Nov. 10, 2009

MADISON, Wis—Wisconsin men’s hockey coach Mike Eaves addressed the media on Monday, November 9, following the team’s weekend home stand against Minnesota. The Badgers (4-3-1, 2-3-1 WCHA) split the two games with the Gophers, winning on Friday and losing on Saturday. Wisconsin gets back on the Kohl Center ice this weekend, as it welcomes the Seawolves of Alaska-Anchorage (4-6-0, 2-4-0 WCHA). The puck will drop at 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

To view the press conference, click here.

BRIAN LUCAS: . . . schedule. With special thanks to Coca-Cola, we are announcing today the Coca-Cola Fan Experience as part of the festivities surrounding the Culver’s Camp Randall Hockey Classic. The Classic includes a women’s hockey game against Bemidji State at 2:00 p.m., and the men’s team playing Michigan at 5:00 p.m. outside at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday, February 6th. Highlights of the fan experience include availability of the Stanley Cup for photos on Friday, February 5th, and exhibits and interactive games in the McClain Center on game day. We have a release in the back of the room for more details, and I think Coach Eaves will have some comments on it as well.

Mike Eaves: Thanks, Brian. To piggyback off what Brian just read, I’d also like to thank Coca-Cola for their involvement and support. I think the fan fest, if you’ve never been to Toronto to see the Hall of Fame, this will be as close as you can get to having that experience with the Stanley Cup being here, the interactive games. I’ve had that opportunity to be at the Hall of Fame. It’s a neat place, and having that stuff here, people in the area that have hockey interests or a passion for the game will have a real neat insight to some of the stuff that’s at the Hall of Fame. So, again, thank Coca-Cola, encourage everybody to take advantage of the fact that this stuff is in our backyard. With that, if there’s any questions, we’ll take them right now. How was that, Brian?

LUCAS: Terrific.

QUESTION #1: So in your series against Minnesota, you outshot, you had 79 shots, but only scored 7 goals. What do you think is the key to capitalizing on opportunities from this point forward?

EAVES: Well, first of all, in watching that game, it’s interesting. I was asked the question what bothered me most about Saturday night’s game by Mr. Baggot, and it was a question that I didn’t anticipate. And after having all day Sunday to think about it, the thing that stuck out in my head, it bothered me that we played better Saturday and lost. Take a look at the chances, we out chanced them, again, two to one. We had more puck possession, we won more puck battles, and we lose the game. In terms of finishing, I think that’s the key word is finishing our opportunities. Sometimes in the wacky world of hockey, the goaltender is an element you can’t explain. Pucks hit him when he wasn’t ready for it. There was one save he made where he was facing the inside of the net, and the puck hit him in the chest and didn’t roll across the crease. Ben Grotting hits a post with three minutes left to go. So in terms of what we focus on this week in practice is let’s make sure when we’re doing our drills that we’re finishing, we’re putting the puck behind our goaltenders so that we create that habit.

QUESTION #2: Mike, how has your overview of your goaltending changed, if at all, since the weekend?

EAVES: Overview? At some point, we were going to have to do what we did. We made that decision based on a gut feeling that I had Friday night, the way that Brett looked. We’ll go into this weekend and, you know, we’ll start Brett on Friday and we’ll make a decision for Saturday.

QUESTION #3: Mike, it’s kind of an odd question, but in the three games you lost, do you feel like you’ve been the better team, that you played better than the other team and just did not get the chances?

EAVES: Not didn’t get the chances. We had the chances, we didn’t finish the chances. And I think it’s interesting you talk with all coaches, whether it’s basketball, soccer, and in basketball, you know, they get great looks a the hoop and they don’t drop the ball through the hoop, or in soccer you get great looks at the goal and you miss or the goalie makes a save. It’s something you can’t explain. I would be really concerned, tremendously concerned if we weren’t getting the chances that we’re getting. I think for a guy like Ben Street, I know who is somewhat frustrated that he had seven shots again Saturday night and had some really good looks. You know, Ben, you’ve only played eight games in a year. And I think the best is yet to come for him. And even Derek Stepan, I think Derek will tell you, he’ll be the first one to tell you he’s disappointed that he wasn’t on the scoresheet more this weekend. You know, Derek started off a little slowly last year. Maybe he’s a guy that’s got to get into a little bit more before he comes into his own like he did last year. So if the chances weren’t there, we’d be really concerned. The fact that the chance is there, let’s keep getting the chances, just focus on burying them.

QUESTION #4: Mike, you often talk about patience and poise with the puck. Is that something you can teach?

