September 24, 2024 • 12 mins
Coach Mike Cavanaugh beins his 12th season in Storrs as the Huskies have a good mix of youth and experience.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, it's nice to see so many of these familiar
faces back here at Tuscano.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We're excited. This is our what fourth week, I think
since we.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Started skating, we started the Tuesday after Labor Day, and
I'm excited about the group. You know, we do have
fourteen new faces, but the same token, we have fourteen
experienced veterans coming back. And you know, of those fourteen
new faces, two are undergraduate transfers who have played college
(00:33):
hockey before, and two were graduate transfers.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Who have played a lot of college hockey. So we'll be.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
You know, intertwining, mixing some freshmen true freshmen in as well.
But I like the team speed that we have that
I've watched early on here. I think we're a quicker
team than we were a year ago, and I like
our depth, and I'm excited to get going against Colgate
on October fourth.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Some are all different questions.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Is this team can you compare this team like to
the kind of league freshman years at all? Or because
of the fact that some of the newbies have experienced
that quite as guys getting their feet wet like they
had it that way back then.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yeah, yeah, it's an interesting comparison. Because that was a
really big freshman class as well. However, I don't think
we were quite where we wanted to be as a
program just yet when all of those guys came in.
We still have a lot of experience back on this team,
and I think some guys that are really hungry to
(01:39):
show that they are, you know, great players in this league.
So it's a little bit different, Bob, but I definitely
can see the comparison with so many new faces.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I'll have a Huddie's fats stepped up in your leadership
goal cabin, or there are other guys who have been
here who have stood out in your mind as far
as being leaders.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, I think they've been right, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
And you know, this is a third year in a
row we've had players who had an opportunity to go
wherever they want, you know, and they've come back as
fifth year seniors. It was Roman Canal three years ago,
it was Harrison Reese and Jake Flynn last year, and
now you know, with Hudson and Spetsy coming back, you
know as fifth year seniors.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
You know, it means a lot to me.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
It means that this university, in this program means an
awful lot to them and they want to finish their
careers here as Huskies.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
Kap, but wonder you have strong finish at the end
last year, having a beat Vermont in the regular season finale,
then feed them the playoffs and take a dcat of
the brink for the fourteen returners. Does that strong finish
have a carryover effective of the offseason and then into
the beginning of the season.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Oh, I think so. I think no, there's no question
about it.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
You know, and a lot of the players that we're
bringing in have played a lot of junior hockey too,
so you know, while they're young and they're new to
our program and how we do things, uh, they they've
still played a lot of hockey.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I think they'll come in and you've.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Seen it across college hockey with a lot of teams
that the freshmen can have a big impact on your team.
So you know, yeah, there'll be some growing pains early,
but you know, by mid November, I think.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
They're could have settled in pretty well when last season ended.
Speaker 6 (03:25):
What would do a checklist of things.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
That you need to do? You know, what did you
want to change?
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Yeah, it's interesting because normally you know, in the past,
in April and May you would do a deep dive
and analysis on your team and where you were good
and where you were bad.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It was really a different type of offseason for us
last year because of the way the transfer portal is
now and having lost some players that maybe are.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Not expecting to lose. Uh. We lost some personnel.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Joe Ferris, who had been with me and our director
of ops, you know, moved back home, you know, to
the Midwest and took a job out there. And Mike Pereira,
who did a great job for us, got the head
coaching job at Choate.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So not only did we have to.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Replace players, but we had to replace personnel. So that's
what really took up a lot of our time was
filling with holes that we thought we had within the program.
And you know, it wasn't until probably July that we
that we sat down and said, Okay, where can we
be better as a team, and how does this team?
