Seg 2 - MHOC Show w Mike Cavanaugh Dec 1

More of an individual perspective on the team 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Back at Bear Smokehouse Barbecue here in downtown Hartford, Adam
Giardino with you, joined by the headman of Yukon Men's
ice hockey, Mike Cavanaugh. We left talking more team oriented stuff.
Would love to dig deeper into some of the individual
performances so far, and we're darnear approaching the midway point
of this season. Is there a and I know you

(00:22):
hate this, I'm gonna ask you anyway, So is there
a freshman right now that it has played in a
way that you maybe has exceeded expectations for a freshman?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
I would say all of them, Yeah, Yeah, I would.
I would say that, you know, Carlin de Zandy is
certainly he's put up some numbers of late and Alexander
Blake has been very consistent all the way through. And
both Brendan Dunfee and Anthony Alan Samaki. It's not easy

(00:56):
to come in as a freshman defenseman. It's a lot
harder to come in, I think as a defenseman than
it is a forward. And they've both acclimated themselves very
well because parts of our defense of zone coverage can
be esoteric at times, and they have picked up on
it pretty quickly. The little nuances and you know, done

(01:19):
a nice job with it. And even Cam Hendrickson, you know,
in goal. I think he's been solid in both his starts.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
When you talk about that kind of esoteric nature. We're
actually gonna talk to Kai Janvrie a little later and
Kai's paired up with biking. Gustav Sen Nyberg.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Just how was that interview with Kai?

Speaker 1 (01:39):
He was awesome. Yeah, him and Ethan Grdoola, both of
them outstanding sophomores.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
The one thing you could say about Kai is he
would be a loquacious.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
You know, but it's funny. Last year I remember it
not be I think we chatted with him and it
was a little more more of a freshman. It just
felt more like, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
The only reason I know that word is because the
second grade teacher told me the same thing.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Guy, without ruining the surprise, we did ask him about
growing just outside of Detroit Thanksgiving football. We'll find out
if he ever went to one of those Detroit Lions
games growing up. Okay, on Thanksgiving Day, you know, for
a Brendan Dunfy, for an Anthony Alayin Samaki in practice,

(02:28):
even though they're do you pair up? Do you mix up?
The defensive pairings just to keep guys fluid and getting
used to things or in practice, do you like them
really getting that cohesion with the guy they're going to
be skating with on a game day.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Yeah, I think you'd like the cohesion. It's same thing
with your forward lines. You know, when guys can read
off each other and they have a really good feel
for where the puck is going to go. I think
the same thing is true for defensemen. However, you know
when you have we only have eight defensemen, and when
one's hurt like Trey has been hurt, or they have

(03:01):
to learn to play with all you know each other,
and throughout a game it happens too. There's times where
you mix up your lines to try to maybe get
some energy within the team if you feel like you're flat.
Sometimes you mix up your defensive pairings too. So I
think the great players can play with anybody, but certainly
when you do have a pair that plays together and

(03:23):
can read off each other, I think it's a beneficial
to your team.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
So again, loquacious now esoteric. So when you say that,
what do you think is the hardest piece of it
to pick up without giving away you know, trade secrets here.
But what do you think the hardest part is for
a freshman coming into this program to pick that up
as a blue liner.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
It's just a little bit different than probably what they've
played up until this point. So it's no different than
a high school football player going in to play defense.
You know, Bill Belichick's scheme at North Carolina is going
to be different than what his high school football coach
had ye you know, Nick Saban's scheme is going to

(04:09):
be different than what the guy played. So it's something
that you just have to get used to. And a
lot of times guys might play for a team for
two or three years before they come to us and
they're very comfortable in the system they're at and they
come to us and we're playing something different. So but
hockey players can adjust the and the good ones always do.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Kim, We're doing by head coach Mike Kavanaugh here and
the coaches show Bear Smokehouse barbecuing downtown Hartford. When we
talk later with Ethan Gardula, we ask about his ability
to play along what has been a pretty consistent line
for him. Mike Murtagg continues to take advantage of increased
reps here in his second year. So is there anything

(04:51):
new to report over the last couple of games for Mike,
because it seems the production hasn't slowed down.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
No, he's just continuing to play. You know, I've probably
talked about him the most out of anybody this year
and even on this show, and he just continues to
get better. And it's not really surprising to me because
you know, I watched him a lot last year and
I've said this multiple times that we had a really
good team and he was right there. He still played

(05:20):
in a lot of games last year and I had,
you know, a lot of confidence in him that he
was going to have a great year this year. And
he's probably one of our best forwards at getting to
the front of the net. When you watch him play,
he gets to the front of the net at least
two or three times a game.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Cam Hendrickson is a guy you mentioned. He's the second goaldie.
Tyler Muslik has been the one that has gotten the
bulk of the reps, but Cam with a game against
Ohio State more recently got one against New Hampshire. What
do you like about what he's been able to do
because you know he's given up a couple of goals

(05:57):
in each of the games that he's been in. But again,
you said that you you still like what he's brought.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
I think he competes really hard. I love his I
love that aspect about him. I think he's a you know,
catlike quickness. He can get from post to post as
well as anybody, and he's just still you know, I
think the hardest part for him is he doesn't necessarily
have Tyler Muslik size, so he's got to figure out

(06:22):
a way to be able to fight through screens and
you know, find pucks on point shots that where there's
a lot of traffic in front of the net.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
He wasn't net giving up to those goals against you
and h in that third period as a freshman, I've
got to imagine that's hard. What have you seen from
him coming out of that experience. I'm sure one that
he would have the old team would have rather not been.

Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, he's a very confident kid, so I don't think
that was an issue. I think that he uh, you know,
but I have a lot of faith in him, and
you know, if he had to play tomorrow, I feel
very confident with him.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
That coming up this coming weekend, is a pair of
games against Merrimack, and then it's about a well almost
a month off where you get to regroup, and we'll
talk plenty about that as we roll on here again.
Later on in the show, we've got Ethan Gardula and
kai Janverria joining us for conversations more with head coach
Mike Kapana when we return to Bear Smokehouse Barbecue in

(07:20):
downtown Hartford. This is Yukon men's ice hockey from Learfield