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Mike Cavanaugh - Weekly Zoom Feb 7 - UMass Week · Coaches Corner

• 0:02
  All right, coach, coming off another weekend split, took down number ten
• 0:06
  Providence Saturday to one final penalty field game, but turning the attention now to
• 0:12
  another ranked opponent, Massachusetts home and home, kicking off Friday at Tascona.
• 0:16
  I just want to get your thoughts ahead of the weekend series. Yeah,
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  well, clearly, I think a point of emphasis this week is not to
• 0:27
  take as many penalties. I think you mass has one of the better power
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  plays in the league with Moro off Goo Sudiyev Musa. I mean, it's
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  very, very good power play, and that will not be a recipe for
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  success if we're taking nine penalties on Friday. So that's gonna be. It's
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  kind of been our focal point all week is to play much more discipline.
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  All right, we'll open it up for questions. Joe, you want to
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  start us off? Thanks, good morning, coach. How are you?
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  I'm great, Joe, you, I'm great. Thanks? Is that a
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  mental thing, calf not taking penalties? Is it? Is it a physical
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  thing? What's the what's the what's the what's the is it trying to do
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  too much? What's what's the solution in your in your opinion? Yeah,
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  sometimes when you're you know, you beat the night before and we haven't taken
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  nine penalties in a game yet this year. But yeah, you're desperate and
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  you're playing. You know, you want to play very physical and you want
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  to compete on pucks, but there's also a mental aspect to it. Yeah,
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  I mean you can't. You got to control your own stick. We
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  took hooking penalties, tripping penalties. Uh, you know, you can't hit
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  guys from behind. You can play physical, but you got to play physical
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  in the right way. And uh, as I said, we've been really
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  focusing on it this week. Jad Spettz is a guy that's that's been just
• 1:55
  rock solid for you He's a one of the league leaders in blocks. What
• 1:59
  has he done to improve his game for the time he got cued and now?
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  Well, he's a hockey junkie, there's no question about that. He's
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  probably one of the few kids on our team that he'll watch every practice.
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  You know, we film every practice and he'll probably watch every practice. He's
• 2:17
  tries to be as detailed as he can with his game. He's really put
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  in the work off the ice this past summer and in this season. So
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  you know that's why you know, he's continuing to play so many minutes for
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  us. Thank you, Randy will go over to you. Thanks Coling Moore
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  and coach. How are you today, Good morning, Randy, I'm great.
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  Thanks. Chase Bradley's production last three years has been that trajectory. I
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  think you'd probably like to see, right, more production every year, a
• 2:51
  little bit better every year. What is he doing this year and that he's
• 2:54
  done throughout his career, you know what elements of his game have improved to
• 3:00
  make him the player that he is now. Well, he you know,
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  he's playing the same game. I just think he's probably getting more opportunities now,
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  you know with our club. But he's and to his credit, he's
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  just like that's what you want out of a player. You want to see
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  them develop and get better, and he's getting more shots on net. He's
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  a kid that I would say, you know, he's got to be in
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  the connotation of one of the best power forwards in the league. I mean,
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  he's as physical player as there is in the league and he can back
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  it up by filling the net as well. So he's really when you can
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  have those types of players, you know, they're they're instrumental in your team's
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  success. Heider comes back with a big performance forty two saves. We've seen
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  Sergiev do that too. Do you have like a friend? Is it that
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  healthy friendly competition kind of situation where the goal are kind of when they get
• 4:01
  their number called bouncing back and have you liked that and their response when they
• 4:06
  get their numbers called? Yeah? I do. I think a lot of
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  credit should go to Vince Stiletti, the goaltending coach, because he's been able
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  to keep you know, our Sinny went through kind of a tough stretch and
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  Vince kept them mentally focused and when he got his chance, he stood tall
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  for us. And same thing with Ethan. Ethan kind of went through a
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  tough stretch, but Vince stayed with him, and you know, he came
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  up really big for us the other night. Thank you. Yeah, and
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  we'll hide over to you. Do you have any theories as to why you
• 4:43
  guys have struggled at Toscano this season? Oh? I wish you could help
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  me out with that, Dan, I don't. It doesn't make sense.
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  You know, it doesn't make sense to me. But I might have told
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  you this at one point. I think it was I think it was two
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  thousand and eight. You know, when I was at BC, we had
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  a losing record at home and won a national titles. So I'm hoping maybe
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  that's a foreshadowing of what's to come. But I don't know. It's you
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  know, I'm focusing on We have one games here at Tuscano, so I'm
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  going to focus on the ones we've won and try to manifest that magic into
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  this Friday night. I think you have played a lot of Friday nights at
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  Tuscano, at least recently, so you had Connecticut Ice where you won on
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  Friday night. But could it be something to not starting off the weekend as
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  as well as you could. I just think everybody's reading into it too much.
