Latest / Coaches Corner / Mike Cavanaugh Avail - January 17

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Mike Cavanaugh Avail - January 17 · Coaches Corner

• 0:02
  All right, coach, coming off one in one weekend against number seven Maine
• 0:07
  on the main Friday night five to three, came back shut them out to
• 0:12
  nothing on Saturday. We want to get your thoughts head into a big weekend
• 0:16
  series against another ranked of Hockey East opponent in New Hampshire. Yeah, it's
• 0:24
  you know, it's just I think speaks to the the difficulty of our league
• 0:30
  when you're just going from one ranked opponent to the next. UH. I
• 0:36
  thought we played pretty well against Maine for five periods. We kept that team
• 0:40
  score less. We had a kind of a meltdown Friday in the third period,
• 0:45
  but bounce back Saturday, and now we're taking on a very strong h
• 0:51
  New Hampshire team. You know they're getting they have, you know, the
• 0:56
  freshman there, Ryan Conney, who's leading their team and scoring. They're getting
• 1:00
  great goaltending from Helston. Mike's done an excellent job building that team. So
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  it's going to be quite the test for US UH Friday at Tuscano and then
• 1:12
  definitely back up at the win on Sunday. Awesome. All right, all
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  open up for questions, Joe, you want to start us off. Thanks
• 1:22
  Morning CAF Morning Joe, obviously for our our getty too, come off the
• 1:29
  pine after two months, get a shut out, get Hockey East goalie of
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  the week. It's it's pretty special. What did he do during those two
• 1:37
  months to kind of fix what might have been wrong? I just kept sticking
• 1:44
  with you know, Vincedilletti does a great job with our goaltenders, and it
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  happens sometimes with goaltenders they go through some slumps. So I think he just
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  worked on some uh details of his game, you know, some fundamentals of
• 2:01
  setting his feet and not sliding and drifting, and you know he did that
• 2:08
  very very well on Saturday afternoon. And how did Jake Valou come out of
• 2:14
  his first full game of the year. Yeah, he came out fine.
• 2:19
  He played a lot of minutes for us, did a great job, and
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  he's been strong again this week in practice. Thank you. Yeah, Daniel
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  heads over to you, just as Mike is one of your former assistants.
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  What's it been like to see him finally have this breakout season that I'm sure
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  he's been pushing for in the what five years that he's been at UNH or
• 2:46
  in charge at UNH six years. Yeah, I'm happy for him, and
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  it doesn't surprise me. He's a great hockey mind. He was an excellent
• 2:54
  player at UNH, terrific work ethic as a coach. When I had him
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  here, he was awesome, you know, because it was the first two
• 3:06
  years we were starting the program and building the program, and it wasn't easy,
• 3:09
  and he did a great job for me. And certainly, you know,
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  we've stayed in touch and we talked frequently, and I'm really happy that,
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  you know, he's turned that program around. You you play him every
• 3:27
  year, so you've seen this progression. But what is it about this year
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  is you and H team that you've seen on film at least that's really allowed
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  them to take that leap. Yeah, I thought they were starting to turn
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  the corner last year. I mean, you know, we went up there
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  last year and had our hands full with him. We lost an overtime game
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  and I think they got an empty editor of the first night. So they
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  swept us up at You and H last time last year, and then we
• 3:52
  played pretty well against them back here at Toscano. But you know, I
• 3:57
  just think he's slowly starting to get type of player he wants in there.
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  They play fast, they're quick, and he's getting great goaltending this year,
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  you know, the transfer from North Dakota has stepped in. I think he's
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  got he's got an under two goals against and has really solidified that position for
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  him. Was there anything when he was at Yukon that really made you feel
• 4:19
  like this guy's a future head coach and a guy that's going to be a
• 4:24
  good head coach somewhere. Well, they always had a great presence about him.
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  He's an excellent power play coach. You know, the power play is
• 4:31
  always strong. Uh. And again I think they're twenty three twenty two percent
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  this year. So uh, I knew eventually that. You know, it's
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  not easy, you know. The one thing, you know, I had
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  almost twenty years of experience as an assistant, you know. I mean I
• 4:54
  think he had two at Brown and two with me, and then maybe two
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  or three at New Hampshire before you was thrust into the head coaching position.
