Latest / Coaches Corner / MHOC Coach Mike Cavanaugh - 1/2/25

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MHOC Coach Mike Cavanaugh - 1/2/25 · Coaches Corner

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Well, happy coach. Yeah, Happy new year to everybody. Looking
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: forward to getting back at it here in the second
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: half and excited to get up to Harvard on Saturday
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: and compete against You know, I think a really strong team.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: I watched their game last night Versusquinnipiac, and I was
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: very impressed with a lot of aspects of their team.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I think they're strong in goal, really solid on defense,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: and they created a lot of offense and chances last
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: night against Quinnipiac and game could have gone either way.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: So we know we've got a very talented team in
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: front of us that we're gonna have to play on
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Saturday night.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Awesome, All right, we'll open up for questions. It's always guys,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: just want to use the razor handle mode. And I'll
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: go ahead and call on you who wants to start
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: us off? Daniel?
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Go ahead, just.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Since we hadn't talked to you from the game, just
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: what did you think of the way you guys played
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: out in Milwaukee and especially in that Wisconsin game.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I thought it was obviously a slow start. It
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: was tough. We had to kill nine minutes and penalties
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: in that first period, I think, or maybe seven in
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: the first period and one early in the second, so
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: we're back on our heels a little bit there. But
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: after that, I thought we played pretty well. We played
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: a pretty good second period and a great third period.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: It just unfortunately, you know, it just didn't go our way.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: How's Kalum doing after missing that game?
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he's fine. He both he and ty Musila kid
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: had the stomach bug that we had four kids get it.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Unfortunately two of them were goaltenders. But Tommy stepped in
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: and did a real good job and gave us a
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: chance to win. So uh well, you know, but both
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: of them. Everybody's healthy right now.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: So especially Tye. He's good to go after that injury
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: in the first head, Yeah.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: I believe, you know, well a good double check on that,
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: but I believe he was cleared to play after yesterday.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: He practiced today.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Adam will jump over to you, coach, What is it
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: like when you have that five weeks and just the
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: one game and you know you're you're trying to work
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: on things, but the only thing you have kind of
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: is a recent memory. Was that good effort? But it
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: was still a loss against Boston College.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't get factors and we're used to it.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Usually you finish, you know, that first weekend in December,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: sometimes the second weekend, so there's always a little bit
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: of a break, two week break. But our kids aid
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: in shape. We've got great leadership. We came back and
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I don't think we missed a beat. Like we're a
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: little sloppy in the first period against Alaska, but I
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: was really happy with the way we played to finish
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: that game.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: And then for you know, around the holidays, what did
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: it look like with practice, letting guys go home and
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: have a chance to reconnect after finals week and all
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: of that.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we didn't practice. Look, once we played a last
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: game against BC, once the kids were done with their finals,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: they went home. So our first practice was out in
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Milwaukee on the twenty sixth.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Great, thank you. Laura will go over to you. Hey,
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: how are you.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: I'm great, Laura yourself.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: I'm doing well, thank you. I know last year's game
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: against Harvard was known as the Jake Trick. What do
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: you remember just about that game and how it all unfolded.
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: I know you guys scored on like the first ship too.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a better memory than I do. Some of these games,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: they just keep one after another. But uh, I remember
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: we came. We played pretty well that game, you know,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: it was at home, and I thought, uh, we got
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: off to a great start in that game and played
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: pretty solid. Uh. But they're a different team this year,
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: you know, watching them last night, I thought that Carpal
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: line was really heavy and they were good. Uh, you
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: know up front several several ER's line is really good
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: bars a experienced defenseman. It's a different team than what
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: we played, you know who we played last year for sure,
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: and they're getting great goaltending from Charette too.
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah. I also just wanted to ask you about your
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: goaltending situation. I know it's kind of been a little
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: chaotic in the first half with you know, players being unavailable.
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: So what's it like to have all three guys?
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Ye, you froze up there a little bit. But well,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: I'm hoping we have all three available for Saturday. So
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: we got one more practice to go and well hopefully
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: that's that's the case. But yeah, we have not had
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: a game yet. I don't think we're all three have
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: been available to play, so but it is what it is.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: That's why every goaltenders so where like I said, hopefully
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: for the second half of the year, we'll have the
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: option to play all three the rest of the way.
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: What kind of does extra element does that provide in practice?
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: Just in terms of competition, what having three available? Yeah,
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: just like in terms of competition, having all three guys available,
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: just in terms of bringing the best out of everyone, Well.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: I think more than the competition, I think it's more
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: they're wear and tear in practice. I think when you
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: have three goaltenders, one gets a rest, you know, every
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: now and then when you only have two for practice,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: it's a lot tougher. So they take a lot of shots,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: and sometimes it's tougher to really work on your game
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: when you don't get a break and can't take a breather.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: So that's the most critical element for me, is to
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: be able to have three guys for practice.
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: Okay, and then just last one for me, who's somebody
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: that you think is you know, might have had a
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: really good first half or might have felt like you
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: were just right right there, just right there. Who do
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: you think is kind of poised for a really good
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: second half?
