UNO Hockey Coach Mike Gabinet, junior forward Zach Jordan, and senior forward Mason Morelli answered media questions as part of the “Omaha Athletics Weekly Media Availability” on Jan. 29, 2019.
Gabinet & Co. fielded questions regarding the UNO Hockey team’s series at Duluth on Jan. 25-26, and the upcoming series against Western Michigan on Feb. 1-2 at Baxter Arena.
If you would like to watch the hockey news conference (starting at the 23:00 mark), you can do so here.
THOUGHTS ON THE SERIES AT DULUTH...
GABINET: “Obviously, [they’re] the defending national champions. They’re that for a reason. I think they’re probably one of the best teams we’ve played all season long.”
GABINET: “You’re never satisfied without a win, but as good as you can be without a win on Saturday…I thought our guys competed extremely hard there.”
THOUGHTS ON THE WESTERN SERIES...
GABINET: “Looking forward to another top 10 opponent here with Western Michigan coming into town. Obviously, they were one of my preseason picks to be one of the strongest teams in the NCHC.”
THOUGHTS ON THE FRIDAY GAME AT DULUTH... THE SCORE, THE SHOT TOTALS, THINGS OF THAT NATURE...
GABINET: “We were watching video back — doing our game review — and somehow it went from 36 to 46 shots it seemed like in 10 seconds. So I don’t know if those are obviously the right numbers all the time.”
GABINET: “Very, very good team again, obviously. They have the draft picks, they’ve got the World Junior players, they’ve got the talent there. But then again, they’re so hard on pucks, and so quick off the draws that I thought on Friday we really got caught watching a little bit — maybe giving them too much respect and too much time and space for being the national champions — instead of just showing up and competing and letting the chips fall where they may.”
GABINET: “I thought that was the biggest difference on Saturday. We were a lot more physical on Saturday. We eliminated bodies and slowed them down a little bit and took away their time and space. That allowed for less consistent pressure from them, and less time in our D-zone.”
GABINET: “With our guys, it’s just about continuing to emphasize on competing and initiating and engaging and not watching and getting too worried about where they’re ranked or who we’re playing and just believing in ourselves and playing to the best of our capabilities.”
GABINET: “When we do that, we have a chance to stay in the game. But it’s also a very difficult thing to do. It’s like showing up at work everyday and being 100 percent all the time — every shift, every game. Unfortunately, that’s the conference we play in. But fortunately that’s an unbelievable trait for our guys to learn how to do.”
YOUR PLAYERS HAVE BOUGHT INTO THIS BELIEF THAT IT’S ABOUT CONTROLLING HOW YOU PLAY — FORGETTING ABOUT THE JERSEY ON THE OTHER SIDE. HOW MUCH OF THE REST OF THE SEASON IS ABOUT SIMPLY FOCUSING ON HOW THE MAVS PLAY?
GABINET: “We were just at practice yesterday — we had a hard practice. We’ve got to be willing to do things other people aren’t willing to do to get to the same level that they’re at. It’s a mindset. It’s a belief system. And to me, there’s no magic switch. You don’t just go to the gym one day and wake up with a six pack. You’ve gotta go everyday and do it again and again and again. It’s the same thing with this mental toughness and believing in yourself.”
GABINET: “Our guys are slowly doing that and there’s going to be some ups and downs and some doubt that’s going to slip in there. You’ve gotta push it away and get back to work.”
IS WESTERN MICHIGAN LIVING UP TO THE POTENTIAL THEY HAD SHOWN, OR ARE THEY ON A BIT OF A MISSION THIS SEASON?
GABINET: “When we played them the first half of last year, they were at one time ranked fourth in the country. And then they lose a couple key pieces and that’s what the difference a couple individuals can make to a team. They really dropped off the wagon I guess there.”
GABINET: “And now they‘re healthy and playing well. They’re a good team.”
GABINET: “So, again, to me it’s not surprising. Just looking at their roster in the summertime — and who they brought in and who they have back — I thought they’d be extremely strong this season. I think they’re starting to find their groove a little bit here.”
GABINET: “There are some things that we need to do from our game to compete against that that we can do. And we can compete against these guys. We just need to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves.”
HOW MUCH OF A BENEFIT IS IT TO PLAY TEAMS FOR THE SECOND TIME IN A SEASON?
GABINET: “We’ve played them once — even though it was a while ago there. We do know what to expect. We do know that they’re obviously always a physically strong team and compete hard and we’ve got to be prepared for that.”
WITH THE NUMBER OF GAMES IN THE SEASON DWINDLING — AS MUCH AS YOU’RE STAYING IN A DAY-TO-DAY MINDSET — DO YOU START LOOKING AT “BIGGER PICTURE” THINGS LIKE LOOKING A POINTS IN THE CONFERENCE RACE?
GABINET: “Just one day at a time. Even for myself, it’s hard, it’s hard to do. It’s hard not to get overwhelmed with the schedule and with the future. But it serves you no purpose.”
LOOKING AT THE NCHC STANDINGS, THERE IS ONLY 10 POINTS BETWEEN THE TEAM AND FOURTH PLACE. DOES THAT ADD ANOTHER DIMENSION TO THIS WEEK’S SERIES AGAINST THE BRONCOS?
GABINET: “Not really. It seems like every game during the whole season is important when you’re constantly playing ranked opponents. It’s just something you’ve got to get familiar with.”
GABINET: “Again, I think that’s one of the difficult things that our guys had on Friday night. I thought we did a really good job with the first five games in the second half.”
