Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / A visit with 2-time defending NCAA championship coach Joe Cranston of UW-River Falls

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A visit with 2-time defending NCAA championship coach Joe Cranston of UW-River Falls · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:03
Speaker 1: Usc cho dot com. I have one. Welcome to an
0:13
Speaker 1: off season edition of the podcast. Todd Bluski here along
0:16
Speaker 1: with Nicole Hosey. We hope you're enjoying your off season
0:20
Speaker 1: as it gets going here into the warmer months. Plenty
0:25
Speaker 1: of nice things to do outside instead of being inside
0:28
Speaker 1: a ice rink hopefully for most of the time like
0:33
Speaker 1: we do in the winter. We're here because Nicole had
0:37
Speaker 1: some great ideas for some off season interviews, and Nicole,
0:41
Speaker 1: do you want to talk about what you were thinking
0:44
Speaker 1: in terms of just what we could do with some
0:46
Speaker 1: extra time when we're not talking about games necessarily, but
0:48
Speaker 1: we have some some more time to just get into
0:51
Speaker 1: some topics.
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Speaker 2: I guess yeah.
0:54
Speaker 3: This is the kind of stuff that we have on
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Speaker 3: our like running ideal list, right, and that the stuff
0:59
Speaker 3: that we would to do a little deeper dive on.
1:01
Speaker 3: And usually that's harder to do during this season, both
1:04
Speaker 3: for our timing and also for the people we want
1:07
Speaker 3: to talk to. They're all really busy. So I thought,
1:10
Speaker 3: now we will do a little bit of this. Of
1:12
Speaker 3: this we'll spread it out through the off season, but
1:15
Speaker 3: just trying to get in touch with some people and
1:17
Speaker 3: talk about some topics that we just don't get a
1:19
Speaker 3: chance to talk about when we're you know, in the
1:21
Speaker 3: middle of the season and discussing, you know, the minutia
1:24
Speaker 3: of individual games. So our first interview here is with
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Speaker 3: the UW River Falls D three women's hockey coach, Shoe Cranston.
1:31
Speaker 3: River Falls Falcons won their second national championship. They're back
1:35
Speaker 3: to back national champions and Joe has just this incredible
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Speaker 3: resume right twenty six seasons there. He's a grad of UW.
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Speaker 3: River Falls. He's won five hundred and eighteen career wins,
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Speaker 3: which are the third most in women's D three coaching
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Speaker 3: history and seventh months seventh most among all women's coaches
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Speaker 3: D one or D three. They were undefeated for last
1:55
Speaker 3: season for their first title, and lost just three games
1:58
Speaker 3: this year. They've made a tournament fourteen the last fifteen years,
2:02
Speaker 3: he's had forty four All Americans four National Players of
2:05
Speaker 3: the Year, including three of the last five for twenty
2:09
Speaker 3: twenty two, twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five. So just
2:12
Speaker 3: this really incredible program. We don't get to talk about
2:15
Speaker 3: D three enough. We'd love to do some more, and
2:17
Speaker 3: I think just kind of helping people to see that
2:20
Speaker 3: like there's even more women's college hockey out there. We
2:22
Speaker 3: talk a little bit with Joe about the difference about
2:24
Speaker 3: how things have grown, and so, uh, yeah, we're going
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Speaker 3: to have We're we've scheduled a few interviews already, you know,
2:30
Speaker 3: trying to deep dive into some things that we just
2:32
Speaker 3: don't get the opportunity to talk about throughout the rest
2:35
Speaker 3: of the season.
2:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, so no real schedule set yet of when you'll
2:40
Speaker 1: be getting episodes from us, So make sure you're subscribing
2:42
Speaker 1: to our feed and on wherever you get podcasts to
2:48
Speaker 1: get the latest episodes delivered to you, or keep checking
2:51
Speaker 1: back at usccho dot com if you like to do
2:54
Speaker 1: that too, we'd appreciate that as well. But yeah, these
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Speaker 1: are going to be just kind of free four, a
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Speaker 1: little bit kind of big picture, a little bit minutia,
3:03
Speaker 1: a little bit of everything to to talk about some
3:07
Speaker 1: some areas that we don't normally get to and and
3:11
Speaker 1: you're gonna get a lot of that from this interview
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Speaker 1: with Joe Cranston about his his history, his background, recruiting
3:19
Speaker 1: kind of players he wants to bring into River Falls,
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Speaker 1: and some of what happened in the last two years
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Speaker 1: to bring the Falcons National Championships. So, without further ado,
3:30
Speaker 1: we hope you enjoy this interview with Joe Kranston. I
3:43
Speaker 1: wonder what the second championship offseason feels like after the
3:49
Speaker 1: first one. Do you know how to you know a
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Speaker 1: little bit more about how to celebrate the second one
3:54
Speaker 1: after the first one?
