January 29, 2025 • 18 mins
Coach Cav on the upcoming series with Providence and going forward. One, game, at at time
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, coach, coming off DT Ice championship, we're back
in conference action, top ten matchup this weekend home and
home with Providence. Just want to get your thoughts as
we head down the home stretch of hockey US play.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Well, we certainly we're excited to finally get our first
ct ice championship trophy, but we've moved on and trying
to get ready for the Friars now. And they're always
a tough opponent for us to play against. I think
that they have a balanced scoring attack, they're pretty good defensively.
(00:42):
They've always had really good special teams and two excellent goaltenders.
So there are a reason. You know, they're top ten
team for a reason, and we know we're going to
have our work cutout for us this weekend.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Awesome, all right, we'll open for questions. Joe, you want
to start us off.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yeah, thanks, good morning.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Cav How are you.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I'm great, Joe, you, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Obviously, coming off such an emotional weekend in Fairfield, did
what was the mood in practice the last two days?
Any sort of letdown momentum from the weekend, How would
you characterize it?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
You know this this group's pretty good. They I think,
you know, they obviously were excited after the weekend, but
you know, we've had like three weekends in a row. Joe,
it's uh, and this is going to be our fourth
it's uh. You know, New Hampshire was an emotional weekend,
going up to Maine was a really emotional weekend, and
(01:41):
then obviously this past weekend. But they're pretty good at
compartmentalizing and moving on to the next challenge in front
of us.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Can you talk a little bit about Philip. I mean,
obviously nice time for his first goal. It seems like
he's even more in the he's feeling he's feeling his
oats a lot more.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
For most Europeans, they play over here for a year
before they come to college, so they get somewhat used
to the North American culture. He's one of the few
that came straight from He was playing in the Swedish
junior league last year and the Slovenian kid, so it
(02:23):
probably took him a little longer to get acclimated Joe
to North American style hockey, and the rinks are a
lot bigger over in Europe, so but I really like
the way he's progressing. He's an excellent kid, four to
zero student. He's been a great addition to our program.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
And then last one for me for now. The teams
always seemed to have a knack for blocking shots. Obviously
Spets and Massinio were really good at that. But you
had Jake with eight seconds to go to help save
the game. Is that a mindset? Is that a learned skill?
What makes the team a good shot blocking team? I
(03:04):
think you see any team that is gonna be successful,
it has to be able to block shots.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
It's just part of the game. It's it's boxing out
in basketball, it's being able to bunt in baseball. It's
it's a fundamental that you need to have in your game.
And teams that are not going to block shots, I
don't think they're going to be very successful.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Thanks Bridget, we can jump over to you.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
Thank you, Colin High coach.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Bridget got a few questions.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
I'll just ask if you first. So I wanted to
ask you about kind of where you guys are in
your I guess we're Tiscano. Is actually because you guys
are this is your second season there, writers are your
second full season.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Uh well, it opened two januaries ago.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
Okay, So, and I had overheard a conversation this week
about how like Hockey East has gotten a lot of
big investments in facilities and programs recently, and I wanted
to know, now that you're you're in your second season
in Toscano and then you're able to show recruits it
(04:18):
and everything, what has that been like for your program?
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Well, obviously it's a great help for our program. We
were you know, I think the two biggest things I've
said about this arena are one, it gives our players
and our student athletes a facility where, you know, a
(04:43):
top notch facility where they can recover, where they can
come and work on their shot, where they can become
the very best player that they can be. We have
everything in here to help develop them as a hockey player.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
The second thing is it allows our student body to
walk across campus and come watch us play. I think
those are the two most important things when it comes
to this facility.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
And then I'll just do this one as well. For
your goaltending situation you've had, you've had to you know,
you've had some challenges trying to figure out, I guess,
how to go about utilizing everyone. Can you just talk
a little bit about how you've been able to bring
(05:40):
those like get through the adversity, bring those guys in all.
