Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Downtown Hartford here at Bear's Barbecue alongside Yukon Men's ice
hockey head coach Mike Kavanof. I'm geor do you know?
With you big thanks to why I hope i'man back
in the studio or on site engineer Christia Antonio and coach.
Not often do we go five games between getting a
chance to chat with you. But it's been five games
in relative quick secession. You had a pair of wins
(00:21):
against the Northeastern Huskies, split a pair against New Hampshire,
and then the game on Tuesday before Thanksgiving against Stonehill.
How are you after those five games? Just as a
general sense with five games in just a couple of
weeks there.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Well, I came in pretty hot tonight, so that for it.
I had to circumvent a few traffic on the way
down here, but we did it.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I think right on red is legal in Connecticut. I
think you're fine.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Jumping in and out of the high speed lane or
pass it. What's it?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Well, it also doubled as a high speed lane for
you that I.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Did, well did for a little bit. It worked so
I got here on time. No, it's been an interesting
five games. Uh, you know, I don't feel like I felt.
Every now and then the team goes through I think
a lull or a rut through the season, and I
think that happens to everybody. And these last five games,
(01:25):
I felt were teams that played very defensively. When we
played Northeastern and you and H there was a lot
of times where they didn't for check anybody in the
neutral zone. So there's almost five guys back that you
have to get through, and you know, I always talk
to the players about I don't want guys that are
(01:46):
going to play snob hockey and try to beat those
five guys. You have to dump the puck in. But
the thing that happens a lot of times is if
they're very good at it, which they are, it's hard
to generate speed and on your four check, So when
you're dumping the puck in, you're giving them a little
bit of time to break the puck out. And we
(02:06):
struggled with that a little bit. But the flip side
of it is there's been a tough five games for
us because we've played even Stonehill was a very similar opponent,
but was still three to one and one stretch, so
and I felt like we had the unh game at times.
(02:28):
I really like the way we played at home, and
then the third period we just did not close it
out and we had a bad period. So you gotta
flush it and move on.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Those games against Northeastern. We talked to you before that
weekend and how Northeastern and Jerry Keef had that group
playing really well to start the season. Did you know
style aside in terms of kind of bringing five guys
back at times, did it feel like Northeastern was that
(02:57):
talented team that you thought they were going to be.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I don't think yes. I think that they are a
team that can really hurt you in some ways. I'm
not sure if I would put them in the halcyon
days of the Northeastern teams that were winning bean pots
(03:20):
and championships just yet. They're a good team and they
have a good goaltender. But they were a team that
did surprise me at times, where you know, I knew
how they were going to play, and I knew they
were relying on the goaltender, but they had a little
more offense than we anticipated.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
But in that weekend, a couple of wins and you
scored four goals in each of those games. So what
were you able to do offensively? You know, they got
the transfer Goaldie from Brown and you still were able
to generate a pretty big weekend of offense.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I think we were opportunistic at times. I thought we
did a great job of scoring on deflections and rebounds.
And you know, Jake Percival had I think both of
his goals, well, he had three goals on the weekend.
Four goals on the weekend, I believe, right, yeah, he
did so. I think he was you know, he had
(04:21):
a deflection. I know he had an empty netter, but
he did a really good job getting to the front
of the net. We got some rebounds and we took
his eyes away. And I think with any good goaltender,
and we face a lot of them, and we'll face
another one this weekend, and we're going to have to
do a really good job of getting traffic and taking
(04:42):
the goaltender's eyes away.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
When we look at these five games, of which it's
you know, three to one in one, and then yet,
as the head coach, you're kind of saying, there's plenty
of meat on the bone left to work with in
terms of improvement. Does it feel like the offense is
still doing what you want. The offensive scored three or
four goals in all five of those games. Are you
(05:07):
looking for more out of the offense despite the production.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
It's funny because I think we are. We're scoring, However,
I don't feel like we're dominating offensively like we have
the ability to. When we're playing really well. We get
multiple shot shifts, we have offensive zone time, we can
hem teams in, we can get a full change while
they're still in the defensive zone. That's you know. I
(05:33):
love when we're playing that way and you force the
other team to take a premature time out. I don't
feel like we've been doing that, but we have found
a way to get the park behind the goaltender, and
which is good because I don't think we've been playing
our best offensive hockey yet and we're still scoring.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Goals on the other side. The last two games New
Hampshire Stonehill three goals allowed, actually four and three goals allowed.
