S7, Ep 20: Interview with Jacob Slipec
Jon Brooks
We’d like to welcome a very special guest to the MavPuckCast. Junior forward Jacob Slipec is joining us. Jacob, you are the first UNO hockey player to appear on the MavPuckCast. Jason and I started this podcast September of 2018, so it is an honor to have you here.
Your junior campaign, kind of the meat of the season right now, the final stretch. You’re getting ready to go up to North Dakota for your final regular season series of the season. Jacob, we’re recording this on Tuesday. We’re about to have a blizzard. When are you guys leaving to head up to Grand Forks?
Jacob Slipec
Yeah, well, first off, thank you for having me on. It’s an honor. I love what you guys do, and I’m really excited to be here. And I like to say, pressure isn’t real, but I’m feeling a little bit of pressure being the first ever player on. So I’m going to try and do my best here with that first question. Yeah, our plan is to leave Thursday afternoon.
We’re very fortunate. We get a charter flight there, which is nice. So that means we get to practice at Baxter and stuff and leave at a decent time in the afternoon and not have to wake up super early.
Jason Combs
Or spend hours on a bus trip up there anymore. That’s got to be nice.
Jacob Slipec
Yeah, yeah. We get pretty lucky with how we get treated with our travel to make sure we play our best. So it’s good.
Jason Combs
Love it.
Jon Brooks
I was going to say, do you fly to most of the road trips? I thought I had heard that a while back.
Jacob Slipec
Yeah, yeah. We fly to most of them. We don’t always charter. I mean, we chartered to Miami this year just because getting to Oxford is such a pain to get to. But yeah, no, I’m trying to think of when we... Yeah, I don’t think we’ve had a bus trip at all this year unless I’m forgetting one. But yeah, no, we always fly.
Jon Brooks
Very, very cool. Yeah, Jason was on the flight with you guys out to Las Vegas for the Icebreaker tournament to begin the season. And Bridget and I were on the plane back with you guys. So that was a very, very interesting experience.
Jacob, I got to ask you, just starting off here, what was your path to UNO? How did you end up coming to Omaha and becoming a Maverick hockey player?
Jacob Slipec
Yeah, it’s actually... I think it’s kind of a funny story. So I played with, actually, Michael Abgrall — who recently left last season — for three years in juniors. And I’m a little bit older than him. So he committed his first year, and that’s when I actually first started hearing about Omaha.
And I was like, man, this is sick. I’d love to go to a school like that. It seems so awesome. Showing me the pictures of his visit and all that. And my head coach at the time, Tyler Kuntz, (was) really close with Bernie (Coach Dave Noel-Bernier). And he told me, he’s like, hey, I’m going to reach out to UNO, to Dave Noel-Bernier, and let them know to get after you. And I was like, awesome. Sweet.
Then a couple of months goes by, and he asked me, Have you heard from them? And I said no. And then a couple more months went by. He’s like, Have you heard from them? I’m like, no. And then the season ended. And I’m going to my next year in juniors. And he goes, Have you heard from them? No, not yet. So then he’s like, Okay, they’re going to reach out. They’re going to reach out.
Like, okay, I’m waiting. Sounds good. And then they reach out to me right in the middle of my COVID year we had in the BCHL. We played in a three-team pod. So they reach out to me then and then I came on a visit in August just before my training camp started up back in juniors.
And fell in love instantly, right away. And I told that story, actually, at the Hurrdat Sports podcast last year, and Gabs was there. And he said it’s because I wasn’t playing good enough yet is why they took so long to reach out. But they did, and I’m here, so…
Jason Combs
Sounds like a Gabs thing.
Jacob Slipec
It was awesome. It was pretty funny.
Jason Combs
On that line, what do you remember the first time you came to Omaha for a visit or for campus? What brought you here, and what stood out to you about the school or the city?
Jacob Slipec
Yeah, I mean, everything. So like I said, I didn’t really know much about Omaha as a city at all. I just knew the rink was awesome. That’s basically what I knew. And my coach at the time spoke very highly of the coaches. And I was just super excited. It was the first ever visit I went on. And right when I got here, we went straight to the rink. Phenomenal. Watched practice.
