Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / Meet new Maine coach Alex Gettens

Transcript

Meet new Maine coach Alex Gettens · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Uscho.com Hi and welcome to another preseason edition of the podcast.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: I'm Todd Maleski here with Nicole Haase. We're from uscho.com
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and we're spending some time before the season gets started
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: to get to know some of the new head coaches
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: around women's college hockey and our guest today we're happy
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: to be joined by Alex Gettins of Maine. Alex, thanks
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: for joining us.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Thanks so much, Todd. I appreciate it.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: It's great to be here with you guys, and I've
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: been really looking forward to this.
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: Awesome.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Thanks.
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  Speaker 1: And it's only been about, as we're recording this toward
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: the end of August, been really only a month since
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: you've been in the position, right?
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  Speaker 2: How has that gone?
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  Speaker 1: And especially when you see the light getting brighter as
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the season gets there pretty soon, what's that been like
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: for you?
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah. The light is definitely getting brighter.
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  Speaker 2: We can see it. That's for sure. It's been, I mean,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: truly it's been amazing.
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  Speaker 3: It's hard to believe that it's been a month already,
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: to be completely honest. It's been, it's been crazy in
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: the last four weeks, you know, but in all the
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: best ways, just taking on a lot of new information,
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: but it's been fantastic.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Like really getting to know our players.
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: We've been fortunate enough to have them on campus for
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: a bit of time now and you know, we're fortunate
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  Speaker 3: enough to have pretty much.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Our whole staff in place as well.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: And that's gone really smoothly and I'm very excited about that.
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  Speaker 3: And just, you know, getting to know the people first
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  Speaker 3: and foremost, and that's been a real pleasure. And obviously
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: we're chomping at the bit to, to get into some
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: more hockey activity as well, but it's been really special to,
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  Speaker 3: to just get to know the personalities and the human
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  Speaker 3: beings away from, away from the ice too. Uh, you know,
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  Speaker 3: that's been really unique and special to, to where, you know, you're,
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: you're just meeting people at, at face value and what
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: they bring to the table, regardless of, of their, uh,
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: you know, ability on the ice.
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  Speaker 1: So.
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  Speaker 4: As a player, you were a goalie. So I was
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: just curious, sort of wrapping that together. And then also
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: you really have been in women's hockey since you started coaching.
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: So just can you tell me all of that background,
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  Speaker 4: how that brings us to like what the kind of
• 2:24
  Speaker 4: coach you are today and how that influences the coach
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: that you're going to be in me?
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Sure. Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, it's, you know, the goaltending thing, like, yes,
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  Speaker 2: I was a goalie when I played.
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  Speaker 3: My playing career was fairly brief. Uh, you know, I,
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: it really, I kind of knew it was coming to
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: a close. I played in prep school in New Hampshire, uh,
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: and then played a year of junior hockey and, you know,
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: did play some club hockey in college as well. But,
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: you know, I, I knew, I knew that my aspirations of,
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: of really taking the game to a super high level for,
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: as a player were, were limited. Um, you know, and
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: to me, that was a great, that ended up being
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: the best thing that ever happened to me and recognizing
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  Speaker 3: that it didn't mean that I'd, you know, didn't love
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  Speaker 3: it or enjoy it, but it allowed me to really transition, um.
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  Speaker 2: To that role of coaching.
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  Speaker 3: And I was fortunate enough to get my feet wet
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  Speaker 3: doing that when I was 18 playing junior hockey. And, uh,
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  Speaker 3: as you mentioned, Nicole, you know, being fortunate enough to,
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: to volunteer with a girls hockey team, uh, in at
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: the prep school level in New Hampshire. And I fell
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  Speaker 3: in love with it right away, you know, as, as
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: a player and as a goalie, like a lot of
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: times I found my role being, you know, as a goalie,
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  Speaker 3: you're not in every game, you know, and um, you,
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  Speaker 3: you find ways to, to support your teammates and feel
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  Speaker 3: as though you can, you can make things move in
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  Speaker 3: the right direction, even if you're not, you know, on
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  Speaker 3: the ice that day or in the net that day. And, um,
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  Speaker 3: to me that really resonated early on. It's like, wow,
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  Speaker 3: you know, this feels right to me. And, um, I
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  Speaker 3: feel like I can really make an impactful difference for
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  Speaker 3: my teammates.
