Sauer Addresses Media At Weekly News Conference
December 03, 2001 | Men's Hockey
Wisconsin men's hockey coach Jeff Sauer spoke with the media Monday about the Badgers' upcoming home series against WCHA rival North Dakota and last weekend's games at Alaska Anchorage. The UW faces off against the Fighting Souix at 7:05 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday.
A transcript of the conference follows and audio is available in the multimedia section.
On not getting a 5-1 record over last six WCHA games, as he hoped:
"I'm disappointed because I thought we had a pretty good chance. The last four games we played, I thought we really played excellent hockey with the exception of last Friday night. Friday night was maybe the worst game we put together in a long, long time. We didn't even show up on Friday night up there and it was very disappointing. Saturday night we came back and competed well. I think what's happening, if you look at the league and look at what's going on right now, this is really going to be a dogfight along the way.
"No one expected North Dakota to have happened to them what happened over the weekend and I threatened to call Dean Blaze. I knew he wasn't going to have pucks on the ice most of this week and I said I would wait to put pucks on the ice at our place too at this same time. I know he's really disappointed in what happened over the weekend. I'm disappointed because there are some games that we had chances to win or that we should have put behind us that we haven't. But we 're still right in the middle of things and have North Dakota coming to town. From a psychological standpoint, I think we'll be ready to play. It's just a matter of physically getting ready to play and that may be a bit of a challenge because we 've got some guys banged up now."
On Friday's loss at Alaska Anchorage:
"It was disappointing from that standpoint because the younger guys played pretty well. Scott Kabotoff played exceptionally well on Friday night. The two defensemen that really emerged Friday night and really ended up playing most of the third period were Rob Vega and Mark Jackson. They were a very, very good combination on Friday night. But, you had to see it to believe it in terms of how we approached things. We went almost twenty minutes without a shot on goal. We didn't even have a chance to get a shot on goal, it was just like we were standing in cement. I thought we did everything right. It was a long trip and you can use that as an excuse, but with the veterans that we had we didn't come out in very good shape."
On this weekend's series versus North Dakota at the Kohl Center:
"It's been a long time since we've been home, I think that is one positive thing. Number two we're going to be back, finally, in the building on Wednesday this week. We haven't seen this building for almost three and a half weeks and I know the guys are anxious for that. With North Dakota coming in, although they're struggling as well, they're having goal tending problems. But our weakness right now is not goal tending. Our weakness right now is being able to putting pucks on nets. We are just not getting the offensive pressure that we need to have success. We moved the lines around on Saturday night, I dressed an extra defenseman, and tried to get something going offensively by going with three lines most of the game, but we just weren't able to produce the offensive punch that we need to. This weekend will be another weekend. Right now they [North Dakota] seem to be struggling in goal and if we can get our game going offensively, we might be able to take advantage of that."
On any injuries on the team:
"Kent Davyduke wasn't in game shape. The lay-off hurt him and you tell that on both Friday and Saturday night, although, he should be in better shape this week. Andy Wheeler played on Friday night, but couldn't do what he's best doing, so that is why he didn't play on Saturday night. Hopefully he 'll be back in good shape. Dan Boesser got just completely drilled on Saturday night. He should be okay, but we had to hold him out for a number of shifts Saturday night as well. Just little things like that. Jake Heisler got some stitches. Just little things ' nicks and bruises that come about in the game."
On what will decide the race for the WCHA:
"Well, St. Cloud is really in the driver's seat right now. I think they've put out a number that is going to be tough to get to. One of the saving things, there is one or two of us that still have games in hand on the teams above us, which is a positive. And we still have to play those teams. We've still got Minnesota four [times], we've got St. Croix twice, we've got Denver four [times]. So we've got games that we can make up on those teams.
"I think CC has been a bit of a disappointment because of the experience they had coming back. It appears North Dakota is struggling in goal. We 're struggling offensively. Minnesota struggles in goal, although they felt that their goaltender played pretty good over the weekend, but that is still their weakness right now. St. Cloud seems to be the one team that has everything together. Denver, we 'll know more about them this week because they play Minnesota and they play them at home. So we'll see what kind of team they have. It's all starting to heat up now because we're playing each other. Now we go on vacation, after this weekend, pretty much everyone's off for a while, but then after the first of the year we'll come back hard. St. Cloud is really in the driver's seat after this weekend."
On the chemistry of the forwards:
"Well, we tried something different again Saturday night. We put Hussey, Davyduke, and Winchester together. If we had to go with three guys offensively, they're probably our most potent offensive players. That's the way we went. Hussey did score two goals, but it had nothing to do with the other two guys, it was just individual efforts that he did. We'll continue to look at things from that standpoint. The goal that Leavitt score Saturday night was a beautiful goal, but Davyduke 's the reason it was scored because he set the play up. It's very important to have him in the lineup."
On the goaltending last weekend:
"Kabotoff played well. I didn't take him out Friday night because he was playing poorly. I took him out and tried to get a spark. Bernd [Bruckler] came in and played well. He didn't allow any goals in the third period. But Kabotoff, he couldn't do anything with the four goals that were scored. The way they were scored and with the poor defense we played in front of him, there wasn't much he could do."
On whether he has the players' attention:
"I think so. I think after Friday night, definitely. The way we came back on Saturday, there's no question about it. They responded extremely well on Saturday."