GABINET: “To be prepared for every game like it is a playoff game. To do that every single game — every single period. That’s probably where you see the biggest drop off — as the teams get better or the level gets higher — is that consistency. The teams that are willing to consistently do it are usually the teams that are the best.”
ON RILEY ALFERD’S PLAY THIS SEASON...
GABINET: “Riley is one of those guys that’s just been a little bit of a tweener (betweener) so far in his career. He’s not really an offensive production guy, but he wasn’t really a shutdown player as well. What I think in this last few weeks that we’ve really challenged him for is to make sure that he’s very, very responsible out there defensively, first and foremost. And have a good stick and make smart decisions out there consistently. Because he does have that offensive ability when he gets an opportunity.”
PLAYER THOUGHTS ON THE SERIES AT DULUTH...
JORDAN: “Friday, we didn’t show up. We didn’t play our game. Saturday could have gone either way, it just was a matter of who finished their chances and they finished more than we did, and it showed.”
MORELLI: “I thought Saturday we rebounded well. I thought the game could have went either way. They’re a really good team, so [we] gotta give them credit where credit is due. But I thought we battled pretty hard Saturday and took a couple steps there, and hopefully we can bring that again against Western.”
ON THE DIFFICULTY COMING BACK WHEN YOU GET DOWN AGAINST A GOOD TEAM — AS HAPPENED ON FRIDAY IN DULUTH...
MORELLI: “When you get in a hole from the get-go — especially against Duluth, Denver, the teams that are top 5, top 10 — it’s hard to come back. Like I said, if we play like we did on Saturday for the rest of the season, and build on that even more, I think we’ll be pretty good off. We’ll start to string together some wins.”
ON WMU’S EVOLUTION... THEY WERE A TOUGH TEAM TO PLAY WHEN THE CONFERENCE BEGAN, BUT DIDN’T HAVE THE SKILL PLAYERS OTHER NCHC TEAMS HAD. NOW THEY DO...
MORELLI: “Definitely different. Pretty ‘night and day’ different, I guess. Back when I was a freshman and sophomore, they had the big goons that made you a little intimidated going on the ice with them.”
MORELLI: “You can’t take anything away from them, either, because they’re playing really good hockey right now, too. They still have that lunch bucket attitude. They go out there and work hard — a meat-and=potatoes kind of team. That’s the kind of team you want to be — because in the NCHC — and especially in today’s hockey era — that’s the kind of hockey that works.”
MORELLI: “To play that style takes a full team — from your top six to your bottom six — it’s even more important nowadays. We’re just trying to kind of mirror our game like that, too. And just play simple and hard, because that’s what works.”
BENEFITS TO PLAYING A TEAM FOR THE SECOND SERIES IN A SEASON...
JORDAN: “Just like how we’ve grown a lot, I’m sure they’ve grown a lot. After we beat them, I think they went on a nine/ten game win streak — or ‘lossless streak,’ technically. But I think teams are still growing — especially us — and I know other teams are growing as well. We played them already, but we’re still just going to be ready for anything.”
ON FOCUSING ON THE “BIG PICTURE” AS THE SEASON WINDS DOWN THE NEXT MONTH...
MORELLI: “I still try to take it day by day — especially with my days kind of short here at UNO. I just try to take it day by day and enjoy my time here and, most importantly, try to give it my all so we can hopefully do something special.”
MORELLI: “Maybe some people are ruling us out. I’m not. I know me and Zach aren’t. And I don’t think anyone in the locker room is. I think we’re all still on board and that’s not gonna change. So, it’s gonna be a fun second half.”
ON THE NOTION OF PLAYING YOUR BEST HOCKEY GOING INTO POST-SEASON PLAY...
JORDAN: “That’s what everybody is thinking. Obviously, we don’t like losing — nobody does. We care about how much we’re bettering ourselves for when it comes to playoff time. That’s when it all matters — no matter what. We’re going to be ready when that time comes.”
ON ONLY BEING 10 POINTS OUT OF FOURTH PLACE IN THE NCHC STANDINGS...
JORDAN: “It’s tough. This whole season it’s just really hard, because we had focused on the right here and the right now — because that’s how we’re going to better ourselves. Like you said, there’s a lot of points we can make up this month and the last stretch of our season here. But we’re focusing on Western for this weekend. That’s what it’s going to take. If we have the whole room focusing on just this — right now — we’re going to be able to hopefully get two wins here.”
MORELLI: “That’s the beauty of our conference. It’s always a tight race — at the beginning and even at the end. Like I try telling the guys all the time, you need points every weekend. We haven’t had some in the last couple, but I think we’re getting close, and we’re really on the verge there. I think we can hopefully get some points from Western and start getting on a roll here.”
ON THE BALANCE BETWEEN BEING PHYSICAL AND DISCIPLINED — AND HOW THE GAME IS CHANGING IN THAT REGARD...
JORDAN: “It’s tough. I can speak for both of us — it’s tough. Being bigger guys — especially now that guys are getting smaller in the game — when we go into a hit, it has to be pretty much perfect or we go straight for their heads. Because, the way it’s being called now, if you have too big of a hit you might get a penalty just because it’s too big. So, you’ve just got to be smart about it. You can’t be shying away from hits. The right way to do it is you’ve just got to do it smart and go in and just try to stay away from their head as much as possible.”
MORELLI: “You’ve just got to be careful now more than ever. The big hits, like Zach said, are kind of fading out of the game. So, it’s all about forechecking with your feet, and having a good stick, and yeah, that’s what it kind of comes down to.”
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