You have all new goalie group this year.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
So yeah, well it really hasn't been a challenge because
we haven't had them healthy. Really, I haven't had to
make too many choices because I think, for all, we've
only had two weeks this year actually this being the
third right now, because Callum's back, where we've had all
(06:07):
three goalies healthy. So Tyler was playing the majority of
the games, and Callum was injured early, and then Tyler
got hurt, and then Callum jumped in, and when they
were both hurt, Tommy Heaty played. So all three goalies
have played. But you know, I think Tyler and Callum
have certainly, you know, played well enough this year to
(06:32):
earn more starts in the net. Now, how we're going
to go about that going forward, I don't know yet.
It's still only Wednesday. We'll make that decision tomorrow night.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Adam will jump over to you.
Speaker 6 (06:46):
Yeah, I guess that is sort of the crux of
my question with the goaltending play is is it still
Tyler goes into this week having done what he did
last weekend and knows I've still got to earn it.
Do they have to prove anything coming off of last
weekend with that decision?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I think you got to prove something every day. I
think the real good ones try to prove something every day.
I don't think they're ever satisfied with what they did
the previous week So, and that's what I expect. That's
an expectation here of the players. When Jake Richards shows
up today, when John Speest shows up, they got to
prove it. They got to go out there and show
(07:25):
me that they're getting better every day, because if the
minute that stops happening, you're not going to have.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
A lot of success. Where's the trophy in the lounge?
Speaker 6 (07:36):
Okay, the guy is still getting a kick out of
it every time they walk by it.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I don't know, you'd have to ask them, but it's
going to stay in the lounge all year long. I
know that.
Speaker 6 (07:48):
And for Houston Cartman obviously getting thrown into consistent playing
time for the first time in his careers. So what
have you seen over the last few weeks with what
he brings.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
He brings a ton of energy, for sure. I really
like the way his game has progressed over the past
three years.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
He plays a solid but when he's out there, I
thought early on in his career, I thought structurally he
could get lost. I think he's done a great job
of understanding positionally where he should be on the ice
and when he's not playing. He's also adds a value
because he just brings so much energy to our bench.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
That's good, Andrew, go ahead, I think have congrats on
the win this past week.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Thanks Andrew.
Speaker 7 (08:40):
You know you of course, sure York used to talk
about this is the beginning of trophy season, you and
I and I think you've talked with other folks too
about how the beam pok could always be sort of
a catalyst towards a you know, that home stretch. I guess,
just how are you feeling about your team right now
now that you guys finally broke through and were able
to win this tournament.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Well, I was super happy for Hudson Chandor and John Spets,
who had lost in that championship game three years in
a row. But for the other guys, to answer your question,
I think it went a long way for our younger
guys learning what it takes to win a trophy and
how hard it is. And we made some young mistakes
(09:24):
in that championship game at times, and I think you
can only grow from that. And when we're putting another well,
hopefully we're going to be in that position again in
another month or so, and our guys can use draw
on that experience to help them, you know, the next
time they're faced with certain challenges in a game. So
(09:46):
I think it can be a great springboard for your team.
Now that being said, I also understand how quickly it
can change, you know. I remember a couple being pot
teams where all of a sudden you start thinking you're
really good and you can be humbled quickly. So I
know in this game, and especially playing in this league,
(10:09):
Andrew and I and our players know, like coming up,
you know, if you look at our schedule coming up
in the league, it's two with Providence, it's Lowell, it's U.
Mass it's Maine, it's bu I mean, they're all like
a lot of those teams are in the top ten,
so you know, and then we're followed with Northeastern, who
(10:29):
we haven't played yet, who's playing really well right now.
Vermont has played well all year long, so we understand that.
You know, you have to continue to get better and
improve or you can. This game's very humbling.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Joe, we'll jump back to you.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Thanks HAVELV.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
How is Ethan doing and is there a timetable on
his possible return?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
He's doing my much better. He skated yesterday for the
first time in a couple of weeks. But I don't
know if he'll be ready for this weekend yet, though.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Thank you, go ahead, Thank av.