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  So and I think he'll tell you you'll learn quite a bit. You think
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  you know a lot, you know going in, and you think you can
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  handle a position, and then all of a sudden there's little intricacies and nuances
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  throat the day, the week, the year that you really didn't account for
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  and you have to sometimes learn on the fly. And I think now that
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  he's been able to and I think probably wrap his head around all of that,
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  he's now focusing on on being the great coach that he is. Tyler
• 5:39
  will head over to you, Hey, coach, Sorry having jived in in
• 5:43
  a while, but thanks for having us sor tiving. Wanted to ask about
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  just the travel schedule this week Friday Sunday. Are you staying anywhere between games
• 5:51
  or just going up Sunday? Yeah, we'll stay in Fort Smith on Saturday.
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  You know, if it was a seven o'clock game, which I'm glad
• 5:59
  it's not on a Sunday, but we might have just drove up that day.
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  You know, it's right on the cusp of like two point fifteen.
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  That's that's close, whether you say or not. But because it's a four
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  o'clock game Saturday, we'll practice here at Yukon and then drive up right.
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  And I want to ask about Hudson shandor such a breakout year for him last
• 6:23
  season. I think he's got goals in two straight games now, are just
• 6:26
  teams dialing in on him more defensively or what have you seen from him this
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  year. No, I think he's been playing pretty well and I was happy.
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  You know, he has been starting to score some goals. He just
• 6:38
  parks weren't going in for him, and it wasn't He wasn't alone. It
• 6:41
  was a lot of our team. We're struggling to score goals. But he
• 6:46
  does so many things well in so many different areas and all three zones that
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  he's definitely an invaluable piece of our team. Last one question is Joey Muldowney.
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  What have you seen from his development this year? He's, uh,
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  he really started to come the last few weeks in the first half and he's
• 7:04
  picked up right where he left off. He's been uh, you know that
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  line played against the NATO line pretty much all week last week and did an
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  outstanding job against him. And now he's starting to score some goals as well.
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  So I think that confidence. He is a goalscorer, He skates extremely
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  well, he competes. You know, he's only going to go get better
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  here. Awesome, Thanks so much. Sure, Laura will head over to
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  you. Hey, coach, I just wanted to follow up on Tyler's question
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  about Hudson. You said he was, you know, one of many players
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  who was a little bit snak bit in the first half. Him being such
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  a big leader on your team, how is he able to sort of show
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  the way for some of the younger guys and how he was able to handle
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  that well, he doesn't get frustrated like some kids might. Some kids actively
• 7:59
  show there and that's not always helpful or positive within the team. But Hudson's
• 8:05
  a real pro and he just you know, if he's not scoring, then
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  he's gonna win face offs, and if he's struggling on the faceoff dot,
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  then he's gonna defensively play great. Like he can't affect the game in so
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  many different areas that he just understands that he needs to keep getting chances and
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  not cheat the game and he will get rewarded at some point. Did you
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  see that ruboff at all in any of the other guys. I think some
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  you know, it's there's a reason why he was elected captain because you know,
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  I think the kids totally respect him and watch how he carries himself on
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  and off the ice, So I'm hoping it does, yeah, for sure.
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  And I also wanted to ask about Friday's game, specifically that third period.
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  What lesson. Do you hope the team took away well, I think
• 9:03
  we learned on Saturday. We had a very similar situation to nothing lead early
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  in the third period, and Saturday we didn't take penalties, we didn't turn
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  the puck over, we were really sound in our own zone, and we're
• 9:20
  able to close out the game. So I think we learned an awful lot
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  from Friday's game going into Saturday and then just last one. For me,
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  I wanted to ask about Matthew would. I know some players when they come
• 9:31
  back from World Juniors sometimes they have an extra little pep in their step.
