Gophers Weekly Press Conference Notes (11/28/12)

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The Gopher Hockey team met the media this afternoon at Mariucci Arena, as the team prepares for their two game series this weekend with the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks.

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Don Lucia:

Regarding this weekends series against Nebraska-Omaha…. It should be a great weekend. You look at their stats and they're right up there at the top in scoring, they're right up there with us in goals against, their power plays in the top couple, their penalty kill is in the top couple, and I don't think their starting goaltender has lost a game so far this year, they're a pretty veteran group, I really like their D corp, their goaltender might be a fifth year goaltender, and they've got some guys that can put the puck in the net too. It's going to be a great test for our team. I think every time you play it's a test. In college hockey, you play your series whether it's a good one or bad one, and you have to have amnesia either way and you're getting ready for the next week. We have four important games before Christmas with UNO and CC. You look at how those teams have played. Omaha will probably be the best team we've seen so far this year. When you play a good team, you get exposed in different areas and sometimes you need to play a good team to know what those are.

Regarding UNO building a program in Omaha…. They've obviously done a good job, but it starts with facilities. You have to have the commitment. I think their location in the footprint of the USHL, their in a good market with the city of Omaha. They had a professional team in the old central league, and the USHL, and they've been very successful there. They've been their 15 years now? Seems like just yesterday, we're getting old. They've done a nice job with it. Getting their own building is going to help. The building they play in now is too big. You get yourself a 7000-8000 seat facility that you can fill it and have a demand for tickets, that's what you want.

Regarding UNO and the Gophers exchanging road wins the last couple of times around…. I'd rather be at home than on the road. But, they came in a couple of years ago and played very well and spanked us a couple of times. We probably won the McNaughton Cup there that weekend a year ago winning those two games, one in overtime and one 3-2, and that's the type of games I expect. His (Dean Blais) teams, I know how they're going to play. You don't have to watch video to know how they're going to play a quick transition, they're going to go North-South, they're going to come at you and they're not going to let up from the drop of the puck until the game ends. They've got a big defensive corp. They were all pretty much there last year, and I think that's one of the strength's of their team. They're veteran, they're old, they're experienced, and they make it difficult to play against. It should be a fun series.

Regarding the state of the team…. When you look at where we're at now, and I think our goals against is probably better than I thought it would be at this point in the season with the Freshman goaltender. Our specialty teams have been good. We haven't given up very many shots, but we're still a work in progress as far as an offensive standpoint for a few of our guys. I still think that our team right now, there's four or five guys that, I think that there's more there, and they can play better. They've proven that they can do better than what they've done so far this year, but I don't think they're that far away. If we can get a few guys to get their rhythm back, it will make our team better. We haven't played the meat of our schedule. It starts now. We need that with our team right now. We need to play good teams. We need to find out where we're at, what we're good at, where are weaknesses are and adjust. That's what we've tried to do the last few weeks of practice is try to work on areas of our game that we need to get better at.

Regarding injuries…. Sam (Warning) is practicing, but there's a good chance he won't play this weekend. Jared Larson is practicing today for the first time. This will be the first time in a while that we'll have had five lines and eight defenseman, which will be good for practices.

Regarding recruiting, and the North Dakota influence at UNO with Dean Blais…. As it will be with Dean being at North Dakota, somehow I don't think those legacy guys are going to end up at Minnesota (laughing). They'd probably have to pay their own bills if they did something like that. So if they weren't going to go play at North Dakota, they had to go play with somebody that has ties.

Regarding Goaltender Adam Wilcox…. I think the thing that I've been most pleased with is his consistency. Since the beginning of the year, most goalies will have an off night or two during the course of a season, especially early on. But that hasn't happened. Even the game that he lost in Mankato, he gave us a chance to win that. He played very well. You start to get a comfort level with the type of game he's going to play night in and night out. As a coach, when you know that your goaltender is going to give you a chance to win, it's a nice feeling.