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Speaker 2: Well, they're both very similar. You know, it's just most
4:00
Speaker 2: hard to get your head around it because you know,
4:03
Speaker 2: last year was our first one ever, so then you're
4:07
Speaker 2: just trying to take that in and it's it's you know,
4:09
Speaker 2: the fact that we were undefeated. You know last year,
4:12
Speaker 2: it was pretty it was hard to get your head
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Speaker 2: around it, and it just seemed like about the time
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Speaker 2: you get your head around it, and all of a sudden,
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Speaker 2: we're two time defending national champs, and you know, it
4:24
Speaker 2: hasn't been that long. It hasn't even been a month yet,
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Speaker 2: So it's it's still it's kind of hard to believe,
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Speaker 2: but definitely it's sinking in and definitely a lot proud
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Speaker 2: of proud of a lot of my assistant coaches and
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Speaker 2: my players on my team.
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Speaker 3: Is there a point when you're going through the undefeated
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Speaker 3: season that you're like, I kind of wish we'd just
4:45
Speaker 3: like get the loss over with, like get over that,
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Speaker 3: because when it starts to loom large as the season
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Speaker 3: gets gets further along.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, last year that was a big deal and you
4:55
Speaker 2: almost hope it happens. But with us and the fact
4:59
Speaker 2: that we don't have an AQ and our conference and
5:02
Speaker 2: really all our path forward in the NCAA Tournament is
5:07
Speaker 2: one hundred percent dependent on you know, last year the
5:10
Speaker 2: pair wise this year the NPI, so you don't you
5:14
Speaker 2: really need to kind of keep winning. But yeah, last
5:17
Speaker 2: year was really hard to make keep that from being
5:20
Speaker 2: a distraction. But then you know, this year we had
5:23
Speaker 2: a we had a couple ties and then ended up
5:26
Speaker 2: going about a year and a half without a loss.
5:28
Speaker 2: But it was nice to finally have one and then
5:32
Speaker 2: you don't have to deal with that.
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Speaker 1: How did your team react to that first loss in
5:37
Speaker 1: a year and a half and were you were you,
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Speaker 1: I guess expecting something and did it match what you
5:43
Speaker 1: expected out of just how they you know, pulled back
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Speaker 1: from that and decide that, okay, we're better than that
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Speaker 1: and move forward with it.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. We actually we went out to Adrian and played
5:56
Speaker 2: two games out there, and you know, it's about a
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Speaker 2: tenel an hour bus trip, and I was telling the team,
6:03
Speaker 2: you know, we used to be in the same conference
6:05
Speaker 2: with them, so we went out there a lot. We've
6:07
Speaker 2: been a long time. Nobody on this team had ever
6:10
Speaker 2: been out there, and I was telling them, I don't
6:13
Speaker 2: know if we've ever gone out there and swept. We've
6:15
Speaker 2: gone out and I think had a win and a
6:17
Speaker 2: tie a few times, but it's a really tough place
6:20
Speaker 2: to go out and win two. And we went out
6:22
Speaker 2: and won the first game, and then the second game
6:25
Speaker 2: we lost three to one with an empty netter, but
6:28
Speaker 2: we played really well and it was just one of
6:30
Speaker 2: those games. We had one nothing the whole game, and
6:33
Speaker 2: we got a penalty late in the third and they
6:34
Speaker 2: scored kind of a soft power play goal and then
6:39
Speaker 2: and I don't know, then they got another one and
6:41
Speaker 2: then an empty netter. But you know, I think we
6:43
Speaker 2: played okay, but I think the team handled it. You know,
6:48
Speaker 2: it was just a matter of time, you know. I
6:49
Speaker 2: kept telling them, somebody is going to beat you guys.
6:51
Speaker 2: I was telling them that a year ago, and it
6:54
Speaker 2: never happened. I said, you know, I guess I was
6:56
Speaker 2: wrong about that, but but yeah, if somebody finally did,
6:59
Speaker 2: and then we ended up losing two in a row,
7:02
Speaker 2: and that was probably right in the middle of the year.
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Speaker 2: We lost to Adrian and then Gas Davis, and I
7:07
Speaker 2: think it was a really good thing for us to
7:09
Speaker 2: really reset and refocus and okay, let's turn the page
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Speaker 2: from last year. We got to figure out what to
7:15
Speaker 2: do to get better. And then that was really a
7:18
Speaker 2: big turning point for us.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, sometimes knowing how to react in those situations and
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Speaker 3: how your team can come back and sort of all
7:28
Speaker 3: the lessons that learn that they learned from that hardship
7:31
Speaker 3: is the sort of thing that you can build on.
7:33
Speaker 3: I mean, in that National Championship game you all, or
7:35
Speaker 3: in the Frozen for you all, I had to come
7:36
Speaker 3: from behind a bit and stuff. So learning those lessons
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Speaker 3: is really important.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and both years we had to come from behind
7:45
Speaker 2: in the Frozen four and then you know, just it's
7:50
Speaker 2: just yeah, it's just there's there's something to be said
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Speaker 2: for it. But I think usually a loss is a
7:56
Speaker 2: good thing as long as you don't have too many
7:58
Speaker 2: of them. So, I mean, I just kept thinking last year,
8:02
Speaker 2: you know, we're going to lose, and we never did.