I don’t know if you guys know this, but when we’re on Holland (Ice), we bump music for the first 20, 30 minutes of practice. It gets us fired up. So I’m seeing this, and the stands are like, man, that’s so cool. Why doesn’t our team do this? I actually brought it back to my juniors team, but my coach didn’t like it because the one practice we did it, we sucked. And so he said, we’re done with this.
But to answer your question, what really drew me here, it was the culture of not just the players and the coaches, but all the staff also in general. Meeting Smitty (Jason Smith, Equipment Manager), obviously, our UQ staff, and Josh (Englebretson, Athletic Trainer) and Heavy Lou (Mike Lewis, Directory of Hockey Strength and Performance), and all these people who are more behind the scenes, hearing their passion about Omaha and seeing how committed they are to success. That was what really put me over the edge because I loved the coaching staff, talking with them for a couple of months, and then hanging out with the players, too. I mean, Nolan Sullivan and Jimmy Glynn, I went to their apartment and hung out with them for a couple of hours. And I ended up living in that apartment two years later with Jimmy. And so it’s just kind of funny how things kind of came full circle. And obviously, played with Sully (Nolan Sullivan) for two years. He’s one of my best buddies still, even though he’s not here.
And yeah, it was just the culture of Omaha and the love that I felt when I was here from not just people that worked directly with UNO, but also people in that community.
Jon Brooks
Had it always been a goal of yours to play collegiate hockey in the United States?
Jacob Slipec
Yeah, so I’d say that goal started coming around in high school. I’d say probably around grade 10 because my parents didn’t know anything about hockey at all. They didn’t play hockey growing up. I didn’t have any older (siblings). I’m the oldest of four.
So hockey was just something that I tried when I was three, and I loved it. And I just kind of stuck with it. And being a Western Canadian kid, it was all about the WHL, and I knew nothing about college. And then I was fortunate at the high school program I went to, Westman Academy at the time — now North Shore Academy — we went to tournaments in Detroit, and we got to tour Michigan’s facility and Michigan State.
And the year after, we got to look at Yale, Quinnipiac, Dartmouth and Harvard because we were playing all these teams out there. And that’s when I was like, I want to play college. This is sick. And then the other thing is, too, not one WHL team wanted me. So it made my decision easier. But when I was younger, though, I’d say when I was about 15, I was set on going to college. And that’s when I actually really learned what it was all about and how high of a level it is.
Jason Combs
A lot of people talk about how different it is in college hockey versus the Q (QMJHL) or the W (WHL) up in Canada and that stuff. And I don’t know that it’s always about the talent level that they’re talking about.
Sometimes I think it’s just about the culture and that concept of school rivalries where we don’t like North Dakota. Doesn’t matter what sport we’re playing. Omaha and North Dakota don’t like each other.
Jacob Slipec
Yeah, it’s just the way it was described to me, too. I was fortunate to have coaches who played both. We had one that played in the WHL, and we had one that played college at Dartmouth. And just talking to them back and forth about it. And it was also what was going to be best for my hockey career. And at 15, I decided that I want to pursue college, not WHL.
And my parents are also really big on my education and stuff, too. So obviously, with the rule change now, it doesn’t matter for these kids coming up. But for me, like I said, at 15, college was the goal. And as I learned more and more about it, I just kind of fell more in love with it.
Jon Brooks
Yeah, that’s going to be quite the change with major junior players from Canada being able to come and play collegiate hockey. So it’ll be interesting to see. It’ll be interesting to see how that affects college hockey recruiting over the next few years.
Jacob, what are some of your game day superstitions?
Jacob Slipec
Okay, I like to say, “I’m not superstitious, but I’m ‘a little stitious.’”
It’s not really superstition. It’s more just routine to kind of get my body and my mind right. I think, honestly, most importantly, with where I’m at now as a player and a person, it’s my mind. I’m a very detailed-oriented person where I like to stick to my routine.
