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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HOCKEY MEDIA CONFERENCE

January 25, 2016

Mike Eaves

Madison, Wisconsin

THE MODERATOR: Men's hockey head coach Mike Eaves is here and will take questions.

Q. Mike, in your mind what's the legacy of that '06 team?
COACH EAVES: One of the legacies might be the fact that we only have two guys back for the reunion because everybody else is either coaching or still playing somewhere in the world. So that's pretty neat. That speaks to the level of that team. What else jumps into my mind is the -- is how that team grew to become a championship team.

We had such a good record going out into Colorado, coming back from there, then a week later Brian is out for four to six weeks with a knee, and we put a freshman goalie in and we kinda floundered a little bit, and then when Brian gets back we go to Mankato, and we lose two there, and Brian is in the net, and it's like, well, we thought things were going to change once you got back in there, but that was a turning point for the team, because that's when they really grew together and grabbed the reigns, and I think we only lost 1 game out of the last 11.

So something that appeared to be a real negative turned out to be the final piece of that team coming together. To me that's what resonates about that team.

Q. Mike, stepping out of conference this week, does that give you an opportunity coming off a difficult loss to Minnesota to maybe work on some things, examine some things and what's your number one concern moving forward coming off that loss sat night?
COACH EAVES: Coming off that loss was tough, didn't see it coming, especially Saturday night in front of a big crowd, and didn't expect to have Luke coming out of the line-up or see our freshman goalie, who has been pretty good for us, struggle as he did.

But I think that grabs our attention and says, okay, what do we have to go back to in terms the things that we can control, and that's been our focus yesterday and today in taking a look at practice and going back to those basic foundational blocks of making sure that, A, we're working hard, B, we're playing smart, and we're doing things together as a team.

So we will go back and begin with the one-on-one situations and make sure that those building blocks are in place and go from there. So it's about controlling the things that we can control with the building blocks.

Q. When you put Matt back in, do you think he will benefit from the experience that transpired, even in the third period on Saturday?
COACH EAVES: We hope so. In talking to Jeff Sanger about it, the whole process, I think, is part of his growth. Talk about mental toughness; that is a big part of what he's going through. I know Jeff is going to meet with the goalies today and go back on the ice, and for them it's the same thing, getting back down to basics.

He's fighting it right now, and we all know that confidence is such a big piece, so he needs to go out and work on some fundamentals, and he needs to feel the puck and know that he can stop it as he has done all year for us.

Q. Listen to Cameron Hughes in the postgame on Saturday he was very mature about things, too, while a goaltender might be blamed for what happened, he said it was everybody, and I think that's probably a good message that the entire team can here, right?
COACH EAVES: And that's who this group is all about. When we lost in Michigan State, Paddy Sexton fell down on the blue line and hit a rut and fell and they went in and scored, and he wanted to get up to the team after and apologize to the boys, he felt so bad, and Wags said -- Ryan Wagner said, "Paddy, sit down; it's all of us." And, you know, that's the kind of mentality, and it's a healthy mentality to have.

Q. Your team has had some good moments as it's grown this season, but is it concerning to see it kinda take a step back in a rivalry series like that?
COACH EAVES: It's disappointing. You sure don't want that to happen, but in saying that, even with that '06 team who would have predicted that we would have had that stumble there in the middle of the season with them.

So it is what it is, and we have to handle it as a coaching staff to make sure that we grab the attention of these young guys and get back to the basics so that we can continue to grow in the right direction.

Q. Have you heard anything from the Big Ten office about potential additional sanctions against Eddie Whittchow?
COACH EAVES: Well, we have heard from them, and we're going to look at an appeal because we're not happy with it, and I don't know if that's going to go anywhere, but before we make it public we're going to make that call and see what we can do.

Q. Any chance we will see Luke Kunin this weekend or no?
COACH EAVES: Based on how he was yesterday, I'm hopeful, yes. Things have gotten a wee bit better for him, and we anticipate him going on to the ice today to see how it feels.

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

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