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: You know, I think that a lot of guys could
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: be poised for a good second half, But one guy
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: I thought that really stepped his game up and has
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: become a invaluable piece of a team is Ryan Taddle.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: I think it just seems whatever line he's on, that
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: line is going that night. And I've been really impressed
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: with where his game has come, especially from his freshman
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: year to his junior year. He's taken a huge step.
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: Thank you?
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Is that it go ahead?
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: Andrew?
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah?
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: I just wanted to circle back just on that Wisconsin game,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: just that that crazy ending.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, had you ever seen anything like that? And did
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: you did you end up?
• 7:25
  Speaker 5: Yeah?
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: I'm not trying to start anything up.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: But did you end up getting an explanation on how
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: that went to them?
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: I have seen it, but you know, usually it's a
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: clear breakaway and someone gets tripped and they're going to
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: put a puck in the empty net, you know, or
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: someone throws a stick to keep a puck out of
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: the net. I hadn't seen it in that situation. You know,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: the referee thought that our guy impeded him enough where
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: he was going to score for an empty net goal.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure i'd necessarily agree, but it doesn't matter.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: I'm not a referee, and I think there are some
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: people that would argue that, yeah, that should be a goal.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: And it's one of those Andrew that I don't think
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: is black and white. You know. The most important, I mean,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: the big piece of it was it was just unfortunate.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: The face off just went right out that way and
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: it was a race for the puck. So yeah, it
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: was an unfortunate situation for us. And you know, it's
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: not like it was a it was a referee's decision.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: You know, he thought that they were going to score
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: a clean goal. I'm not sure I agreed with it,
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: but either way, that didn't cost us a game. There
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: were other areas where we could have been better as well.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: Thanks Justin, we'll jump over to you.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: Thanks Colin.
• 8:52
  Speaker 5: Hey coach, Happy New year. Good to meet you.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Happy New year, Justin. I listened to you last night.
• 8:57
  Speaker 5: Oh hopefully hopefully it didn't hurt your ears too much.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: No, it was good.
• 9:04
  Speaker 5: I'm curious with the Harvard matchup. You know, in the
• 9:06
  Speaker 5: last three years, they've kind of become a very different
• 9:09
  Speaker 5: team from when you saw him two years ago to
• 9:11
  Speaker 5: last year to this year. What have you seen stylistically
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: from them compared to maybe the twenty two game that
• 9:18
  Speaker 5: you expect in the twenty four game or twenty five.
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: Actually, I don't know. Teddy's pretty you know, I've known
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: him for a long time and his teams are always,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: you know, pretty well disciplined. They're great on the power play,
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: and they want to go out and make plays. And
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: you saw it was a great example was the second
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: goal last night. That was a really nice play that
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: uh Karpa made to Solivan. Was it Solvy scored the goal? Right? Yeah? Yeah,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: I mean it was a great play, one timer upstairs,
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: short side. So I think that, uh, you know, while
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: the personnel has changed, I'm not sure their style of
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: play has changed that much. It's they're going to be
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: a team that's gonna come at you in waves, defend hard,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: and be very good on special teams.
• 10:05
  Speaker 5: Gotcha for you guys? Going into the holiday break, you
• 10:08
  Speaker 5: kind of had those four straight real battles with BC
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: and Lowell and those couple games. Did you feel I mean,
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: it's kind of a silly question, but did you feel
• 10:17
  Speaker 5: like the break was valuable at the time it came
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: because of those four games you had going into it.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, in some aspects, but we were playing pretty well,
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: and when you're playing well, you want to keep playing.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: So but overall, I do think it was because we
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: did have a couple of guys that were dinged up
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: and new Silik being one of them, and for them
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: to have some time to heal that was valid, I
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: think valuable for us.
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: Gotcha, thanks so much, coach.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Sure, Laura, we'll jump back to you all.
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: I have a couple more on Ryan Toddle. I just
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: wanted to make sure everybody else had a chance to
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: jump in. I'm just curious with him. You know, you
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: said that he's taken a huge step from his freshman
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: to his junior year. When do you think he kind
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: of really started to take that stuff and what do
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: you think the biggest differences are in his game?
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: Well, I mean, he hasn't had the easiest road here.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: You know, his mom passed away as his freshman year
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: in the fall, so I mean, I think that's tough
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: for any kid to navigate, especially traveling three thousand miles
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: away from home, and he was able to do it.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: And then I really believe his game started to get
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: better last year towards the second half of the year,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: and now this year he's just become you know, invaluable
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: on the penalty kill, the power play, face offs. It
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: was something that I wasn't sure that was going to
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: be a strength of his game. But last year against
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: I think when it was I think it was New
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Hampshire where Chandor got a five minute major and got
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: thrown out of the game. And he's one of our
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: best face off guys, and Ryan had to take crucial
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: face offs at the end of the game and he
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: won them, So we knew that he had that ability,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: and I wasn't sure he did. So that's an area
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: that he takes a lot of pride in and I
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: think maturity and now feeling comfortable here at Yukon and
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: committed to helping our team win. He's just really matured
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: and grown into a great college hockey player.