What can we do with this team speculating how we
(04:38):
think they're going to be as players, where can we
take advantage of our opponents? And what kind of team
do we want to be? And I thought Hudson and
John Spetz were excellent in that. We had some like
bi weekly meetings through the summer, and really I took
a lot of their input, you know, with you know,
(04:59):
Tyler and I sat to and listen to a lot
of what they had to say and we implemented, you
know a lot of that with what we thought we
needed to be better with. So that's kind of how
our off season broke down.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Do you usually.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, I like to get input from players. I think
that's important. I was just, uh, I was just reading
an article I actually put it up in the locker
room today about the kid neighbors the Giants wide receiver
who's a rookie there, but you know, he saw something
on film and he went to Brian Dable with it
and you know it turned into a touchdown. But because
(05:33):
sometimes as players you see things that coaches don't see,
these little idiosyncrasies, And I think it's very important to
empower your players and encourage them, you know, to give input.
Now do you always listen, No, But I think you
have to have that healthy conversation.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
I think all good programs do.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
How was Nick fitting on.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Their fit in on your staff and what have you
had him doing?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
He's been great? Uh, It's been really a seamless transition.
He's certainly, you know, one of the top recruiters in
the country. You know, Northern Michigan actually had the top
recruiting class. That's what kind of drew me to him
last year. And you know, with him coming on, we've
we had one kid that was committed there and more
(06:17):
transfer from there that have both been.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Great additions to our program. So he's going.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
To probably work with the penalty kill and really spearhead
a lot of the recruiting efforts. What's the skill set
that makes somebody a top recruiter, that makes somebody had
really good recruit Well, I just think it's hard work,
it's being very personal and hey, Tyler Helton's a great recruiter.
I think you know, our class was either five or
(06:45):
six in the country last year and that was primarily
you know, Mike Peira certainly had something to do with that,
but Tyler was an integral part of bringing this class
here to Yukon that we have this freshman class. So
I'm fortunate where it's not like I have one recruiting coordinator.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
It's I have, you know, a.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Couple assistants who are pretty experienced and they get to
know a lot of the coaches out there, a lot
of the advisors, and they have their ear to the
ground and they're also very good at evaluating talent.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So but I think it's a lot of hard work.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
It's it's being out there, it's being personable and convincing
kids to come to Yukon.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
You lost for a lot of the blue line.
Speaker 6 (07:27):
Who's stepped up so far, Cathy Well, I think Nick Carabin,
who's a graduate transfer from Princeton, has been excellent, you know,
so far.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
You know, Thomas Sinio is doing a great job. He's
got some experience. Spetsy's obviously got a lot of experience.
But you know, Viking coming in here as a transfer,
he played a lot of minutes for Northern Michigan last year.
He's kind of had a seamless transition in here. Jack
Pascucci had a strong year for us last year. And
then we have, you know, the three freshmen we brought
(08:00):
in and Trey Scott, Kai Jan Vaiah and Kevin Fitzgerald.
We've brought those three in and you know, Bauer Swift
is back, and I know I'm probably forgetting somebody. Yeah,
Owen Simpson as well, so you know, we have ten
right now, and we've actually had a couple injuries, so
(08:22):
I'm glad we have some depth back there.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Is it harder for you guys to assimilate themselves to
what you want to do defensively?
Speaker 5 (08:29):
Hut the front?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yes, I think so.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
I think it's always a tougher or a longer learning
curve coming into college as a defenseman as it is
a forward.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
You skate hard, you finish checks, you compete.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
You know, there's not as much thinking as there is
on defense, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Are you worried at all about the depth up top?
Just only having fifteen forwards?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Will it help if I worry about it?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
No, I think you know, fifteen forwards is a pretty
good number, especially when all fifteen can play.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
So I'm not really worried about that.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
keV hockey's particularly strong last year. It's always strong, particularly
strong last year. What's your assessment what you know about
you know, newt coming into the league this season.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Well, I don't think it's going to change much.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
I think that you know, there's still a lot of
talent coming in and with all the teams, I think
everybody's probably improved, you know, to do a good job.