So I mean, Friday at home, obviously, when we’re away, it’s different. But I can take you through at home. Wake up around 8, 8:30 (a.m.), to get a good breakfast in, make sure I’m up and moving. I don’t like waking up close when I have to go to the rink because then I’m not as hungry for pregame skate or pregame meals, pardon me, after our skate.
But yeah, Friday, wake up, eat breakfast, go to the rink. I got the same little routine I do of just taping my stick, doing certain exercises, stretches, skate, same drills, work on the stuff I’m going to be visualizing in the game. So I’m not going to give away the pre-scout on North Dakota quite yet.
But when the time comes when we’re doing pregame skate, I visualize a lot of what our game plan is going to be and apply it on the ice. After that, eat, come home, nap — always nap — (for an) hour, hour and a half max. Can’t go over that. So some days I’ll nap for 15 minutes.
Other days it’ll be the full hour and a half. Always get to the rink at 4 o’clock. So I normally walk out of my door at 3:55, call my dad. Always got to talk on the phone with my dad as I’m walking to the rink. And then when I get to the rink, phone’s put away. I don’t want to touch it.
I don’t want to look at it. I don’t want to be anywhere near it. And that’s a new one that, for me, is not even being near my phone just because of these podcasts and articles I’ve read about the dopamine levels of looking at your phone and touching at your phone and sports performance. I could go into that for hours.
But then yeah, come, tape sticks, same thing, team meeting, do my little warm-up, team warm-up. And we got a couple of guys who would do a team prayer exactly at the 60 (minute) mark before we go on.
And then at the 44-minute mark, I make sure I’m always fully dressed to go out and talk with some of the kids in the tunnel. I’ll talk to them for a little bit, say hi. Got to know a lot of them pretty well over the last couple of years. And so I’ll hang out with them. And then when there’s two minutes left before warm-up starts, it’s go time. Just put the helmet on, go get warm.
And then from there, it’s just getting to the flow state and just playing the game.
Jon Brooks
Yeah, that’s an interesting point you bring up about avoiding cell phone use. That way, you’re not distracted by any tweets from MavPuck.com before the game that might throw you guys off.
Jacob Slipec
I might be checking after the game, make sure I play well. I’m not just imagining it.
Jon Brooks
That’s right. If you do something good, Bridget always mentions you guys. So if you would — I don’t want you to go too far in the weeds — so what’s the typical — if there is a typical — routine for road games when you’re away from Omaha in the confines of Baxter Arena?
Jacob Slipec
Yeah, I mean, my warm-up routine when I get to the rink is always the same. Time’s a little more condensed (on the road) just because I can’t get there three and a half hours early most of the time. If we’re at a rink where we can walk to, I can. But most of the time, it’s like two and a half hours early. So I kind of speed things up a little bit.
But I do all the same things. Same thing with waking up, breakfast, all that stuff, all the same mental prep. I’m really big on visualization and self-talk. So that’s why I don’t really call them superstitions. But I mean, I always tie my left skate first.
Jason Combs
That’s what I’m looking for.
Jacob Slipec
Yeah, I always put on my left shin pad first, stuff that really doesn’t matter.
Jason Combs
Well, it matters.
Jacob Slipec
A lot of it, yeah.
Jason Combs
Don’t do it once. You’ll know it matters.
Jacob Slipec
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I’d say that’s the only really superstitious thing I do is just left side always first. And the way I tape my stick and tape my socks and everything else is just routine based on body and mind.
Jason Combs
Jon has horror stories about Jason’s level of superstitions playing.
Jon Brooks
Yeah, he’s very superstitious. This hoodie I’m wearing it now, we wore that for, what, seven games in a row, I think.
Jason Combs
Nine, I think it was nine.
Jon Brooks
Was it nine?
Jason Combs
I think it was nine.
Jon Brooks
That’s awesome.
Jason Combs
Yeah, it was ridiculous, Jacob. So thank you.
I know because Jacob started playing well, and the team went on a bender either there. And we were like, well, obviously, the hoodies we’re wearing just got to make sense. Well, it’s funny. I used to be that way. Even a couple of years ago, even my freshman year, I’d have these weird little things that happened. Like, oh, I stubbed my toe, I’ve got to stub my toe.
