Gophers Weekly Press Conference Notes (1/24/13)

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The #1 ranked Gopher Hockey team held their weekly press conference at Mariucci Arena. Head Coach Don Lucia met with the media, as did Erik Haula and Center Nate Condon. The team takes on Minnesota State-Mankato this weekend in a home and home series following a win and a tie versus North Dakota last weekend at Mariucci.


Don Lucia:

Regarding Nate Condon… "A big reason why we've taken off a little better offensively is because of Nate. When we broke at Christmas he was sitting at three goals, and there was more there. I think he knew it. He's done a great job at Center, and just his overalll play is elevated. He's made us a better team. I think he's more noticeable in games. He's always been a hard working player. With his speed, he should be more of an impact player, than he was the first half of the season. Since Christmas he seems to be a different player. He's not going to score every night, but he should be on the scoreboard every weekend. The key is, can his line play the same way as they did last weekend. I think (Zach) Budish was outstanding last weekend. His wall play, his sense of urgency, he made a great play on that tying goal by Condon. I thought Sam Warning had a really good game, and that's what you've got to have is other guys contribute night in and night out, and that's what we got last weekend"

Regarding Erik Haula… "He will play this weekend. We gave him a couple of days off just so things could settle down for him a little bit. Then the off week will come at a good time for him. By the time we play St. Cloud he should be back to one hundred percent. He won't play at Center, he'll probably play in a similar fashion to what he did last weekend"

Regarding Adam Wilcox… "The week off will be good for him. The nice thing is this stretch has all been at home, and there's been no school. Now school's back in session, so you've got that to deal with. We'll see how he does week to week. As long as Adam continues to play well, he'll probably play both games this weekend"

Regarding the state of the team… "You're trying to find your team that first half of the year, and line combinations, who's gonna work. You're always going to have to do that. I've always said winning a game in November is equally as important as winning in February. The points all matter. I think we've put ourselves in a pretty good position, we do have a very difficult schedule from here on out. Nothings gonna be easy for anybody here in the second half. You have to keep looking forward. We get through this weekend and then we can exhale a little bit, and then get ready for a stretch run. It's gonna go downhill quickly now. We're already at the end of January. Before you know it it's March. We just continue to try and improve. We just want to make sure our guys are mentally and physically as fresh as they can be on Friday and Saturday night. Everybody is available to play this weekend. The guys were a little sore on Monday, as you'd expect when you compete that hard in a given weekend"

Regarding MSU-Mankato… "I know how Mike coaches. I don't see a whole lot different, other than now he has a better understanding of his team. I think you go in that first month and you're trying to find out what your players can and can't do. They've settled in on the Freshman Goaltender Williams, who'se's been spectacular since he's taken over. I said at the beginning of the year that they're a team that could really make a big jump, based on the injuries that they had, based on the fact that their top end guys were Freshman last year and now they're Sophomores. So they have a good team, they have a deep team, and I'm not surprised at all at the success they're having. They've played well. They really took it to us when we went down to Mankato on Saturday night, and certainly deserved to win the game despite the fact we clawed our way back. I liked their team that weekend, and I like them even better now"


Nate Condon

Regarding the chemistry on his line… "It's great. Sam (Warning) is a real skill guy and fast player, pushes the puck up and down the ice. You've got Zach (Budish) who's gonna muscle the puck. He works in the corners and creates a lot of space for Sam and I to move the puck around. It's been working well for us. Zach and I have lived in the same apartment the last two years and we hung out quite a bit, and Sam's a great kid to be around"

Regarding his play since Christmas… "Before Christmas break he (Coach Lucia) got on me, because I only had two or three goals going into break. He told me how he expected more out of me, and told me to go home and find ten goals lying around the house. I think I found em in my Mom's cooking (Laughing). I'm finally just getting some space, some shots started going in here and there, and I think things are just clicking for me right now"

Regarding the MSU-Mankato Series… "We split last time, so the intensity is still there, especially since it's an in-state game. And Mankato is doing so well"

Regarding Zach Budish… "It's weird looking up to him, because I'm actually older than him. He's really grown in it, and really matured this year. He's a lot more outspoken than Taylor (Mattson) was last year. I think he does a great job with the younger guys as far as letting them know what they need to do, and what it takes to be a Gopher"


Erik Haula

Regarding playing Wing… "It was a little adjustment period playing wing, but they're two good players, so I think we just needed a couple more days to get used to each other. I'd say we have the ability to be a pretty good line, but it's not all that easy to start playing on a new line. I definitely like to play Center. I'm more comfortable. I feel like I get the puck more and get to manage the game, and be involved offensively and defensively more. It's the spot I like to play, but as your career goes on, you never know where you're going to get placed"

Regarding his hand… "I wouldn't say it's a hundred percent, but it's getting there slowly but surely, and hopefully sooner rather than later it'll be back to one hundred percent"

Regarding the team… "We feel pretty comfortable with our game, and we feel like we have a pretty good team that can do special things this year. We also know that it requires a lot of hard work. We've just gotta keep pushing ourselves to strive to get better every day"

Regarding the MSU-Mankato Series… "It's gonna be a hard weekend. They're a good team, they're well coached, and they're going to play hard against us just like they always do. So we've gotta make sure we play our game, and start the game well both nights"
 




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