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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HOCKEY MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 3, 2014Mike EavesQ. How were the two weeks of practice between the games? MIKE EAVES: Well, I'm tired. The weeks have been good. It's been a little bit of a sprint, a little bit of a marathon. We've had good moments, tough moments, but I think if we were to sit back and take a look at the weeks we've had here, we feel as a staff, I think if you talk to the guys, they would say we're better now than we were two weeks ago. It's been a grind. There's been a lot of battles. I know they're anxious to play against somebody else at this point, but that's a good thing. Q. To what extent are you surprised or even concerned about the goal scoring or lack thereof knowing that you had so many young guys coming into the season? MIKE EAVES: Well, if you take a look at our roster from last year and you see the list and you see who left, I mean, that was the glowing question, who was going to pick it up, and up to this point we haven't found that answer, although in our little scrimmage that we had with St.Norbert, one thing that probably not a lot of people know is that Adam Rockwood had a goal and two assists, multiple‑point person and was a freshman. That question there is still one to be answered. I know our older guys are pressing a little bit. They want to be the guy, and I think they just settle in and that'll take care of itself as we move forward here. Q. You can go two weeks and see improvement in your team, but is it possible to get them up to speed for what they're going to see this weekend? MIKE EAVES: Probably not. Any time that you're off for this amount of time, the concern of the coaching staff is that first period. If we can get through that first period and be 0‑0, down one, up one would be good news for us because we haven't played at game pace, we haven't played this ranked opponent, this type of ranked opponent. Getting through that first period will be good, and getting our feet underneath us to help us move forward. Q. You mentioned that you thought that after the two weeks that the team is better than it was before. In what areas and how significant were the jumps in those areas? MIKE EAVES: I would say all our areas five on five, starting in our own zone, defensive zone coverage, our forecheck, our forecheck neutral zone, our breakouts in the neutral zone. We spent a lot of time on those areas. What we saw when we were watching video was that the inconsistencies going from defensive zone coverage into a forecheck in the neutral zone, well, who is going where, what are they doing, and there was a hesitation. We have the luxury of being able to film all of our practices and break it down and give it back to the kids the next day. It's coming quicker, it's being more consistent. Those are healthy signs. Q. It's well‑documented you have a lot of young players on your team. Half of this roster has not played North Dakota. How do you get them acquainted with the type of challenge that they're going to face Friday and Saturday? MIKE EAVES: Well, first of all, I'm glad it's not in North Dakota. I think that would be a real jumping into the deep end, probably jumping off a 10‑meter board into the deep end it would be more like if we were playing there. But the fact we're at home, they're going to be excited. It's a bigger sheet. These are things that are going to help them. There's nothing that we can say or‑‑ the older guys are going to have to lead by example in their preparation and when they start playing, but we're just going to have to‑‑ it's going to happen and they're going to have to get through it on their own. Q. I think you envisioned Adam Rockwood being a point producer. Is he a goal scorer, too? MIKE EAVES: You know, if we take a look at his history, I would say if you looked at his number, point producer is A, but B, he can score goals. He's one of those guys that is going to be a lot like Mark Zengerle. I don't know to what degree as Mark was, who was kind of a pass‑first guy. I think a lot of that has to do with their confidence and their belief in their shot. Since day one it's something that he and I have talked about, we have worked on it, and along with Cameron Hughes, his shot, they see the ice very well. A young player, they're always going to go to their strengths, which is a good thing, but I think the belief in their shot, like there are times where he snaps that thing off and he knows where it's going and it's a weapon. I just think he's got to believe in that, and that'll come with time. Q. Another one of your favorite topics, but the schedule that you have here in the first half, the start and the stop, the start and the stop, that type of thing, how do you get this team through this, and getting through it with the start and the stop, knowing also that the degree of difficulty is as heavy as it is? MIKE EAVES: You know, I actually don't mind the schedule, because of the fact of who we are and how young we are. I think to play‑‑ we played four games and then we got feedback, we had a scrimmage, we got feedback. We were able to take game video and the guys had a firsthand knowledge of where we struggled and what we need to work on. Therefore we have their attention, and then the fact, it was funny, I was talking to Coach Trask the other day about his team and who they play against. Do you play lesser teams or do you play higher ranked teams and use the osmosis there to get drawn up to a higher level by playing a higher level team. I think with a young team it's good for them to see these really good teams and what the level is. Now, how is that going to translate into wins and losses? I have no idea. We could find ourselves with a couple more losses before we get a win, but if you take a look long‑term, and I know that you get judged by your wins and losses, but long‑term it's going to be better for us. Q. How has the rivalry with North Dakota changed and how important is it to keep them on the schedule with this new four‑year agreement? MIKE EAVES: Well, I think it's important to keep them on the schedule. From what ‑‑ I was talking to Coach Shu today, he was on the road, we were talking about the game Saturday night and the ticket sales and the fact that it's added to our TV package is awesome. I think our fans want us to stay in contact with them. We want to stay in contact because I think they're always going to be an elite program and you want to test yourselves against that. I think going up and playing in North Dakota is a highlight of a college career just because of the atmosphere there and the small rink and right on top of you. If you can play in that atmosphere, you can play in a national championship game, and I think that's important to have those experiences for our kids because that's what we're all about. Our mission isn't to win NCAA tournaments. Our mission is to play championship hockey. We can't guarantee wins in the check, but if we play championship hockey, that gives us the best opportunity to be successful there. So going to North Dakota, having it on our schedule for us to go there and for them to come here is a really healthy thing for our program. Q. How would you evaluate the goaltending four games in? MIKE EAVES: I think if you talk to Joel Rumpel, I think he would be disappointed. I think that if you talked to Petey, it's been standard Petey. He's competed his fanny off. I think he's played well, I mean, and I think that we had talked about at the beginning of the year that Rumps had separated himself a little bit because of his play of last year, but you know, that separation has closed based on what we've seen, and in no uncertain terms, we've talked to Rumps about that. He's very much aware of it. So I think it's a little bit, you know, I've had this success, now how do I get back in the saddle into that level again. I think he's going through that chapter of his book right now. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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