Jacob Slipec
That never happened, actually, surprisingly. But it was just little things like that where like, oh, I threw my water bottle in the garbage from this distance. I have to do it again. But I’ve gotten over that part of it for the most part.
Jon Brooks
That is very healthy because fans have these weird superstitions. So it’s probably a good idea. And speaking of road series, what’s your favorite road venue to play in?
Jacob Slipec
In conference, I’d say North Dakota or Western Michigan just because of the crowds. I like it when the crowd’s into it. I’m one of those guys where I feed off the energy of people not saying nice things to me and maybe telling me I’m number one, but in a different way.
Jason Combs
What about all time? I mean, even back to your playing days in Canada and stuff, are there arenas that just stand out to you as just a really nice place to be a part of a game?
Jacob Slipec
Not so much games, more like moments.
I think my freshman year when we beat North Dakota at home in game one, that was a huge one when we killed a penalty with two minutes left. When that game, that building, Baxter was electric. That’s still the loudest thing I’ve ever heard a building in my life is when we did that.
And then I’m very confident it was Jimmy Glynn who scored the empty netter to put it away against him that game one. So that’s a moment that I remember big time. And also just when we won our playoff series last year in CC (Colorado College in Colorado Springs), that was not so much energy in the rink, but the energy in the room with the guys, with Gabs (Coach Gabinet) and Bernie (Coach Noel-Bernier) and all the coaches.
That was just such a cool moment. And then more facility-wise, I’d say just playing at the X (Xcel Energy Center), same thing last year. It wasn’t packed by any means, but just the experience of watching games on TV my whole life and actually being on it is just such a surreal feeling, especially for that practice we had on it, kind of just taking it all in and being able to then when the puck drop, it’s game time. But yeah, those are my favorite moments in, I’d say, arenas besides Baxter, obviously. But all the moments are in Baxter.
Jason Combs
I remember that win up at the X, the first win up there. And I mean, it was Jon sitting not too far from me. It was so loud and electric. It was great just to be there.
And that’s kind of one of the things I think I really appreciate about Jacob and the rest of the team there is your guys’ engagement with the fans is top-notch. And you’re in the moment. You’re down there. You guys are all amped up because you just won a playoff game and stuff. But they’re still looking to the stands, finding the fans, and kind of celebrating over in that area and stuff. And as a fan, I’m sure that the listeners and the viewers on the podcast and stuff will resonate with this, but just how much we appreciate that and enjoy kind of being a very small part of that.
Jacob Slipec
I mean, I wouldn’t say you guys are a small part at all. I think you guys are a huge part. I mean, when you were just talking about that, I got chills down my body. I just seen about different moments where you and all our fans travel so well. And it’s such a special feeling being in an away and having our fans out-cheer the home team.
That stuff’s cool. And last year, St. Cloud, I have all these memories coming to me. The Mav Maniacs bussed out to St. Cloud. And then after the game, we sang the fight song with them. That’s so cool. They’d spent their weekend going to St. Cloud to come watch us play and cheer us on.
That’s unreal. Yeah, same thing in Vegas when we won the Vegas tournament, going over the glass to everyone sitting in our section. That’s just one of those things where I look at Omaha, and it’s just one of the many things that I’m so grateful to be a part of.
Jason Combs
Yeah. Did you expect that? Sorry, Jon.
Jon Brooks
No, I was going to say, absolutely. We love watching you guys. And Jason, go ahead.
Jason Combs
I was just curious if you one of the questions I had for you was, what were your expectations coming to Omaha? And did they meet them? So is that something that you knew, I say, you were getting yourself into kind of thing?
Did you know how the culture and the fight song in the lobby after home wins and things like that that are pretty unique in college hockey? Did you have those expectations coming in as that level of engagement with the fans? Or was that a bit of a surprise to you?
Jacob Slipec
Big surprise. I mean, being a freshman coming in, I feel like the only thing on my mind was, How can I gain the coaches’ trust and play? How can I help this team win? How can I help this team win and play — where I wasn’t even really thinking about the outside stuff?
