Eaves previews Badger Hockey Showdown at news conference
December 30, 2009 | Men's Hockey
Dec. 30, 2009
MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin men's hockey head coach Mike Eaves made his first news conference appearance in two weeks to talk about this weekend's Badger Hockey Showdown. The 21st and last Showdown takes place on Saturday and Sunday at the Kohl Center with one of the best fields in tournament history.
A full transcript follows. To watch the archived video footage of the news conference, click here.
QUESTION #1: Coach, how unique of a situation is this that you’re missing some players because of the Junior National Team, how much is it affected..., you really can’t be too down about it though?
EAVES: No, I’d say it’s a two-sided sword for sure. And it’s not unique because we usually do have one or two, in this case, we have three young men on the World Junior Team, and having, being involved in that tournament, I can speak from both sides of my mouth in that it’s an unbelievable opportunity for these young men to represent their country and play against the best kids in the world of this age group, and to do it up in Canada where it is such a passionate part of their culture is quite an experience.
I was talking to Ryan McDonagh yesterday about the fact that it’s hard to explain to somebody who has not been in that environment. You cannot find the right words to describe how loud it is, the passion that they have for that game. It’s a unique experience.
On the other side, talking out of the other side of my mouth, we’ll miss these young men, and we have to find a way. Tt’s like all of a sudden, we have self-induced injuries. We have three guys that are out of our lineup and we have to find a way to make up for their absence and have other young men step up. And a lot of times, it is about an opportunity for guys that are here to step up and fill that role and show us what they can do. So, in years past, it always seems that somebody does step into the forefront and fill that need, and finds a way to get it done. And we’re going to find out who that’s going to be together.
QUESTION #2: Mike, how do you get the edge back after a couple weeks off? You know, from where you left off, to try and pick that up, because, obviously, you’re playing some good teams. You have probably, maybe the best tournament in the country here this weekend. How do you do that?
EAVES: Well, I chuckled when you asked the question, because it’s been something that’s been rolling through our minds as a coaching staff. How do we get that edge back? It’s much like after you play a terrific first period and you’re up two nothing, and you’ve dominated your shots, you’ve got a couple goals, you come into your locker room, and you sit down, and you feel pretty good about yourself. And we finished the first half kind of like that, going up to North Dakota playing some good hockey, looking at our record.
Now the task is how do we get that ball rolling again. And that’s not an easy question to answer. And I think some of it has to be the attitude that the coaches bring to the table. I think it has to be the attitude of our leadership corps, of our upperclassmen, recognizing that, you know what, we cannot let any detail slip here. We have to get back to what we did. Matter of fact, the quote of the week deals just with that. Winning is not about magic, it’s about doing the mundane things, and trying to get that perfection in what you do every day. You win, you go back to work, and you try to win again. That’s the mundaneness of trying to be victorious and being a winner. So that’s our task. I think that will help that we’re at least cognizant of it, but still it’s going to be a matter of us getting back to those details, working hard and doing all the little stuff that we were doing before the break.
QUESTION #3: With Derek [Stepan] obviously up in Saskatoon, is there a consideration of maybe giving Derek Lee or Craig Smith a shot at the pivot, at the center position?
EAVES: There is. We, I can’t tell you how many pieces of paper that I’ve crumpled up and threw in the wastepaper basket with different lineups in it. I think that we know that Bendi can step in there and play center. And then, up in North Dakota, we actually put Ben Street back at center after having him on the wing. And we didn’t miss a beat, and he stepped right in and did a great job. So we have some options. And we’re just going to have to go through this week, and today, we have different lines than we’ve had in awhile, and we’ll take a look at how we feel and how the magic and how the chemistry looks and work our way through the week.
I think one of the things that our team has done throughout the first half of the season, we have mixed up our lines. We know the different looks we can get by playing different people with different individuals. So we’ll do that again this week and see how we feel, and come up with a lineup for Friday.
QUESTION #4: This being the last showdown after 21 years, of what it’s been one of the premier holiday tournaments in the country, understanding that opens up scheduling options for you, non-conference in the future. Is there still going to be some sadness to see it go? This has been a draw for a lot of people over the years.