So what perks up there defensively for you the last
couple of games that you're looking to tweak.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Well, I think it's been a theme all season long
that I think the two areas where we really have
to get better is one I'm not sure we manage
our decisions at the offensive blue line really well. And
what I mean by that is a lot of times
we want to play on top of people, so our
(06:30):
defensemen are going to pinch, they're going to crash, and
when that happens, you have to have your high forward
cover form. I think a lot of times we're either
pinching on situations where we shouldn't, or when we do pinch,
the high forward speculating that we're going to win that
pinch and it's leading to oddman rushes. That's a problem
(06:52):
and that's something that we certainly have to rectify here
going forward. And then the other one is defensive zone
face we are we're in the bottom of the country
and giving up chances off a defensive zone face offs,
and that can be a culmination of us not winning
(07:13):
face offs, not sometimes knowing our assignment and other times
just blowing an assignment, you know, just leaving your guy
to go cover somebody else, or thinking offense before defense.
And that's an area that we definitely have to clean up.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
When it comes to the numbers you're citing versus maybe
some of the more publicly accessible numbers, So in front
of me I can pull up that Yukon is fortieth
out of sixty in the country an overall face off
win percentage, the numbers when you're saying, right, we're breaking
it down, we're looking at defensive zone stuff. Do all
teams have access to that same information behind the scenes?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Sure? Okay? And the you know, the face off stat
can be a little misleading because a lot of neutral
zone draws they might not add up to a whole lot.
And I know Mario Lemiu would never even try on
a neutral zone draw because he didn't want his opponent
to know some of his better moves. It's more like
(08:19):
the defensive zone draws and you know, the offensive zone draws.
When you win a clean you have a chance to
get a good chance and you know, really good shot
on goal. So those are the two areas where I
think we got to be a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
We're here with head coach Mike kavanav yukon men's ice hockey.
Later on in this show, we're gonna meet with sophomore
forward Ethan Gardula sophomore defenseman kai Jan Veria. We got
plenty more to dig into with Mike as we roll
on here from Bear's barbecue and downtown Hartford. Madam Jaredino,
stick with us. You're listening to Yukon men's ice hockey
from Blearfield
Downtown Hartford here at Bear's Barbecue alongside Yukon Men's ice
hockey head coach Mike Kavanof. I'm geor do you know?
With you big thanks to why I hope i'man back
in the studio or on site engineer Christia Antonio and coach.
Not often do we go five games between getting a
chance to chat with you. But it's been five games
in relative quick secession. You had a pair of wins
(00:21):
against the Northeastern Huskies, split a pair against New Hampshire,
and then the game on Tuesday before Thanksgiving against Stonehill.
How are you after those five games? Just as a
general sense with five games in just a couple of
weeks there.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Well, I came in pretty hot tonight, so that for it.
I had to circumvent a few traffic on the way
down here, but we did it.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
I think right on red is legal in Connecticut. I
think you're fine.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Jumping in and out of the high speed lane or
pass it. What's it?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
Well, it also doubled as a high speed lane for
you that I.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Did, well did for a little bit. It worked so
I got here on time. No, it's been an interesting
five games. Uh, you know, I don't feel like I felt.
Every now and then the team goes through I think
a lull or a rut through the season, and I
think that happens to everybody. And these last five games,
(01:25):
I felt were teams that played very defensively. When we
played Northeastern and you and H there was a lot
of times where they didn't for check anybody in the
neutral zone. So there's almost five guys back that you
have to get through, and you know, I always talk
to the players about I don't want guys that are
(01:46):
going to play snob hockey and try to beat those
five guys. You have to dump the puck in. But
the thing that happens a lot of times is if
they're very good at it, which they are, it's hard
to generate speed and on your four check, So when
you're dumping the puck in, you're giving them a little
bit of time to break the puck out. And we
(02:06):
struggled with that a little bit. But the flip side
of it is there's been a tough five games for
us because we've played even Stonehill was a very similar opponent,
but was still three to one and one stretch, so
and I felt like we had the unh game at times.
