UNO Hockey Coach Mike Gabinet, freshman forward Taylor Ward, and junior defenseman Dean Stewart answered media questions as part of the “Omaha Athletics Weekly Media Availability” on Feb. 26, 2019.
Gabinet & Co. fielded questions regarding the UNO Hockey team’s series against St. Cloud on Feb. 22-23, and the upcoming series against Denver on March 1-2 at Baxter Arena.
If you would like to watch the hockey news conference (starting at the 21:50 mark), you can do so here.
LOOKING AHEAD TO THE DENVER SERIES...
GABINET: “It’s gone by fast. The season seems like a long season, and then all the sudden you’re in your last home series of the regular season. Excited to finish off on a good note here and get Denver in town. Obviously, they’re a good team and [we’re] looking forward to the challenge.”
ON THIS YEAR’S SENIOR CLASS...
GABINET: “It’s a special group. Anytime you have a big group like we’ve had… They’ve done a lot for the program, and so you definitely want to finish on a strong weekend for them here at home.”
GABINET: “We’re thankful and grateful for all they’ve contributed to the program in helping set the foundation moving forward here. We’ll definitely miss a lot of those guys who are graduating.”
THE SENIOR CLASS WAS PART OF A TEAM RANKED NO. 1 DURING THEIR FRESHMAN SEASON... THOUGHTS ON THEIR REACTION TO HOW THINGS HAVE GONE...
GABINET: “As in life, there’s going to be some ups and downs. So, I think, hopefully what they’ve experienced is some good stuff they can move in their careers moving forward here, as human beings and hockey players, and realize maybe how they felt when the highs were the highs and how they felt when the lows were the lows.”
GABINET: “What I’m most worried about is what their response is to those feelings and how they react moving forward when they face some adversity or they have some things going well for them.”
HOW THIS SEASON COMPARES TO GABINET’S SENIOR SEASON (2003-04, 8 WINS TOTAL), AND HOW THAT MIGHT RELATE TO THE SENIORS THIS SEASON...
GABINET: “I can’t think back that far to when I was a senior. First off, it all comes down to what is your definition of success. If you’re just looking at wins and losses, then maybe you’re looking at it as a disappointing season. If you’re looking at it playing the hardest schedule in the history of the program, and are you improving, and are you getting better individually and collectively, then maybe you have a different answer. So, it just depends on what your view is of success and non-success.”
GABINET: “For me, the season is a long ways from over, and we’ve still gotta couple tough practices even before we get going here for Friday night. Again, you have to be short term in some of your thinking, and you have to understand the arena you live in when you play at this competitive level, and you can’t necessarily worry about how people are going to reflect on the season or reflecting back on to my senior season. I think you have to draw on some past experiences from them and move forward.”
GABINET: “But I don’t think you can engulf yourself on what are people going to think about it five years from now. Because then you’re worried about what other people think, and in our line of business, if you worry about other people thinking, it’s gonna be a tough go for you, day in and day out. You’ve gotta really be focused on yourself and not worried about what your ego thinks about what other people think of you, and what are you doing to get better, how are you helping players get better, and it’s a tough task to do. Because you are always susceptible to other people’s opinions.”
GABINET: “For me, the thing the seniors gotta do is not worry about how they’re going to reflect on their senior year, but what they’re doing right now. Hey, they’re still in their senior year, they’ve got another month at least left to go here.”
SENIORS THAT STAND OUT TO YOU...
GABINET: “I’ve definitely been nicer to some of my players because maybe — like with Paul Jerrard — I’ll be working for them one day.”
GABINET: “I think right now, their immediate focus is continuing to play. I think at that age, that’s all our focus was. You’re obviously trying to take care of your schooling and make sure you graduate properly. But, really, you’re probably focusing on your next chapter with your playing career for most of these guys. I think some guys will stick around Omaha, too, which will be exciting to see them around.”
GABINET: “I’m just gonna talk about our leadership group a little bit. Jalen Schulz and Mason Morelli and Freddy Olofsson. I think they’ve really grown in the three years that I’ve gotten to know them. Not only on ice, but off ice. To me, that’s pretty special when they’re learning how to be leaders, and just to see — not only their physical development — but some of the mental development for different individuals.”
GABINET: “I’ve seen Freddy really, really grow in his mental development on how to handle situations in what he’s improving on. You see Jalen Schulz, who is sometimes not a regular in the lineup, yet to me he’s one of my favorite players. That’s because of his day-to-day activity and the intensity he brings to practice and the team-first mentality. That’s a rare trait today. So those are guys that you’re cheering for in life.”
GABINET: “And then Mason Morelli, just his sheer work ethic and we got a lotta guys that I think — freshman guys — that don’t know what hard work means yet. And they’ve got a lot to learn in that category. And all they gotta do is look to the left or the right in the locker room and watch Mason Morelli a little bit in his preparation and his daily habits. So, for those guys, I’m definitely grateful for, and proud of them for all the accomplishments they’ve made.”
GABINET: “And they’re not done yet, though. They’ve got lots of work left to do before their senior year is over.”
ON THE TEAM’S CHANCES IN THE DENVER SERIES...
GABINET: “It’s interesting when some of these real successful athletes really have that kind of super-competitive mentality that ‘I’m gonna prove people wrong.’ That’s what we need to develop here a little bit, too. Maybe you don’t come in as the highly-touted recruit as some of these other programs do, you’re here, you’re in the same game as these guys, you get to play on the same ice as these guys. What are you doing, though, to give yourself a chance to be better than these guys.”