Speaker 8 (11:14):
Nice to see you.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
I see you, Cooper.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
I'm just grace.
Speaker 8 (11:18):
What did you think of Hugh last week in his return?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
I thought he was really good, And in fact, when
we shortened the bench towards the end of the game,
I moved him up onto one of the lines. We
were playing three lines at the end of the game,
and he was on one of those lines because I
thought he gave us a really solid effort on Saturday night.
And again, that's another kid with a lot of experience.
(11:43):
You know, Western Michigan played in a lot of national tournaments,
so he has a lot of postseason experience.
Speaker 8 (11:50):
Just a big picture question, because I've talked to you
a few different times over the course of the season,
about your young guys and all these new guys that
have come in there, can you put into perspective because
you're at the rink every day, like what this group
and what these young guys are like on a day
to day basis, So.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
I don't even look at him as young guys anymore.
But yeah, they've been a fun group to work with,
you know. And a lot of them, you know, like
Shahn and Gardula played together and juniors, you know, Whitcomb,
but most of them played Kai, Trey, Scott, Witcomb, Gardula,
(12:31):
shay Han, they all played in the USHL, so they
were all somewhat familiar with each other. But I think
Mertz has fit in really well. I said, Phillip's really
finding his way now, you know. And so on any
given night, you know, we can have eight freshmen in
the lineup, and I think they've done really really well.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Thanks anything else for coach, guys?
Speaker 9 (13:00):
Yeah, I got one.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
If I couldn't, I don't have my raise hand either.
Speaker 9 (13:04):
Hey, Mike, what about these freshmen Connolly, Sawyer and Mustard
for Providence? What type of players are these guys?
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Mike?
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Ah, They're excellent. So Conley, it was a World junior player,
really really good player for them. I think, Well Elger
is another one who I think is a really good
young player for them. Will Elger. Uh, you know, Mustard
had a breakout season in the us HL last year,
so they're they're very, very talented. But they also have
(13:35):
you know, Poison and Yoda. They've had a lot of
experience there so to experienced goaltenders. So you know they're
getting great production I think from their freshman class as well.
But they also have a lot of guys who've played
a lot of experience in this league.
Speaker 9 (13:55):
Mike, last couple of games, I guess, last three, it's
been tough to get goals. But you always mentioned when
you get to January it's big boy time. Something that
that Gary Yurk used to say this year. What's that
is that natural? This time of year just makes it
(14:15):
harder to score goals? The games get more.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Important, I think, so, I think you know, if you
look at Denver, they won a national title last year,
and uh, they won their first NCAA game two to one,
they won the second one two to one. They won
the semis two to one, and they won the finals
two to nothing. I mean, it's when you're playing in
championship games, and when we lost to U mass And
in the Garden it was two to one in overtime.
(14:39):
It's it's a it's a lot tougher, uh to score goals.
Teams tighten up. Look at the NHL playoffs, how much
how different that is from the regular season. So it's
just playoff hockey is different. When you're playing for a trophy,
it's much tougher to score goals. Now you're going and
have outlier games, but I just know, typically when you
(15:01):
have two evenly matched teams that play the game the
right way, and usually that's what it is when you're
getting to a final game, it's it's it's tough to
fight for your ice.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Ridge.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
We'll end it with you, okay, thank you, So I'll
just hit you with two more then. So first of all,
for you, guys, haven't lost since December, so uh, since
since then or since December twenty nine, So since then,
you guys have gut points in every game. So what
(15:44):
are some things that you've been doing, uh in this half,
like since that that loss or even maybe before that
as well. That's that's helped you get to the results
where now you've been able to jump up to fourth
in the Pairwise.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
No, I don't think I get asked this question yesterday.