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  There's a you know, there's a thousand reasons why you win games and
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  you lose games, and everybody's focusing on us losing at home. But why
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  aren't we focus It's not how well we're playing on the road. I mean,
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  I don't know, you know, I mean, it's yeah, I
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  get it, I understand it. I should say this. I don't understand
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  it, but I get why everybody keeps asking the question. I just think
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  we have to you know, focus on just playing our very best game Friday
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  night. That's it's not I don't get too caught up with home winds or
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  road winds. I get caught up with are we playing consistent? And I
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  don't believe we've been playing consistent hockey. You know, maybe the most consistent
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  weekend we played was that BC. You know, we actually played really well
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  that whole weekend and we got one point, But we played really well the
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  whole weekend. Uh, you know, the main weekend wasn't bad. We
• 6:49
  shut them out for five out of six periods. Unfortunately, that one bad
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  period cost us a game. But you know, that's more concerned. It's
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  not whether we're home or away. I'm more concerned with, you know,
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  are we playing the way we want to play consistently for sixty minutes? So
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  then, like the road, what do you like about the way your team
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  handles its business when you head away from stores? You know, I think,
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  as I said, I think a lot of times we're playing desperate hockey.
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  You know, you don't want to get swept on the weekend. So
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  again, I don't know, I don't have an answer for that either.
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  Our team seems to rally around that. You know, maybe we should pretend
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  that we lost Thursday night when we play this Friday. All right, Tyler,
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  we'll jump over to you. Awesome, thank you. High Coach Colby
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  Cohen is going to be doing the game with the Laura and I on Saturday.
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  Colby, my condolences, I know. I mean, look, I
• 7:53
  mean it's fun for me. But he says he wants to track you down
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  before that game. Oh no, yeah, Colby's great, that'd be great,
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  he says he'll come. Say hi, I was going to ask about
• 8:03
  game one for his game two in a weekend. That's covered. How about
• 8:05
  Jake Valou? I think eight games back now, is he back to one
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  hundred percent? You think what do is he out of him? I don't
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  know if he's back to one hundred percent yet. I mean, that was
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  a tough injury he came back from, but he certainly has been able to
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  give us some quality minutes when he's been able to play. The thing about
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  him is, you know you can kind of play him up and down your
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  lineup. He's very, very reliable. H He's heavy on pucks, smart,
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  never out of position. Uh, He's a guy that you can I'm
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  very confident. I know what we're gonna get night in and night out out
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  of Jake value. And that's a comforting feeling as a coach. And the
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  only other one was any guys on the lineup who you feel like the goals
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  are going to come very soon, maybe they're getting in position to score but
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  haven't quite done yet. Anyone to look out for in that regard. I
• 8:58
  think Joey muldowney's playing great hockey for us right now. You know, he
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  seems to be getting one or two Grade eight chances a night. I think
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  he's he's got to really bear down and get more pucks on net. But
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  I really like the way he's playing right now. Awesome, Thank you.
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  M Laura will jump over to you, hey, coach, not to you
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  know, harp on the penalties, but I am curious when it comes to
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  discipline, how do you coach that in practice? Well, when a penalty
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  is committed in practice, I think you have to recognize it and address it.
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  But you know, really the only way you can continue to, you
• 9:41
  know, preach discipline is if you have repeat offenders, you know, it's
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  splinters. Sit him on the bench. That usually is what you know hockey
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  players will respond to the most and you don't like to coach that way,
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  but hopefully, U, you know that we can rectify that situation this weekend.
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  And I know you touched on Chase Bradley already, but he's been a
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  player that's been consistent for you guys throughout the season. I know you've had
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  players that have played consistently but haven't necessarily scored consistently. So what's it been
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  like having his consistent production this season? What has that done for your team?
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  It's been great, you know, But but you touched on it.
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  It's not so much Chase is production. It's he's consistent every night, and
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  he can affect the game in so many different ways. He's an outstanding penalty
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  killer, he has a physical presence. He just doesn't need to score to
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  help our team win. So I think that's his most valuable asset to us.
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  He's a he plays a two hundred foot game, plays the right way,
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  doesn't cheat and uh, you know, is a physical force out there.
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  What's he like kind of off the ice, like, what's he liked
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  to coach? He's great, He's a very uh, he's very coachable.