And from the expectations that the coaches and the guys that I met with set with how we practiced, how we got treated, all that was surpassed when I got here. I’m like, that is spot on and even more so. And then just the fans, I was blown away, just completely blown away.
And all the relationships that I’ve made over the past two and a half, almost three years now with you guys and with other people is crazy. I feel like I know 100, 200 people when we go out after the fight song. Just all by name, it’s a cool feeling.
It’s just a really cool feeling or being in the crowd or being on the ice and seeing someone in the crowd that I know as I’m skating around in warm-ups or walking into class and one of my buddies is like, “Hey, great game.” You were there. Wow, that’s pretty cool, man. Thanks. No way. Yeah, I didn’t know what to expect at all.
I didn’t really have any expectations. And I never would have imagined the people I’ve met, connections I’ve made, friendships, and stuff like that to happen. So that’s something that’s really special to me is the community of Omaha and UNO hockey.
Jon Brooks
Yeah, that’s been a neat thing, the number of Mavericks over the years who’ve kind of become integrated into the community. A lot of them are still living here in Omaha. They’ve got families here, which is really very, very cool as a fan and an alum of UNO to see.
And you touched on this a little bit, but what do you see as your role on the team? What do you see as your role as a Maverick on this team? And how has that evolved the past three seasons?
Jacob Slipec
Yeah, I think the thing with roles, too, is you always got to evolve with the need be. Obviously, we had some injuries and stuff like that. So obviously, when those roles open, I try and fill them the best I can. But I know what type of player I am. I’m an energy guy. I’m hard to play against.
Penalty kill, which is something that I earned this year, something that I didn’t have the opportunity to play the last two years. So very grateful for that. And I’d say right now with where I’m at is, yeah, just be a reliable penalty killer. We’re up by a goal, five on six. I want to be on the ice. I want to kill it off when it’s the game.
And just, excuse my language, just a prick to play against, just having guys hate me. And I’d say that right now is my biggest role, especially coming into this playoff series here, is just making it hard on guys every night where when they see 13 on the ice, they’re like, "Ugh, this guy again." And I like to think I got a little bit of offense, too.
So when I got the puck on my stick, I want to make a play, but score a goal or set up something. But the basis of my game is all hard work, skill, compete. And I always like to describe it as a toolbox. So what’s my toolbox? Okay, my grit, my compete, my physicality, and energy.
Okay, that’s my toolbox. What tools can I then add into that box? Because without the box, it’s useless, and it’s all over the place. If I went out there and wanted to be a skill guy like Patrick Kane, I’m not going to be effective. This is not my game where I look at a guy in the NHL, Kiefer Sherwood or Brandon Hagel, even if they’re not getting points, what are they doing? And that’s how I kind of see myself, a Kiefer Sherwood type player.
But I’m also not satisfied with what I have now. I always want to earn more, kind of like I did with the penalty kill this year, and then hopefully still going forward, earn more minutes, five-on-five, maybe power play and stuff like that, and just become a more complete overall player as time goes on. And I think they’ve done a great job of developing me in that way so far and just trying to earn more. But like I said, for the time being, coming to this playoff push is hard to play against, piss guys off, and put the puck in the net when needed, and just be reliable, 200-foot, just be reliable.
Jason Combs
Maybe some non-hockey questions.
Jon Brooks
Yeah, well, I was going to ask you. I was like, obviously, having visited with players before, chatted with them over the years, obviously, you’re a collegiate hockey player. You’re busy. There’s a lot going on as it regards hockey and school. But outside of hockey, what do you like to do when you have some free time?
Jacob Slipec
That’s a tough question. Yeah, I’ve been trying to find an answer for my whole life now.
Jason Combs
Let’s put it this way, Jacob, because it’s kind of the same question. But we had this activity at work where we did this where it was if you had 24 hours, just a full day where you could do whatever you wanted to do, money’s not an option, the whole thing, but you only have 24 hours to do it, what do you do?
