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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEDIA DAYSeptember 24, 2014Mike EavesDETROIT, MICHIGAN MIKE EAVES: Pleasure to be here in Detroit. I think this is one of the funnest rinks to be around with the history that it has in the building and to walk around and see it, if you're a hockey fan, this is a great place to be. This upcoming season, the big talk in Madison is the fact that we have 11 freshmen, so we're going to be a young group. As my wife says, they may lack in experience, but what they lack in experience they bring with enthusiasm. She makes the analogy they're like puppies in a box. They're going to try to get out of the box, and we've just got to put them back in day after day until they figure it out. That's going to be our task this year. I think one of the things we have going for us is the fact that we have two senior goaltenders, and they'll buy time for our young people to grow. History tells us that usually after Christmas you find out really what your freshmen can do, and that'll probably be the case here. Our ability to be competitive will be in direct correlation to how quickly our kids learn the pace and the speed of the game and catch on to what we as a coaching staff ask them to do as a group. We're looking forward to the challenge. It should be a lot of fun. Q. I've been asking about the value of an expanded non‑conference schedule. MIKE EAVES: First of all, we at Wisconsin enjoy the fact that our support is much like basketball now that when we start playing Big Ten, we're in the league at the end of the year, and I think that creates a lot of excitement. The expanded non‑conference schedule allows us to revive some of our old rivalries that we've had, for instance, this year North Dakota is coming in and we get to go there next year. I think that is one of the benefits of being able to expand that, and I think our fans will enjoy seeing some of the old rivalries, so it's a positive. Q. Speaking about the schedules, might this be your toughest since you've been there, even factoring in the under‑18 team knowing the number of quality players on that group? MIKE EAVES: No, it is tough, and we talk about it as a staff as we looked at creating a schedule, do we want to push it to the side of being less challenging or more challenging. We decided as a staff that we wanted a more challenging schedule because the only way you get better is much like that chemistry term osmosis, you get drawn up to a higher level. You're playing better teams, you get drawn up to that level of play, so it was a conscious decision to do that, but we agree with your statement, it's a tough schedule. Q. Can you speak to the‑‑ you mentioned your goalies. Can you speak to the quality of overall goaltenders in the conference this season? MIKE EAVES: Goaltending is just off the charts, just in general, no matter what level. I think that‑‑ a quick little story here, this summer goaltending coach from the Dallas Stars Mike Valley did a goaltending camp up in Madison and he brought NHL goalies, they were 6'6", 6'5", 6'4", 6'3", and when you're on the ice with them and you look at the net, you can't see any net. Not only that, they're pretty athletic. I tell you that to set up my answer in that college goalies are a lot like that. They're big, they're athletic, they work at their position. It's incredible how the game has changed. We met as a Big Ten unit last night and had dinner, and talking to Red Berenson about goaltenders back in the day where they wore no masks and just the advent of the curved stick versus a straight stick. Sorry, Red, I'm going to steal some of your thunder here, but he talks to his goaltenders, you want to be tough, take your mask off and play goalie. Then I'll know how tough you really are. It's a matter that it just keeps getting better. I think there's less fear now in the goaltending position because the equipment is better. Certainly the goaltending masks that they use, they get hit hard, and they just shake their head and they're ready to go again. Back in the old days you'd be scraping them off the ice. The athleticism, the size, the coaching that they're getting makes goaltending at a premium. Q. What was the biggest benefit to being in the Big Ten a year ago? MIKE EAVES: Well, I think for our fans, they identified with the fact that Penn State was coming into town, Ohio State, Michigan State, because of‑‑ they might not be big hockey fans right away, but they recognize what's going on this weekend, well, Penn State is playing hockey. Penn State, they quantify that with Big Ten, football, basketball, whatever, and they come out. I thought it was great for our students on campus, and our attendance spiked up because of that fact. Q. Talk a little bit about, again, your thought going into the season in regards to scoring goals. You lost top five scorers. Where do you see it coming from this year? MIKE EAVES: I guess the best way to answer that is I'm not sure right now to be honest with you. But I think it's‑‑ take a look at it half full or half empty is we're going to find out that somebody is going to step up to the plate here. To what degree we'll find out together, but a lot of pine trees got chopped down in the forest and a lot of these saplings are going to have a chance to grow with the sun being on them. I'm hoping that it's similar to what happened in Minnesota last year. Donny, they had a great year because they had different contributors every night, and I think if that's something we can find this year, then that would be a big positive for us. Q. You had obviously tremendous leadership on your team last year. You lost a guy who arguably could have been your captain this season. Who are the guys that are going to fill that leadership void for you? MIKE EAVES: Usually we vote for our captains at the year's end after the banquet and such. This year because we're a young group, we wanted them to be together for a while to get to know each other, so they spent eight weeks together in the summer and then when we came back for the school year they voted. They had a strong voice, and it should be that way. They had a strong voice in deciding who their formal leadership is going to be, and the voting was close, so we have co‑captains in Brad Navin and Chase Drake, and Joseph LaBate will be an assistant captain. So far they've really taken the reins. I like what they've done off the ice in terms of making sure the group is together and doing the right things. You're never sure about how young people will take to being a captain because all of a sudden they think they have this weight on their shoulder and they have to do more than they would normally do. There will be an adjustment time period, but it starts with those young men and that will permeate through the locker room. Q. Do you sense that the gap between the top and the bottom of this league has closed at all after one year? MIKE EAVES: It seems to close every year, doesn't it? Like if you take a look at the year‑end stats and the numbers, you're going to say, well, there's a space there. But if you had watched those games and played in those games, they were fought tooth and nail until the end. I think it's just going to be even tighter this year. The parity in all leagues, whether it's professional, college, we keep talking about it every year, can it get tighter, and it just seems that it does. Between the coaching that the players get, the training the players get, the difference in the season in terms of wins and losses can come down to a bounce of a puck, a great save, so the parity is there, and I think this year in the Big Ten it's even going to be better. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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