Regarding last weekends trip to Vermont…. It was important to us. At the beginning of the year we talked about being over .500 in non-league play. I feel good about where we're at, but I know we have pretty tough non-league games coming up at home. Being in an area we've never been before, being in a great community, I loved the rink, and I loved the environment that we had an opportunity to play in. It was also great that we were able to bring our whole team. In the WCHA, we're only allowed to travel with twenty two, so you get some guys that work on a daily basis but don't get to travel. It was nice to have everybody involved last weekend. Everybody went.


Seth Ambrosz:

Regarding UNO…. They've got a great team. Dean Blais has done a wonderful job with that program. It'll be a lotta fun. Standings wise, we haven't played a team like them. They've got a lot of skill and a lot of big bodies out there. I expect a high paced game, and a track meet up and down the rink, and battles in the corner and in front of the net. I expect a full on battle and a great series between two great teams.

Regarding getting to the net against such big defenseman… It takes a lot of will. Obviously they've got a lot of bigger defenseman, but hopefully we can use our speed. It just takes a high battle level to be able to work your way to the net. Will beats skill any day. Just gotta do what it takes to get there.

Regarding playing on a larger ice sheet…. On a small ice sheet it's a lot easier for bigger guys to push you around and keep you away from the net. On a bigger sheet, you've got a lot of room to work with, and hopefully that will counteract what their big bodies are going to do.

Regarding changing the minds of people who think the Gophers have underachieved…. The WCHA is a tough league. Anyone can win any night, and hopefully people understand that. Such a close competitive league, it always is. We got that first weekend sweep against MSU (Michigan State), and that was huge. But hopefully people realize how hard it is to sweep. Obviously you want to get a sweep every weekend, but it's not easy. It's going to take a lot of effort, and we're going to need everyone on board. We're really getting into a tough part of the schedule now. We've got UNO coming up this weekend, we've got CC and then Air Force and Boston College coming to town, and Notre Dame. It's really getting into the bulk of the competition here. A lot of high end competition in the next month or two. It's really going to show us what we've got as a team. We'll see how it works out for us in the standings. Hopefully we come close to what we did last year. We really came together on Friday night, and we did what we had to do the second night. We dominated Friday night, and that was great. But you have to be able to grind out the long hard games too.


Adam Wilcox:

Regarding the teams play helping his game…. I feel good, and the team is playing great. So that helps me have confidence, especially with the D playing the way they have been, it's helped me find my rhythm.

Regarding his choice to leave High School to play hockey for the Green Bay Gamblers…. Going to play two years of juniors definitely helped me. I loved playing football, and different sports growing up. It was tough leaving (High School), especially how good they were, going to the section finals. That's probably why they did so well, because I left. Nah, it was good. I was really happy for them and how well they did that year. It was fun seeing my friends go all the way, but Hockey is what I wanted to do, so it was an easy choice.

Regarding playing for a team with such high expectations coming into the season…. It's big shoes to fill, especially after Patterson was here last year. It's kind of nice coming in kind of flying under the radar with a question mark at the goaltending position. I've just gotta go into the game knowing I've got a job to do, and can't worry about anything else.

Regarding having the opportunity to play with Mike Shibrowski out…. It's unfortunate. An injury is not the way you want to get the opportunity to play. You want to win the job. He's a hard worker, and he's going to come back in a couple of weeks and work just as hard as he always does and get right back into the competition again.

Regarding his playing style…. Yeah, I think I wander a little bit more, cause a little drama and play the puck. But I've been doing it less because the D has been breaking it out so well. We have the best D corp in the nation right now I think, so I leave it to them.

Regarding UNO…. I know they've got a strong team and a good goalie. I gotta be on top of my game, and we've gotta get on them right away if we want to have a good series.


Mike Reilly:

Regarding his first goal…. It was good to get it out of the way. It was kind of a weak shot after a good pass from Parenteau. I just walked in and used the screen by (Seth) Ambrosz and snuck it in. I got the puck in my dorm room. I had to do a little speech in front of the team yesterday to get the puck. In the speech, they want you to introduce yourself, give your home town, state, how you got your goal, and you have to give your relationship status at the end.
 




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