Latest / Coaches Corner / MHOC Coach Mike Cavanaugh Zoom Oct 23 - UMass

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MHOC Coach Mike Cavanaugh Zoom Oct 23 - UMass · Coaches Corner

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right, coach, you guys open hockey's play with a
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: one game matchup against number three Boston University. Fought till
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the end, tough one, but turning attention, they got a
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  Speaker 1: two game series coming up against Massachusetts. Just wanting to
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: get your thought on this upcoming hockey's battle.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be our first weekend series, hockey's weekend series.
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  Speaker 2: You know, last year it was just a one last
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  Speaker 2: week was just a one gamer. So werck uh. You know,
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  Speaker 2: I have the most respect for U mass and Greg
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  Speaker 2: how he runs his program. They've always been a highly
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  Speaker 2: contested games when we play them. It seems like they've
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  Speaker 2: been a lot of one goal games in the past
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  Speaker 2: few years against U. Mass. They play a very upstem,
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  Speaker 2: up tempo style of hockey. They've got excellent goaltending and arable.
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  Speaker 2: I think their forward group is outstanding, and that's led
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  Speaker 2: by you know, who I believe has nine points in
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  Speaker 2: five games already. And then you know, Loch Mellis is
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  Speaker 2: a great player and Sun Ye might be the best
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  Speaker 2: goal scorer in our league. So we're gonna have our
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  Speaker 2: hands full with the minute man, that's for sure.
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  Speaker 1: All Right, We'll open up for questions, Dan, you want
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  Speaker 1: to start us off? Or how was Tyler doing?
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  Speaker 3: And are you sure if you're going to have on
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  Speaker 3: me up this weekend.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: We're not sure if we're going to have Tyler yet.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: But he did practice yesterday. We'll see. He hasn't come
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  Speaker 2: in yet and met with our trainer today, so we'll
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  Speaker 2: see how that went and how he responded to playing,
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  Speaker 2: you know, going through a full practice yesterday, but we're
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  Speaker 2: hoping to.
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  Speaker 4: How much does it just impact the way that you
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  Speaker 4: practice and what you can do and.
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  Speaker 3: Do only what it is?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we have another goaltender, so we have two goaltenders
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  Speaker 2: for practice, so it doesn't really impact the way we
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  Speaker 2: play or the way we practice. Now, if you only
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: had one, then it gets a little tougher because you
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: get guys shooting an empty net down one end. But
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  Speaker 2: for a practice, we've always had two.
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  Speaker 3: Goaltenders, even wen Tyler's then out.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, oh, so you have like a practice guy
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  Speaker 2: now we do? We uh put someone on the roster
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  Speaker 2: last week, Nico Gamara, who is a student here at
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  Speaker 2: Yukon and we've been using him for practice.
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  Speaker 3: How did you find him?
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  Speaker 2: He had reached out to Vince SELLETTI, you know, our
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  Speaker 2: goaltending coach earlier in the year, and we told him
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  Speaker 2: at the time we didn't have we didn't have room
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  Speaker 2: for him. But uh, sorry, I lost you there for
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: a second. We told him that, you know, we didn't
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  Speaker 2: have room for him at the time, but kept his
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: information and we've had to use it. I mean, it
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  Speaker 2: came in handy, so he's been able to help us
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  Speaker 2: out quite a bit, which is nice. One of the
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  Speaker 2: reasons why I'm concerned about if the NCAA goes to
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  Speaker 2: roster limits. If that's a hard number, I think it's
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  Speaker 2: going to be difficult for a lot of teams, you know,
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  Speaker 2: especially in our sport, in that position when you lose
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  Speaker 2: a goaltender that gets hurt. And Merrimack went through it,
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  Speaker 2: and you know, I think a lot more teams are
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: going through it, have gone through that, and then when
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  Speaker 2: you lose two, then it becomes a really dicey situation.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Joe, we'll jump over to you.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks, good morning, coach.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: How are you.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: I'm great, Joe, you I'm good. Looking forward to Saturday night.
