Coach Mike Gabinet, senior forward Mason Morelli, and senior forward Fredrik Olofsson answered media questions as part of the “Omaha Athletics Weekly Media Availability” on Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2018.
Gabinet fielded questions regarding the UNO Hockey team’s bye week and the upcoming series against Arizona State at Baxter Arena on Nov. 23 and 24.
The following quotes are excerpts from the news conference. To view the press conference video in its entirety, click here.
THE BENEFITS OF A BYE WEEK...
GABINET: “It’s been nice to get a little bit of a chance to work on a few things. With the number of injuries we’ve had, some guys got some needed rest.”
GABINET: “Back at it yesterday with a hard practice. Looking forward to hosting ASU.”
GABINET: “The bye came at a good week for us, even though we can’t get fully healthy. I think we’ve been able to work on some things and continue to reiterate things we want to see. As my gramps would say, ‘the agony of repetition with things’ where the players maybe don’t love it so much, but you know the work we’ve got to put in to be successful.”
GABINET: “It’s a lot of non-glamorous work that’s not really sexy and cool, but it needs to be done to be successful.”
THE TEAM’S INJURY SITUATION...
GABINET: “We’ll be without (probably) at least three regular players. Obviously, that’s not fun when you’ve got guys who are normally in your lineup that are out, but again it’s the nature of the business when you play in intense games like we do. We’ve got a couple of guys that are questionable, so we’re definitely beat up right now.”
GABINET: “Looking forward to seeing some other guys get some different looks out there.”
GABINET: “I think [Tyler Weiss] will be back. We’ll see how he does the next few days here, but will probably be more of a game day decision. Hopefully he keeps on the same path here, and get a chance to get some NCAA hockey under his belt.”
ON FACING ARIZONA STATE FOR THE SECOND TIME THIS SEASON...
GABINET: “For me personally, I’m excited to face another good opponent. Obviously, it wasn’t a fluke, they beat us, they’ve been on a pretty good tear there for the whole season with the way their goaltending has been playing and the way they’ve been producing there offensively. So, it’s gonna be another tough weekend for us.”
GABINET: “I still think we’ve gotta be focused on making some small steps in the right direction and continue to improve. We get a chance to show improvement here this weekend.”
FEELINGS ON THE EVOLUTION OF ASU AS A PROGRAM...
GABINET: “You’ve gotta give them a lot of credit. I think they’ve done a great job putting some talent together. When you watch the video on them, they’ve got a couple really elite players, they’ve got a very good goaltender. They’ve got a couple elite defensemen and some excellent speed up front. I think their staff has been together now for probably five years if I’m correct.”
GABINET: “It’s a beautiful place to live and play hockey. I think they’ve got some momentum going for their program. They’ve done a nice job.”
DOES THE ASU EVOLUTION GIVE YOU HOPE FOR THE CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT OF THE UNO HOCKEY PROGRAM?
GABINET: “Absolutely. If you look around college hockey I think one of the things you want to do is see who has been successful, and why they’ve been successful, and learn from other programs. When you look around, I think all the good teams have probably had a staff that has been together for quite some time and some consistency there.”
GABINET: “We know it’s not gonna be perfect right off the bat, but that’s honestly part of the fun in it a little bit.”
GABINET: “There’s a great quote that says, ‘the best gift to a young person — a young man or woman — would be adversity at an early age.’ And I think there’s no better quote than that whether it’s for a player, or a coaching staff, or a program. Because it really causes you to reflect on things, and ‘why are you doing things,’ and ‘how do you get better,’ and ‘how do we get these guys better.’”
GABINET: “Our recruiting is getting better. We’re on the right track. We just gotta keep at it.”
KEYS TO THE WEEKEND SERIES WITH ASU... AVOIDING UNNECESSARY PENALTIES...
GABINET: “I hate hoping, so let’s stay out of the penalty box.”
GABINET: “We have to be disciplined and not give teams an opportunity to capitalize when you’re playing with such small margins that we play at with our opponents and with our conference.”
PLAYER THOUGHTS ON THE BYE WEEK...
MORELLI: “I think it was a good little recharge of our batteries. It’s kind of nice when you can have a little mental break, too... work on a few things that maybe you feel a little rushed doing during the weeks where you do have games.”
MORELLI: “Focusing up on the little things that we’ve been trying to get better on was good for us, and we’ll be ready for this weekend.”
OLOFSSON: “Guys dealing with little nagging injuries — it’s always nice having a bye week. Everyone is dealing with something throughout the year, so it’s nice to just address that and then take care of those little things.”
PLAYER THOUGHTS ON FACING ASU FOR THE SECOND TIME THIS SEASON...
OLOFSSON: “I think for us it’s huge. It’s very nice for us because we obviously didn’t start the season the way we wanted to... and get another shot at a team.”
OLOFSSON: “It’s a big test for us. We feel like we’re figuring out our identity and how we need to play to win.”
PLAYER THOUGHTS ON ADJUSTMENTS TO MAKE AFTER THE SEASON’S FIRST SERIES WITH ARIZONA STATE...
MORELLI: “The penalties. We shot ourselves in the foot a little bit, but you’ve gotta give them a little credit too. They played hard. They’re a good team. They capitalized on their chances.”
MORELLI: “We’re brushing up on those little things we’ve trying to work on, like the D-zone. Minimizing those little mental mistakes.”
MORELLI: “When we’ve won in our past couple games, I think a common theme for those is ‘we’re disciplined’ — we’re not retaliating.’”
PLAYER THOUGHTS ON THE EVOLUTION OF ARIZONA STATE...
OLOFSSON: “They’ve come a long way. It’s always fun to see a program step up and take charge. They’re getting some better recruits now from it. They’re ranked and everything, too. Who knows where that can go. It’s definitely fun to see as the sport is growing.”
MORELLI: “With a team like Arizona State, where they play, they have so much potential to be a good team. Like Freddy said, they’re gonna start getting better recruits, and I think it’s on the upswing for that program.”
PLAYER THOUGHTS ON THE NCHC RACE SO FAR...
OLOFSSON: “You can see that every team can beat everyone in our conference. If there’s anything that I think we’ve learned, it’s that as long as we just take care of ourselves, then we’ll be alright.”
WHAT IS THIS TEAM LEARNING ABOUT ITSELF THIS SEASON...
OLOFSSON: “Top to bottom — throughout the lineup — playing hard, getting pucks deep, playing simple, taking care of the D-zone, finishing guys, just the little things... the forwards getting back, backchecking, stuff like that.”
MORELLI: “We’ve gotta get really good at being defensive minded and let the O-zone take care of itself. I think if we focus on the D-zone, and take care of that first, and be smart and talk with each other, and make it easier for the guy next to you, then I think the rest will take care of itself.”
MORELLI: “We’ve gotta get really good at being defensive minded and let the O-zone take care of itself. I think if we focus on the D-zone, and take care of that first, and be smart and talk with each other, and make it easier for the guy next to you, then I think the rest will take care of itself.”
No comments:
Post a Comment