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  Speaker 2: And now, you know, take this into a more formal,
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  Speaker 2: formal role with.
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  Speaker 3: With athletes, you know, being able to coach them and, um,
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  Speaker 3: It was a pretty smooth transition, so happy about that.
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  Speaker 2: Very fortunate.
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  Speaker 1: You were an assistant at Maine almost 10 years ago now.
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  Speaker 1: You've been an assistant at Vermont and at Colgate most recently.
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  Speaker 1: What do you take from those experiences that kind of
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  Speaker 1: formed you as a head coach as you get ready
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  Speaker 1: for this role?
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  Speaker 3: Sure. Yeah, I mean, each experience brought something completely different.
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  Speaker 2: You know, even when I was.
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: working with the women's team as an undergrad and a
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  Speaker 3: student assistant coach at Vermont, you know, just having those
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: three years of understanding how a division one hockey program operates,
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  Speaker 3: you know, whether it's the coaching staff, the training staff,
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  Speaker 3: the strength staff, there's just so many pieces that go
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  Speaker 3: into it. And sometimes you get lost in understanding that
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  Speaker 3: those are all vital roles to allowing your team to
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  Speaker 3: have the best success for the the two hours that
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  Speaker 3: you compete on Friday and Saturday.
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  Speaker 2: There's so much that.
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  Speaker 3: Goes into that being the best product possible for our
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  Speaker 3: players and allowing them to be at their best. And
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  Speaker 3: so being exposed to that, but in the formal coaching
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  Speaker 3: roles from here, you know, at Maine, the first time around,
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  Speaker 3: like really understanding how to find avenues of success where
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  Speaker 3: others don't and being able to think outside the box,
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  Speaker 3: whether it's with recruiting or gameplay style or how you
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: run the program, like, there are ways to find success
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  Speaker 3: anywhere you are. I really believe that it looks different
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  Speaker 3: for everybody. But I really learned that here the first
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: time around. And so many things at Vermont from Coach
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: Jim and just the entire department there, I felt like
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  Speaker 3: I really was able to allow my hockey brain.
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  Speaker 2: To kind of blossom there.
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  Speaker 3: You know, Jim Plumer was amazing in terms of encouraging
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: us as assistant coaches to branch out and seek information and,
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  Speaker 3: you know, find, find new ways. Don't be afraid to
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  Speaker 3: create things on your own. Maybe you're not reinventing the wheel,
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: but do some research on your own. And I really
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  Speaker 3: felt like my hockey brain was able to kind of,
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  Speaker 3: like I said, blossom there and, and, you know, cultivate
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  Speaker 3: my own opinions and find new solutions on the ice
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  Speaker 3: and X's and O's wise. And I felt like my
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: vision and understanding of the game elevated immensely there. And
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  Speaker 3: that was so, so beneficial, you know, that was incredibly
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  Speaker 3: beneficial to me and just having that confidence in the
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  Speaker 3: way that I, was able to see the game as
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  Speaker 3: a coach and help develop players and help them see
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  Speaker 3: the game.
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  Speaker 2: That was huge for me.
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  Speaker 3: And then most recently at Colgate, like that was a
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: hard move. You know, I was, I was so, I
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: loved Vermont, obviously went to school there and we had
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: had some great success.
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  Speaker 2: In that program. And, you know, it was, it was phenomenal.
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  Speaker 3: But I felt like it was a perfect opportunity for
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  Speaker 3: me to, to really learn and grow again, knowing that
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  Speaker 3: hopefully someday I could be in this position and, I
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  Speaker 3: felt like that was a program with Steph Dacoste and
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  Speaker 3: Bree and Trevor that, you know, I was in a
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: great environment personally and that they were going to provide
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  Speaker 3: me more growth opportunities.
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  Speaker 2: And that's certainly what happened.
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  Speaker 3: You know, learning new things on the ice, validating other
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  Speaker 3: things that I, that I learned previously that, you know,
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  Speaker 3: cementing that this is, those were things that I did like.
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  Speaker 3: And certainly from a recruiting standpoint, like, the way Colgate
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  Speaker 3: operated was a real growth moment for me. And I
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  Speaker 3: think really so thankful for that time there. And it
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  Speaker 3: felt like it made me a better coach.
