Seg 3 - MHOC Show w Cav Dec 1

Coach Cav & Adam talk UConn MHOC as we approach the mid point of the season

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Adam Jardino with you here in downtown Hartford. It bears
smoke How's Barbecue. Alongside head coach Mike Kavanaugh. We've got
Christian Antonio to my left and Wat Kopelman back in
the network studio. You know, we talk about this weekend
coming up against Merrimac, and we talked last show about
you know, you want to have those four or five

(00:21):
things every game to focus on.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
As we're you know.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Five days out, do you have those things already kind
of floating in your head of what you're going to
challenge the team with or does that inspiration come closer
to game day.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
I think there's really five things we focus on every game. Okay,
that's those are kind of standard for us, you know,
I think and I think if you went around and
pulled every college hockey team, three or four of them
be very similar. You know, you want to win the
faceoff game, you want to win the net front, you
want to win special teams, you don't want to give

(00:58):
up odd man rushes like the types of things. So
those are things that we really try to focus on.
And you know, whether it's five, six, seven, if you
can accomplish four out of five or five out of seven,
a lot of times you'll win the hockey game. So

(01:19):
let's say I think it's a good way to like
we say at times, you know, this was a processed
base when and we focus on the things that help
us win as opposed to just the result, because I
think when you focus on the result, it can be
very paralyzing and you don't want your players to play,

(01:42):
you know, with fear or scared of what the result
might be.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
And is that am I connecting the dots correctly and
saying that there is a little bit of that element
where you know at the top of the show when
you're but we went three, one and one in our
last five games. They're a little bit of that disconnect
there where the results on the paper look like, yeah,
you know, you took three out of five and with
a tie in there, but they just maybe the process

(02:12):
wasn't quite where it was.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Oh. I think we focus on the process a lot
more than the result. And you know, our players know that.
I don't think we've played our best hockey and it's
a long season and every opportunity after every game, it's
just data, that's all it is. It's data for us

(02:35):
to look at to say, how can we get to
being the best team we want to be? And some games,
you know that data is a win, and some games
that data is a loss, but regardless, it's data. And
sometimes when we win the game, we're not really happy
because we didn't play up to our standards or to

(02:56):
our ability, and we know that that's not sustainable in
the long run.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
You played the team that you're gonna be playing this weekend.
Merrimack already played them this year. Is a little unusual
that you're gonna play You're already gonna have some data
against Merrimack going into a two game weekend so early
in the season like this. So how do you use
that five to one win on November fourth or first
to inform what's going to come this weekend.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
I don't think that result is going to have much
to do about this weekend. We'll certainly break down their
games from Notre Dame in Dartmouth and watch their team.
I think they're excellent in transition. I think their goaltending
is pretty good. They have some guys in the faceoff
dot that are that we're going to have to contend

(03:43):
with and game plan four, so you know, and there's
really really hard team to play at Merrimack. I love
playing there. I grew up playing a lot of games there,
so I always like going back home. But it's a
place that the fans are right on top of you.
The game happens a little faster than you think it does.

(04:08):
It's a low ceiling. It just everything happens quick there.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
And before we join Ethan Gardula and Kai Jan Veria,
you mentioned, you know, growing up playing a lot of
games there. Now that your final time walking inside Matthew's
Arena is behind you, walking out of there, did it
did it feel a little odd knowing that that building
would be no more?

Speaker 2 (04:29):
It felt great walking out of there with.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
A Win's right, I'll tell you that absolutely.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
I walked right back down to Copley Square, and I
had planned to go recruiting the next day, so I
was staying in Boston that night, but a snowstorm derailed me.
So I enjoyed a nice evening in Boston that night.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
There you go, not bad as promised. When we return,
We've got Ethan Gardula, we've got Kai Jan Veria, and
oh by the way, tomorrow four thirty pre game Yukon
Women's hoops down in Tampa against South Florida. Bob Joy
said he didn't go golfing today. I don't believe him.
I think he's.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
Pulling one over on I played the fifth on that.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah, I'm pretty sure he got out. He snuck out
at least for nine holes earlier today. Yeah, we'll see.
He and Deb Fisk will have coverage beginning at four
thirty with a five o'clock tip against the South Florida Bulls.
We'll be back more Hockey Coaches Show coverage from Bear
Smokehouse barbecuing downtown Hartford.