Latest / Coaches Corner / Seg 1 MHOC Show w Coach Cav Oct 5

Transcript

Seg 1 MHOC Show w Coach Cav Oct 5 · Coaches Corner

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hi, everybody, and welcome to the start of a brand-new
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: hockey season here on the UConn Sports Network as the
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Ice Bus gets ready to launch its season on Friday
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: night against Penn State at Toscana, which you'll hear right
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: here on the radio beginning at 645, as we welcome
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: in Mike Cavanaugh, the 14th-year head coach of the Huskies.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: So between here, BC, and Bowling Green, how many years
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: is this now for you as a coach in any way, shape,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: or form?
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: My math is correct. I believe it's year 35.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Oops. You're old like me, and we've seen it all.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: I know we're recording this full disclosure in the morning,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: but it's Monday of game week, and I know you
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: guys have been going at it for about a month now.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Is it a little different knowing that week you prepare,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: there's a game or two at the end of the week,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: like dangling the carrot out in front of you?
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: No question it's a little different. I think everything gets
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: amped up this week. We're playing for a trophy, which
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: is something that we emphasize in this program. So I
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: really believe practices will be ratcheted up quite a bit
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: this week.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: As you get Penn State to open this season, there's
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: a lot of question marks. You don't play an exhibition game.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you play scrimmages or anything like that.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: But what are you most interested to see over the
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: first season? couple of weeks of the season that only
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: includes Penn State, Bowling Green, Colorado College, and BU, but
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: I know it's a one game at a time attitude,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: but what are you looking to see develop with such
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: a roster turnover that you had from last year?
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's an interesting question, Bob. You know, certainly the
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: speed of the game and the physicality of the game
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: will be exponentially higher than what we've experienced here in practice.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: It's almost impossible to replicate how an opponent's going to
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: play against you. It's just human nature that you don't
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: finish checks on your teammates as hard as you would
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: on an opponent. So how we handle that, I think,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: is going to be something that we'll be looking at
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: as a staff. I believe we do have a lot
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: of returners you know, that have played in our system
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: and they know the expectations of what our program is.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: So from that standpoint, I have confidence that they will
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: lead the way and our younger guys will follow suit.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Mike, we mentioned the roster turnover. I mean, the guys
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: that you lost, Ryan Tattle, Jake Richard, Tabor Heaslip, Jake Percival,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Tristan Fraser up front, Tom Asinio, Viking Gustafson Nyberg on
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: the blue line. and Moose and Nett. But those forwards,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: those guys were the grit of this team. They played
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: a ton of games for you, and a big reason
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: why you've been to the Hockey East Final two years
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: in a row, been to the NCAA Tournament two years
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: in a row. That's not easy to replace.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: No, but you've got to remember, you know, we lost
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: a lot of guys a couple years ago when those
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: guys were going into their junior year, and they were
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: asked to step up and lead the way. And they
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: necessarily had not been put in those positions up until
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: that point. So there's going to be, you know, I
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: believe that Caden Shahan is going to take a bigger
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: role on our team. Ethan Gardula, Ethan Whitcomb, Mike Mertag,
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: where they relied more maybe on those other guys to
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: carry the load. Now it's their turn and our younger
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: guys will learn from them. So I think the really
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: good programs allow their players players to step up when
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: it's their time to shine.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Now, I'm going to generalize here in the first segment.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: We'll get a little more into the players in the
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: latter segments that we have with you, Cab. But one
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: thing I noticed, at least with your nine incoming freshmen,
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: you've got some captains who have had leadership qualities in
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: junior hockey. Obviously, that's important with the culture that you
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: have at UConn that Joy Muldowney talked about, especially on
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: media day, how things have trickled down from John Spetz,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: Hudson Shandor, Tabor, he slipped to now what he's doing
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: as a captain. But that's important as a young guy,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: I would think, with what you're trying to do.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: It is, and I believe they'll come in. Now, we
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: do things differently than what they did in junior hockey,
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: I'm sure. Anytime you move, when players move from here
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: when Viking goes from here to the Minnesota wild, Minnesota wild.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: I'm sure doing things differently than how we did them here.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: The Buffalo Sabres are doing things differently than what Jake
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Richard was used to. And I think great hockey players
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: are able to adapt to those situations. I don't know
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: how much it plays into the fact that maybe Cole
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Davis or a letter or, Larry Mamadovsky had wore a
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: letter or Charlie Morrison might've wore a letter. I don't
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: know in their junior programs, but they're going to have
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: to adapt to the way we do things. And good
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: hockey players can do that pretty seamlessly.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Mike, one thing that this team does so, so well,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: especially in recent years is just four check the living
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: daylights out of you. When you get that four check
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: game going, things work really well. Have the young guys
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: really adapted well into that? I mean, obviously that's what
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: you're looking for when you recruit them to come here.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: But now that you've at least seen them in practice,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: do you get a sense that they're going to pick
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: up pretty quick on what the expectations are here?
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: I believe so. The biggest thing you have to do
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: on the forecheck, and I say this, and it sounds
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: like an oxymoron maybe, is you have to think without thinking.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Like you've got to be able to play the game without,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: overanalyzing it right there's that old saying there's a paralysis
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: through analysis you can't do that on the four check
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: you have to be able to read and react off
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: each other and the great four checks are able to
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: do that the other thing the great four checks is
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: a connected five-man unit you can't just rely on your
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: three forwards the defensemen have to be involved in your
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: four check as well so when we're working in sync
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: as a team connected that's when we four check our
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: best of the returnees.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: And I think you mentioned this, at least on the
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: back line, uh, Anthony and Lane Samaki had a really
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: good year, got better and better. And I know you've
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: raved about him thinking by the time he leaves, he's
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: going to be a draft pick. How have you seen him, um,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: coming into camp for the season starts? What have you
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: seen from him differently that that will translate to the ice?
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Well, he is a draft pick. Oh, that's right.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Anaheim. That's right. Okay. That's right. Uh, I didn't mention All-American.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I think All-American. He is.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: He has, you know, he took a step last year
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: and even in preseason this year. You can see that
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: confidence he had at the end of the year is
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: carried right over into this season. He's certainly a guy
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: we're going to rely on to play big minutes for us.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: All right. We will get into some of the nuts
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: and bolts of this roster when we come back. We
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: appreciate you tuning in on this Monday night. Of course,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: you can always find it online, on demand, on the
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Varsity Network app. And we also... Put it on our
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: station's website, thehuskyhq.com. This is the UConn Hockey Coaches Show
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: from Learfield.