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  Speaker 4: Do you feel like we'll see parts of that playing
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: free sort of philosophy? Like how do you, someone that
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  Speaker 4: maybe hasn't watched Maine and is going to come in
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  Speaker 4: and see some games this year, what can they expect
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  Speaker 4: from you all? What should they be looking for on
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: the ice?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, style of play wise, I,
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  Speaker 3: you know, there's, it's definitely going to be a blend
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  Speaker 3: of all the things that I've been exposed to.
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  Speaker 2: That's where I'm so fortunate.
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  Speaker 3: I feel like I have a unique perspective of being
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  Speaker 3: able to tinker and, you know, it's going to evolve
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  Speaker 3: over time as, as anything does. But for us, we
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  Speaker 3: are going to be an aggressive team. You know, we're
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: going to be a team that whether it's that play
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: free mentality, I think there's so much to be learned there.
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  Speaker 3: And I think there were a lot of similarities at
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  Speaker 3: Vermont too. You know, I think Colgate just captivated that
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  Speaker 3: so well, you know, as you know, they, they really,
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  Speaker 3: did a great job with, with helping people understand that. And,
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: you know, the, the style of play is going to
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  Speaker 3: be one that is going to be high tempo.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to be aggressive.
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  Speaker 3: We're going to be willing to, to make some plays
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  Speaker 3: with the puck and not be afraid to make some
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  Speaker 3: mistakes that happens in the game of hockey. And I
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: feel like the more that we are able to, whether
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  Speaker 3: play free or, or just play without the fear of,
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  Speaker 3: of a negative consequence, you know, we're, we're going to
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  Speaker 3: get the best out of our players and, Um, you know,
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  Speaker 3: I think that starts with the trust level, you know,
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  Speaker 3: player to player, but certainly player to coach as well.
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  Speaker 2: Like we, we want to work with our players.
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  Speaker 3: We want to build those relationships so that there is
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  Speaker 3: a trust level there. There's, you know, when you invest
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  Speaker 3: in people, they want to invest back in you. And,
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: you know, when you make a mistake there, you know, you're,
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: you have their back and you're going to work with
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: them to, to grow and develop and take that next step.
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  Speaker 2: And I think when players feel that, when they, when
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: they feel.
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  Speaker 3: That they have the trust and support of a coach
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  Speaker 3: and then you can really get the full ability of
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: their potential. You see the full range of their potential
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  Speaker 3: when they have that confidence and they know they can
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  Speaker 3: really go for it.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: When you were being considered for this job this summer
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: and when you were considering taking this job this summer,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: what kind of things did you need to know about
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Maine women's hockey right now that maybe, you know, from
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: the inside of it and the support and those kind
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: of things that really give you the confidence to say,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: To say that, yeah, I can, I can, you know,
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  Speaker 1: make something happen in this role.
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  Speaker 3: Sure. I mean, it's, it's always been a program that
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: I've kept a close eye on, you know, growing up
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: in New England, but obviously having been here before, it
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: was such a special season the year I was here
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: in terms of what we were able to accomplish and.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: so it's always meant a lot to me. And as
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: I started off saying like, you know, I always felt
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: like there could be a path forward here.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: So I've always was intrigued by that.
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  Speaker 3: And then as I started the interview process and was
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: able to really peel the layers back as to what
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: was here, and start to evaluate the resources that were
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: available to us and the support that was available to us.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: I was already excited about it, you know, as a
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: potential fit for me, knowing, knowing that I liked and
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: loved this place and could see myself here. When I
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: met Jude, when I met Logan and Michelle in the
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: interview process, it was so clear that there was administrative
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: support for athletics all over campus, but, especially with our
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: two hockey teams. This is a place that hockey matters.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: It's a place where athletics matter. From the president of
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: our university, it's very clear that athletics matter to Maine
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: and the success and the health of the university as
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: a whole. Athletics are a big part of that and
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: hockey being a critical piece to that athletics component. And
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: so it became very clear that our administration wants Maine
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: hockey to be an absolute premier destination in the college
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: hockey landscape. And they're committed to doing everything they can
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: to make that possible, both on the men's and women's side.
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  Speaker 3: And so obviously our facility here is, it's spectacular.
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  Speaker 2: A plus.
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  Speaker 3: And that's a huge, you know, that's easy to start
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: off there. But I think, you know, our administration has
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: positioned us extremely well for the changing landscape of the
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: NCAA and college hockey specifically.
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  Speaker 2: I think they understand it very well.