(02:28):
I really like the way we played at home, and
then the third period we just did not close it
out and we had a bad period. So you gotta
flush it and move on.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Those games against Northeastern. We talked to you before that
weekend and how Northeastern and Jerry Keef had that group
playing really well to start the season. Did you know
style aside in terms of kind of bringing five guys
back at times, did it feel like Northeastern was that
(02:57):
talented team that you thought they were going to be.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I don't think yes. I think that they are a
team that can really hurt you in some ways. I'm
not sure if I would put them in the halcyon
days of the Northeastern teams that were winning bean pots
(03:20):
and championships just yet. They're a good team and they
have a good goaltender. But they were a team that
did surprise me at times, where you know, I knew
how they were going to play, and I knew they
were relying on the goaltender, but they had a little
more offense than we anticipated.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
But in that weekend, a couple of wins and you
scored four goals in each of those games. So what
were you able to do offensively? You know, they got
the transfer Goaldie from Brown and you still were able
to generate a pretty big weekend of offense.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I think we were opportunistic at times. I thought we
did a great job of scoring on deflections and rebounds.
And you know, Jake Percival had I think both of
his goals, well, he had three goals on the weekend.
Four goals on the weekend, I believe, right, yeah, he
did so. I think he was you know, he had
(04:21):
a deflection. I know he had an empty netter, but
he did a really good job getting to the front
of the net. We got some rebounds and we took
his eyes away. And I think with any good goaltender,
and we face a lot of them, and we'll face
another one this weekend, and we're going to have to
do a really good job of getting traffic and taking
(04:42):
the goaltender's eyes away.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
When we look at these five games, of which it's
you know, three to one in one, and then yet,
as the head coach, you're kind of saying, there's plenty
of meat on the bone left to work with in
terms of improvement. Does it feel like the offense is
still doing what you want. The offensive scored three or
four goals in all five of those games. Are you
(05:07):
looking for more out of the offense despite the production.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
It's funny because I think we are. We're scoring, However,
I don't feel like we're dominating offensively like we have
the ability to. When we're playing really well. We get
multiple shot shifts, we have offensive zone time, we can
hem teams in, we can get a full change while
they're still in the defensive zone. That's you know. I
(05:33):
love when we're playing that way and you force the
other team to take a premature time out. I don't
feel like we've been doing that, but we have found
a way to get the park behind the goaltender, and
which is good because I don't think we've been playing
our best offensive hockey yet and we're still scoring.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Goals on the other side. The last two games New
Hampshire Stonehill three goals allowed, actually four and three goals allowed.
So what perks up there defensively for you the last
couple of games that you're looking to tweak.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Well, I think it's been a theme all season long
that I think the two areas where we really have
to get better is one I'm not sure we manage
our decisions at the offensive blue line really well. And
what I mean by that is a lot of times
we want to play on top of people, so our
(06:30):
defensemen are going to pinch, they're going to crash, and
when that happens, you have to have your high forward
cover form. I think a lot of times we're either
pinching on situations where we shouldn't, or when we do pinch,
the high forward speculating that we're going to win that
pinch and it's leading to oddman rushes. That's a problem
(06:52):
and that's something that we certainly have to rectify here
going forward. And then the other one is defensive zone
face we are we're in the bottom of the country
and giving up chances off a defensive zone face offs,
and that can be a culmination of us not winning
(07:13):
face offs, not sometimes knowing our assignment and other times
just blowing an assignment, you know, just leaving your guy
to go cover somebody else, or thinking offense before defense.
And that's an area that we definitely have to clean up.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
When it comes to the numbers you're citing versus maybe
some of the more publicly accessible numbers, So in front
of me I can pull up that Yukon is fortieth
out of sixty in the country an overall face off
win percentage, the numbers when you're saying, right, we're breaking
it down, we're looking at defensive zone stuff. Do all
teams have access to that same information behind the scenes?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Sure? Okay? And the you know, the face off stat
can be a little misleading because a lot of neutral
zone draws they might not add up to a whole lot.
And I know Mario Lemiu would never even try on
a neutral zone draw because he didn't want his opponent
to know some of his better moves. It's more like
(08:19):
the defensive zone draws and you know, the offensive zone draws.
When you win a clean you have a chance to
get a good chance and you know, really good shot
on goal. So those are the two areas where I
think we got to be a little bit better.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
We're here with head coach Mike kavanav yukon men's ice hockey.
Later on in this show, we're gonna meet with sophomore
forward Ethan Gardula sophomore defenseman kai Jan Veria. We got
plenty more to dig into with Mike as we roll
on here from Bear's barbecue and downtown Hartford. Madam Jaredino,
stick with us. You're listening to Yukon men's ice hockey
from Blearfield
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