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  I know Matthew would have always been playing well for you guys, but have
• 9:41
  you seen anything different from him since coming back? Not really, you know,
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  I think it was a great experience for him, as it is for
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  any kid that goes to you know, the World Juniors. But I can't
• 9:54
  say I specifically see anything differently with him as a player. So we just
• 10:00
  need him to, you know, keep contributing and keep getting pucks like he
• 10:05
  had some great chances last weekend that he wasn't able to capitalize on, and
• 10:09
  hopefully this weekend he can. Johnny will head over to you that actually kind
• 10:18
  of changed my next question. Good to see you again, coach, But
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  I was wondering if you know, just like the fun stuff, if any
• 10:22
  of the guys have kind of given wood craps into the US won the World
• 10:26
  Junior. I know that could be always a fun locker room banter kind of
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  thing. Uh, not as much. I don't think whould they lose to
• 10:37
  Canada. I can't remember Finland by Checkie, I believe, oh check yeah,
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  that's right, right, Yeah, it was more Sam Wu on our
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  team. It was the one chirping, but uh no, the kids didn't
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  give him a hard time. We got a lot of Canadians of the team,
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  so he's not alone. They wouldn't be chirping just Tim. Okay.
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  And then I had a question about Chase Bradley. You know, he's been
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  super impressive. He does a lot of everything. But I guess, you
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  know, how important is he for the team? I know, you know
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  what. It gets a lot of the attention, but you know, Bradley
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  obviously is super effective as well. Oh he's yeah, he's leading our team
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  and scoring right now. He's a physical force when he's on the ice,
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  he's invaluable penalty killer, power play guy. So and he's another one that
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  really leads by example. So great kid on and off the ice. Well,
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  you know, we're lucky to have him, that's for sure. That's
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  all I got for now. I definitely will have one or two more,
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  probably as we keep going. But thank you. Okay, yep, Dan,
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  go ahead. Since we're talking a lot about Hudson, how's he doing?
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  Are we going to see him this weekend? I hope so? Uh,
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  you know, we we that that hasn't been determined yet, so I
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  can't say definitely one way the other on him or Flynn, So I think
• 12:03
  those are gonna be more Friday decisions. I'm not trying to be coy.
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  They just haven't practiced yet. You know, they skated a little bit today.
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  We have a morning skate and they skated a little bit today. But
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  I think tomorrow will tell more how they go through practice. Is there anyone
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  else that's dealing with anything that might be questionable for the weekend as of right
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  now? No? Andrew will jump over to you, Hey, keV.
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  They were two game series last week's in Hockey East. All four were splits,
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  including yourselves of course, and I'm just wanting do you think that might
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  be how it's kind of going to play out the rest of you that it's
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  gonna be a real slog. It's gonna be tough for teams to come up
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  with two wins in a weekend. I hope not for us, but yeah,
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  it's a tough league. Like when I look at our league play,
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  we have New Hampshire who's the top whatever they are fifteen team. Then we're
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  followed with Providence who's the top fifteen to ten team, and then U mass
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  who's the top ranked team, and then bu I mean, it's just that's
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  just the way the league is, and I think the only way to manage
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  that is just to try to you know, it's a cliche, Andrew,
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  but it's really the only way to manage it without getting overwhelmed and anxious is
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  just to focus on Friday nights game, because if you start looking at it
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  that way, it's like, oh my god, how are we going to
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  get through this gauntlet? You know? But that's what makes the league great,
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  and that's why you see so many teams highly ranked is because one,
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  the league's win in a lot of non league games, you know, and
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  two there's a lot of splits because teams are really good and it's hard to
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  get a sweep on a weekend, Carson will head over to you, Oh,
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  we might have lost piece of it. Yeah, you know, that's
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  a tricky balance, Carson. You certainly won't don't want to schedule yourself out
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  of the NCAA tournament, and sometimes that can happen if you have a monster
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  non schedule, you know, non league schedule, but the same token.
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  I think what's made it, you know, really tough for us in the
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  East. Here was years ago the Atlanta Cockey League wasn't what it is today.
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  That half the teams didn't even have scholarships. Now they all have scholarships.
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  It's a very very good league. It's not an upset anymore. When
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  in an Atlanta Cocky League team beats a Hockey East team, it's they're very,
• 15:03
  very good teams. I think COVID had something to do with it.
