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Q&A: Tommy Serratore Has Found a Home in Minnesota, and Gophers Couldn't Be Happier
Q&A: Tommy Serratore Has Found a Home in Minnesota, and Gophers Couldn't Be Happier
By Thom Wynn
http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/343190?referrer_id=388419
After every Gopher hockey win, the music blares from the locker room. One of the songs that has made the playlist this season is “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus. A fitting song title, when you’re talking about the playing style of Senior Tommy Serratore. One of the best comments we’ve heard this season, was B1G Network play-by-play guy Dan Kelly politely referring to one of Serratore’s hits behind the net as a “belligerent forecheck”.
When you talk about a blue collar hockey player, Tommy Serratore is the definition. Hustle, hard hitting, shot blocking and killing penalties is his game, which is exactly what Head Coach Don Lucia expects from him. “Tom does a lot of things, like killing penalties, playing physical and being hard to play against. What we recruited him to be is a type of guy that’s going to play more in our bottom six, and develop into a good penalty killer, be a physical presence, and be hard up on the forecheck. That’s what he’s been able to do. He plays hard and plays the right way. He's a guy that you can count on to get a blocked shot or a big hit. He’s been a very good complimentary player for our team, and an element we needed in our lineup.”
Of course, with other horses the Gopher hockey team has in the stable, players have to produce offensively to stay in the lineup. “The type of goal that Tom Serratore needs to score, is a rebound or deflection type goal. That mean’s going to the blue paint and being hard to play against. That’s Tom’s game. If you’re a forward in our lineup, our expectation is that, we don’t need you to score every night, but we need you to create some chances from an offensive standpoint”, Lucia said.
GopherHole recently dragged Serratore out of the locker room before practice, and asked him a few questions.
GH: You were on the shelf for a couple of weeks there at the beginning of Christmas break. How’s your health?
TS: “It’s good. The injury was supposed to be four to six weeks, and I got back in three and a half. I did a lot of rehab, so feeling pretty good. Last weekend was a good tester for me, just to see what I could do going into Big Ten play”
GH: I know you were injured in practice, and were in a walking cast/boot. Are you able to say if it was your knee or your ankle?
TS: “It was my ankle. I had a high ankle sprain”
GH: Did you slide into the boards?
TS: “Yeah. Over at Ridder, I got bumped kind of weird in the corner, and went down. But I’m one hundred percent now”
GH: Wanna throw anyone under the bus, or make any accusations of dirty play by a teammate?
TS: (Laughing) “No, I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus. No.”
GH: Were you born in Colorado?
TS: “I was born in Omaha, Nebraska. My Dad coached the Lancers there. And then we moved around quite a bit. Went to Denver, and then came to Minnesota. My Dad coached the Moose. Then we went to Manitoba when he coached up there for the Manitoba Moose, and then he got the job at Air Force. I’ve moved around quite a bit when I was younger, and it kinda slowed down after that”
GH: Geez, you’ve moved around more than an Army brat! Do you think all the moving around was beneficial?
TS: “Ahhh, I mean, I don’t really know any other way. It is what it is. It was good to be in Colorado for such a long time, and play with a bunch of guys there. We had a pretty good group of guys. I think we had seven or eight guys that play Division I hockey from my club team growing up. So, that’s pretty impressive”
GH: Do you see yourself settling in Colorado eventually?
TS: “I’m not sure. I guess I’ll keep playing hockey until I can’t anymore, and then wherever a job takes me. I don’t know what I’ll be doing. I’ll think about that later on down the road. But I could see myself there eventually”
GH: Any hazing or pranks that go on in the locker room? Who's the instigator or instigators on the team?
TS: “I feel like a lot of us Senior’s earned the right to prank guys here and there. We put water in their helmets, so when they go to grab it, they get water dumped on em. Maybe tape their sticks up before practice, and make em scramble a little bit. But we don’t really ever cross the line too much. Maybe a little tape on the skate blade right before practice…I don’t know”
GH: Do you have a nickname given to you by teammates?
TS: “Everybody just calls me Tommy”
GH: Were you ever a Gopher Hockey fan before you got here?
TS: “Yeah. When my Dad used to coach the (Minnesota) Moose, we’d come to games here and there. And then we’d always come back in the winter time, so I’d get to come see a game for the Mariucci Classic when I was here with my family. Ever since I was little, I was coming to games, got butterflies when the Gophers would score a goal, you know. I really didn’t think this would be an option for me, coming in. But, later on in the process, I got to talk with the coaches, and it ended up working out. So I was pretty excited”
GH: Any players that you watched that you were a bigger fan of than others?
TS: Well, obviously their National Championship teams with (Thomas) Vanek and all those guys. Phil Kessel, too. I really didn’t get to see many of the games living out in Colorado, but those names stuck out for sure”
GH: Take us through the life of a hockey prospect? Coming out of High School, was there any interest from the Gophers? How were you contacted by the Gophers, and who contacted you?
TS: I played three years of Junior hockey. I played my first two years in Sioux City, Iowa, and had a lot of injury problems those two years. I went into my last year, and played pretty well in Youngstown, Ohio. Then John Hill and Grant Potulny recruited me midway through the season, and I came in for a visit. I couldn’t really say no after that”
GH: What does your off-season training look like? Do you stay in town, or head back to Colorado?
TS: “I head back to Colorado Springs. I work hockey camps there for a couple of months, and work with my Dad. I train out there too.”
GH: Do you think training in elevation gives you an advantage?
