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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HOCKEY MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 6, 2014Mike EavesQ. Mike, you've mentioned a couple times about the youth of this team. Can you just talk about what it's been like so far trying to incorporate so many young kids in terms of getting them up to speed and what you really need to know once you hit the ice and the games start? COACH EAVES: I feel a little bit like a farmer planting his fields, getting the seed in the ground. We have a check list of things that we're trying to get through, and just introduce it to the kids, get some reps in practice, film it, get some feedback that we just covered and move on to the next thing. So it's a little bit funny. This past summer we have neighbors at our cabin that are farmers, a young man and his family farms. They're out till 3 a.m. trying to get the seed in the ground because of insurance reasons. They have to get the seed in the ground so they can grow their crops. I feel a little bit like that and we do as a staff. Every day we're giving the kids another thing to think about, and giving them feedback, with 11 freshmen, we have to keep assuring them that this is going to slow down for you. The pace right now is unbelievable with the school work and the systems that we're trying to implement. But they're doing a good job. You still see them having fun. There are some indications that they're starting to catch on based on what we're seeing from the practice video. Q. What are the benefits of going to Alaska? COACH EAVES: Coaches always talk about getting on the road with a group, and you have a chance to get to know each other a little better by being on the road. Hanging out in airports, airplanes, hotels, you go into somebody else's backyard, and you're battling them, and it brings you closer together. So you're behind enemy lines, those are all good things. The fact that we're going to be together from Wednesday until Sunday just us, we'll get to know each other a little better. Q. Do you anticipate early in the season this might be a defensive oriented team given the experience of your defensemen and in between the pipes? COACH EAVES: Whenever you look at a hockey team, whether it's experienced or young, you always take a look at your goaltending. That is where it begins and ends in ice hockey. We have two senior guys that are very experienced and are excellent in their positions. So we feel that having those veteran goaltenders will buy time for our young kids both on the blue line and up front to get their feet underneath them, and get their feet underneath them and learn in a positive light. It's always easy to learn when you haven't given up a goal as opposed to giving up a goal, Geez, now we have to go look at this. So they'll buy us some time and that's a good thing for this young group. We need that from our goaltenders. If they can provide that, that will accelerate the learning process. Q. You've had such an extreme here the last two years, nine seniors a year ago, and the other two underclassmen left, and now 11 freshmen, two red‑shirt freshmen. As a teacher at heart, do you relish one or the other? Here you have these wide‑eyed guys trying to figure things out versus a couple of veterans. Is there one that you prefer, and if so, why? COACH EAVES: We've talked about it as a staff, ironically enough. I don't think we prefer one or the other. They're both exciting and have different challenges in their own way. Last year the group of guys being so much of an older team, our challenge as a coaching staff was to how much of the reigns can we give them in terms of leadership and the ability to play the right way? That was our challenge. This year it's about we're going to have to take the reigns and kind of infuse the energy at times and the learning that we're going to need and it's going to start with us. So one over the other, they're great challenges, and as one as a staff we look forward to. Q. That's a long flight. That's a long trip. But I've heard guys say through the years that's been one of their favorite trips. Tell us about Alaska? COACH EAVES: Actually, as a coaching staff, we just talked about it this morning, we look forward to it. First of all, going up to anchorage, it's an exciting place. Mount McKinley is up there, still an active volcano. You have this tide that rolls in and out every week, and there are biplanes flying in and out all day long. You walk downtown and you have a chance of seeing moose walking around. So it's a pretty unique place. There is great energy in that city, and it's a place we don't getting to very often. The thing about going now this time of year is we'll actually have more daylight. We'll have seven or eight hours of daylight when we get up there. Just being on the road is an opportunity for us to get together, so there are a lot of positives about going up there. Q. Do you see a little pizzaz and a little scoring punch from the freshmen? I know you haven't been on the ice a lot, but do you see something there, potential? COACH EAVES: There are some things there. There are some pieces to work with there. I think it's just our focus right now has been mostly with our playa way from the puck, so that we can get it back and have it more. But in those moments of creativity, you see some kids that have things you don't teach, and we'll need that because we have a lot of goal scoring to replace. There are some pieces to work with, and that's exciting. Q. With regards to your captains, they seem real mild‑mannered, really soft spoken guys for the most part. Is that a good thing with this team? Is it something that maybe you need someone to be a little more vocal knowing the youth you have in your dressing room? COACH EAVES: As a matter of fact, it's funny you bring that up, because we have co‑captains in Chase and Brad. I've seen‑‑ I was thinking I've got to talk to Chase a little bit, he seems to snap every once in a while and gets after it pretty good. There is a time and place and I see more snappage than I do to control from Chase. So I think that in my own head, there is a time and place, no doubt. So they kind of balance each other. I guess that is my point. They have a pretty good balance. Brad's pretty calm, pretty cerebral, very detail oriented. But Chase has that switch that goes off and on if things aren't going right. Q. Couple freshmen forwards that saw a lot of ice time last year. How big a jump do you expect from them freshman year to sophomore year? Usually when you talk experience, you think juniors and seniors, but these are guys that have played for you already. COACH EAVES: We made the analogy these young freshmen might have been dwarfed by the presence of a big upper class. Those trees have been cut down. The sun light's on them now, and it's time to grow. They're ready for it. They want that responsibility. I think we're going to see good things from those young people. Q. Your defensive core, when you think of Chase and Eddie Wittchow and Kevin Schulze, but, again, those freshmen coming in the Dougherty and the forwards and what have you, do you like their make‑up and what they can provide? COACH EAVES: Yes, they've done some good things in practice. The exciting thing is we talk about eventually we want to be playing playoff championship hockey. That is a long‑term mission of ours. There are moments right now that we're seeing growth. The seeds in the ground in some areas for those young guys. When you watch on video, you see where they're growing, and that is what we need to see right now as coaches with a young team is those moments of growth and how they're moving forward. Are they 1% better today? Are they a little taller as they grow? So we're seeing moments like that, and that's what we need to see right now. That's our measuring marker more than anything else, are we seeing growth. Q. Last year a lot of questions about the newness of being in the Big Ten Conference and being the first year of it. How different do you anticipate it being this year when you start to look at the preseason rankings and three teams? Do you feel more settled in than it's going to be? It wasn't competitive before, but even more competitive in terms of the conference this year? COACH EAVES: I think the rivalries will be notched up a level higher just because last year playing these teams four times. We're going to play them another four times. There were moments that you could feel that tension on the ice, and that's going to create for real good hockey just because of the competitiveness of it. I think the parity is going to be in the league. I mean, Minnesota's obviously, I think they were everybody's pick to be at the top, but that gives everybody else a target to shoot at. I think it's just going to be more competitive this year. The parity's going to be there, and it's going to be another terrific year just because of that competitiveness. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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