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  We'll probably see a shift now, but a lot of us, you know,
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  kind of had a mandate not to travel too far because athletic departments took
• 15:20
  a major financial, you know hit during COVID. So it was like,
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  let's take a lot of bus trips, you know, and try to avoid
• 15:28
  playing trips. But I know that our non league schedule, we certainly we
• 15:35
  have the Connecticut Tournament, which is always a great tournament. If we can
• 15:39
  schedule another tournament, those are fun. I think those are really helped prepare
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  you later on when you play a tournament style two games, I'd like to
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  take one trip like we've always. This year we didn't have a Big ten
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  or Western team on our schedule, but we normally like to have two games
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  with a Big ten or a Western team. Uh. You know, that
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  gets tricky too because sometimes they don't want to reciprocate, but uh, you
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  know, but that's kind of how you like to play it. And then
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  some local teams so right, but it's not like a local team, like
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  I said, there's no sure win right, No, absolutely on the Connecticut
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  Tournament. Just on on that topic obviously, it's it's you know, being
• 16:30
  pots right around the corner is they're kind of an initiative to build that up
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  and kind of get some more just with with the strength of Connecticut hockey,
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  you know, Sagredhart just build a rank Quinn a Piac. When a nation
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  township, there's just a lot of momentum to try and build that tournament up
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  to kind of the I uh. I've been championing for it, you know,
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  lobbying to have this tournament for a long time. We finally got it
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  off the ground. I think the next step is I think it perennially has
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  to be at the Excel Center. You know, we had ninety five hundred
• 17:06
  people at our game last week. There's no reason why we couldn't have nine
• 17:10
  ten thousand people at the Connecticut tournament year in and year out. You know,
• 17:15
  it's no longer our home rink. So I know that there was some
• 17:21
  you know, some people maybe objected to the fact that it would be a
• 17:22
  home game for us. It's not really the case anymore. The Tuscano's our
• 17:26
  home rink, and you know, we'll play a couple of games a year
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  down the Excel, but it's not what we call home. We don't practice
• 17:33
  there. Were just go in and play a couple of games. So I
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  just think it makes the most sense if we want to grow the tournament,
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  you know, to the levels of where the bean pot is, then it
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  has to be at the Excel Center. It has to be at a venue
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  where you can get ten thousand people you know, you can't have it on
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  campus where there's three or four thousand people. Those are my thoughts. I
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  don't know if everybody else thinks the same way I do, but I think
• 18:03
  if the tournament wants to grow and become on par with the bean Pot,
• 18:07
  it has to be played at the Excel Center every year. Sure. Last
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  one is how would you evaluate your power play up until this point of the
• 18:15
  season, and is it just constantly changing? Yeah, it's been average,
• 18:19
  Carson, and it's an area that you know, I've been pretty happy with
• 18:23
  the way we've played defensively. Offensively of late, we've really started to pick
• 18:30
  it up. The one area where I think in the next six weeks that
• 18:37
  we have to continue to improve and get better if we want to make a
• 18:40
  long stretch run is both special teams. Our penalty kills fallen off a little
• 18:45
  bit. It was about ninety percent at one point, and I think we're
• 18:48
  in the low eighties now. And you know, our power play has gotten
• 18:56
  better, but it's not where I want it for sure. Yeah, special
• 19:02
  teams are huge. Thanks looking for to seeing you, Okay, Carson,
• 19:06
  same here, Dan, We'll head over to you to ask you something I'm
• 19:11
  sure, you haven't been asked much in the last year. It's been just
• 19:15
  past one year that you played your first game at Tuscano. So just if
• 19:22
  you could reflect on what it's been like the past year having this home and
• 19:26
  just your experience being in that facility, it's been fantastic, you know,
• 19:33
  Like like anything else, there's certain things where you're like, oh, I
• 19:37
  wish we did this, I wish we did that. I mean, but
• 19:40
  it's like minor stuff. It's not like the lounge and the locker room set
• 19:45
  up. The players area is dynamite. Like what they have. Their daily
• 19:51
  interaction with this building is I think second to none in the country. They
• 19:56
  have everything they need and want and it flows effortlessly for them. You know.