Jacob Slipec
I’m going on the ice. I’m making sure goalies on there. I’m making sure goalies on there with me that I can shoot on. But no, a lot of my off time is when I’m not doing score or hockey. I like to watch a lot of hockey. But besides that, non-hockey activities, I like to play guitar, spend time with friends. Fortunately, my girlfriend here of five years lives in Omaha with me. So spend time with her, walk the dog, just kind of enjoy the things that hockey has brought me, enjoying Omaha. And love going out to eat, but college budget, so can’t do it too often. But I do love food and summertime, golf, just typical hockey answer, just golf.
Jon Brooks
Yeah, a lot of hockey players play golf. Yeah. Now, Jacob, I was going to ask, your brother Grayden is a freshman at Northern Michigan. You two also played together at Surrey in the BCHL. What do you think of that? Is there any sort of rivalry between you guys, both being Division I collegiate hockey players?
Jacob Slipec
No, I wouldn’t say rivalry. I think it helps that we’re in different conferences. But yeah, I talk to him all the time. I mean, trying to get him to come here. We’ll see.
Jon Brooks
He’s going to say, "Can we pull him over here a little bit?"
Jacob Slipec
Yeah, can we pull him? I mean, yeah. I mean, I’m going to try, obviously. But I know he loves it there as well. I think he feels the same way about Northern Michigan as I do about Omaha. But no, I know we’re ever I mean, in the summers, yeah, it gets heated if we’re going one-on-one, battle drills or stuff like that. But yeah, his season just ended, and it was really cool. I’m really proud of him and really cool how he did this year. He led his team in points as a freshman. Obviously, their team really struggled having 16 freshmen and so much turnover.
But I talk to him all the time, and we’re always chatting about stuff like hockey, how he’s doing, how I’m doing, picking each other’s brains on stuff. And I mean, yeah, hell of a player, hell of a hockey player. And in the summer, it’s like we’re inseparable because we’re both only home for such a short amount of time. It’s like if I’m doing something, he’s coming with me. If he’s doing something, I’m going with him.
Jon Brooks
How much time do you spend in Canada during the summer since you alluded to that? Are you in Omaha quite a bit of the quite a bit of the off-season?
Jacob Slipec
Yeah. So normally, I’m home for around a month and a half of the summer because we come back. I think we start camp July either 3rd or 5th, normally around there. So yeah, I’m home normally from May to end of June, mid-May, depending on how classes go and stuff like that. Some of my teachers will let me leave a little early. Sometimes they don’t. So I got to sort that out. But about a month and a half at home in Vancouver.
Jon Brooks
So I’ve got to ask you, this is kind of a long-term question here for you, but where do you want to be five years from now? Where do you see yourself five years from now?
Jacob Slipec
Yeah, I want to be in the NHL. Easy answer. Yeah, it’s a long road. I mean, I know how hard it is, but willing to do the work and willing to do everything I can to get there. And that’s been my goal since I was three years old. So yeah, I mean, that’s where I want to be, any team. Yeah, just anywhere in the NHL.
Jason Combs
Yeah, I think the dream is just to keep playing for college hockey players. We hear that a lot. And a lot of the former Mavs, we see them trying to make their run and build their way up through different routes and different programs. And there’s a lot of different options for you out there. So I’m confident we will see you get there because I think you got what it needs, so.
Jacob Slipec
Thanks. I really appreciate that. Thank you.
Jason Combs
You mentioned the guitar, which was something I didn’t know about you, that you were kind of into that. So what’s your music genre of choice?
Jacob Slipec
Always country on the guitar, always, always country. Actually, you know what? I’ll tell a funny story. I’m not going to say their names because I don’t know if they’d want me to.
But I had two of the guys hire me to play for them and their girlfriends at the time. They did a nice candlelit dinner and stuff, and I was the surprise entertainment. They both broke up. Both of these guys’ relationships ended about a month later. I am now forbidden from doing anything with it with the guys. So that’s long gone. It was fun at the time, but yeah.
Jason Combs
So that’s why the career goals of the NHL, right? You had to check the country music star off the list after that, right?
