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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 19, 2015Chase DrakeMike EavesBrad NavinDETROIT, MICHIGAN MICHIGAN – 5 MODERATOR: We're joined by Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves and student‑athletes Chase Drake and Brad Navin. Coach, an opening statement. COACH EAVES: It's always tough to end the season, especially for our six seniors. But if you look back on this game, you know, it was three and one with five minutes to go we had a five on three. So realistically we're hoping that we get a second goal and make a go of it. Had a few little bad breaks early. A couple of goals went near the net. But this group showed us resilience and hung around. With five minutes to go we were knocking on the door with a power play and they got two late goals and that was the difference. As disappointing as it is to end the season, these young men, they earned the right to walk out of the rink with their heads held up high because they could have folded. They didn't. They kept battling and we were there knocking, hoping for another goal late in the game. MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. All season you guys have been talking about how you wanted to play your best hockey at the end of the season. Did you feel you met that goal? CHASE DRAKE: Partially. I think our effort was there. But our execution tonight wasn't. Maybe we could actually feel a little better with a lucky bounce, that always helps a little bit. It rallies the guys. We just didn't have that spark tonight. But I thought our energy and our consistency was there. It was just our execution wasn't. Q. You scored that goal in the third period. It didn't up influencing the outcome a ton. How did that help morale on the bench? BRAD NAVIN: Definitely got guys fired up. It's what we're preaching all the game, get the puck in the net, get the puck in the net, and finally we jammed one home. Like Coach said. And then we got those late power plays and we thought maybe we could use that as a little spark to get something going on the power play, the five on three as well. But team morale was definitely up with that. We hadn't scored a goal in a while. That was huge for you. Like Chase said our effort was there, just our execution fell apart a little bit. Q. Talk about the roster going into next season and your aspirations and hopes for the team. BRAD NAVIN: Definitely a great group of young guys here. We're all enough to share one point too and guys set us up for us later in the our careers too. And I think we've done our best to leave our imprint on them. They've got some young guys with a lot of talent and they really showed it as the season progressed. If you saw us from day one to now we're a totally different team. So hats off to them and best of luck. CHASE DRAKE: Definitely. I think all our seniors are very excited for them. I came in with a class of '09 and we flourished the last two years and I expect those guys to do the same. They're talented, they're young, and they took their bumps and bruises this year, but they'll learn from that. They'll be a lot better team from that. Q. I'm sure this wasn't the season, your last season you were looking forward to. But what did you take away? What did you learn for yourself in this year? CHASE DRAKE: I think definitely the first thing is patience. With that many young guys, you gotta be patient. You really gotta explain things in detail to them. Everything's new to them. I think maybe that took a little bit too much time for us. But details and explanations are the biggest thing I've taken away from this. BRAD NAVIN: I agree. Patience. You've got to be relaxed. You can't show that maybe you're down because they're looking to you to lead them. You can't come this the rink with a bad attitude. You've got to come to the rink ready to go, fired up. I felt we did a pretty good job of that all year. Team morale and camaraderie in the locker room was solid all year‑round, and we helped them out and kept everybody on course until that last period. MODERATOR: Questions for Coach. Q. Coming out of that first period, keeping the game close like that, what was said maybe in the locker room between the first and second period? COACH EAVES: Well, I felt the fact that those goals went in and they were both kind of went off of us, there was a little, kind of a let‑down if you will. It was a little bit like, okay, they went in, we have to adjust our attitude and get back on our horses here and play. There's a lot of time left. So it was just a reminder, hey, stuff happens during the game. Now it's about how we respond to it. So it was a little bit of firm hand to the backside and, say let's get going, let's play the way we can. And 3‑0 and we actually got our shots up. We got our scoring chances up. There were a couple of pucks in the second period, one hit the crossbar, one hit the post. We were kind of hanging around at 3‑0 and then we make it 3‑1. Then there's hope, there's actual hope. Then you get that 5 on 3 and Besse breaks his sticks and we do a couple things we don't set it up really like we like to. But love the spirit. The execution, like the boys said, was a little off. Q. Hyman and Larkin, two of the top scorers in the Big Ten, they combined for eight points tonight. What was it like going up against a couple guys on fire? COACH EAVES: They have things you don't teach. They have abilities you don't teach. That's what you have to find in young players that you recruit. And you try to limit what they can get done. But in the end they've got some things done against us tonight. Q. Looking ahead to next year, those 11 freshmen are now 11 sophomores, what's your message to them to go and work on over the summer? COACH EAVES: Well, for some of our young guys, strength is a factor. Put on some body weight. We've got some young people that are pretty talented. And one great thing about going to college is you have the time and we have great coaches and facilities and that will help them and build on experiences they had this year. They will come back and they'll have a whole year under their belts and they'll understand quickly what we're trying to get done from a firsthand standpoint. So this year it seemed as we started at A. Next year when we come back maybe we'll be in G or H in the alphabet and continue forward as we build. MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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