When your league is that strong, it helps certainly recruiting players,
like players want to play in this league. So and
not only that, but there's just a lot of good
(09:44):
coaches in this league. If if you look around, you know,
there's a lot of experience, experienced coaches in this league
and we all kind of have a feel for how
each other play. So it's not like you're gonna surprise anybody,
you know, week in and week.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Out as your goaltending.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Uh, I think it's pretty good, you know.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
You know, we brought in Ty Musilik, who's a transfer
from you and h and before he got hurt last year,
you know, he had some big wins over bu and Quinnipiac.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Callum Tongue is a pretty highly touted freshman who came
out of British Columbia. He's got great size at an
excellent playoff last year in British Columbia. And Uh, Tommy Heaney,
you know, I didn't know a lot about him coming in,
but I've been pretty impressed with him since he's been here.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
What was the music the feeling the last year.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
It was a knee injury.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
It was something that had to get skulped, but he
tried to play.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Through it all year long.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
And uh, you know he certainly you know, knock on
Ward looks healthy right now.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
So Connecticut kid's been solid for two years junior year here.
Where do you think he could take his team because yeah,
pretty steady for years.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
He's he's going to be an important piece of our team.
His his energy, his compete level is always really really high.
I think he's going to take another step. You know,
he's been snake bitting a little bit. I don't know
if anybody's hit more posts since I've been here than him.
But he's a great defensive player. He's an excellent penalty killer,
(11:33):
and I see him adding more offensively this year as well.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Any other any other returning guys standing out to you
so far?
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I think Joey Muldowney and Ryan Taddle have kind of
picked up where they left off last year. I thought
they were really strong for us down the stretch. Tristan Fraser,
Oliver Flynn's doing a nice job. He's had a really
good preseason so far. So, uh, you know, those are
the guys up front, and as I said, I think, uh,
(12:07):
Thomas Sinio on the back end, has uh, you know,
played pretty well this preseason as well.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Anything else for coach guys awesome
Speaker 2 (12:18):
All right, thank you guys, appreciate its
Well, it's nice to see so many of these familiar
faces back here at Tuscano.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
We're excited. This is our what fourth week, I think
since we.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Started skating, we started the Tuesday after Labor Day, and
I'm excited about the group. You know, we do have
fourteen new faces, but the same token, we have fourteen
experienced veterans coming back. And you know, of those fourteen
new faces, two are undergraduate transfers who have played college
(00:33):
hockey before, and two were graduate transfers.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Who have played a lot of college hockey. So we'll be.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
You know, intertwining, mixing some freshmen true freshmen in as well.
But I like the team speed that we have that
I've watched early on here. I think we're a quicker
team than we were a year ago, and I like
our depth, and I'm excited to get going against Colgate
on October fourth.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Some are all different questions.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
Is this team can you compare this team like to
the kind of league freshman years at all? Or because
of the fact that some of the newbies have experienced
that quite as guys getting their feet wet like they
had it that way back then.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yeah, yeah, it's an interesting comparison. Because that was a
really big freshman class as well. However, I don't think
we were quite where we wanted to be as a
program just yet when all of those guys came in.
We still have a lot of experience back on this team,
and I think some guys that are really hungry to
(01:39):
show that they are, you know, great players in this league.
So it's a little bit different, Bob, but I definitely
can see the comparison with so many new faces.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
I'll have a Huddie's fats stepped up in your leadership
goal cabin, or there are other guys who have been
here who have stood out in your mind as far
as being leaders.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, I think they've been right, you know.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
And you know, this is a third year in a
row we've had players who had an opportunity to go
wherever they want, you know, and they've come back as
fifth year seniors. It was Roman Canal three years ago,
it was Harrison Reese and Jake Flynn last year, and
now you know, with Hudson and Spetsy coming back, you
know as fifth year seniors.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
You know, it means a lot to me.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
It means that this university, in this program means an
awful lot to them and they want to finish their
careers here as Huskies.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
Kap, but wonder you have strong finish at the end
last year, having a beat Vermont in the regular season finale,
then feed them the playoffs and take a dcat of
the brink for the fourteen returners. Does that strong finish
have a carryover effective of the offseason and then into
the beginning of the season.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Oh, I think so. I think no, there's no question
about it.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
You know, and a lot of the players that we're
bringing in have played a lot of junior hockey too,
so you know, while they're young and they're new to
our program and how we do things, uh, they they've
still played a lot of hockey.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
I think they'll come in and you've.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Seen it across college hockey with a lot of teams
that the freshmen can have a big impact on your team.