Jacob Slipec
Yeah. Yeah. No, they didn’t last long, sadly. But it was actually funny. Last year, we had about nine guys on our team who played guitar. So we would get together here at the Broadmoor Apartments, and we just had a jam session. It was a lot of fun. We have a couple of guys this year, but not as many. But yeah, we got us some pretty musically talented guys.
Dom Vidoli last year was unbelievable on guitar. He was awesome.
Jason Combs
We had a great conversation with him. That’s a very nice lead-in for me. But we had a great conversation with him after one of the heard-at things about his playlist and how he kind of dominated the music choice in the locker room. And so what’s on your playlist?
Jacob Slipec
That’s false.
Jason Combs
Oh, really?
Jacob Slipec
That’s false. I wouldn’t say he dominated because him and I switched back and forth. So to not give me credit there, Dom, that’s kind of if he’s watching this, Dom, that’s crazy. That’s crazy because I do get a lot of songs from him, though. He’s got a great music taste. But we’d go back and forth in the room.
Jason Combs
So what’s on the playlist right now then for you since he’s not here to steal it from you?
Jacob Slipec
Yeah. Well, so I did music my freshman year and then last year. And now with my new phone thing, I stopped because I don’t want to look, see, touch phone. But I also do it on practice days. Today, I was playing Elton John and some Billy Joel. Yeah, it’s just kind of like I don’t ever have a playlist.
I read the vibes. I took a lot of pride in being the aux guy because I also was aux all through juniors, my four years of juniors. Every team I was on, I was always the aux guy. And it wasn’t always like it’s not like, “Oh no, I got it.” It’s just somehow I morphed into that role. And so I would never just set a playlist and be like, “Okay, where are the vibes in the room today? Energy’s a little low. Okay, you know what? Let’s ease them into it. Let’s start a little slower and then get going.” But yeah, I just pick a genre and just stick with it. Yeah, but today was like ‘80s. It was great.
Jason Combs
Interesting.
Jon Brooks
Yeah, I’m down with ‘80s music. I got to ask you, you mentioned you played for those two teammates for their romantic dinners. Do you remember what you played at all?
Jacob Slipec
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I had a set list, three songs. Yeah, three songs each. I played Zach Bryan, Burn, Burn, Burn. I played Revival,also by Zach Bryan. And then the last song, I can’t remember. I think it was Lady May by Tyler Childers, I think is what it was. But I remember one of the guys, he gave me some of her favorite songs to play as well. And I sang a little bit, too, but I am a terrible singer. But I kind of just mumbled it.
Jon Brooks
That was really nice of you. This is very, very impressive. I’m impressed by that. And I’m sad that their relationships didn’t work out with all of the effort that was put into that.
Looking at the upcoming series against North Dakota, there’s a lot of playoff implications on the line. Jason and I and Bridget and I, we’ve been crunching all the number scenarios. I’m sure you guys aren’t as worried about it as we are. But what are your thoughts going into that series against North Dakota?
Jacob Slipec
Yeah, obviously, there’s a lot of unknown with it, right? I mean, correct me if I’m you guys probably know better than I do. But so correct me if I’m wrong. We can either finish second or fifth, depending on how the weekend goes. So I think we all kind of know. We win two games, we get second, we get swept, we don’t get home ice.
So obviously, you never want to get swept in general anyways. But I mean, the games are the same as the games that we had in October or November. Honestly, to me, it’s a game. Our team’s the same. I mean, we’ve only gotten better. And like I alluded to earlier, saying there was no pressure except for being on this podcast. But I genuinely believe there’s no pressure. We’re a team that does all the work every day. Our staff does all the work, cutting video and coaching us. It’s just going out and trusting our ability to play. And I think you can see it throughout the season, the games where we had everyone on board trusting their ability to play.
And some game, for whatever reason, we haven’t or we were battling illness or anything like that. So my mentality is just another game. They’re all big games.
Yeah, if we won maybe two games, two games more in November, then where are the standings like now, right? So everything happens for a reason. I’m just really confident in this group going in. And North Dakota is a fun place to play. It’s fun. It’s hostile. And we got a team built to win. And if we stick to our game plan and play the way we need to play, like you saw on Saturday, we’re going to win.