I don't think we're really doing anything different. If you
look at before we went on break, you know, we
finished our first half with two with Lowell, who I
think with six or seventh in the country at the time,
and BC, who was one, and we took four out
(16:18):
of six points from BC. And we you know, played
two at Lowell on the road, and you know, we
won the first night and lost the second night one
nothing still played really really well. So I thought we
were playing well before when we hit the brake, and
I just think that we've continued to play very consistent hockey.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
Bridget, I guess maybe I should have worded it this way.
What are some of those things that you've been doing
in this stretch that you've really liked from your team?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Well, getting solid goaltending. I think when you're winning games consistently,
you're managing the puck well, you're not turning it over,
you're not giving up a lot of odd man rushes.
I think that you know, we defend pretty well. I'd
like to see us create more in the offensive zone.
(17:11):
I think that's an area that we can get better at.
I think we're pretty good off the rush and we're
a good for checking team, but I'd like to see
a few more multiple shot shifts. I don't think that
we're getting enough of those right now, and that could
be one of the reasons why we're not We haven't
scored a ton of goals lately, but like a defensive way,
(17:33):
I think we're playing pretty well.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
Last one is just because we're obviously going to talk
about the fact that you guys have jumped all the
way up to fourth in the pairwise and you know,
trending in a great direction, and then like looking back
at the Hockey East preseason, holl they only had you
projected for eight. Like when you see something like that
in the preseason, are you just like, oh, no, that's
(17:56):
not that's not accurate, Like we're going to be so
much better than that.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
No, I don't really get too caught up with that.
You know, that's happened a lot here since I've been
at Yukon, So that's not really a concern of ours
because you don't know, and you don't know like going
into it. I'm not offended the way our season ended
last year. And some of the players that we lost.
(18:25):
I get why some team people went have picked us eighth,
but every year is different and you've got to go
out and play the games. And that's why the end
of the year pool is way more important than the
preseason pool. Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Awesome, Well, thanks everyone for jumping on coach. Thank you,
good luck this weekend.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Okay, thank you,
All right, coach, coming off DT Ice championship, we're back
in conference action, top ten matchup this weekend home and
home with Providence. Just want to get your thoughts as
we head down the home stretch of hockey US play.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Well, we certainly we're excited to finally get our first
ct ice championship trophy, but we've moved on and trying
to get ready for the Friars now. And they're always
a tough opponent for us to play against. I think
that they have a balanced scoring attack, they're pretty good defensively.
(00:42):
They've always had really good special teams and two excellent goaltenders.
So there are a reason. You know, they're top ten
team for a reason, and we know we're going to
have our work cutout for us this weekend.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Awesome, all right, we'll open for questions. Joe, you want
to start us off.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Yeah, thanks, good morning.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Cav How are you.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I'm great, Joe, you, I'm good.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
Obviously, coming off such an emotional weekend in Fairfield, did
what was the mood in practice the last two days?
Any sort of letdown momentum from the weekend, How would
you characterize it?
Speaker 3 (01:21):
You know this this group's pretty good. They I think,
you know, they obviously were excited after the weekend, but
you know, we've had like three weekends in a row. Joe,
it's uh, and this is going to be our fourth
it's uh. You know, New Hampshire was an emotional weekend,
going up to Maine was a really emotional weekend, and
(01:41):
then obviously this past weekend. But they're pretty good at
compartmentalizing and moving on to the next challenge in front
of us.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Can you talk a little bit about Philip. I mean,
obviously nice time for his first goal. It seems like
he's even more in the he's feeling he's feeling his
oats a lot more.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
For most Europeans, they play over here for a year
before they come to college, so they get somewhat used
to the North American culture. He's one of the few
that came straight from He was playing in the Swedish
junior league last year and the Slovenian kid, so it
(02:23):
probably took him a little longer to get acclimated Joe
to North American style hockey, and the rinks are a
lot bigger over in Europe, so but I really like
the way he's progressing. He's an excellent kid, four to
zero student. He's been a great addition to our program.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
And then last one for me for now. The teams
always seemed to have a knack for blocking shots. Obviously
Spets and Massinio were really good at that. But you
had Jake with eight seconds to go to help save
the game. Is that a mindset? Is that a learned skill?
