Coach Mike Gabinet, senior forward Ryan Galt, and junior forward Zach Jordan answered media questions as part of the “Omaha Athletics Weekly Media Availability” on Nov. 13, 2018.
Gabinet & Co. fielded questions regarding UNO Hockey’s Nov. 9 & 10 series at Western Michigan, the team’s bye week, and the upcoming series against Arizona State at Baxter Arena on Nov. 23 & 24.
The following quotes are excerpts from the news conference. To view the press conference video in it’s entirety, click here.
ON THE FRIDAY GAME AT WESTERN MICHIGAN...
GABINET: “Not the start we wanted... and again, I think as Dave and I talked about, good first few minutes there, then they [WMU] get a couple goals, and we’re chasing the rest of the night.”
ON THE SATURDAY GAME AT WESTERN MICHIGAN...
GABINET: “Very good response by the guys on Saturday. I thought we have to play a certain way to be successful and I thought we did that on Saturday. Really proud of the guys for sticking to the game plan for 60 minutes, and really playing smart.”
GABINET: “Just listening to Andy Murray’s post [game] press conference. He thought we ‘out teamed’ them. Which is always a high phrase for our team to get a nice compliment from an opposing coach.”
ON THE BYE WEEK...
GABINET: “Looking forward to the bye week here. We had a really hard practice yesterday. We’ll have another one today. We gotta keep getting better and keep making sure we’re taking steps in the right direction.”
ON FACING ASU FOR A SECOND TIME THIS SEASON...
GABINET: “Anytime you play a team again, it’s always nice to see if you’re improving... and vice versa. If you were successful the first time you played a team — are you maintaining that standard or raising that standard. We have something to prove after the first go-around.”
ANYTHING BEING STRESSED TO THE TEAM DURING THE OFF WEEK...
GABINET: “I think we’re gonna pick a couple things to make sure we have some specific focuses for the week... at different times of the week. Obviously, with the injuries we’ve had this season — I think we’re only skating right now with 12 forwards — a lot of guys are banged up and have been out, with Pulkinnen and Weiss."
GABINET: “Some rest for some guys. Some work for some guys. But it’s nice to have that option.”
ON INJURIES... WILL TYLER WEISS RETURN TO THE LINEUP AFTER THE BYE?
GABINET: “If [Tyler Weiss] has a good week of practice this week, and is firing on all cylinders next week. He was questionable for Western Michigan. I wasn’t comfortable trying to speed up his process there. It’d be nice to get him back in the lineup, but he’s also a young man we care about, and want to make sure he’s completely healthy before we put him back in the lineup.”
GABINET: “I’m sure [Weiss] is looking forward to getting back in the saddle, and getting more time with the team, and getting that bond even tighter.”
CONCERNED ABOUT TEAM PLAY BETWEEN FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT?
GABINET: “We need to make sure we capture the way we played Saturday on Friday. That’s something we’re focusing on this week, too — to make sure we talk about it, and help prepare our guys, because it’s very important. As we’ve said thousands of times: in our conference, if you’re not ready to go, you've got no chance. Especially with the makeup of our team.”
GABINET: “On Saturday night we had 22 blocked shots to their seven. We had a ton of finished checks and eliminated players in the play, which we didn’t do the previous night.”
GABINET: “We need to find a way to capture that on Friday night, and then continue that on Saturday night, and then continue that for three periods.”
GABINET: “I don’t look too far behind or to far ahead because there are so many things that can change... whether it’s a player from one year to the next or a team from one year to the next. It’s such a results business, and that’s why it’s so much stress, because it’s hard to not look at the results.”
ON THE PROGRESS OF THE FRESHMEN...
GABINET: “The first 10 games here they’ve been given some more opportunity of late, and I think they’ve done a good job accepting that. On Friday night, you saw some freshmen get some more minutes.”
GABINET: “The more experience they get and the more they can build from it and draw on it — and if we can set them up to have some success here — then you’re looking at those guys to build throughout their careers.“
GABINET: “We need our older players too... if they’re an older player in the lineup, you gotta play at a certain level. Because you should be a little bit ahead of some of some of the younger guys with how your performance is out there.”
ON THE NEED TO PUT TOGETHER “COMPLETE GAMES”...
GABINET: “Especially us. I think we have to really play — you don’t want to say 'a perfect game' because that’s a tough task to do — but you have to play a certain way consistently, and doing the right things over and over and over again.”
PLAYER FEELINGS ON THE WESTERN MICHIGAN SERIES...
GALT: “It was a pretty good weekend, I thought. Western is a really hard place to go play. Last year we got swept there. It’s just a hard environment to play in. I think Friday night we just weren’t ready to play. We didn’t play very well. They played good, but we also didn’t play well. Saturday, we showed good resilience. Came out, played as a unit, played as a full team.”
JORDAN: “It was a big team game on Saturday. I think if we can just keep building off that — especially this week, with practices to focus on us and not having to worry about who we’re playing this weekend — will be good for us.”
ON THE BYE WEEK...
JORDAN: “I think it is a good week just to take care of ourselves — get better for the upcoming weekend. We’ve got a big weekend next week against Arizona State."
ON THE CONFERENCE PLAY SO FAR THIS MONTH...
GALT: “I think it’s a really good start for us. Splitting against two good teams — Miami is a good team this year... Western, especially in Western. We’ve started off really well in the NCHC. So if we’re gonna get any wins, those are good wins to get.”