Jason Combs
Yeah, that “caution to the wind” attitude. I know how much you guys talk about at the beginning of the season where pundits have you and where the writers place you and preseason rankings and things like that. But I was thinking back to when John and I did our preseason predictions and stuff.
And a lot of the writers that we were looking at and stuff didn’t give Omaha nearly enough credit. And I think that you guys have really kind of shocked a lot of people because you have been committed to each other and committed to the program. And it’s paid dividends on the ice as the season’s gone along.
And that stretch run with that heater was pretty awesome for you guys. And so commend you for being able to put in the work and see that through because a lot of teams would have some of the struggles that they had early on and losses against teams that you knew you probably shouldn’t have lost against and just kind of like, "Eh, well, maybe not this year," kind of thing.
And so it’s fun to watch.
Jacob Slipec
Yeah. I think what you kind of just alluded to is just the culture here in Omaha that I talked about when I committed here. It’s just every day is a chance to get better. It doesn’t matter what happened yesterday. You just learn from it, and you move on. But we talk about as a team, riding the wavelengths. Don’t want to get too high. Don’t want to get too low.
It’s just like you win a game, great. Still got to play Saturday. You can’t stay up on that high, and you lose Friday. That sucks. But you can’t stay down there because you got a game to win on Saturday. And I think just with having I thought, “What? How many new guys do we have this year?” Like 15, 16 new guys. There’s a learning curve.
There’s a learning curve to that, right? So many new faces with new coaches. And it’s just a whole new team compared to last year. And just everyone from the staff and the players has done such a great job of gelling and just learning every day. Because like you said, when we were on that six-game skid, we could have easily just like you said, a lot of teams were just packing in and be like, “Oh, this sucks.”
But no, we just trust the process, continue to get better every day. And now we’re in a situation where we can finish second in the conference or at least with home ice. And we’re just pumped. I can speak for everyone. We want to be back in Baxter. We got to be back in Baxter.
Jon Brooks
And we want you to be back in Baxter so we get to come and watch you guys play here in the friendly confines of our home arena. Jason, do you have any more questions for Jacob?
Jason Combs
I don’t think so. I think we covered quite a bit and a lot of stuff. So I really appreciate Jacob not just being so focused on hockey, but opening up on some of your personal life and stuff like that. I think the fans will really appreciate getting kind of a glimpse into what life is like, and who you are as a person.
And just I think further I know Jon and I say the same thing. It’s just our respect for you as a player and as a human. And it’s been a great few years here. And we’re looking forward to some more here and some more winning here and maybe bringing home a national championship this year, right?
Jacob Slipec
The plan. That is the plan. Yeah. Well, thank you, guys. And I said this before. I love what you guys do. You guys are a part of the reason of what makes Omaha special, always hyping us up, even sometimes, I think, when we don’t deserve it. But you guys are always on our side. And as a team and the culture, you guys are a part of what makes this place special.
So thank you. And thank you for having me on. Honored to be the first player. And maybe we’re starting something called Slippy Segments coming up. I don’t know. But I’m always happy to come on and chat with you guys. So whenever you guys want, just let me know when one’s around.
Jon Brooks
Well, we really appreciate it because it’s great to hear from the people who are part of the program in the locker room skating out there on the ice. It makes a difference to hear your perspective because people listen to Jason and I every week. And certainly, we present the fan perspective.
But it’s nice to get the perspective of somebody who’s doing this day in and day out as a hockey player, somebody who’s played hockey for essentially their entire life. So yeah. So we want to really thank you for being the first Maverick to appear on the Mav podcast, hopefully the first of many. It only took us like six, seven years to get our first Mav on here. So thank you for offering to do that. We really, really appreciate it. And best wishes this upcoming weekend in North Dakota.
We will be here cheering you on. And you guys control your own destiny. So hopefully, you can get it done.
Jacob Slipec
Yep. Will do. Will do. We’ll see you guys back at Baxter.
Jason Combs
We’ll be there.
Jon Brooks
Awesome. Thank you so much, Jacob. Yep.
Jacob Slipec
Yeah, of course. Thank you.
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