So you know, yeah, there'll be some growing pains early,
but you know, by mid November, I think.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
They're could have settled in pretty well when last season ended.
Speaker 6 (03:25):
What would do a checklist of things.
Speaker 5 (03:27):
That you need to do? You know, what did you
want to change?
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Yeah, it's interesting because normally you know, in the past,
in April and May you would do a deep dive
and analysis on your team and where you were good
and where you were bad.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
It was really a different type of offseason for us
last year because of the way the transfer portal is
now and having lost some players that maybe are.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Not expecting to lose. Uh. We lost some personnel.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Joe Ferris, who had been with me and our director
of ops, you know, moved back home, you know, to
the Midwest and took a job out there. And Mike Pereira,
who did a great job for us, got the head
coaching job at Choate.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
So not only did we have to.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Replace players, but we had to replace personnel. So that's
what really took up a lot of our time was
filling with holes that we thought we had within the program.
And you know, it wasn't until probably July that we
that we sat down and said, Okay, where can we
be better as a team, and how does this team?
What can we do with this team speculating how we
(04:38):
think they're going to be as players, where can we
take advantage of our opponents? And what kind of team
do we want to be? And I thought Hudson and
John Spetz were excellent in that. We had some like
bi weekly meetings through the summer, and really I took
a lot of their input, you know, with you know,
(04:59):
Tyler and I sat to and listen to a lot
of what they had to say and we implemented, you
know a lot of that with what we thought we
needed to be better with. So that's kind of how
our off season broke down.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Do you usually.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Yeah, I like to get input from players. I think
that's important. I was just, uh, I was just reading
an article I actually put it up in the locker
room today about the kid neighbors the Giants wide receiver
who's a rookie there, but you know, he saw something
on film and he went to Brian Dable with it
and you know it turned into a touchdown. But because
(05:33):
sometimes as players you see things that coaches don't see,
these little idiosyncrasies, And I think it's very important to
empower your players and encourage them, you know, to give input.
Now do you always listen, No, But I think you
have to have that healthy conversation.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
I think all good programs do.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
How was Nick fitting on.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Their fit in on your staff and what have you
had him doing?
Speaker 1 (05:56):
He's been great? Uh, It's been really a seamless transition.
He's certainly, you know, one of the top recruiters in
the country. You know, Northern Michigan actually had the top
recruiting class. That's what kind of drew me to him
last year. And you know, with him coming on, we've
we had one kid that was committed there and more
(06:17):
transfer from there that have both been.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Great additions to our program. So he's going.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
To probably work with the penalty kill and really spearhead
a lot of the recruiting efforts. What's the skill set
that makes somebody a top recruiter, that makes somebody had
really good recruit Well, I just think it's hard work,
it's being very personal and hey, Tyler Helton's a great recruiter.
I think you know, our class was either five or
(06:45):
six in the country last year and that was primarily
you know, Mike Peira certainly had something to do with that,
but Tyler was an integral part of bringing this class
here to Yukon that we have this freshman class. So
I'm fortunate where it's not like I have one recruiting coordinator.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
It's I have, you know, a.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Couple assistants who are pretty experienced and they get to
know a lot of the coaches out there, a lot
of the advisors, and they have their ear to the
ground and they're also very good at evaluating talent.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
So but I think it's a lot of hard work.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
It's it's being out there, it's being personable and convincing
kids to come to Yukon.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
You lost for a lot of the blue line.