8:03
Speaker 2: So I think this year it helped that we had
8:06
Speaker 2: three three losses. I think it really helped us to
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Speaker 2: just refocus and get a grip on where we are
8:14
Speaker 2: and understand where we need to be and all those
8:17
Speaker 2: kinds of things. But it was really good for us.
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Speaker 1: Joe Cranston just finished his twenty sixth season as Wisconsin
8:24
Speaker 1: River Falls head coach. When you started the program in
8:27
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine, did you imagine that being the case
8:30
Speaker 1: twenty six seasons and plus and on you go? Or
8:35
Speaker 1: I guess what were the when you look back that far?
8:37
Speaker 1: What were the goals of getting that program off the
8:40
Speaker 1: ground and seeing where it went?
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Speaker 2: You know, when I first started, and yeah, it's a
8:46
Speaker 2: long time ago, and I basically inherited the club team
8:50
Speaker 2: and and you know, I remember telling those those players,
8:53
Speaker 2: you know, it's going to be really hard to make
8:55
Speaker 2: the team year too. And I think only three players
8:58
Speaker 2: made the team year too. So it was a big
9:00
Speaker 2: turnaround to bring in our first recruiting class, you know.
9:03
Speaker 2: And that's when I said, you know, my goals to
9:06
Speaker 2: get to the NCAA tournament and you know, to a
9:10
Speaker 2: championship or a frozen four, and and we did three
9:13
Speaker 2: years later, So we made it there in two thousand
9:16
Speaker 2: and three, you know, and then that's kind of when
9:18
Speaker 2: I really started to you know kind of you know,
9:23
Speaker 2: make have goals, not really goals, I don't like the
9:26
Speaker 2: word goals, but just you know, where we want to
9:29
Speaker 2: be as a program. And it's been a long time coming,
9:33
Speaker 2: you know, to win a couple of national championships. But
9:37
Speaker 2: it was always my vision to be that good. But
9:41
Speaker 2: but you know, like when I walk out into Hunt Arena,
9:44
Speaker 2: this the last two championship games in our barn, you know,
9:49
Speaker 2: and it sold out. And you know, it was a
9:52
Speaker 2: couple of times when certain allotment of tickets weren't always
9:56
Speaker 2: they didn't sell, like in Amherst or you know, or
9:59
Speaker 2: Middle and so all of a sudden they would become
10:01
Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty tickets would become available, and they
10:05
Speaker 2: would say they're going to go on sale at one o'clock.
10:08
Speaker 2: Well at one o four, they were all sold. You know.
10:11
Speaker 2: So like those are the types of things, and just
10:14
Speaker 2: a community support and our students support and have a
10:18
Speaker 2: rink just jam packed with people. You know, never in
10:22
Speaker 2: my wildest dreams, what I ever thought that that is
10:26
Speaker 2: what would be going on, you know, in Hunt Arena
10:29
Speaker 2: twenty six years later. I could have never foreseen that,
10:33
Speaker 2: and you know, it wasn't something I signed up for,
10:36
Speaker 2: but it sure is it sure is great that that
10:40
Speaker 2: has happened. Great for our student athletes.
10:43
Speaker 3: I was actually going to ask about that because with
10:45
Speaker 3: the new D three format like it, it could happen
10:50
Speaker 3: that you would host too. You know that you would
10:52
Speaker 3: be able to be at home two years in a row.
10:53
Speaker 3: But for those aren't super familiar, they're going to have
10:57
Speaker 3: one of the teams that's in the Frozen four hosts
11:00
Speaker 3: every other year and have a predetermined site on the
11:02
Speaker 3: opposite year. So the fact that you got to host
11:05
Speaker 3: and be at home and play both those tournaments in
11:07
Speaker 3: your barn to win the title, that might be something
11:11
Speaker 3: we don't see ever again, or if not, it will
11:14
Speaker 3: be I think much more unlikely.
11:18
Speaker 2: Right, you know, you know everybody who's already talking about
11:21
Speaker 2: a three peat with us since since next year it's
11:24
Speaker 2: a non predetermined site and it goes to the number
11:26
Speaker 2: one team in the country, and so you know, in theory,
11:30
Speaker 2: that could be us, But I just kind of laughed
11:32
Speaker 2: that off. That's the chances of that are pretty unlikely,
11:36
Speaker 2: but it's still we could actually host it again next year,
11:40
Speaker 2: so that'd be three years. It would be pretty unreal.
11:43
Speaker 1: I wonder if this has come up in some different
11:48
Speaker 1: circles of you know, how you can grow the game
11:50
Speaker 1: and things like that. Would you ever be interested, as
11:53
Speaker 1: a Division three head coach of having the Division three
11:56
Speaker 1: Championship in the Division one or the National Collegiate Championship,
12:00
Speaker 1: however you want to phrase it, in the same location
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Speaker 1: the same weekend, Or is that the better off having
12:06
Speaker 1: two different sites and two different kind of feelings for
12:10
Speaker 1: those two tournaments.
12:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I've heard that before, and there's always
12:16
Speaker 2: some talk about that, and you know, people talk about
12:19
Speaker 2: having them at the same time, but personally, I like
12:22
Speaker 2: them separately. I think it's it's just you know, you
12:28
Speaker 2: look at like this year, the Frozen four was over
12:31
Speaker 2: at Ritter and they sold it out, and you know,
12:34
Speaker 2: it was here and we sold it out, And that's
12:37
Speaker 2: pretty neat to have it in two different places. I mean,
12:39
Speaker 2: we're only not even an hour apart, but I like
12:44
Speaker 2: them to be separate. You know, they've also talked about
12:46
Speaker 2: having the women's and men's both D three ones, you know,
12:50
Speaker 2: in Lake Placid or somewhere at the same time, and
12:53
Speaker 2: I'm just not a big I'm not a strong proponent
12:56
Speaker 2: of that. I like to have them separate and and
12:59
Speaker 2: just to you know, get the attention just on the
13:03
Speaker 2: D three women's or the D three men's or the
13:05
Speaker 2: D one women's and I like them, I'll separate it out.
13:10
Speaker 1: What do you think have been the biggest changes in
13:13
Speaker 1: Division three women's hockey over this last twenty six seasons?
13:18
Speaker 1: I mean when you look back.
13:19
Speaker 2: At what.
13:21
Speaker 1: You know, whether it's talking about that championship weekend or
13:24
Speaker 1: you know, just just the competitive nature of the way
13:27
Speaker 1: things are across the country and larger numbers of teams,
13:31
Speaker 1: what are the big things that stand out to you?
13:34
Speaker 2: Well, I think the biggest thing is just like probably
13:37
Speaker 2: in every sport, but in hockey, it just the skill
13:42
Speaker 2: level is so much higher, and it's it's maybe it's
13:46
Speaker 2: plateaued a little bit over the last few years here,
13:50
Speaker 2: but you know, after twenty six years here, just a
13:53
Speaker 2: few years ago, it was still getting better every single year.
13:58
Speaker 2: And you know, there's a lot more parody at the
14:02
Speaker 2: D three level. You know, you used to see like,
14:07
Speaker 2: you know, our conference is so small, you know, it's
14:10
Speaker 2: it's us in Auclaire. Usually the you know, we've been
14:13
Speaker 2: in the championship for our conference, I don't even know,
14:17
Speaker 2: over a decade, probably in the championship game. But when
14:21
Speaker 2: you look at the Mayak right across the river with
14:24
Speaker 2: ten different teams, and it was always you know, Gastavis
14:27
Speaker 2: and then say when Saint Thomas left, it was that
14:32
Speaker 2: was it. I mean, Gastavis ruled that league for so long.
14:35
Speaker 2: And then you look this year and and Augsburg came
14:38
Speaker 2: in and won the regular season and the postseason tournament,
14:42
Speaker 2: and there's really you know, Saint Mary's had a really
14:44
Speaker 2: good team, and and there was a lot more parody
14:46
Speaker 2: and a lot more not just one or two teams.
14:50
Speaker 2: So just the depth of I think of the D
14:52
Speaker 2: three game, especially in the West, has gotten a lot better.
14:56
Speaker 2: There wasn't even a D three team that won a
14:58
Speaker 2: national championship up until three years ago, and right now
15:02
Speaker 2: it's been three in a row have been in the West.
15:05
Speaker 2: So for me, the biggest thing by far is just
15:08
Speaker 2: the skill level continues to rise, and then the just
15:11
Speaker 2: a depth you know, used to be you know, you'd
15:14
Speaker 2: have a line and a half and now you know,
15:17
Speaker 2: we we roll four lines, seventy most of the year,
15:20
Speaker 2: and so I think there's a lot of depth and
15:23
Speaker 2: parody makes it a lot better game.
15:28
Speaker 3: I once had a D three coach tell me that, like,
15:31
Speaker 3: one of the things they really loved about it was
15:33
Speaker 3: the idea that it's just like a little more content,
15:36
Speaker 3: Like you sleep in your bed most dights, Like you're
15:38
Speaker 3: not having to get on a plane and fly across
15:39
Speaker 3: the country for the most part, things like that, And
15:42
Speaker 3: so that was what appealed to them, and they thought
15:45
Speaker 3: appealed to players of the D three game. And I
15:47
Speaker 3: just I think a lot of our listeners maybe aren't
15:50
Speaker 3: super familiar with D three, So like, could you maybe
15:52
Speaker 3: tell us what you love about D three and sort
15:54
Speaker 3: of like comparing D one versus D three.
15:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you know that's there's a lot of
16:01
Speaker 2: truth to that. And I just think, you know, I
16:04
Speaker 2: never had a lot of interest in playing Division. Ie.