JORDAN: “So far, with my time being here as a junior, I think this is our best start to NCHC play that we’ve had. I think it’s good for us. Normally, we start off a little slow with NCHC play, but I think getting two wins off the bat — two splits against two good teams — is going to be helpful for us down the road.”
GALT’S FEELINGS ABOUT BEING AN OMAHA NATIVE PLAYING FOR THE MAVERICKS IN HIS SENIOR SEASON...
GALT: “People are being negative and stuff. I even had to delete Twitter for awhile, because there are fans who don’t understand what is going on behind the scenes here. But it’s actually been really fun. You can tell our team is growing a lot. We’ve grown a crap ton since the start of the year. I know we only have two wins and all that, and the stats. But we’ve had a couple good wins. You can see when we play the right way — and play the way we can — we would have probably a winning record right now in the season.”
GALT: “It was a tough start, but at the same time, sometimes adversity leads to a really good team. Obviously, it’s harder to become a good team with adversity, but if you have the right makeup, it makes you an incredible team at the end of the year when you need to be good.”
GALT’S FEELINGS ON HIS LEADERSHIP ROLE IN HIS SENIOR YEAR...
GALT: “It’s been fun — leading guys and having guys ask questions.”
GALT: “It’s been fun leading it with my nine other seniors as well. We have a huge class. I think we’re the first class to graduate as (a) full (class) since freshman year for the [first time] in 8 years.”
GALT: “It’s special for me, and also to be close to my parents, and have them not have to travel so far to watch me play."
JORDAN’S FEELINGS ON THE TEAM'S SENIORS...
JORDAN: “The past couple of years I’ve lived with guys that have been in that class. So I’ve really gotten close to them. I’ve learned a lot from them. They’ve really helped me grow a lot as a person on the ice and off the ice.”
JORDAN: “They’re going to be missed — with everything they’ve done for this program.”
PLAYER THOUGHTS ON DEALING WITH THE TEAM’S TOUGH START... SINCE THE COMMUNITY CAN’T SEE “BEHIND THE SCENES”...
JORDAN: “I think for the most part you kind of just have to block it out. Everybody is going to have their opinion. They’re on the outside looking in. We’re on the inside knowing everything that is going on. So, they can have their opinion and they can think whatever they want. Hey, sometimes we get down on ourselves too, but we’re still trying to fix it. We’re not just giving up on ourselves. We’re trying to figure out what to do to get this team where it should be and represent the logo and the school well.”
GALT: “They’re not wrong that we’re losing. Obviously, everybody knows that we’ve been losing. But they’re wrong in the sense... I saw one tweet — I don’t care about tweets — I just ran across it that they said the team didn’t play to the end of the game, or they weren’t trying in the third period. I don’t remember what it was, but it was something in that sense. I don’t care who it was, or what it said. It’s just a fact that they don’t understand what’s going on behind the scenes, and what we’re doing, and what we’re working on, and what the coaching staff is putting time into, what we’re putting the time into."
GALT: “Me and [Zach] were talking about it before we even got in here, like our legs are tired, because we had a heavy lift yesterday. We’re not making this a week off. It’s not a week to just relax and get our muscles right, we’re still working and doing things that other teams wouldn’t be doing. So, just to the fans — and people that are still believing in UNO — we’re working on what we need to do, and I promise you the team is going to be a lot different come February and March than what it is now, and I think we’re going to be a progressive team to where once we get to that time, we’re going to be a team that people don’t want to run into.”
JORDAN: “It’s something we haven’t been a part of yet here. And its a growing experience. We have a team this year that just has to grow together.”
JORDAN: “Guys gotta start doing the right things on the ice all the time. The group we have, we don’t have the superstars that are putting up 40-50 points. We’re going to have guys that come to the rink everyday, ready to work, and that’s how we’re going to win games.”
PLAYERS ON THE UPCOMING ASU SERIES...
GALT: “We are 10 games in, which is about one-third of a college hockey season, so it goes quick. But when we were playing ASU that weekend — there are a lot of different factors that went into it — but we also weren’t playing our best game. You can put different things on it — reffing, the environment that we were playing in, the travel, all that stuff — so it will be good to have them come here and experience what we do at home, and be in front of our home fan base.“
GALT: “I think we’re finally on a roll a little bit here. I think we’re figuring ourselves out a little bit more. And like I said previously, adversity always challenges people, but it makes people stronger once they come out of that adversity. I’m actually really excited and hopeful for this entire team and university to be behind our backs when we do come out of the adversity as a whole. Because we’re going to be a team you don’t want to run into after that.”
HOW BIG WAS THE FIRST WIN OF THE SEASON AGAINST MIAMI?
JORDAN: “It’s kind of like when you’re a player, and you go through a little bit of a goal drought, and you pop one in after a couple of games. It’s like getting that monkey off your back.”
JORDAN: “We knew we had a lot of work to do still, and that’s something to build off of from that game — how we played that night to get the win.”
GALT: “A big part of that whole drought of not winning was the fact that after the third, and then the fourth, and the fifth... it keeps building on you. So then it becomes even harder to win. Not necessarily the team that you’re playing, but even just yourself. It’s draining on you, it’s draining on the coaching staff, and everybody watching. You keep losing, so once you get to the third and the fourth and the fifth loss, you’re like, ‘Oh man, I don’t even know if we’re going to get one.” That’s where your mindset is at. So, finally to get that one puts all that away. And you’re like, ‘Okay, now we can get back on track and we can keep doing what we need to do.’”
Gabinet starts at 31:22.
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