EAVES: You know what, Brian, we had patience and poise. Some of the things that we did in terms of creating shooting lanes or creating chances was a direct result of having patience and poise. Michael Davies makes an unbelievable play late in the game where he reaches back, flips it over the defenseman’s stick to the other side, waits until the goalie’s . . . down, just doesn’t get it high enough. You know, those are the type of things. But we showed some real good patience and poise in creating the chances that we have. And again, it’s about burying the puck.

QUESTION #5: Mike, back to your goaltending. Just so everybody is on the same page, Brett Bennett is your number one goaltender?

EAVES: We don’t have a number one goaltender, Andy.

QUESTION #5: Okay. But that would appear to be . . .

EAVES: Because we gave him an opportunity?

QUESTION #5: Right.

EAVES: It was a feeling that I had. I just, you know, it’s like the quarterback scenario in football, okay, and we’re working through a process here. We went with a gut feeling that a coach had. It didn’t work out. So we’re going to go back, and we’ll see how we are again this weekend. I don’t want to make a big deal. It’s not a big deal to me. You know, Brett’s going to play on Friday, and then we’ll see and play Saturday.

QUESTION #6: What you said after Saturday’s game was that we’ll probably go down this road again later in the year.

EAVES: We said that at the very beginning. We said that at the very beginning.

QUESTION #7: Right. Would that also mean that perhaps Scott would be getting double . . .

EAVES: Absolutely.

QUESTION #7: Okay. Just wanted to make sure. That’s all I was going after. EAVES: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

QUESTION #8: Anchorage is pretty much the same as always, one of the hardest working teams?

EAVES: In watching, actually, we watched them play against Anchorage, Anchorage at Minnesota, and then this weekend they played Denver, and they lost by a goal, and it went down to the wire. Then they beat them 7-2. Their ability to play together and play hard makes them hard to play against. So they’re very much the same, yep. And we, again, you know, another WCHA, we say it every week about putting on your hardhat and getting ready to work. We better be ready for that this weekend as well.

QUESTION #9: Piggybacking off that, are you surprised by a seven goal outburst by Anchorage against a Denver team that’s . . .

EAVES: I was, yeah, I very much was. And again, I haven’t looked at that game specifically, but it will be interesting to see how they score in their chances.

QUESTION #10: Craig Smith had a rough weekend . . . against New Hampshire. How do you like how he responded?

EAVES: He was on the scoresheet two nights in a row. I thought pretty good that he jumped right in there. He played hard again, but he played controlled, and he contributed offensively by getting a couple assists both nights. So that’s a good sign, good response by a young man.

QUESTION #11: Mike, when you see how perhaps this league has changed a little bit since you came in to coach, teams now put an emphasis on blocking shots. I think that was something that you kind of, that was a big part of what you’ve done since you’ve gotten here. Do you see the league changing a little bit in what their emphasis’s are, what teams do, perhaps because of some of the things that you introduced or made a big part of what you do?

EAVES: That’d be hard to identify for sure, Andy. I know that the experiences that I had as a head coach coming here, blocking shots was an intricate part of being part of a winner, so that’s something we did. It has seem to become a trend by other teams in our league right now. Now whether that was a byproduct of what we did here, you know, other coaches would have to tell us that. And as far as other things that we do, it would be hard to identify as well. I think that that’s, you know, as we go to coaches meetings, we surely don’t talk about those things, but I know the emphasis on shot blocking, we noticed it as a staff that other teams are doing it and are pushing our guys to work on techniques to get around that so that we can counterpunch what they are doing.

QUESTION #12: Mike, when you made out your lineup sheet for Friday, what attracted you with putting Craig with Blake? Obviously they have the Nashville connection, but what did you like about putting those two guys together, because obviously it worked pretty well for you?

EAVES: Speed and size. I think, you know, Andy Bohmbach probably isn’t as quick or as fast as those two young men, so you’re making that line a little faster and the size factor. And so that was one of the reasons that we did it.

QUESTION #13: Back to the outdoor game, are you, from what you understand, are you pretty pleased with where you’re at as far as ticket sales are concerned, and would you think something like this would only boost that?

EAVES: I think so. It’s interesting talking to our marketing and ticket people and asking them where do they feel they’re at, and they’re very pleased. And for something like this, to be able to announce will just be another emphasis and why people should come and take this experience in. So I think we’re going the right direction, and I think as the weather turns a little cooler here . . . I’m not complaining about 71 in the middle of November, but I think once it gets a little cooler and we get even deeper into our season that people are going to get in the mood and look forward to it.

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Brady Hartung, UW Athletic Communications