What makes the team a good shot blocking team? I
(03:04):
think you see any team that is gonna be successful,
it has to be able to block shots.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
It's just part of the game. It's it's boxing out
in basketball, it's being able to bunt in baseball. It's
it's a fundamental that you need to have in your game.
And teams that are not going to block shots, I
don't think they're going to be very successful.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Thanks Bridget, we can jump over to you.
Speaker 5 (03:32):
Thank you, Colin High coach.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Bridget got a few questions.
Speaker 5 (03:35):
I'll just ask if you first. So I wanted to
ask you about kind of where you guys are in
your I guess we're Tiscano. Is actually because you guys
are this is your second season there, writers are your
second full season.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Uh well, it opened two januaries ago.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
Okay, So, and I had overheard a conversation this week
about how like Hockey East has gotten a lot of
big investments in facilities and programs recently, and I wanted
to know, now that you're you're in your second season
in Toscano and then you're able to show recruits it
(04:18):
and everything, what has that been like for your program?
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Well, obviously it's a great help for our program. We
were you know, I think the two biggest things I've
said about this arena are one, it gives our players
and our student athletes a facility where, you know, a
(04:43):
top notch facility where they can recover, where they can
come and work on their shot, where they can become
the very best player that they can be. We have
everything in here to help develop them as a hockey player.
Speaker 5 (05:03):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
The second thing is it allows our student body to
walk across campus and come watch us play. I think
those are the two most important things when it comes
to this facility.
Speaker 5 (05:18):
And then I'll just do this one as well. For
your goaltending situation you've had, you've had to you know,
you've had some challenges trying to figure out, I guess,
how to go about utilizing everyone. Can you just talk
a little bit about how you've been able to bring
(05:40):
those like get through the adversity, bring those guys in all.
You have all new goalie group this year.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
So yeah, well it really hasn't been a challenge because
we haven't had them healthy. Really, I haven't had to
make too many choices because I think, for all, we've
only had two weeks this year actually this being the
third right now, because Callum's back, where we've had all
(06:07):
three goalies healthy. So Tyler was playing the majority of
the games, and Callum was injured early, and then Tyler
got hurt, and then Callum jumped in, and when they
were both hurt, Tommy Heaty played. So all three goalies
have played. But you know, I think Tyler and Callum
have certainly, you know, played well enough this year to
(06:32):
earn more starts in the net. Now, how we're going
to go about that going forward, I don't know yet.
It's still only Wednesday. We'll make that decision tomorrow night.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Adam will jump over to you.
Speaker 6 (06:46):
Yeah, I guess that is sort of the crux of
my question with the goaltending play is is it still
Tyler goes into this week having done what he did
last weekend and knows I've still got to earn it.
Do they have to prove anything coming off of last
weekend with that decision?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
I think you got to prove something every day. I
think the real good ones try to prove something every day.
I don't think they're ever satisfied with what they did
the previous week So, and that's what I expect. That's
an expectation here of the players. When Jake Richards shows
up today, when John Speest shows up, they got to
prove it. They got to go out there and show
(07:25):
me that they're getting better every day, because if the
minute that stops happening, you're not going to have.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
A lot of success. Where's the trophy in the lounge?
Speaker 6 (07:36):
Okay, the guy is still getting a kick out of
it every time they walk by it.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I don't know, you'd have to ask them, but it's
going to stay in the lounge all year long. I
know that.
Speaker 6 (07:48):
And for Houston Cartman obviously getting thrown into consistent playing
time for the first time in his careers. So what
have you seen over the last few weeks with what
he brings.
Speaker 3 (07:57):
He brings a ton of energy, for sure. I really
like the way his game has progressed over the past
three years.