GABINET: “And if showing up and going through the motions is your answer, it’s not gonna work out for you. But if you’re willing to sacrifice more, out-compete somebody, outwork somebody, get up earlier, train harder, you gotta chance to be better than them eventually down the road. It might not start off right away, but you’ve got a chance to grow and get better. And that’s what our group needs to continue to do. We have to be hungry, we can’t be satisfied by just being in close games, or showing up. Sure, they might have more talent than us, but that doesn’t mean we can’t outwork them or out-compete them. Our work ethic has been good. Now we’ve just gotta keep taking those steps.”
GABINET: “As a head coach, you have to have emotional control. But I really, really don’t like losing, and it’s hard. It’s hard after the game. You’re frustrated, you’re mad. You’re mad at everybody. You can’t pass that onto your players all the time. I don’t want to lose hockey games, I want to win hockey games.”
GABINET: “Now again, when you look at the effort and you look at guys, they’re playing their hearts out and they’re working hard, they’re competing, they’re not trying to make mistakes. That’s where you gotta keep working with them and keep trying to get better. But in the same breath, am I doing everything I can as a coach? No, I can be better.”
SAINT CLOUD HAS ALREADY CLINCHED THE REGULAR SEASON CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP. ARE THEY THAT MUCH BETTER?
GABINET: “Just talking to some people after the games, they were pretty impressed with the way they played the game. Obviously, their talent level and compete level and skill level and 5-mans moving, the way they pass the puck and execute. I mean, shots are 30 to 30 and it’s five-nothing them.”
GABINET: “That’s something that again I think, though, we can learn from. We you see the structure and the makeup of an elite team and what they do well, well that’s a good blueprint to try to model yourself after and take some of those tendencies that they do well.”
GABINET: “For me, each one of their players has at least two high-high skills. Where if they’re highly skilled, they’re also highly competitive. If they can skate, they can think.”
ON RECRUITING... IMMEDIATE NEEDS...
GABINET: “To me, you have to have a competitive environment. One of the toughest things to do as a coach is to hold guys accountable when there is not somebody there pushing for their next spot. I think that’s something that the great programs have.”
ON THE DENVER SERIES...
STEWART: “I think we’re excited — especially the older guys. We haven’t really had our way with Denver over the past couple years.”
STEWART: “Obviously, earlier this year, we had a really good chance to beat them the one night there — and even played pretty good both nights — and thought we almost could have swept them.”
WARD: “Coming in, I kind of heard some of the stories about what the seniors have been going through. Now this is their fourth year of not beating those guys yet. It’s a little more about playing for those guys. Obviously, we always want to get the win every night. That series is a little bit more special just because you want to do it for those guys and get a win for those guys. And it’s no different this weekend.”
WARD: “The last series against Denver didn’t really go how we planned, but we’re looking forward to hosting them in our building.”
WARD: “It’s senior weekend, so that’ll be pretty special.”
TEAM MENTALITY WITH SO FEW GAMES LEFT...
STEWART: “Just trying to move up as far as we can and hopefully get a good matchup for the first round of playoffs.”
STEWART: “I don’t think we’re too worried. We’ve played against every team in our league now, and we know we can play with anybody.”
STEWART: “Our main focus right now is just to try and get a couple more wins before (the) playoffs.”
WARD: “The next few weekends are going to be pretty important for the standings, going into playoffs. I think that we’re just more worried about how we’re playing rather than about who we’re playing.”
WARD: “Just trying to play 60 minutes of our best hockey. I think that if we do that, then we can beat anybody in our league. That’s just been one of our main problems is not playing a full 60 minutes. So that’s really what we’re focused on right now.”
ON TEAM LEADERSHIP AFTER THE CURRENT SENIORS LEAVE...
STEWART: “I think we’re still confident that we can make a good run here. Obviously, if we move up one spot, we’ll be playing (as of right now) Western Michigan. We’re 2-2 against them so far this year.”
WARD: “I don’t think any of us are looking past this year. I don’t think anybody in the room — especially the young guys — are thinking about next year or the summer or anything like that.”
WARD: “We’re not done with this season yet. I don’t think that any of us are giving up on this season yet. Because, like Dean said, anything can happen in the playoffs. We’re just worried about this weekend — trying to string together a couple wins — and then what happens, happens in the standings.”
HOW MUCH HAVE SENIORS MEANT TO THE YOUNGER PLAYERS?
STEWART: “I think that the biggest thing is some of the stuff that you guys don’t even see, to be honest. Just having guys like Mason Morelli and Ryan Galt and Schul-ly (Jalen Schulz). I mean, all 10 of them are just so good in the locker room. You don’t even have to speak about some of the things those guys contribute to on the ice.”
STEWART: “They’re just such good role models and have just set such a good example and contributed to the culture that we’re trying to establish here.”
WARD: “Obviously, you can see what they do on the ice. But most of the stuff that they’ve taught me has been stuff off the ice. How to present yourself in the community — and the things that they do in the community that nobody else sees — has been really cool to see. They’re a really, really good group of guys.”
WARD’S THOUGHTS ON PLAYING WITH MORELLI AND OLOFSSON ON A LINE... DO YOU WORK OUT CERTAIN PLAYS? OR IS IT MOSTLY FREELANCING?
WARD: “Those guys are two really, really smart hockey players. But it’s really cool to see how they bounce ideas off of other players and me. We talk about certain things — tendencies that we might think an opponent might do and how we might capitalize on it.”
WARD: “It’s really cool to see how they think.”
WARD: “I’ve learned so much about taking what the other team does into account and making sure that you capitalize on tendencies or mistakes that you think that they might make.”
WARD: “We do talk about certain little plays, but we don’t worry too much about it. Because we want to worry about making sure that we play the way that we know we can play.”
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