Transcript of Eaves weekly news conference
December 06, 2011 | Men's Hockey
Dec. 6, 2011
MADISON, Wis. -- Head Coach Mike Eaves made his weekly Monday news conference appearance as the Badgers prepare for No. 1 Minnesota Duluth at the Kohl Cneter this weekend. Eaves answered questions on the team's health, Justin Schultz and other topics. A full transcript follows.
View the archived video footage of the news conference 
QUESTION #1: How was the week off to kind of get yourselves healthy and ready to go for these final two games of the year?
Mike Eaves: I don’t know how much healthier we are, but we felt as a coaching staff, it was a productive week. We pushed each other in practice. We did a lot of competitive drills. We had high tempo drills. We covered a lot of details, and so I think we walk away from last week from the rink feeling good about ourselves and ready to continue on this week and get ready for Duluth.
QUESTION #2: Mike, Duluth is going to come in here top ranked. Depending on how much belief you put into rankings, that’s four teams you’ve faced to this point in that regard. What have been the biggest lessons facing elite competition like that that you think will help you most this weekend?
EAVES: Well, anytime you play a top-ranked team, A, it helps get your team ready for big time competition. We’ve talked about the term osmosis before, where you’re drawn up to a higher level by playing a good team, and, we, as a staff, look forward to that. And we’ve had number five, North Dakota in here. We’ve had number one, Minnesota at that time, and now we’ve got number one Minnesota-Duluth. And we’ve played some good hockey, so I think what it does, it brings out our best and gives us an opportunity to grow and maybe make some noise in terms of the national picture.
QUESTION #3: Now that Jake McCabe doesn’t have that blue practice jersey on anymore, are we going to see him this weekend? And by losing him early, there’s not a lot he can do in practice when he’s banged up, but did you see him progressing prior to the injury. What do you expect when he comes back on the ice?
EAVES: I don’t think anybody truly knows where Jake’s going to be when he comes back. He was just starting to come on and understand the college game when he got hurt. But he was able to take full practice on Friday and Saturday, which was great. We had a no-puck practice on Saturday. We did a track skate, so to speak, and he grinded it out and did a nice job.
But in terms of where he’s at, that first game back, you probably think he’s going to be a little step behind, because he’s not used to the pace, but we need for him to get in there, start going. And I don’t think we’re going to put him with Schultz right away, but we’ll get him in a normal pair early in the week here and see how he looks.
QUESTION #4: Mike, you could probably put any one of your defensemen with Justin Schultz, and they would probably thrive in that role, but Frankie seems to have kind of evolved in his own direction and seems to be kind of adding layers to his game. Can you kind of talk about that equation, benefitting from having Justin as a partner, but at the same time, growing in your own way as Frankie appears to have?
EAVES: Well, your point is well taken. Justin makes anybody on the ice with him better just because of the way he sees the game, and he competes, and his skill level. The other side of that coin is sometimes you can get intimidated by playing like a player like that, and I don’t think that’s the case with Frankie at all. I think Frankie kind of just going to go out there and do his thing and be steady and pass and skate and being physical in front of the net.
And what we talked about this morning, as a matter of fact, is it looks like they’ve kind of grown a good chemistry together, and they’re feeding off of each other a little bit, and so that’s been a good thing. And, again, we don’t have to rush Jake McCabe back in there with Schultzie. We can afford to leave Frank there and see how Jake does and then go from there.
QUESTION #5: Duluth got off to a little bit of a slow start, but, obviously, playing well right now. You know, having been a national champion and then trying to come back after that, that’s a difficult task, is it not?
EAVES: Oh, it is. They talk about championship hangovers, and there’s a mental state that you go through. You’ve won. It’s a new season. I think you get caught up in listening to everybody tell you what a great job you did. Now it’s a new start, and maybe their slow start was part of that, but they played better of late, and they’ve got a lot of pieces. They know, internally, what it takes to win a championship, and that’s a precious commodity to have on the inside of the locker room.
QUESTION #6: Can you tell a sense of confidence that was gleaned from the Mercyhurst series within your players, just to get wins?
EAVES: Well, I think getting the wins is a confidence factor. The way we played, and the way we know we can play, the way we need to continue to push to get playing. It was a hard week that way. I think, again, I think we’re a better team because of the week we had. Yes, we were happy that we had the wins, but there was a certain expectation that we didn’t meet in some of the areas that we played.
So, you know, we’ve talked about having a Dutch uncle talk, where we talk the truth, and the truth was not kind. And we’re very aware of the areas that we need to continue to grow in. We worked at those areas this week, and I think that’s why we, as a staff, can say we were a better team after this week. We had to get it, because we pushed each other in those areas.