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  You know, he doesn't get defensive when when you want to try to coach
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  him in different areas, really mild mannered, like you would think a kid
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  that that physical, and he plays like a bowl in a china shop,
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  but he's not that way off the ice. And I'm really proud of him
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  because he's really grown off the ice. Well, he's last semester he had
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  his best I mean semester academically just missed a three point zero. I mean
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  he was like two nine to five or something. So I'm I'm really proud
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  of how he's matured and developed here as a person off the ice. That's
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  great. I also had a follow up question on John Spets just about how
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  he watched all the practices, because he watched them, So you're saying that
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  he goes back and watches the full practices. Yeah, we film, like
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  we film every practice and we put it up, you know, so the
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  kids can watch it. And I would say he's one of the few that
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  if I asked him like did you watch that play yesterday, He's like,
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  yep, I saw that, you know, Like he's a hockey junkie and
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  uh so those kids are easy to coach. And then just last one for
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  me, what stands out to you about that last UMass game. I remember
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  that was from my perspective, a good game, which you guys, you
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  know, fought back throughout ball sixty minutes. What do you what's stand out
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  most about that game. I'm trying to remember it. It was I think
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  we tied it late on the power play, right yeah, yeah, at
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  the end and then yeah, yeah, you know, they're a very good
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  team. Uh, they're like I said, the two defensemen I think are
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  elite defensemen, and they can pose a lot of problems because they get involved
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  offensively a lot. I like a lot of their young players and the Sunniev
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  and Musa and Connors I think lot and Box you know, brings a lot
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  of energy to their team. That they're pretty deep upfront, and you know,
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  the goaltender playing in the World Junior Tournament. So there's alid in a
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  lot of areas. Andrew will jump over to you, thank Ev. We've
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  seen teams and players have sort of amicable parting of ways after four years.
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  You know, Marshall Warren going to Michigan read Webster going to Michigan State.
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  What is made Jake Flynn in your program such a good fit in that he
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  came back for the fifth year. Yeah, I was, you know,
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  he and Harrison Reeese both came back. I just think they really appreciate the
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  program that we have here in the school we have here, and you know,
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  we try to run the program the right way. And I don't care
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  who you are in the country. It's sometimes it's not for everybody. But
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  I think, uh, they had a passion for this program. And I
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  think you'd have to talk to them about it, Andrew. I don't want
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  to speak for them. They would be better answering that question than I would,
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  but I'd like to think that, you know, we were an eyelash
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  away from winning a league title and I think that meant a lot to him
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  and to try to get back to that place where we could compete for a
• 14:22
  Hockey East championship and they'd like to do it as Huskies. And what has
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  you know, what has Jake brought to the program, you know, throughout
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  his career and specifically this year. Well, competitiveness. I say all the
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  time, I don't know if we have a player like he's not perfect and
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  Jacob turned the puck over, but he will fight to get it back and
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  he does an awful lot. But I just think he's a stand up kid.
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  He does things the right way. I know, he's respected by everybody
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  in the locker room. Uh, tough as nails, I mean, and
• 15:03
  just he's just an awesome kid to coach. He really is. He's uh,
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  you know, when you do things the right way on and off the
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  ice consistently for four years, five years, I should say, Uh,
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  you know, that's why you get into this business, Andrew. I mean,
• 15:31
  winning, winning trophies and that stuff is really nice. But being able
• 15:33
  to develop a relationship with a kid like Jake Flynn and watch him mature over
• 15:39
  five years and know that he's going to be a very productive person in society
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  when he leaves here. I mean that that's the fun part of coaching.
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  Thank you. Yeah, Joe Will has over to you. Hey, hey,
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  cav can we circle back to their power play? What makes it so
• 15:58
  good? Well Off goes very good at getting pucks down on the net.
• 16:03
  Moro has a great shot and great feel of when to shoot, when to
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  pass. Sunyev has a awesome shot. So when you get three guys up
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  top that are a threat to shoot every time, it, you know,
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  puts a lot of pressure on your penalty kill and then Musa in the middle
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  is excellent at distributing the puck. I'm not sure who they have down in
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  front right now that I think they've gone back and forth with different guys in
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  front, But if it's Connors or they're just good players, you know,
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  big bodies in front of the net, and I would say that's it,
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  Joe. You know, when you have three guys up top that are all
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  a threat to fire that puck to the net, you know, it really
• 16:53
  puts a lot of pressure on your penalty killers and you guys pretty healthy for
• 16:59
  the weekend as of today. Yeah, awesome. Well anything else for coach,
• 17:07
  guys, awesome, Thanks coach, appreciated, Thank you guys, have
• 17:12
  a great week. Thank you to thank you coach.