EAVES: One of the things that’s constant in life is change. And when this tournament opened up, it was the tournament, and it has evolved. And our first year was the last year in Milwaukee. My first year here was the last year in Milwaukee. It was fun to see it in that building. But the attendance was starting to drop off because other people were having other tournaments. And the market has been saturated. And I think that fiscally we look at what we can do to help ourselves in our budget lines. And, you know, we pay for teams that come in, is it worthwhile for us to do that now. And in the economy the way it is, this is a way of controlling some of the purse strings and making some good economic decisions.
You know, who’s to say, usually things happen in cycles. And I wouldn’t be surprised in another eight to 10 years that this may come back. I’m speculating. That’s my thoughts. But that’s just the course of life. I have some sport jackets that were out of style 10 years ago, they’re looking pretty good now. And it’s time to start bringing them out.
QUESTION #5: You have an exhibition game coming up as well as down the road. And a few years back, Bo Ryan was one of those leading the charge to have, for men’s basketball, exhibition games against teams in state, other university teams, be it in Division III, like a Superior or those. Is there any benefit for your sport, for your program, for the state of hockey in Wisconsin, to having something like that where your exhibition is against a team, St. Norbert or Superior, things like that?
EAVES: Oh, there definitely is, there’s upsides and there’s downsides. Unfortunately, I don’t know if we can ever get to that in ice hockey because the Division III schools start so much later than we do. And so by the time they start up, we’re already in our season. It seems that the basketball schedules, they start the same time regardless if it’s Division I, II, or III, and are able to create some of that. And, unfortunately, we’re not able to do that. I think it would help us. I think it would help us, you know, kind of break into the season and build our momentum as we got into seasonal play, but that’s not just the way that hockey is set up.
QUESTION #6: Can you quick talk about, it was touched on a little bit, but the quality of the field this year? Three of the teams are ranked in the top 10 or 11, and just kind of go over maybe what you know about each of the teams.
EAVES: Well, I know Todd alluded to that with an earlier question. It is probably, I haven’t seen all the tournaments this Christmas time, but with the rankings of the teams, and the way they come in, these games have terrific meaning for the big picture and the RPI and the talent level that’s going to be there. And I know our kids, they look at the rankings and they see where these teams are, they’re excited. It gives them extra reason to come back and want to get playing. It’s not just another tournament game. These are going to have, these games here are going to have meaning at the end of the year. So I know they’re excited.
I know, we started talking about it yesterday. This Merrimac team and watching them, because they’re our first game. They’re a team that plays extremely hard, they’re big, they got a defensive corps that you better be ready, because they’re going to run you over if you’ve got your head down. And they started off on a ball of fire. They’ve cooled off here a little bit. But I know they’re going to use this time to regroup, and they’re going to come in.
And then Yale comes in. Keith Allain is a friend of the family has coached our son Ben at the World Junior Championship. And he’s got a group of people that, he’s got a team now, he’s got his kind of players in it. He’s a really competitive guy, appreciates skill, but know that the heart has got to be there. And they’re having success with that. And there’s no surprise there.
And then Ferris comes in. We’ve had a heck of a time with Ferris. I mean, they’ve beat us twice here in our own tournament. They play a physical game. They’re going to come in and compete.
One of the reasons that all three of these teams are successful is because they play hard. They give themselves a chance to play, and then they have their talent sprinkled in there. And they’ve got some good goaltending going. So these games are going to be tough to win. And we’re going to jump right into the deep end by playing these games.
QUESTION #7: With Oz [Mark Osiecki] also in Saskatoon, that changes the dynamic behind your bench. How do you adjust to that? I mean, having someone different calling out D pairs and relating with, I assume, KP?
EAVES: Yup. KP will take charge of the defensive corps. And I have every confidence in KP. It’s something that I don’t think I’ll even think twice of because we’ve been doing it so long that Oz would run the defensive corps, and we get down to key moments in a game, and Oz would think, what do you think, do you want to go to four or stay with five. And we’ll talk about it, and I imagine KP and I will do the same. As you watch the game, you get a feel. Obviously, when you’re watching the defensive corps, you’re going to have a better feel for more of the details of what they’re doing. But as a head coach, you have a general sense. And we’ll talk about it once we get down to those brass moments. But KP will run that, and it will give us a different flavor on the bench, but I know KP’s looking forward to the challenge.