• 20:03
  As far as the fan experience, I think we probably could have done
• 20:06
  some things a little bit differently, but that's probably true in every building,
• 20:11
  you know. I remember when I was at BC, they didn't put air
• 20:14
  conditioning, and then that building when they first built it, you know,
• 20:17
  and we had those a couple of games we couldn't even play there because of
• 20:19
  the fog, and eventually they rectified that situation. So there are some things
• 20:26
  that will change and make the better facility. But overall, I feel like
• 20:33
  I've been here ten years even though I haven't. It's just become second nature
• 20:38
  now walking in here, and it's been awesome. What are some of those
• 20:45
  things improvements that you want to see around? You know, there's a couple
• 20:52
  areas where I don't think the site lines are great for you know, there's
• 20:56
  a few seats by that student deck that are probably blocked that you know,
• 21:00
  we didn't think about. We don't have a press room, Dan, you
• 21:03
  know we didn't. We're holding press conferences in my office, so certain things
• 21:10
  like that we probably and like I said, they're minor. They don't affect
• 21:14
  the players, which is the most important thing. Those are just two off
• 21:19
  the top of my head that we probably could, you know, fix.
• 21:23
  But I haven't met anybody that comes up here in their first impression when they
• 21:29
  see the building is there's a while factor when you walk in this building.
• 21:34
  I would have thought that no press room would have been a plus for you,
• 21:37
  because now you get to feel like an old baseball manager. Yeah,
• 21:41
  exactly. Yeah, and the beer with a beer fridge right to my right,
• 21:45
  the whole thing, right. Yeah, Then one of your down the
• 21:52
  hall, Mac just became the winningest coach in program history. You guys came
• 21:56
  in at the same time. How have you seen him grow and the program
• 22:00
  grow under him? Yeah, congratulations to Chris. I just heard that myself.
• 22:07
  I think it's been great. You know, I think we were both
• 22:11
  drinking from a fire hose the first couple of years when we got here.
• 22:17
  Carson can attest to that. She was here for some of that, and
• 22:21
  you're playing out of the freights and it was just a challenge, you know.
• 22:26
  But now we've certainly collaborated more. Our offices are so close right now,
• 22:34
  and his staff has been you know, he's had Casey with him for
• 22:38
  a long time, and they have a lot of continuity, and I think
• 22:44
  they found their rhythm and recruiting and they've done just an awesome job. And
• 22:48
  I think it's, you know, terrific that they're battling for first place in
• 22:53
  the league. All Right, we got time for one or two more,
• 23:00
  so, Laura, go ahead, Yeah, I just have a quick one
• 23:02
  about Toscano. I know Dan asked you, you know, what are some
• 23:07
  improvements you could still see be made? But what are some of the things
• 23:11
  where you're like, wow, I'm so glad that we did it like this
• 23:14
  or this is you know, such a cool thing that we have. Yeah,
• 23:18
  I love the way we did the locker room. How it you know,
• 23:21
  the lounge flows through the dry area into the locker room. I think
• 23:25
  that's very efficient. I like the fact that our weight room and training room
• 23:30
  are steps from the locker room. You know, kids are going to do
• 23:36
  hydrotherapy, it's it's right there. I think that set up is excellent.
• 23:42
  The club lounge, it's not just an area for you know, donors and
• 23:52
  high end tickets. It doubles as a room that we can have pregame meal
• 23:57
  in or host different fund in. I think that came out really, you
• 24:03
  know, excellent. You know, that's a it's a really nice feature of
• 24:08
  this building. I think, you know, for most of the fans,
• 24:12
  ninety of the fans. The sitelines are great. It's a very steep,
• 24:18
  you know, pitch to the seats, so everybody has a pretty good seat.
• 24:22
  And it's loud on game night, you know, it's creates a very
• 24:26
  loud atmosphere. So those are some of the things I think we did really
• 24:32
  well. Awesome, Well, thank you coach, Thanks everyone, good luck
• 24:38
  this week and all right, thanks guys, you guys have a great week.
• 24:42
  Thank you. Okay,