Gophers Weekly Press Conference Notes (2/6/13)

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The #1 ranked Gopher Hockey team held their weekly press conference at Mariucci Arena this afternoon. Head Coach Don Lucia met with the media, as did Defenseman Nate Schmidt, who returns home to St. Cloud for this weekends series with the first place Huskies. The two teams will match up Friday and Saturday night at the National Hockey Center.

Head Coach Don Lucia:

Regarding SCSU's success this season… "You know what, they've done a great job within' the conference. I was kidding Bob (SCSU Head Coach Bob Motzko), 'just pretend we're non-conference', because they've done better within the conference, than outside the conference. They were 1-3 non-conference right after Christmas. Maybe that helped them refocus and get ready for their conference games. They're in the drivers seat right now. They've got twenty nine points with eight games to go. They control their destiny more than anybody else right now. Their run of 7-0-1 in the last eight conference games is why they've been able to separate themselves and put themselves in the drivers seat for a league title. Getting Leblanc back this year as a fifth year senior has really helped their team. (Ben) Hanowski is having a very good year. They have a very veteran defensive corp, a veteran goaltender, some freshman forwards have really come in and scored at a great pace for them right now. I really like their team. They're skilled, they're balanced, and they can get up and down the rink and make plays"

Regarding the week off… "I think it was good. Early February is probably the ideal time. It allowed Erik (Haula) to heal back to one hundred percent, and gave Adam (Wilcox) a chance to refresh himself a little bit. We practiced hard, but we didn't practice that many days. We just wanted to try and freshen them up a little bit, because we know this is a critical series"

Regarding the league standings race… "There's a lot of hockey to be played. You can certainly play your way up, or play your way down. The important thing is to have success every weekend. This is a critical two week stretch. Four games on the road. We've always played well in St. Cloud historically. If we're going to get in the way of them winning a title, we're going to have to get some points this weekend"

Regarding the lines… "They're rearranged, but are they settled in? No. We'll get Erik (Haula) back to his natural Center position. He can take draws now, and defend down low, so that's not an issue. We'll just continue to move some guys around to see where we want them from here on out"

Regarding Erik Haula… "He couldn't take draws at the time because of his hand, and we didn't want him to worry about defending down low. He looked a little out of place playing wing the previous couple of games, and getting him back to his natural Center position is better for him, and better for our team. Each week he felt a little bit better. He was limited in some area's, and I think he was conscious of trying to protect it a little bit, but now he doesn't have to worry about that. Right now we put him back with (Zach) Budish and (Sam) Warning, and we've got (Nate) Condon playing with (Nick) Bjugstad and (Kyle) Rau right now. Whether that remains by the end of the week, we'll see. That's how we're working with it right now. Those are our top six forwards. We're still moving some parts with our three's and four's, and that will be ongoing I'm sure as well"

Regarding Adam Wilcox… "We anticipated that he had a good chance (to play everyday this season). He and Mike (Shibrowski) fought it out in October. Unfortunately for Mike, he got hurt when he was going to get an opportunity to get back in. By missing all that time, Adam played so well that he was able to to take over the position. As long as he's healthy, he'll probably play every game from here on out. That was a big question mark. We lost Kent (Patterson) last year, and when the year began we weren't going to have a Goaltender with any real collegiate experience. We felt confident when we recruited Adam that he would be the type of guy that could be a number one Goaltender. We felt like he could be the kind of Goaltender that could play almost every game, and that's certainly been the case so far. He wants to play. He's very athletic, and I think he takes care of himself. He's a very good athlete. I think that helps with him. I think the week off was good. It's something we've talked about as a strategy from here on out. How we want his week to work, whether we give him a Monday off or a Tuesday off. I doubt from here on out that he'll practice all week, or maybe do half a practice one of the days. We want to make sure he's mentally and physically ready to go on Friday and Saturday night. That's the most important thing for him. I think the week off came at a good time for him. He made the comment that he's seeing the puck really well with the week off, and I think that's great for him. I think his last two years playing in the USHL, it's such a long season, I mean they're playing from September through May, depending on how far they go in the playoffs. He played a lot of games last year for Tri-Cities. You get into the playoffs and you might be playing five games in seven days. He's been through that part of it before. He's so confident in his abilities, I'm really not that worried about it right now"

Regarding practicing outdoors for the game in Chicago… "I talked to a lot of people, and the big comment they made is, as long as you get out there the day before. The ice should be good. It's not like it's true outdoor ice. You're going to have refrigeration, and you'll get a chance to skate on that Saturday and get rid of that wow factor a little bit"


Nate Schmidt

Regarding playing in his hometown of St. Cloud… "It's a fun environment to play in. It's a hostile environment. It makes for a fun weekend when you play in front of a sellout crowd like it's going to be this weekend at the National Hockey Center this weekend. It adds a little mojo to the rivalry, to the series. It's going to be fun, especially when both teams are playing as well as they are right now. Top of the league is St. Cloud. They're the one's with the target on their back this weekend. They've been playing well, getting some good play out of some of their older guys, Hanowski and LeBlanc. They've got some Freshman coming along, and their Goaltender always seems to play well when we play them. It's going to be an exciting series, especially where they're at in the standings right now"

Regarding SCSU's improvement… "When Drew LeBlanc went down last year, that was a tough blow for them. They get him back, and you see what kind of impact he makes on their team. He's playing with a couple of Freshman, and makes them a lot better. They get to spread out their talent across the first couple of lines, and it makes them a deeper team. They've got some Defensemen that move the puck really well in Jensen and Prochno. We've got our work cut out for us this weekend"

Regarding the week off… "Guys had some bumps and bruises. It was good week for the guys to get away from the rink a little bit. We got to work on some special teams play, some things that we didn't get to work on in the beginning of the year. Things that may not be a big part of the game, but those certain situations, six on five end of the game type deal. Really helps us get things working for us at the end of the year, because when those situations come, you really have to execute well"
 

They have looked strong this year. Luckily for us, if we can take 3-4 points out of the weekend, we are back in a spot where we control our own destiny in terms of a MacNaughton. I know underestimating opponents has been a week spot of ours coming into Friday night games, pretty tough to do that going on the road against the number one team in the conference, so hopefully we hit the ice with some fire.
 




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