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  Speaker 3: And I think they understand how we can use the
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: resources that we do have to the best of our
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: ability and position ourselves for success in this new age.
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  Speaker 2: I think hockey East as.
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: A whole, you know, the, the administration, the institutions and
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: coaches and administrations around the league have, have worked really
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: hard in the last four to five years to position
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: themselves well for this next chapter. Also having been part
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: of a lot of those conversations over the years, like
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: when you see it, like hockey matters to these schools, they,
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: they really do. And it's been, you know, we've been
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: working hard as a league to, to elevate our standard.
• 12:12
  Speaker 3: And I think, those things don't happen overnight, but when
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: you see, when you look around the league and you
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: just see the facilities that have been invested in, you
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: see the schools that are opted in here and you
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: can see the, the, the trend and the wave of momentum,
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: you know, in terms of commitment level towards making these
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: programs premiere and, and great.
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  Speaker 2: Like it's pretty special.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: So I think just the, the whole package to me
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: was incredible and really seeing it from, from the top
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: down and the vision that our athletic director Jude has
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: here for, for us and the passion he has for
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: doing it in a way that feels very genuine to me.
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: You know, it was it felt like it fit like
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: a glove.
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: Hockey East is one of the conferences that has been
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: a little more wide open in the past few seasons,
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: as opposed to some of the others where we're seeing
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: the same teams over and over. I feel like that
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: gives that has meant like a lot of opportunity for
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: the different programs. And I guess just especially because you
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: have familiarity from from Vermont with hockey.
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  Speaker 1: Sure.
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  Speaker 4: How do you see sort of the landscape and also
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: like what are you looking at to be able to
• 13:17
  Speaker 4: take those next steps and be one of those teams
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  Speaker 4: that's competing for a top spot in the next couple
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: of seasons?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think as you mentioned, it's incredibly exciting in
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: the sense that you feel like there's an opportunity to
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: be right in the mix. You know, I do think, again,
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: there are some teams that have positioned themselves really well.
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: We're seeing a lot of change in our league. You know,
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: there are teams that have had sustained success in our league. Um,
• 13:42
  Speaker 3: and there are others that are making up ground quickly, uh,
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: and we hope to be one of those. And I,
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: and I think there's a great foundation here or, you know, I'm,
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: I think I'm walking into a great foundation, um, that
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: has been established from the previous staff and there's been
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: great progress made. Um, you know, I think there are
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: some tweaks that we can make to, to elevate that to,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: to a further level. Um, you know, obviously we spoke
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: about style of play and, and how, how we hope to,
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: to take the ice and how we, we plan to
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: look there.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: But, um, you know, I think.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: I think for us, what's going to be important is not,
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: not worrying about vaulting too soon and just being really
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: process oriented. And I think sometimes if you get too
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: result driven too quickly, I think it can be exciting
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: because you feel like you can make up that ground
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: really quickly, but sometimes you can lose your way and
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: trying to get to that end goal too quickly. And,
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: you know, I'm not here to say that we're, we're
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: not going to be trying to do the best that
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: we can do this year.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: And I think there's great opportunity for us there, but
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: I think.
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: The, focusing on the process and focusing on the day
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: to day and being the best at getting better every day, uh,
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: and learning what is the path forward for us, uh,
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: is going to ultimately lead to that success. And so, um,
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: you know, this first, this first year is going to
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: be a learning moment for, you know, a learning process
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: for all of us. And as we move forward, again,
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: the goal is to be, is to be champions of
• 15:02
  Speaker 3: hockey East and, and, and be right in that mix
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: year to year. And, and be in the NCAA tournament
• 15:07
  Speaker 3: and be, you know, in those national rankings. And when
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: people think of teams in that mix, they think of Maine.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: And so that's, that's the goal.
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: And I think it's a comprehensive, like we talked about there,
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: there's so many aspects that go into making that happen,
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: whether it's your strength coach, your, your training staff, your facilities,
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: your on ice, there's just so many things that play
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: a factor there. And so we're going to be, you know,
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: we're going to be the best that we can in
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: every single one of those categories.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: And, Um, we're going to.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: Be super recruiters, I think over the next handful of
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: years here. And, and we all know that that's a,
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: it plays a big role in the success as well.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Alphond Arena has been one of the gems of college
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: hockey over, over the years. And it, it just got a,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: I think about a $ 50 million renovation in the last
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: few years. I wonder how that has impacted your, uh,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: you know, the early days of recruiting and what you
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: can do there and what you see as the possibilities
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: for you know, establishing your program is one thing when
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: you're talking about recruiting, but having a nice place to
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: show off helps. How has that impacted you? Yes.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think what's cool too is, is being,
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: and I witnessed this at Vermont as well. And certainly
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: the Colgate facility is beautiful. You know, so it, like
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: I said, it's first class in every way and they
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: thought of everything here. And it's been really cool to
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: see our players who had played and spent time in the,
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: in the old.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: Facilities get to experience this.