Speaker 5 (08:04):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
He plays a solid but when he's out there, I
thought early on in his career, I thought structurally he
could get lost. I think he's done a great job
of understanding positionally where he should be on the ice
and when he's not playing. He's also adds a value
because he just brings so much energy to our bench.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
That's good, Andrew, go ahead, I think have congrats on
the win this past week.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
Thanks Andrew.
Speaker 7 (08:40):
You know you of course, sure York used to talk
about this is the beginning of trophy season, you and
I and I think you've talked with other folks too
about how the beam pok could always be sort of
a catalyst towards a you know, that home stretch. I guess,
just how are you feeling about your team right now
now that you guys finally broke through and were able
to win this tournament.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Well, I was super happy for Hudson Chandor and John Spets,
who had lost in that championship game three years in
a row. But for the other guys, to answer your question,
I think it went a long way for our younger
guys learning what it takes to win a trophy and
how hard it is. And we made some young mistakes
(09:24):
in that championship game at times, and I think you
can only grow from that. And when we're putting another well,
hopefully we're going to be in that position again in
another month or so, and our guys can use draw
on that experience to help them, you know, the next
time they're faced with certain challenges in a game. So
(09:46):
I think it can be a great springboard for your team.
Now that being said, I also understand how quickly it
can change, you know. I remember a couple being pot
teams where all of a sudden you start thinking you're
really good and you can be humbled quickly. So I
know in this game, and especially playing in this league,
(10:09):
Andrew and I and our players know, like coming up,
you know, if you look at our schedule coming up
in the league, it's two with Providence, it's Lowell, it's U.
Mass it's Maine, it's bu I mean, they're all like
a lot of those teams are in the top ten,
so you know, and then we're followed with Northeastern, who
(10:29):
we haven't played yet, who's playing really well right now.
Vermont has played well all year long, so we understand that.
You know, you have to continue to get better and
improve or you can. This game's very humbling.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Joe, we'll jump back to you.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
Thanks HAVELV.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
How is Ethan doing and is there a timetable on
his possible return?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
He's doing my much better. He skated yesterday for the
first time in a couple of weeks. But I don't
know if he'll be ready for this weekend yet, though.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Thank you, go ahead, Thank av.
Speaker 8 (11:14):
Nice to see you.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
I see you, Cooper.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
I'm just grace.
Speaker 8 (11:18):
What did you think of Hugh last week in his return?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
I thought he was really good, And in fact, when
we shortened the bench towards the end of the game,
I moved him up onto one of the lines. We
were playing three lines at the end of the game,
and he was on one of those lines because I
thought he gave us a really solid effort on Saturday night.
And again, that's another kid with a lot of experience.
(11:43):
You know, Western Michigan played in a lot of national tournaments,
so he has a lot of postseason experience.
Speaker 8 (11:50):
Just a big picture question, because I've talked to you
a few different times over the course of the season,
about your young guys and all these new guys that
have come in there, can you put into perspective because
you're at the rink every day, like what this group
and what these young guys are like on a day
to day basis, So.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
I don't even look at him as young guys anymore.
But yeah, they've been a fun group to work with,
you know. And a lot of them, you know, like
Shahn and Gardula played together and juniors, you know, Whitcomb,
but most of them played Kai, Trey, Scott, Witcomb, Gardula,
(12:31):
shay Han, they all played in the USHL, so they
were all somewhat familiar with each other. But I think
Mertz has fit in really well. I said, Phillip's really
finding his way now, you know. And so on any
given night, you know, we can have eight freshmen in
the lineup, and I think they've done really really well.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Thanks anything else for coach, guys?
Speaker 9 (13:00):
Yeah, I got one.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
If I couldn't, I don't have my raise hand either.
Speaker 9 (13:04):
Hey, Mike, what about these freshmen Connolly, Sawyer and Mustard
for Providence? What type of players are these guys?
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Mike?