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  Speaker 3: What did you learn about your young team and its
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: first Hockey East game?
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  Speaker 2: Ah, you know, I think we were very resilient. I
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: mean it was a good BU team. I thought we
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: handled a lot of some difficult situations. You get that
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  Speaker 2: five minute major and they score in the first thirty
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  Speaker 2: seconds of the five minute major and we come right
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  Speaker 2: back and get a shorthanded goal. That showed me a
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  Speaker 2: lot about the team's resilience. I thought that we competed
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  Speaker 2: really hard. I thought we skated with BU and you know,
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  Speaker 2: they're the third ranked team in the country, and I
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  Speaker 2: thought we went toe to toe with him. So I
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  Speaker 2: thought it was very promising for a team with you know,
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  Speaker 2: it's turned over half its team. We had fourteen new players,
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  Speaker 2: and I thought we adjusted pretty well.
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  Speaker 3: Your young defense. How do you like the way that
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  Speaker 3: they are that they're coming together? I thought they played
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  Speaker 3: very well. I thought, you know, kai Jan Veriah has
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  Speaker 3: been solid all year long. I think Tray Scott has
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  Speaker 3: given us really good minutes the past a couple of
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  Speaker 3: games that he's played. And you know, Nick Carrabin's been
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  Speaker 3: a seamless transition, and I thought that might have been
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  Speaker 3: Vikings game of the year as well. What does Trade
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  Speaker 3: bring to the table as far as helping on blue Light.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he skates very well. He's got poised with the
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  Speaker 2: puck and a really high hockey IQ. He can read
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  Speaker 2: plays pretty quickly and there's not a lot of panic
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  Speaker 2: in his game.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: Thanks, Natalie, will go over to you.
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: Thanks Colin, Good morning, coach.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: How are you? I'm great, Natalie, how are you good?
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: Good to see you again. I have not watched Yukon
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  Speaker 4: yet this year, so I apologize if I ask anything
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  Speaker 4: that needs clarification, but I guess primarily, you know, how
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  Speaker 4: has coaching for you been a little bit different, if
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  Speaker 4: you know, maybe challenging this season with a new personnel
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  Speaker 4: as well as fourteen new players to work with.
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  Speaker 2: You know, Natalie, it hasn't changed that much because you know,
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  Speaker 2: we've had we have great leadership in Hudson schander Or
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  Speaker 2: and John Spetts, who've been around here. I mean, this
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  Speaker 2: is the fifth year here, so they know how things operate,
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  Speaker 2: and they've been able to relay that to the rest
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  Speaker 2: of the team and lead in a way that the
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  Speaker 2: rest of the team knows how we do things at
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  Speaker 2: Yukon and what's their expectations are of players here. So
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  Speaker 2: I've been really fortunate to have that type of leadership
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  Speaker 2: and it's it's been pretty seamless. To be honest with you.
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  Speaker 4: That's a great indication and reflection as to what you have.
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  Speaker 4: I think I heard you mentioned preseason you have a
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  Speaker 4: quicker team this year than in years past. How do
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  Speaker 4: you or is there anybody in particular you feel really
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: goes out there and pushes the pace for this team?
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  Speaker 3: Uh?
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  Speaker 2: Well, we got a lot of players I think that
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  Speaker 2: are pushing the pace. I mean, Hudson Chandor has always
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: played with a lot of pace. But you know, some
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: of the newcomers, Kayden Shahan skates very well, Ethan Gardula
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  Speaker 2: skates very well, Joey Muldowney, Ryan Taddle. They're all players
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  Speaker 2: who have always, you know, played with a lot of pace.
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  Speaker 2: And those are the types of teams, Natalie I want
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  Speaker 2: to have. I've always enjoyed coaching the teams that can
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  Speaker 2: put pressure on the opponent in all three zones. And
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  Speaker 2: I think that's something we're going to continue to work
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  Speaker 2: at and get better at as the season goes on.