16:07
Speaker 2: It just wasn't I was brought up in northern Minnesota,
16:11
Speaker 2: and you know, it was always play for today, not
16:14
Speaker 2: for tomorrow. And as we all know, the culture today
16:17
Speaker 2: has changed significantly, and and so you know, I never
16:21
Speaker 2: really had that. I mean, I had opportunities to play
16:24
Speaker 2: D one. I had opportunities to coach D one. And
16:28
Speaker 2: the thing that I like about D three is, you know,
16:31
Speaker 2: I don't know if I always say student first, I
16:33
Speaker 2: just doesn't matter what's first or second. You need to
16:36
Speaker 2: balance them. And you know, like when I recruit a girl,
16:40
Speaker 2: they come here. They there's no scholarships D three, so
16:45
Speaker 2: they're coming here to play hockey, get an education. You know,
16:49
Speaker 2: we don't really we don't own them. We're not giving
16:51
Speaker 2: them money. So they have a tendency to have a
16:55
Speaker 2: little more freedom and do you know, have a life
16:58
Speaker 2: beyond hockey, and it's one of them. You're sleeping in
17:01
Speaker 2: your own bed, and you're you know, you're not flying
17:04
Speaker 2: out Ohio two days before the game, and you know,
17:07
Speaker 2: doing those things and a lot of that's fun and
17:09
Speaker 2: it's great for some people. You know, whenever I'm comparing
17:13
Speaker 2: D one and D three, I never want to sound
17:15
Speaker 2: like there's anything wrong with D one, but it's it's
17:18
Speaker 2: it's not for everybody. And the D three thing is
17:21
Speaker 2: a great option. And you know, there's a lot of
17:25
Speaker 2: really good D three hockey, and it's it just keeps
17:30
Speaker 2: getting better.
17:32
Speaker 1: You mentioned growing up in Minnesota and you're a River
17:36
Speaker 1: Falls graduate, Falls. Who who are some of your I
17:42
Speaker 1: guess when you look back at it now, you're some
17:44
Speaker 1: of your coaching influences or mentors that that shaped who
17:49
Speaker 1: you are and who you've been as a coach for
17:51
Speaker 1: for twenty six seasons at UW.
17:54
Speaker 2: River Falls. Well, by far, the biggest influence was my dad.
17:58
Speaker 2: He was a thirty year hockey coach. He actually started
18:02
Speaker 2: girls hockey in northern Minnesota in the seventies, so he
18:06
Speaker 2: started girls hockey in Minnesota long before the Minnesota High
18:09
Speaker 2: School League did twenty years. So me growing up in
18:13
Speaker 2: the seventies and eighties, my sisters both played and we
18:16
Speaker 2: had girls hockey. The golfers used to back when they
18:20
Speaker 2: were club they used to drive all the way up
18:22
Speaker 2: to Fergus Falls to play our high school team because
18:25
Speaker 2: they didn't have that many options to play. But so
18:27
Speaker 2: my dad did that and he coached me, and he
18:32
Speaker 2: really the whole foundation for everything I believe in as
18:36
Speaker 2: a coach, so much that I learned from him coaching
18:39
Speaker 2: me and Peewey's and Vanham's And then when I was
18:42
Speaker 2: a senior in high school, I had Tim Collin, you
18:45
Speaker 2: know the Collins from Morehead, Tim Cullen and then I
18:49
Speaker 2: had Charlie Burggraf, and those two, you know, they're both
18:53
Speaker 2: legendary coaches. Charlie Burggraf was such a huge impact on
18:58
Speaker 2: me as a person and U and as a coach.
19:02
Speaker 2: I wasn't even a coach yet, but I just learned
19:05
Speaker 2: so much from those guys. They were phenomenal coaches, you know.
19:09
Speaker 2: And then I went in the us HL. I got
19:11
Speaker 2: to play for Bob Mottsko for a year, you know,
19:14
Speaker 2: go for men's coach. And then I played a year
19:17
Speaker 2: college for Mike Carroll. So I was very fortunate to
19:22
Speaker 2: have great The last four coaches I had before I
19:26
Speaker 2: hung up my skates, we're all great coaches. And but
19:31
Speaker 2: just growing up in Northern Minnesota, just that culture, that
19:34
Speaker 2: hockey culture is, you know, where you're just taught to
19:38
Speaker 2: respect your opponents. You're taught to respect the rink and
19:43
Speaker 2: the other coach and the other the refs and just everything.
19:47
Speaker 2: And it was just such a neat environment to grow
19:50
Speaker 2: up in, traveling around up there, you know, playing in
19:53
Speaker 2: Roso one weekend, and then war Owed and then fee
19:56
Speaker 2: Forever at East Grant and Midge and I just think
19:59
Speaker 2: all those things have a huge impact on me, and
20:02
Speaker 2: still one of the reasons I like to get a
20:04
Speaker 2: lot of those northern Minnesota kids, the two one eight
20:07
Speaker 2: ers as I call them, on our team. You know,
20:10
Speaker 2: we always have quite a few of those being even
20:13
Speaker 2: though we're in Wisconsin school.
20:17
Speaker 3: Did you know, like, did you know you wanted to coach?
20:20
Speaker 3: Did you foresee like Todd said, this sort of nice
20:22
Speaker 3: long career in one spot?
20:26
Speaker 2: H No, not really, I you know, I knew that.