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Ah, They're excellent. So Conley, it was a World junior player,
really really good player for them. I think, Well Elger
is another one who I think is a really good
young player for them. Will Elger. Uh, you know, Mustard
had a breakout season in the us HL last year,
so they're they're very, very talented. But they also have
(13:35):
you know, Poison and Yoda. They've had a lot of
experience there so to experienced goaltenders. So you know they're
getting great production I think from their freshman class as well.
But they also have a lot of guys who've played
a lot of experience in this league.
Speaker 9 (13:55):
Mike, last couple of games, I guess, last three, it's
been tough to get goals. But you always mentioned when
you get to January it's big boy time. Something that
that Gary Yurk used to say this year. What's that
is that natural? This time of year just makes it
(14:15):
harder to score goals? The games get more.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Important, I think, so, I think you know, if you
look at Denver, they won a national title last year,
and uh, they won their first NCAA game two to one,
they won the second one two to one. They won
the semis two to one, and they won the finals
two to nothing. I mean, it's when you're playing in
championship games, and when we lost to U mass And
in the Garden it was two to one in overtime.
(14:39):
It's it's a it's a lot tougher, uh to score goals.
Teams tighten up. Look at the NHL playoffs, how much
how different that is from the regular season. So it's
just playoff hockey is different. When you're playing for a trophy,
it's much tougher to score goals. Now you're going and
have outlier games, but I just know, typically when you
(15:01):
have two evenly matched teams that play the game the
right way, and usually that's what it is when you're
getting to a final game, it's it's it's tough to
fight for your ice.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Ridge.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
We'll end it with you, okay, thank you, So I'll
just hit you with two more then. So first of all,
for you, guys, haven't lost since December, so uh, since
since then or since December twenty nine, So since then,
you guys have gut points in every game. So what
(15:44):
are some things that you've been doing, uh in this half,
like since that that loss or even maybe before that
as well. That's that's helped you get to the results
where now you've been able to jump up to fourth
in the Pairwise.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
No, I don't think I get asked this question yesterday.
I don't think we're really doing anything different. If you
look at before we went on break, you know, we
finished our first half with two with Lowell, who I
think with six or seventh in the country at the time,
and BC, who was one, and we took four out
(16:18):
of six points from BC. And we you know, played
two at Lowell on the road, and you know, we
won the first night and lost the second night one
nothing still played really really well. So I thought we
were playing well before when we hit the brake, and
I just think that we've continued to play very consistent hockey.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
Bridget, I guess maybe I should have worded it this way.
What are some of those things that you've been doing
in this stretch that you've really liked from your team?
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Well, getting solid goaltending. I think when you're winning games consistently,
you're managing the puck well, you're not turning it over,
you're not giving up a lot of odd man rushes.
I think that you know, we defend pretty well. I'd
like to see us create more in the offensive zone.
(17:11):
I think that's an area that we can get better at.
I think we're pretty good off the rush and we're
a good for checking team, but I'd like to see
a few more multiple shot shifts. I don't think that
we're getting enough of those right now, and that could
be one of the reasons why we're not We haven't
scored a ton of goals lately, but like a defensive way,
(17:33):
I think we're playing pretty well.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
Last one is just because we're obviously going to talk
about the fact that you guys have jumped all the
way up to fourth in the pairwise and you know,
trending in a great direction, and then like looking back
at the Hockey East preseason, holl they only had you
projected for eight. Like when you see something like that
in the preseason, are you just like, oh, no, that's
(17:56):
not that's not accurate, Like we're going to be so
much better than that.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
No, I don't really get too caught up with that.
You know, that's happened a lot here since I've been
at Yukon, So that's not really a concern of ours
because you don't know, and you don't know like going
into it. I'm not offended the way our season ended
last year. And some of the players that we lost.
(18:25):
I get why some team people went have picked us eighth,
but every year is different and you've got to go
out and play the games. And that's why the end
of the year pool is way more important than the
preseason pool. Thank you, guys.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Awesome, Well, thanks everyone for jumping on coach. Thank you,
good luck this weekend.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
Okay, thank you,
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