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: Right and I know it's still early, but I guess
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  Speaker 4: looking at the power play right now one for nineteen,
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  Speaker 4: how do you how do you find production on that
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  Speaker 4: as a coach? How do you kind of encourage anything
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  Speaker 4: different there or how do you approach that?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I do believe we have to get more pucks
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  Speaker 2: to the net. That being said, some of it's puck luck.
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  Speaker 2: We have got a lot of shots on net with
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  Speaker 2: our power play, they just haven't gone in. So but
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  Speaker 2: maybe with a more you know, shot mentality from our
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  Speaker 2: power play, Like when I watch you mass play, I
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  Speaker 2: mean they get that puck to the net quick, they
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  Speaker 2: and they they don't mess around much on the perimeter.
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  Speaker 2: That puck's coming to the net, and it puts a
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  Speaker 2: lot of pressure on you as a penalty kill to
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  Speaker 2: sort it out. It's hard, you know, when a team
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  Speaker 2: keeps a puck on the perimeters, it's easy to defend
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  Speaker 2: because you know where you need to go, you know
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  Speaker 2: your rotations. It's hard to rotate off a rebounds because
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  Speaker 2: it's just scrambling and it's chaos. And that's how I
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  Speaker 2: think the good power plays capitalize on on their situations
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  Speaker 2: with you know, getting a puck to the net, going
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  Speaker 2: off a skate and it goes to someone else in bang,
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  Speaker 2: it's in your net. So those are the things that
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  Speaker 2: I think our power play needs to do, probably put
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: a little more emphasis on getting pucks to the net.
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: All right, thanks coach.
• 8:41
  Speaker 5: Sure, Jay, we'll jump over to you, Hi, Coach Jay Burnham.
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  Speaker 5: I'll be on the TV broadcast on Friday with Johnny Lazarez.
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  Speaker 5: So any complaints on that you can send them my way.
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  Speaker 2: Conolences.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, Hey, I got three questions if you don't mind.
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  Speaker 5: And talking about that power play, who is that? I
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  Speaker 5: guess the quarterback who really leads that power.
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  Speaker 2: Play for you? On the first unit? Well, we have
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  Speaker 2: two units. I don't know which ones our first unit yet.
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  Speaker 3: Uh.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think that has materialized to this point. That
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  Speaker 2: being said Kaijian Veriah is you know, as a freshman
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  Speaker 2: as leading one group, and then we have Nick Carabin
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  Speaker 2: and John Spetts interchangeable on the on the next group
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  Speaker 2: up top. So uh, that's probably those would be the
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  Speaker 2: guys that are quarterbacking the power play. Gotcha?
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  Speaker 5: And then I guess against bu which was there a
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  Speaker 5: line that you thought particularly stood out?
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  Speaker 3: Well?
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  Speaker 2: I thought Witcomb's line created a lot.
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  Speaker 3: Uh you No.
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  Speaker 2: The one thing that's been nice about coaching this team
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  Speaker 2: is I feel very confident in all four lines Ryan
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  Speaker 2: Taddle and like people always ask me, or they'll say
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: sometimes well, your fourth line was good, and my response is, well,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: which ones are fourth line? Because Ryan Taddle and Tristan
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  Speaker 2: Fraser gave us great efforts. I thought Whitcomb's line was good.
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  Speaker 2: Hudson Chandor and you know, Kate and Jahan I believe
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  Speaker 2: had six shots on net in the game, and then
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: Tabor Heaslip and Jake Percival have been arguably our most
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  Speaker 2: consistent players all year long, so I feel like we
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  Speaker 2: have contributions from every line.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, that's kind of what I gathered.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: And then I guess last one.
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: Watching that game on Friday, I was just curious on
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  Speaker 5: your opinion the major penalty that kind of happened around
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: the net. It felt like there was some distance between
• 10:39
  Speaker 5: the boards. What did you think when you saw that replay?
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I coached the players play in the
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: refs ref and I try not to do their jobs,
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  Speaker 2: so it doesn't really matter what I think they called it,
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  Speaker 2: and it is what it is. But uh, that would
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: be more of a I think a question for Brian
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  Speaker 2: Murphy than it is for me. Yeah, all right, I'm
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  Speaker 2: just curious.