20:29
Speaker 2: You know, my dad had coached a long time. My
20:31
Speaker 2: brother is the high school girls hockey coach right in
20:34
Speaker 2: River Falls too, so and he and I work out
20:37
Speaker 2: every morning. We talk hockey, and it's that's a unique
20:41
Speaker 2: thing too, because we both came to school at River
20:43
Speaker 2: Falls and then never really strayed too far. But no,
20:46
Speaker 2: it was really never something I would have never thought
20:49
Speaker 2: when I took this job twenty six years ago that
20:52
Speaker 2: I would be sitting here as a two time national
20:55
Speaker 2: championship on a podcast. But it's definitely been you know,
21:02
Speaker 2: obviously I've been here for twenty six years. I obviously
21:06
Speaker 2: enjoy it and it's a lot of fun and it's
21:09
Speaker 2: very rewarding, and you know, people have asked many times,
21:13
Speaker 2: you know when you ever consider going back you or
21:15
Speaker 2: coaching on the men's side or I coached boys hockey
21:18
Speaker 2: for twelve thirteen years and you know that was great,
21:22
Speaker 2: But I like coaching the women's game. I love D three,
21:26
Speaker 2: So it's just been a great fit for me and
21:28
Speaker 2: I've just really enjoyed the ride.
21:31
Speaker 1: What would you say, are I guess maybe you're you're
21:36
Speaker 1: non negotiables as what you want out of a player.
21:39
Speaker 1: And this is something that I know coaches have their
21:43
Speaker 1: own philosophies. Is a lot of coaches want to let
21:46
Speaker 1: players be who they are, but there are some things
21:50
Speaker 1: that I know, you walk in this door and you
21:53
Speaker 1: have to you have to be willing to do X,
21:57
Speaker 1: y Z. What are those things for you and and
22:00
Speaker 1: your players with the Falcons.
22:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, and number one is just work ethic. You have
22:05
Speaker 2: to compete hard. You have to work hard because you know,
22:09
Speaker 2: I always say you're only as good as how hard
22:11
Speaker 2: you work, and that's your foundation for everything. If you
22:15
Speaker 2: don't work hard, nothing positive is going to come out
22:18
Speaker 2: of this. You know, I think that's just true of life.
22:21
Speaker 2: So you have to work. But at the same time,
22:24
Speaker 2: you know, we we don't put any expectations on players,
22:28
Speaker 2: especially when they get here, it's just work hard, you know,
22:31
Speaker 2: appreciate everything, respect everything, be a good line mate, be
22:36
Speaker 2: a good teammate, be coachable, make everybody around you better.
22:40
Speaker 2: You know, you got to be that kid that everybody
22:42
Speaker 2: wants on your line. You don't. You just don't want
22:45
Speaker 2: players that you know are me, me, me, and you know,
22:49
Speaker 2: the type of kid that others don't want on their line.
22:53
Speaker 2: You have to be about everybody. It's got to be
22:55
Speaker 2: about team. You know. Those are all the things that
22:58
Speaker 2: we preach, and those are those that's what you're asking,
23:04
Speaker 2: that type of thing, you know. But when it comes
23:07
Speaker 2: to hockey, specifically x's and o's, it's very important to
23:11
Speaker 2: me that I don't take their game away from them.
23:14
Speaker 2: You know, we recruit kids and they'll come in and
23:17
Speaker 2: they might do a thing or two. I might tweak
23:20
Speaker 2: here or there. They have to fit into our systems,
23:23
Speaker 2: but I never want to take their game away from them.
23:26
Speaker 2: Everybody has ins and outs that makes them special, and
23:30
Speaker 2: it's my job is to not change that. It might
23:34
Speaker 2: be tweaked something here or there, or play to their
23:36
Speaker 2: strengths and play away from their weaknesses, but you just
23:41
Speaker 2: you got to give them the freedom to play the
23:42
Speaker 2: game they want to play too.
23:46
Speaker 3: This may end up being an overlapping question to that,
23:48
Speaker 3: but you've had sort of remarkable consistency, right like when
23:52
Speaker 3: either the regular season or conference tournament title or both
23:55
Speaker 3: each of the last sixteen years, maybe NT tournament fourteen
23:58
Speaker 3: of the last fifteen, you've had forty We're all Americans
24:01
Speaker 3: fourteenth street seasons with at least one All American on
24:04
Speaker 3: your roster. What do you think contributes to that consistency
24:09
Speaker 3: and being able to sort of consistently again, you know,
24:11
Speaker 3: talking about what type of person you recruit again that
24:14
Speaker 3: it's D three and there are some different things that
24:16
Speaker 3: you're looking for and you're asking of a student athlete
24:18
Speaker 3: in terms of not being able to do scholarships and
24:21
Speaker 3: all that sort of stuff. How do you find that
24:23
Speaker 3: sweet spot of finding the player that wants to be
24:25
Speaker 3: at D three but has that work ethic that you
24:28
Speaker 3: want and leads the consistency you've been able to have.
24:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's funny when we go into a
24:34
Speaker 2: rink and we talk to the other D three or
24:36
Speaker 2: i mean the D one coaches. You know, we have
24:39
Speaker 2: to go in and first of all, you got to
24:40
Speaker 2: figure out who the D one kids are, and a
24:42
Speaker 2: lot of them are committed and some of them aren't.
24:45
Speaker 2: But you have to look and say, oh that kids,
24:47
Speaker 2: that kid's going to be a D one er. This
24:49
Speaker 2: kid's going to be close, and you kind of find
24:51
Speaker 2: those tweeners as we call them. They're just right in between.
24:55
Speaker 2: You know, a lot of our kids on our team
24:59
Speaker 2: could play D one. A lot of them had D
25:01
Speaker 2: one offers, some of them had full rides. We have
25:04
Speaker 2: a couple of players on our team who turned down
25:07
Speaker 2: scholarships in the WCHA and many out east, and so
25:11
Speaker 2: we first of all, you got to find those kids.
25:14
Speaker 2: You know that to me, there they're just not it's
25:18
Speaker 2: all not just D one D one. You know the
25:20
Speaker 2: kids I mean our seniors who just graduate or just
25:25
Speaker 2: got done playing this year, their record was one hundred
25:29
Speaker 2: and eight wins, nine losses and four ties. So that's fun.
25:36
Speaker 2: So you know, true, you know that's a crazy number.
25:42
Speaker 2: Even you look at our sophomores right now, they've won,
25:46
Speaker 2: they've won both national championships and they're fifty three fifty four,
25:52
Speaker 2: three and two. So you know, I think that's a
25:56
Speaker 2: big part of it. You know, those kids want to
25:59
Speaker 2: come here, win and have fun. But again, we don't
26:02
Speaker 2: put a lot of expectations on him. Just come in
26:04
Speaker 2: here and work hard, be a good kid. And you know,
26:08
Speaker 2: Jim Walsh is my assistant coach, and he does all
26:12
Speaker 2: the recruiting and he really gets to know the kids.
26:16
Speaker 2: He gets to know the moms, the dads, the grandmas
26:19
Speaker 2: and grandpa's and boyfriends and aunts and I mean, he
26:23
Speaker 2: really does his homework and we really get kids that
26:27
Speaker 2: fit with what we want. And they're really good kids.
26:30
Speaker 2: But you know, like whatever you just said, how many
26:33
Speaker 2: all Americans we had, you know, it's you know, I
26:37
Speaker 2: don't know we've had. I think we had nine this
26:40
Speaker 2: year and last year, which is you know, over a
26:42
Speaker 2: third of all of them in the West. But to
26:46
Speaker 2: have those kinds of results, I just think it's just
26:49
Speaker 2: great kids.
26:51
Speaker 1: I wonder what I guess if I bestowed upon you
26:56
Speaker 1: the fictional title of commissioner of college hockey, what would
27:00
Speaker 1: be your one of your first things you would do
27:04
Speaker 1: to improve the game, be it on the ice or
27:07
Speaker 1: off the ice on your first day as commissioner.
27:13
Speaker 2: Boy, I'm not sure because I don't get that involved
27:16
Speaker 2: in that kind of thing, but you know, it was
27:19
Speaker 2: really nice this past year that the NCAA put a
27:25
Speaker 2: lot more emphasis on bracket integrity at the D three
27:29
Speaker 2: level and you know, made it possible for a team
27:32
Speaker 2: to fly out, you know, in the before the Frozen four,
27:37
Speaker 2: you know, And to me, that's been by far the
27:42
Speaker 2: most frustrating part of coaching D three was that that
27:47
Speaker 2: we just never ever got a fair shake, and it
27:50
Speaker 2: made for such it was always such a bad taste
27:53
Speaker 2: in your mouth, and especially in the West. I just
27:58
Speaker 2: I don't we've we've never got fair shakes. And you know,
28:01
Speaker 2: like I said, we'd only won it the last three
28:05
Speaker 2: years in the West. Every other year it was one
28:07
Speaker 2: out East, and there are great teams out here. It's
28:10
Speaker 2: just almost impossible to run the gauntlet the way the
28:14
Speaker 2: cards were stacked against you. So as a commissioner, I
28:18
Speaker 2: don't know if you would have that power. But looking
28:21
Speaker 2: at the thing that has frustrated me the most over
28:23
Speaker 2: the years, that has been it by far, this was
28:27
Speaker 2: the first year where there was actually some integrity in
28:31
Speaker 2: the in the bracket. It made sense. You know, they
28:33
Speaker 2: flew a team to us first time ever, and you know,
28:38
Speaker 2: that's that's that's the biggest thing, and just you know,
28:43
Speaker 2: I'm always just the respect thing is just huge with me.
28:49
Speaker 2: I just you know what it's like when you play
28:52
Speaker 2: teams that aren't respectful and they don't play the game
28:56
Speaker 2: the right way, and I just think there can always
28:58
Speaker 2: be steps to make that better as well.