Speaker 6 (07:27):
Who's stepped up so far, Cathy Well, I think Nick Carabin,
who's a graduate transfer from Princeton, has been excellent, you know,
so far.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
You know, Thomas Sinio is doing a great job. He's
got some experience. Spetsy's obviously got a lot of experience.
But you know, Viking coming in here as a transfer,
he played a lot of minutes for Northern Michigan last year.
He's kind of had a seamless transition in here. Jack
Pascucci had a strong year for us last year. And
then we have, you know, the three freshmen we brought
(08:00):
in and Trey Scott, Kai Jan Vaiah and Kevin Fitzgerald.
We've brought those three in and you know, Bauer Swift
is back, and I know I'm probably forgetting somebody. Yeah,
Owen Simpson as well, so you know, we have ten
right now, and we've actually had a couple injuries, so
(08:22):
I'm glad we have some depth back there.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Is it harder for you guys to assimilate themselves to
what you want to do defensively?
Speaker 5 (08:29):
Hut the front?
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yes, I think so.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
I think it's always a tougher or a longer learning
curve coming into college as a defenseman as it is
a forward.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
You skate hard, you finish checks, you compete.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
You know, there's not as much thinking as there is
on defense, that's for sure.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Are you worried at all about the depth up top?
Just only having fifteen forwards?
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Will it help if I worry about it?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
No, I think you know, fifteen forwards is a pretty
good number, especially when all fifteen can play.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
So I'm not really worried about that.
Speaker 5 (09:10):
keV hockey's particularly strong last year. It's always strong, particularly
strong last year. What's your assessment what you know about
you know, newt coming into the league this season.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Well, I don't think it's going to change much.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
I think that you know, there's still a lot of
talent coming in and with all the teams, I think
everybody's probably improved, you know, to do a good job.
When your league is that strong, it helps certainly recruiting players,
like players want to play in this league. So and
not only that, but there's just a lot of good
(09:44):
coaches in this league. If if you look around, you know,
there's a lot of experience, experienced coaches in this league
and we all kind of have a feel for how
each other play. So it's not like you're gonna surprise anybody,
you know, week in and week.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
Out as your goaltending.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
Uh, I think it's pretty good, you know.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
You know, we brought in Ty Musilik, who's a transfer
from you and h and before he got hurt last year,
you know, he had some big wins over bu and Quinnipiac.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Callum Tongue is a pretty highly touted freshman who came
out of British Columbia. He's got great size at an
excellent playoff last year in British Columbia. And Uh, Tommy Heaney,
you know, I didn't know a lot about him coming in,
but I've been pretty impressed with him since he's been here.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
What was the music the feeling the last year.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
It was a knee injury.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
It was something that had to get skulped, but he
tried to play.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Through it all year long.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
And uh, you know he certainly you know, knock on
Ward looks healthy right now.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
So Connecticut kid's been solid for two years junior year here.
Where do you think he could take his team because yeah,
pretty steady for years.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
He's he's going to be an important piece of our team.
His his energy, his compete level is always really really high.
I think he's going to take another step. You know,
he's been snake bitting a little bit. I don't know
if anybody's hit more posts since I've been here than him.
But he's a great defensive player. He's an excellent penalty killer,
(11:33):
and I see him adding more offensively this year as well.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Any other any other returning guys standing out to you
so far?
Speaker 1 (11:43):
I think Joey Muldowney and Ryan Taddle have kind of
picked up where they left off last year. I thought
they were really strong for us down the stretch. Tristan Fraser,
Oliver Flynn's doing a nice job. He's had a really
good preseason so far. So, uh, you know, those are
the guys up front, and as I said, I think, uh,
(12:07):
Thomas Sinio on the back end, has uh, you know,
played pretty well this preseason as well.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Anything else for coach guys awesome
Speaker 2 (12:18):
All right, thank you guys, appreciate its
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