	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HOCKEY MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 29, 2016

Mike Eaves

Madison, Wisconsin

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Men's Hockey Head Coach, Mike Eaves, and he will take questions.

Q. You have a small senior class, but it's a couple of guys who have played major roles. What's your take on they've seen better day, worse days. What's your take on what they've done for your program?
COACH EAVES: They played a lot of games, a lot of minutes and over the last couple of years, had significant roles for us. In talking with them this past weekend, they understand that their time is slipping by, and we've got four more games here that we know of and 12 more periods that we can continue to get better and grow, and that's their focus right now.

Q. Eddie Wittchow has had a nice career, and he's going to be playing at the next level soon. Are you seeing his game rise over the last couple of weeks after some of the issues he had a few weeks back?
COACH EAVES: Because of Eddie's size and mobility for a big man, he's going to have an opportunity to play at the next level at some point. I think Eddie's battle sometimes with us is the fact that he wants to do a little bit too much.

He talked to you about this. If he stays within his game and his skill set, he can be pretty effective, but he likes to get up on his horse and get going and handle the puck, and at the next level that's not going to be his job.

I think sometimes he gets caught up -- and we laugh about it because he knows, but he's such a in-conditioned athlete, like he can play all day. Even when we have our no-puck practices, at 220 pounds, he's leading every race and he doesn't seem to get tired very easily as well.

So he's got a great capacity for work, he's a great skater, and I think sometimes he feels like I've got all this energy, I want to use it! He has to learn to control that, and at times he does a very good job of it, and at times he struggles with it because he's got this energy. He's a young colt, buck that wants to go, and sometimes you've got to pull the reins back.

Q. Sticking with your seniors, they've had an extraordinary time here. They've won championships, they've been to the other side of the spectrum, they've seen coaches leave in mid-season, seen a variety of things happen to them. What do you hope they leave here with?
COACH EAVES: A little bit of an understanding of what they experienced here is a microcosm of life. They've had really good times, they've seen times that have been struggles for us as a group, they've seen change, and I think they look back on these four years as, wow, it was a lifetime within itself. One of the things that I can take from these experiences are going to help me in my next life, whatever that may be.

Q. Have you witnessed anybody in your day playing or coaching that has the capacity to skate as easily as Kevin Schulze?
COACH EAVES: Boy, you might put Justin Schulze in there. Jake Gardner had the same ability on his edges that Justin has. It's amazing, you wish you could find a reason why guys when they skate, they ride the edges of their blades instead of digging in and slowing down. Paul Coffey did that back when we played, and it's part of the gift that they have.

He is one of the fastest guys in college hockey for sure, and if he's got a chance to play at the next level it will be primarily because of his skating.

Q. Mike, what is Corbin McGuire's status this week? Not healthwise but in terms of where he's going to play?
COACH EAVES: Today we got him at defense. We're going to give him some reps this week. We're not sure about the status of young Mr. Tischke, so we will give him some more looks. The thing that we watch, when we watch video, when we have the puck, he's pretty good. He looks a little shaky sometimes we tell him when he's going backwards, and the more he plays the more he will feel better at that, but he gives us a comfort level when we see him with the puck.

Q. Penn State is obviously having an excellent season, close in on 20 wins. Would you agree that when they throw out a line it's like every line is kinda the same? It just seems like they keep comin' at you and comin' at you.
COACH EAVES: There is want a lot of difference from line-to-line. I would have to say that some of their lines may have a little bit more things you don't teach, kind of feel to them, but they all play hard and they play the same way and they want to get up the ice, and they have good goaltending. When we went in there, we felt like we were right there with them and coulda, shoulda, woulda. We will know what we're having when they come this weekend, but what they do is they all operate on the same premise, that they all work hard.

Q. A personality question about Eddie Wittchow, how does a guy so nice play the way he plays?
COACH EAVES: You're going to have to ask Eddie that question to get a real answer, but my perspective on that is that there are a lot of guys that I played with they were really nice off the ice, but they understood when it was time to play, they had a switch or they put on a shark fin or whatever that guy does mentally to have to play. I mean, hockey and football, a lot of sports are an aggressive-type of sport, and he recognizes that.

I think Eddie has grown in that area because of his size, and he recognizes he has to bring that to the table, and he gets himself to that place where he can do that.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297