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  Speaker 5: Because I'm just trying to understand how how it got
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: to where it got to it.
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  Speaker 2: It felt like it was they put the offensive player
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: in a vulnerable position. But I got wound up with
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: a dissocated shoulder too, so it was was that spets
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah so and he's day to day right now. So,
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: but it is, Hey, that's the game. And you know,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of calls in a game that are
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: not black and white, and that was clearly in the gray.
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: And you can see both sides of it now. Whether
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  Speaker 2: I think it was a five or not, you know,
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: there'll be if you ask ten guys, five might think
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: it's a five and five might not. There are those
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  Speaker 2: calls in a game that are very gray. And my
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: point to it is it doesn't matter. We practice penalty
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: killing all the time. We have to be able to
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: kill that penalty end and we actually did a pretty
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: good job. We we gave up one, but we also
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: scored one, so they wound up not being a factor
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: in the game.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 5: Sorry, I just asked that question to try and relay
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: it to the audience because Jim Connolly was like, yeah,
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: that shouldn't be a major and trying to understand how
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: to yeah, and the people and you're like, well, I
• 12:19
  Speaker 5: guess it is.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Well, I think that's your job. You know, you can
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: have an opinion on that, and I can have an opinion.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: But as I said, at the end of the day,
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: it's the ref made the call, and both referees are
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: excellent referees. I think Marty Hughes and Terrence Murphy do
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: fabulous job in our league, and that's how they saw it.
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: So yeah, awesome, thanks man, Joe will go back to you.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: Thanks, Hey, cav What have Jake Richard and Joey Muldowney
• 12:52
  Speaker 3: added to their games since last year?
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: Well, it's clearly developing some chemistry between the two of them.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: They're creating a lot of offense. I think I think
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: they've just matured. They've both gotten stronger, Joe and I think,
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: as I said, they found a little chemistry playing together.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: I think Ethan Whitcomb has also been a cog in
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  Speaker 2: that line that has helped those two. So right now,
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: the three of them are playing really well off each other.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: They're creating chances. Now I'd like to see, you know,
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: I do believe defensively they can get better as players.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: You know, in the you don't want to trade chances
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: in a game, and I think against bu I don't
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: think that was necessarily the case. I think the first
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: weekend of the year they were a line that was
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: trading chances. So they are putting a lot more effort
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: into the defensive side of their game, but they're excellent
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: offensive players that can create in the offensive zone.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Randy, will go to you. Just one from me.
• 14:05
  Speaker 6: Good morning, cav How you doing. I just want to
• 14:08
  Speaker 6: follow up on my partner's question there and Whitcombe. You
• 14:12
  Speaker 6: mentioned that he's been, you know, like kind of a
• 14:16
  Speaker 6: positive cog in the.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Middle of those two.
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: What specifically could like we look for that, you know,
• 14:21
  Speaker 6: he does to make those two better, maybe open up
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: some of that tape to tape passing that we've seen
• 14:26
  Speaker 6: from the two of them.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: He's got great size, he's got really intelligent hockey player.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: So they all understand offense and where to be and
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: you know, there's times where you have to dish and drive,
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: there's times where you have to curl up and maybe
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: find a late guy, and they understand when to do
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: those things. But they also when he the one area
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: where I'd like to see eat and get a little
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: bit better is when he learns to protect the puck.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: You know, Aullah like a Joe Thornton type player, because
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: he's got great size and he's going to be a very,
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: very dangerous player to handle. I remember when I had
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: Kevin Hayes that that was an area that he needed
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: to work on, and then once he did. Like when
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: you can't get the puck from those guys, they're just
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: so hard to defend, and Ethan has the ability to
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: get there at some point. Great stuff, Thanks coach.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: Sure we got anything else for coach, guys?
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: Awesome?
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Well, thanks coach.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Good luck this weekend, all right, Thanks you guys, have
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: a great day, NICs. Coach