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: I was also going to ask you too, I know
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: you bring up his mom, but just kind of in
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: thinking about everything he does off the ice, when you know,
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: score for cancer and all these different events. I know
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: he was just speaking got a TV station overbreak. What
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: can you say about just how he kind of gives
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: back to the community.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: I think it's fabulous. I think he took a tough
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: situation and he's making the most of it. And they
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: always say in life, it's ten percent what happens to
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: you in ninety percent how you react to it, And
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: he's a prime example of that. It just that score
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: for cancer. Hudson Chandor went to the game out in
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: Coquitlam and he was blown away how successful it was.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: So I'm hoping it's scalable and at some point he's
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: able to bring that to a Canucks game because they
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: raised a lot of money and it's for a great cause.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: So he's a kid, you know. That for me is
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: every like he does a lot of things. How you
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: do anythings, how you do everything, and he does everything
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: he does he does the right way.
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: I'm so glad that Hudson was able to go to
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: one of those games. That's awesome that he like is
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: supporting his teammate like that. That's really special. Just last
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: one for me on kai Janvoia, what can you say
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: kind of like what were you Obviously you knew he
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: was going to be a good player because he recruited him,
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: but what were you sort of expecting from him coming
• 13:49
  Speaker 4: in and what have you thought really of the season
• 13:51
  Speaker 4: that he's had so far?
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: You know, nothing surprises me because he's one of the
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: few kids that we had on an official visit that
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: he had more questions for the strength coach, the academic woman. Like,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: he was so dialed in in so many different areas
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: besides hockey that I had never seen anything like that.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: And you know, he's a I think he had a
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: three seven this first semester. He's an excellent student. He's
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: at the rink all the time, he's full of energy.
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: It really he's not surprised me that what he's brought
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: to our program, and he's been a really good hockey
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: player for us as well.
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, what have you seen from him on the ice?
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Well, he's smart, he's fearless. You know, at his size,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: he goes back for pucks and he doesn't care who's
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: coming down on him. He's really composed with the puck.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: And he's an excellent skater. So he's just a guy
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: that he's a gamer that loves the puck on his
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: stick in big situations.
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: Is there a moment that's kind of stuck out from
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: you this year where you're like, oh, like that was
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: a really good player, where you're just really impressed by him.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: I can't say this one. I just think, you know,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: every game, there's a few players where you notice them.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: It's uh. I was watching something the other day and
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: they were talking about young players and they were saying,
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: if if you want to be a good player, make
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: sure you get noticed every shift. And he's one of
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: those players that you notice him when he's on the ice.
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: Perfect. Thank you, I appreciate it.
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Mike will jump over to you.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Thank you.
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: Hey, coach, nice to meet you as well. All right, hey,
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: how are you just from our standpoint on the other
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: side of when you say, you know we're playing a
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: Yukon hockey Husky hockey, What does that look like to you?
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: Oh?
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I think you know, we're a team that's pressuring in
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: all three zones. You know, we want to apply pressure
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: and skate and compete, you know, and fight for every
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: inch of the ice. So when we're playing really well,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: we're pressuring the puck and all three zones. And offensively,
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: I know we're playing well if we're getting multiple shot shifts,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: if you know, we're shooting a puck and retrieving it
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: if it doesn't go in, and kicking it out and
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: getting it back down, and uh, you know, we're not
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: one and done. You know, when an offense, it's one
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: and done. If you have a rush, you get a shot,
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: but it's going the other way. We don't want to
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: be that type of offense. We want to be one
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: that has possession in the offensive zone and we're getting
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: pucks to the net. So and then defensively, we want
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: to be able to take away time and space. So
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: probably like a lot of other teams, but I don't
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: think it's a revolutionary concept. It's just, uh, when we're playing, well,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: that's what we're doing. We're not a team really that's
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: going to trap a whole lot, so we're going to
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: try to apply pressure everywhere.
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: Awesome, And just one more from me from a special
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: team's perspective, coming back from the break as a team,
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: is that one of the toughest things to get back
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: over one.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Uh, the power play can be you know, you really,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: once you get your foundation set with the penalty kill,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: the kids pretty know what they want to do and
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: how we're going to kill. And power plays you're either
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: in a one three one or a spread, you know,
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: or an overload. They're really not that tricky. You've seen
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: them all. You've seen every set. Now there might be
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: nuances with every power play, and there might be one
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: guy who can really shoot the puckcor you might have
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: one guy who's a great passer that you got to
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: keep an eye on. But overall, a penalty kill foundation
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: gets set and they're pretty good. The power play can
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: be a little different because teams will kill differently, and
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: you want to make sure that you're prepared for that.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much, coach, Sure you got.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: To Mike.
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: Awesome.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: Well appreciate everyone jumping on Coach. Good luck this weekend.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: All right, thanks guys, have a great day. I thank you.