oftentimes I think the hardest game to win in
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: this a lot of times is that first one. You know,
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: I mean, be uble to probably tell you the same thing.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: They're going you know, they're in overtime against U Mass.
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: I remember many teams that we had at BC where
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: we were the first seed, and that one eight game
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: is a hard game to win. You saw it last week.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: It's a it was. It's just a hard game. Now,
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: once you get to the Garden, it almost feels like
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: the pressure is off and you just go out and
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: play your game, but getting there, that's a hard game
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: to win. So I was really proud of the way
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: our team responded Friday night and you know how we
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: were able to find a way to advance in the tournament.
• 15:26
  Speaker 9: Mm hmm. I know you talked about a postgame and
• 15:28
  Speaker 9: Dan did a good job writing it up, but can
• 15:30
  Speaker 9: you kind of just again put in context what Hudson
• 15:34
  Speaker 9: did for you and you know what was sort of
• 15:37
  Speaker 9: the talk of whether he was going to come back out.
• 15:39
  Speaker 9: We saw him kind of testing it during the media timeouts.
• 15:42
  Speaker 9: But to come out I think basically for shift and
• 15:45
  Speaker 9: score obviously the goal that kind of changed the momentum.
• 15:49
  Speaker 9: That's one of those that goes from you know, he's
• 15:51
  Speaker 9: obviously a great player to you know, mystical like stuff.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Well it wasn't my call. It was it was
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: our trainer, Blair and Hudson's call on whether they were
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: going to play. And I've always done that throughout my career.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: I don't make those decisions. I never went to med school.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: I don't plan on it, and let the experts make
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: those decisions. And Ed, you know, Hudson looked at me
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: and said, I think I can go coach. So I
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: looked at Ed and Ed said, yeah, let him try.
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: So that's what happened in the face off. He actually
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: lost the face off, but I think Nick Caravin did
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: a great job pinching down as the d the puck
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: turned over. And it's a good thing that it went
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: to Jake Richard because if it went to a Providence player,
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure he could have backchecked all the way
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: to the net. I don't think he realized. You know
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: that it's still hurt him because he didn't play again
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: after that shift. But that was certainly a momentum changer
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: for us in that game.
• 16:50
  Speaker 9: MH One guy I probably haven't asked you about enough.
• 16:53
  Speaker 9: Is Trey Scott coming in as a freshman and you know,
• 16:56
  Speaker 9: running the power play and being involved as he is.
• 17:00
  Speaker 9: What have you kind of seen from him all year
• 17:02
  Speaker 9: long and especially where he is right now and being
• 17:04
  Speaker 9: such a key piece.
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: Well, I'd be lying to you if I told you
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: that I saw this in him as a player. One
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: I never saw him play. I relied totally on Tyler Healton,
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: and he was really pushing for him. And usually I
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: see every one of our kids play. I like to
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: be involved. I don't know if that's just because how
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: I cut my teeth in this business recruiting that I
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: still like to have a hand in that. And I
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: just trusted Tyler because he said we have a chance
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: to get him, but he's got another offer from another
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: school and we got to make a decision quick. And
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: I said, all right, if you feel this passionate about him.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: And he didn't play the first couple of games, but
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden, you're watching him in practice, It's like, Wow,
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: this kid has a lot of poise with the puck.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: This kid defends really well. You know, he makes a
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: game look pretty easy. The next thing. You know, he's
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: now quarterbacking our power play, and our power play went
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: from maybe eleven percent to now at twenty five. So
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: in the second half of the year, I think he's
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: been an integral piece of that because he's a very
• 18:10
  Speaker 2: calming influence when the puck is on his stick.
• 18:16
  Speaker 9: From your experience and from you know, whether it's obviously
• 18:19
  Speaker 9: John and Hudson having been there, what is kind of
• 18:22
  Speaker 9: the biggest thing you've learned about handling you know, the building,
• 18:26
  Speaker 9: the environment, the whatever all that other stuff is and
• 18:30
  Speaker 9: trying to make it as quickly as possible. I mean,
• 18:33
  Speaker 9: you can say it a million times, right, but there's
• 18:35
  Speaker 9: still the first time you're there it is a little
• 18:37
  Speaker 9: bit different. So what have you learned about kind of
• 18:40
  Speaker 9: what you say to the guys to help kind of
• 18:41
  Speaker 9: manage that.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: Well, we're fortunate here at Yukon because we play in
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: the Excel Center, which is a similar type building to
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: the Garden. I mean, I don't know, the Excel Center
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: maybe holds sixteen thousand, I'm not sure somewhere in there,
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: but we had you know, we had a seven thousand
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: people there for the Providence game this year, so and
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: then we played out in the out in the Milwaukee
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: Tournament Pro building, so our kids are familiar with playing
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: in those types of buildings. And I loved going out
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: to Milwaukee because it was all Wisconsin, so we were, uh,
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: you know, had to play in a very hostile atmosphere
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: similar to the one Brian you played in the National
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: Championship game out there. It was so I think those
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: experiences are good for your team because when they get
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: to the Garden, when that pucks drop, a rink is
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: a rink and it's just gonna that's how it's gonna.