29:05
Speaker 3: I wanted to ask you, maybe a little jokingly, if
29:08
Speaker 3: you sent a little thank you note over to Saint
29:10
Speaker 3: Norbert when they took a Stavis out early for you guys,
29:13
Speaker 3: they gave you a little bit of trouble this year,
29:14
Speaker 3: and that was that was a crazy game that Saint
29:17
Speaker 3: Norbert won. I think the shots were like forty six
29:19
Speaker 3: to thirteen. Saint Norbert had the thirteen, but that was
29:22
Speaker 3: a big upset early in the tournament. And definitely I
29:24
Speaker 3: think you know that that would have been a big
29:26
Speaker 3: game for you guys, knowing how it had gone against
29:28
Speaker 3: Gus Davis.
29:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, because those are always you know, whenever we play
29:34
Speaker 2: Gas Stavis in the NCAA tournament, it's a bounce here,
29:37
Speaker 2: it's a bounce there, and you know, it's a penalty here,
29:41
Speaker 2: power play here, whatever, but it always comes down to
29:44
Speaker 2: one bounce or one call or one little thing. So yeah,
29:49
Speaker 2: we were very very happy to see that, you know,
29:53
Speaker 2: as much as I like the Stavis and respect them
29:56
Speaker 2: and you know, friends with the Carol brothers coaching there.
29:59
Speaker 2: And yeah, I'm glad I didn't have to play this year,
30:04
Speaker 2: you know, And who knows if we would have either,
30:06
Speaker 2: because they still would have had to beat Osburgh, you know,
30:09
Speaker 2: who have beaten them earlier too, so but but that
30:13
Speaker 2: was great for great for Saint Norbert's. And again it's
30:16
Speaker 2: just again it's like what I referred to early is
30:19
Speaker 2: just more parody, you know, more teams that are competitive now.
30:23
Speaker 2: And we actually have Saint Norbert's on our schedule. They're
30:27
Speaker 2: coming here next year for one, and then we're going
30:30
Speaker 2: there the following year for two. And and we haven't
30:33
Speaker 2: played them probably since we left the NCHA, which was
30:38
Speaker 2: like ten years ago, so that'll be fun to play
30:40
Speaker 2: them again.
30:41
Speaker 1: Yeah. My last question for you, Joe is I don't
30:45
Speaker 1: know if you've had any of your former players turned
30:49
Speaker 1: into coaching in these last few years or recently, but
30:55
Speaker 1: if you do have coach former players that have become coaches,
30:59
Speaker 1: what would you feel the proudest of that if they
31:01
Speaker 1: take it from you as part of it to make
31:05
Speaker 1: it part of their coaching style.
31:08
Speaker 2: Well, Number one, make sure it's fun. He was coaching
31:11
Speaker 2: at any level, whether it's D one or D three
31:15
Speaker 2: or high school or youth or whatever. It has to
31:18
Speaker 2: be fun, you know, or you know why do it? So,
31:22
Speaker 2: you know, like I said earlier, you know, play play
31:26
Speaker 2: for today, not tomorrow. It's not about where you're going
31:29
Speaker 2: to be. It's where you are right now. And then
31:32
Speaker 2: and you know, and then again like I'd mentioned my dad,
31:36
Speaker 2: and it was always about the life lessons. You know,
31:39
Speaker 2: I just think especially for young women, I just think
31:42
Speaker 2: it's so great just the work ethic, the time, the time,
31:46
Speaker 2: the commitment, the dedication, teamwork, respect, appreciation, all those life
31:54
Speaker 2: lessons that I just think are so great. And you know,
31:59
Speaker 2: we really push a lot of that. And and you know,
32:03
Speaker 2: if that comes out with my players when they go
32:07
Speaker 2: on to coach, that's great. You know. My my Jim
32:10
Speaker 2: Walsh and I walked into a into the super rank
32:14
Speaker 2: I think not this last winter, but the winner before.
32:17
Speaker 2: And you know, they had the big holiday tournament over there,
32:20
Speaker 2: and I think we had eight former players coaching just
32:24
Speaker 2: in that tournament in Minnesota, you know, and we had
32:28
Speaker 2: some other ones in Wisconsin and coach. A lot of
32:31
Speaker 2: them coach in high school, and so yeah, that's that's
32:35
Speaker 2: really awesome. That's what it's all about. It's all about
32:38
Speaker 2: giving more than you take. So anytime you can have
32:41
Speaker 2: those kids, you know, they grow up and they go
32:44
Speaker 2: out and they're given to the game and they're given
32:47
Speaker 2: other people, it's just it's what it's all about. Hockey
32:50
Speaker 2: is a great sport, but it's an avenue to teach
32:54
Speaker 2: life lessons and just so yeah, I'm really proud of
32:57
Speaker 2: those girls when they go on and do that.
33:01
Speaker 3: I think we should leave it right there. That's really great.
33:03
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for making time for a show.
33:05
Speaker 3: We really appreciate it.
33:07
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. I appreciate coming on here and it's
33:11
Speaker 2: been fun.
33:12
Speaker 3: Congratulations again first back to back championships in the West
33:16
Speaker 3: and we'll be looking forward to seeing what you guys
33:19
Speaker 3: do next season.
33:20
Speaker 2: Great. Thank you very much, you guys,