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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN HOCKEY MEDIA CONFERENCEMarch 10, 2014Mike EavesTHE MODERATOR: The men's hockey team, winners of seven of its last eight games, closes the regular season at Michigan State this weekend. Friday's game starts at 6:00 p.m. while Saturday's game is a 3:00 p.m. start. It will be televised live by FS Wisconsin. Head Coach Mike Eaves is here and will take questions. Q. You talked about a dress rehearsal. Sometimes games‑‑ both of the types of games you played this last weekend, that's what you're going to get in an NCAA Tournament, right, just making a play when you have to make a play? COACH EAVES: Yes. On Friday night, we had a tremendous start. Got a lead and played well through that game. And on Saturday we didn't get off to the start we wanted. As a matter of fact, we were on the other end of the spectrum. But we did score and kind of settled ourselves down a little bit, and Joel Rumpel gave us a chance to get our feet underneath us and solve that riddle. The team we played on Saturday was different than on Friday. They came out with great purpose. And we responded well in the second and the third, and in the overtime, we were dominating in that five‑minute overtime. Our play makers made a play for us to get us to victory. Q. Mike, what has distinguished Frankie as a captain this year? COACH EAVES: Guys are going to laugh if they see this interview, but at our team banquet, senior banquet, we got up and spoke about every young lad, and I said about Frankie that he was an everydayer. Next three days of practice he missed. But that's what he was been for us. He has been there every game, game in, game out, every practice, kind of that steadying influence. Performance‑wise, he's been‑‑ offensively, he leads the Big Ten in points. He just hasn't done anything spectacular, but he's been consistent, in terms of playing to his strengths and playing his type of game. Q. When did you see him‑‑ first see him as captain material? COACH EAVES: Early on. I would say sophomore year. He's a little bit of an old soul. And I think Jake McCabe is like that. Jefferson Dahl is like that. Barney's not like that. They just have a presence about them. I don't know how young people get to be old souls. Maybe it's their parents; maybe it's just their genetic makeup. Frankie is one of those guys that just was always a little older than his linear age. Part of that could be the fact that he left home earlier, he had to grow up early, I don't know. But early on in his career with us, we saw that. Q. Have you seen Mark Zengerle's game rise as the season's gone along? COACH EAVES: I think Mark's game has risen, his point production has risen, as No. 17 is saddled next to him. I think they did get excited playing with each other, and you can see the chemistry is finding itself again. So they're doing some really fun things out there. They definitely a fun group to watch together. Although Barney doesn't get as much of the flair, but he did a lot of work for that line. He won a lot of races in battles this weekend in the corner. That opens up space for those two. So they're once again playing at the level they were last year. Q. As a coach, do you like playing four straight games on the road before heading into the postseason? COACH EAVES: I think it's a great opportunity. I guess you could say it's a mindset, is the glass half full or half empty. We look at it as the fact that we get to go on the road and play. We're going to play on the road when it comes to the Big Ten Tournament, when it comes to Regional, when it comes to hopefully the Frozen Four. So it's just as we've used the term "dress rehearsal" before to get in that mindset, so, yes, we look at it as a positive. Q. How has this team grown from the beginning of the year until now? COACH EAVES: The growth that this team has at this time is based on‑‑ it's firming of what the team identity is. If you're going to ask me what that is, I would say that that identity is found in the fact that when teams talk about us, we think that they're saying this team works hard, they play smart, and they play well together. If we have that kind of identity, then we give ourselves the chance to do the things that we want to do. So in terms of us and our growth, we've grown into that, and I think that's a good thing for this group of young men. Q. Mike, would you say this is perhaps your most important senior class in a while in the sense that not a lot of guys left early? It's been kind of a bridge to‑‑ from a series of‑‑ a period where you did lose a lot of underclassmen early, that there's some stability has formed in how your roster's been put together? COACH EAVES: No question. I think that's one of our strengths is our group of seniors. And we've talked about it in the past that most college teams, and doesn't matter what sport it is, if they're going to be successful, they are an upperclassmen team. And we are that this year, and we have some really good players that are in this group. So it's a contributing factor. Q. Earlier this year, you were asked about there's the possibility, when you have this many seniors, that they can go the other way. Your message can get lost in translation and they can go in the wrong direction.  Why do you think thathas this team not done that? COACH EAVES: The quality of seniors that we have. The leadership that those senior people‑‑ not just the guy that have a captain on the jersey or the A's, but when we walk out of the room as a coaching staff, the message that is being carried by those upperclassmen is from every senior. And so even if they don't have an assistant captain or the captains, they carry the message for us. So the reason that we haven't fallen into that senioritis is because of the quality of people that we have as seniors. Q. Mike, how do you use the Michigan State series as a springboard to the postseason? Are there specific areas that you need to feel good about leaving East Lansing this weekend before you head into the Big Ten? COACH EAVES: It's a good question. Because I think upstairs as we talk as a coaching staff, we're talking about how can we keep improving, can we get more scoring from our secondary people, can they chip in more than just what they are right now. We think they can. We think our second, third, and fourth lines can still contribute more. And that's what we're trying to‑‑ thisweekend and even going to the Big Ten Tournament, every weekend we're going to try to get better, so we're looking at those type of things that we can get from our kids. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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