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: The boys are gonna play hockey, whether it's you know,
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: these guys have played in the Fredus, the old Fradus,
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: and they've played in the Garden, They'll adapt pretty quickly.
• 19:48
  Speaker 9: M And then I think the last one for me
• 19:51
  Speaker 9: is just obviously, you know, we've talked a lot about
• 19:54
  Speaker 9: the depth piece and how you know, the confidence all
• 19:56
  Speaker 9: up and down the card, But is there anyone specific
• 19:59
  Speaker 9: that stands out that not asking about enough that you
• 20:01
  Speaker 9: feel like has just been kind of crucial to getting
• 20:04
  Speaker 9: you guys where you are.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: I think my I don't know if my coaching staff
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: gets enough credit, Like I'm really fortunate with Vince Stilletti,
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: who's done an unbelievable job with the goaltenders here and
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: you can look back. He's basically tutored. You know, now
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: four kids that have been very successful goaltenders currently in
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: Division one hockey. You know, Tyler Helton's been with me
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: for twelve years. Watching his maturity and growth as a
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: coach has been awesome, I can't tell you. And he
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: was so integral when everybody was leaving last year, he
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: kept the calming presence and you know, nobody panicked and
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: I think he was really important in both Hudson and
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: John coming back and then Nick Perusi's been he just
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: he's brought a lot of energy and a little differ
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: and concepts offensively that we haven't had. It was it
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: was nice to have a different point of view. And uh,
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: you know, Jacob Pollock is our director of ops, so
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: I think together I've been really fortunate to have a
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: staff like that. They've made it I think a lot
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: easier for not only me, but all our players this
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: year as well.
• 21:24
  Speaker 9: Very good good luck this week, Kat, Thank.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: You, thank you.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: Awesome. All right, Dan, we'll add to.
• 21:29
  Speaker 6: You just on the topic of your staff with Nick specifically,
• 21:34
  Speaker 6: I saw him after the Vermont game and he made
• 21:37
  Speaker 6: a comment about how great Gutterson is because he'd never
• 21:40
  Speaker 6: been there, and I kind of forgot that he's never
• 21:42
  Speaker 6: been in Hockey East and this is all new for him.
• 21:45
  Speaker 6: Just you kind of mentioned it. But how how beneficial
• 21:48
  Speaker 6: is it to have a guy with an outside perspective
• 21:51
  Speaker 6: that isn't a Hockey East lifeer like yourself or Tyler.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: I think it's so important because, let me see, I
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: think this is my thirtieth year in the league. I
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: was eighteen at BC and twelve here right, so you
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: kind of get conditioned like, well, this is how this
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: team plays, this is how that team plays, or and
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: when someone new comes in, they give it to have
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: a different perspective. And I think that's really healthy for
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: your program. And I think it's been great for all
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: of us that he's been able to come in and
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: give a different perspective because he spent most of his career,
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: whether it was in the USHL or at Northern Michigan
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: and being a Detroit guy very familiar with the West
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: but not so much with the East. And I think
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: it's been invaluable to us.
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: Dan then to jump back to a little earlier and
• 22:45
  Speaker 6: not being afraid to talk about trophies and pair wise.
• 22:49
  Speaker 6: But I've seen you guys carrying around the photos of
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: the trophies. Is that something that you borrowed from Dan
• 22:56
  Speaker 6: Hurley or was that whose idea was that to go
• 22:59
  Speaker 6: with it?
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's something that that's something we had years ago.
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: We we always had them up in the locker room,
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: the pictures of the trophies, you know. But this year
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: the Captain's made one, yeah, with all of them on it.
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: So but that was mostly Hudson and John, that was
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: not driven by me.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Awesome, well, coach, thank you, Thanks everyone for jumping on
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: and good luck this weekend.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: All right, enjoy the day, talk to you soon.
• 23:35
  Speaker 9: Thanks.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: Thanks,