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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HOCKEY MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 11, 2016

Mike Eaves

Madison, Wisconsin

THE MODERATOR: Men's Hockey Head Coach, Mike Eaves is here, and will take questions.

Q. What is it about your club this year? They just don't give up!
COACH EAVES: I like what Greg Gard said about that, he's got a young team as well, and one thing about young people as you work with them is that they're pretty resilient. Maybe they haven't been beaten down and they just think they can get it done and they just keep playing and enjoying the game and battling, and as a result we've done this several times this year. Probably as many times as we have been up, had leads and given them away, we have also battled back. We did it again Saturday night, and it's just part of who this group is.

Q. I don't know how much you've had a chance to look at Penn State yet, but how do they stack up or compare to the other best teams you've played?
COACH EAVES: I will be honest with you, I haven't had much time to look at video on them; we have been busy with a couple of other things, but I know Guy Gadowsky has done a tremendous job, wherever he was. At Princeton he brought them up to be winning league championships with them, and over time at Penn State, you can see them getting better and better. They have good structure, they play hard, and they've been able to -- they were preseason -- I thought as a preseason team they would be one of the favorites this year.

Q. Mike, you mentioned the resiliency of your team. What's the number one thing, if you could change anything right now or improve it, that would allow the team to be more consistent, to win more consistently?
COACH EAVES: It would be in two areas. It would be in our ability to play in our own defensive zone, and the way we come into our defensive zone. That doesn't change. That's the same in the National Hockey League level, college, minor, pro; it's your ability to play without the puck in those two areas. If you can -- like on Friday night, we only gave up nine scoring chances. Single-digit scoring chances in a game is outstanding, and the difference was we didn't score, so even though we lose the game, we did a pretty good job in that area, and we need to continue to get solid in that area in order for us to have a chance to win games, but those two areas would be the areas we would look at.

Q. Mike, two-part question. Matt Jurusik, the key to his development up to this point, and what's his biggest challenge at this point having gone through a first half and kinda sitting with the rest of the freshmen in terms of trying to improve?
COACH EAVES: From a nongoalie person, just a head coach, one of the things in talking to Jeff that we want Matt to get better at is his consistency of challenging on shots that he can't see, to get out to the top of the crease and look through those bodies and find that puck. He tends to, like all goalies, when you can't see what's there, you shrink and you give more net up, so I think consistency in that area is something.

I think he's just -- he's kinda growing in his ability to feel like he can get it done, and grow, his resilience piece of it, even though if you look at his numbers, his goals against, his save percentage might not be what you would say are outstanding numbers by any stretch, but he keeps battling and makes big saves. Saturday was a perfect example. There were a couple of big rebounds, but he was able to let those go, and his resilience was, when it came down to the shootout, he was pretty good for us and won the game with those saves that he made.

Q. Mike, Luke Kunin has done some pretty impressive things for you as a freshman. What do you like out of his play the most? What's impressed you the most?
COACH EAVES: I don't know if you've had a chance to talk with Luke in a one-on-one situation, the things that impresses you the most when you speak to him is his maturity. He's an 18 year old going on 25.

He is just about getting it done and getting it done the right way. He knows what his goals are in his life, and he just gets it done. I think you may look at -- he's got diabetes and you may say that's too bad, that's a tough thing to have as a young guy, but actually that's been one of his best teachers, because he has to monitor himself, he has to give himself a shot. It's just about this is something I have to do, I get it done. I want to be this kind of a hockey player; these are the things I need to see to get it done, whether it's the weight room or going on the ice with Coach Luke early to work on something.

And he's done that in the classroom, too. I don't think going to class is his favorite thing. He gets a 3.13. He just gets it done. So as a young man -- and it's the same way on the ice. He needs to get to a puck, he gets the puck. He does a lot of the little things but also he's got the flare to put the puck in the net and make plays. So it's about his maturity that I think as a freshman that is the most outstanding thing.

Q. A little bit more on Luke. You said he has diabetes, how much of a challenge as a coach, watching what he goes through, he has to know his cycle, when he needs to take a shot. How does that factor in your play and your subbing in and out?
COACH EAVES: Not at all because of the fact he's so on top of it. He monitors what his diet is on a regular basis, keeping in touch with Jim Snider, our strength coach, and Andy Andy Hrodey, or athletic trainer. He's on top of it; it's not even a discussion. The only time it would be is if Andy said, Luke is having problems, but the only things that's come up is sometimes in games because of the ice time he's had he gets some cramps, but I don't know that's diabetes related, it's just about getting the right fluids in his body, so because of his maturity, it's really not an issue.

Q. Mike, Penn State is only in its fourth year of varsity hockey. Are you surprised with the success that that program has had and the fan base that it's built in Happy Valley, or not?
COACH EAVES: The fan base was there because of the club program, so it's always been strong. Joe Batista was there before, and Joe has a great program there, so there were some pretty strong roots at that level. So the fan base is not a big surprise, and you get a quality coach like Guy in there, whose got a plan, he knows the kind of players he needs, and he knows how you need to play in order to play successful hockey, and you know, a four-year plan -- he's right in step with that and I'm not surprised because of the kind of coach that he is.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for coach? Thanks, Mike.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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