Eaves Addresses Media Monday
November 24, 2003 | Men's Hockey
Wisconsin men's hockey head coach Mike Eaves addressed the media Monday at the UW weekly news conference. He discussed the team's recent ties against Colorado College and the Badgers' upcoming trip to the College Hockey Showcase this weekend.
A partial transcript follows. Video is also available by clicking on the "multimedia" link located in the red menu bar above.
Mike, do you think the special teams are getting the attention they need in practice right now' Is there anything with John being gone, is there anything you can do more to kind of spark them along a little bit ' 'Well, we spent the same amount of time last week as we have the previous three weeks. We think we've been giving it real good attention. I think our penalty killing is doing fine. We haven't allowed a power-play goal in the last two games. The power play on the other hand hasn't done much and we're working on it today. We're going to try a couple of different looks, see if we can get a little spark ' sometimes if you move people around. We've talked about the fact that offense is a little bit of flow and ebb and right now we need to do something there, because there's no spark so we're going to change things around see what we can create a little different.'
It seems like Bernd Bruckler is continuing to play well. Does it take a while or is it just stretches in goal tenders' seasons or careers where they seem to have that edge maybe more so than at other times' 'Well, one of the most difficult things I think about college athletics is the fact that we're done in April or March depending on how far you go into the season, our kids don't play again till end of September, beginning of October. There off for four or five months. Bernd didn't get off to the start that we hoped he would and he struggled a little bit, but once he's gotten back in the groove and he's back to where we thought he would be and making strides to get better. So you have to account for the time off that they have and it's a ' we encourage our kids to do some summer camps where they're playing against other college athletes to keep their game in the mix and keep on top of it. But it's a tough thing to be off that long and try to get going again.'
Mike, is it an expressed goal of this team to do something about the performances that you've had in the College Hockey Showcase' You haven't had a lot of success in that and having being part of it finally a year ago, is it a bigger deal to you now to try and have some success in this venue ' 'To me the bigger deal is playing well against these teams because of what it could do for us, once again, in the RPI ratings. If we can do the things that we want to do, then at the year's end that's what the tournament committee is going to look at, how did we do against other high-rated teams' That becomes more of a factor, not so much that it's a showcase but that they 're good teams throughout the country and we want to do well against them to help us at the end of the year.'
Coach this week when everybody is kind of giving thanks, what are you most thankful for in regards to this team at this point in the season ' 'Well, on a bigger picture note, I am thankful for the health that we have. This past weekend we found out that one of the assistant coaches from CC (Colorado College) was critically injured in a car accident and we forget that it 's a game ' you take that for granted when you feel good and when you get sick, you say `Geez I wish I felt good' or when this accident happens to this young man all of the sudden you remember `We're just playing a game'. He 's got a wife who is pregnant with a young child. I'm thankful for the health we have and hopefully we'll all have a safe holiday season.'
I would think that after this weekend's performance, you guys have got to be close to the top 10 or 15 in the polls. Is that a big deal to you ' To feel like your back on the map in that regard' 'You know, Joe, that was the opportunity we thought we had this weekend, playing the sixth-ranked CC Tigers and if we had been able to take three out of four (points), we were so close to doing that, I think that would've really bolstered us up and put us on the national map again. That was the opportunity that was in front of us this weekend and we didn't quite get it done, but we got a couple of points. Right now, the biggest thing is that we are getting points every weekend. We still are undefeated in eight games and these are all positives that we can build on.'
Coach, coach Sauer once looked into playing an outdoor hockey game with Minnesota and with the success of that NHL game last weekend, would you ever want to look into something like that in the future' 'Absolutely. We spoke about it last year in a staff meeting and I think the first step would be to make sure the stadium is done and get that all done, but wouldn't it be nice to play Minnesota there. I mean they would certainly drive for that. It's definitely something where the seed has been planted and we just need to see if we can nurture it along and see what happens.' Media: How long would that take ' 'Oh it's a process. The older we get, the more we realize that. I couldn't put a date on that. I would say a couple of years at least because first you get the stadium in place and then you have to contact the company that runs that, talk to Michigan State. They have done it once. What were the things they 've learned' I would at least say a couple of years.'