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: That's always a cool moment, but there's everything here from,
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: you know, it makes our day-to-day lives easier in terms
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: of performance, right? Like there's, there's everything here that our
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: players could need. They want to be around the rink
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: and they want to be around one another at the rink.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: And I think that alone, you know, cultivates an environment
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: that builds success and drive success when they want to
• 16:56
  Speaker 3: be in the atmosphere, that's going to help them be better.
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: I think that alone puts them in a great place
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: physically and mentally to perform at their best, but, As
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: you mentioned, a recruiting standpoint, you know, the film room,
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: our offices, I'm in a beautiful conference room in our
• 17:10
  Speaker 3: office right now. We have player lounges specific to our
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: teams that are identical. Amazing. The locker room, the weight room,
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: the training room, right in the rink for our teams.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: You know, it's, those are things that just make a
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: big difference. A fueling station right down there for the
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: hockey teams. And then we, we get to keep the
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: classic environment of the Alphont, which is, you know, in
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: my opinion, one of the best sporting environments ever. that
• 17:34
  Speaker 3: that this country has certainly on the east coast for
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: hockey it's it's incredible and um that place is unique
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: and um having the best of both worlds there i
• 17:42
  Speaker 3: think is special so it's the recruits feel it i
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: think it's an absolute wow factor.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: When you're here you know it's you're.
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: It's a place that you you feel like you want
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: to live in day to day it's very comfortable and
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: you know it's that's what we all want um but
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: i think at the end of the day it's ultimately
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: the people that make the place whether it's the you
• 18:01
  Speaker 3: know your team that welcomes a recruit in relationships that
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: they build with the coaching staff and the other members
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: of your staff, the department as a whole. I think
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: at the end of the day, that's really what matters.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: Whether people say that out loud or not, they remember
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: how they feel when they go to a certain environment.
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: And I think that's critical in recruiting, but it's also
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: critical in the success, the long-term success of that individual
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: in that environment as they.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: Move forward for four or five years.
• 18:30
  Speaker 3: I truly believe that and You know, I don't think
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: the two are exclusive of building those relationships, but also
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: having that be a high performing quality.
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: One of the things as a new coach is setting
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: the culture. And I was just curious, sort of what
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: are the, maybe what are the touchstones, the words, the phrases,
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: the sort of character that you are trying to implement
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: and set as sort of the basis, the stones, you know,
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: the foundation of what you're building?
• 19:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're working through kind of some of those integral pieces.
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: I think, as you mentioned, those phrases that you can
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: latch on to.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: And I think it's.
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: Important that the team feels ownership in that. And I
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: think culture can shift year to year. It can shift
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: mid-year too. We may expect the first semester to go
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: a certain way and it could go a completely different way,
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: positively or negatively. And then all of a sudden, The
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: things that we're working on from a culture standpoint are different. But,
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: you know, I think for me, like we want we
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: want to certainly be welcoming and respectful in everything that
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: we do. You know, we want to be respectful of
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: one another. We want to be respectful of the time
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: and effort that we're putting in. But I think we
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: want to be we want to be a highly relational team, We,
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: you know, teammate to teammate, coach to coach, coach to player.
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: You know, when people walk into this program, whether they're
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: a staff member or player, they want to feel invested in,
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: they want to feel cared for, they want to feel respected,
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: and they want to feel empowered in what they're doing.
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: And I think, you know, those things breed confidence, they
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: breed success, and they cultivate environments that are you know,
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: people are attracted to and, and produce great results in
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Alex, it's been great talking to you and getting to
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: know you and a little bit more about the Maine
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: women's hockey program and best of luck this season and
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: getting things going. And we hope to catch up with
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: you along the way as, as your head coaching career
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: continues to flourish.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: Thank you both so much for having me. This is,
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: this has been a pleasure and I'm just very thankful for,
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: for the time.