TS: “Cal (Cal Dietz - Strength & Conditioning) sends me workouts, so I’m still doing the same thing as the rest of the guys. But I think the high altitude training helps a little bit as well. I come in with better lungs, and whatnot. They do that with all of the Olympians, go out there and train. I think it does help a little bit.”
GH: Do you have access to any facilities out there?
TS: “Thanks to my Dad, I get full-on access to the Air Force Academy weight room. That’s a good deal there. They’ve got a really nice setup”
GH: What other sports did you play growing up?
TS: “I played Baseball, right up until High School when I had to pick a path. So I went the Hockey route. I also played Inline Hockey with my buddies growing up. Inline Hockey got pretty big in Colorado. A bunch of my buddies never played Ice Hockey, but they started playing Roller Hockey there. I don’t know if it’s a west coast thing or what, but I got involved in that. Obviously more ice hockey for me, but it was a fun thing to do in the Summer”
GH: Your Dad (Frank) and your Uncle (Tom) coach at Air Force and Bemidji State respectively. Knowing there's no way possible that they will ever see this interview, tell me why you didn't play for either of them? Also, it's OK to use profanity to make your point.
TS: “My Dad said that he would have offered me, but my grades weren’t good enough to get into the Air Force Academy. So, that was out of the picture. And my Uncle and I didn’t talk about it at all. I thought it would be better for me to go somewhere on my own, and stay away from the whole family deal”
GH: Speaking of you Dad, I was talking to him last year when Air Force was in town, and he mentioned something about you practicing with his team over the Christmas break last season? Said he wouldn’t let you in his locker room, and made you sit in your own locker room?
TS: (laughing) “Yeah, we played them around Christmas time last year, and he was giving me a hard time, like, ‘we don’t want you in our locker room, you can go in the guest locker room’. He didn’t actually go through with it, but…. He likes to have fun that way”
GH: Do you have any interest in following in the family footsteps, and getting into coaching?
TS: “Yeah, I’ve thought about it. Obviously, it would probably be good to play hockey as long as I can before I would do that, but, you know, that’s obviously something that I’d be interested in getting into, for sure. I really don’t know much about the business of coaching, but obviously my family is a big hockey family. So, it’s something I’ve been around my whole life. My goal right now is to play as long as I can, and figure it out after that”
Q&A: Tommy Serratore Has Found a Home in Minnesota, and Gophers Couldn't Be Happier
By Thom Wynn
http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/343190?referrer_id=388419
After every Gopher hockey win, the music blares from the locker room. One of the songs that has made the playlist this season is “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus. A fitting song title, when you’re talking about the playing style of Senior Tommy Serratore. One of the best comments we’ve heard this season, was B1G Network play-by-play guy Dan Kelly politely referring to one of Serratore’s hits behind the net as a “belligerent forecheck”.
When you talk about a blue collar hockey player, Tommy Serratore is the definition. Hustle, hard hitting, shot blocking and killing penalties is his game, which is exactly what Head Coach Don Lucia expects from him. “Tom does a lot of things, like killing penalties, playing physical and being hard to play against. What we recruited him to be is a type of guy that’s going to play more in our bottom six, and develop into a good penalty killer, be a physical presence, and be hard up on the forecheck. That’s what he’s been able to do. He plays hard and plays the right way. He's a guy that you can count on to get a blocked shot or a big hit. He’s been a very good complimentary player for our team, and an element we needed in our lineup.”
Of course, with other horses the Gopher hockey team has in the stable, players have to produce offensively to stay in the lineup. “The type of goal that Tom Serratore needs to score, is a rebound or deflection type goal. That mean’s going to the blue paint and being hard to play against. That’s Tom’s game. If you’re a forward in our lineup, our expectation is that, we don’t need you to score every night, but we need you to create some chances from an offensive standpoint”, Lucia said.
GopherHole recently dragged Serratore out of the locker room before practice, and asked him a few questions.
GH: You were on the shelf for a couple of weeks there at the beginning of Christmas break. How’s your health?
TS: “It’s good. The injury was supposed to be four to six weeks, and I got back in three and a half. I did a lot of rehab, so feeling pretty good. Last weekend was a good tester for me, just to see what I could do going into Big Ten play”
GH: I know you were injured in practice, and were in a walking cast/boot. Are you able to say if it was your knee or your ankle?
TS: “It was my ankle. I had a high ankle sprain”
GH: Did you slide into the boards?
TS: “Yeah. Over at Ridder, I got bumped kind of weird in the corner, and went down. But I’m one hundred percent now”
GH: Wanna throw anyone under the bus, or make any accusations of dirty play by a teammate?
TS: (Laughing) “No, I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus. No.”
GH: Were you born in Colorado?
TS: “I was born in Omaha, Nebraska. My Dad coached the Lancers there. And then we moved around quite a bit. Went to Denver, and then came to Minnesota. My Dad coached the Moose. Then we went to Manitoba when he coached up there for the Manitoba Moose, and then he got the job at Air Force. I’ve moved around quite a bit when I was younger, and it kinda slowed down after that”
GH: Geez, you’ve moved around more than an Army brat! Do you think all the moving around was beneficial?
TS: “Ahhh, I mean, I don’t really know any other way. It is what it is. It was good to be in Colorado for such a long time, and play with a bunch of guys there. We had a pretty good group of guys. I think we had seven or eight guys that play Division I hockey from my club team growing up. So, that’s pretty impressive”
GH: Do you see yourself settling in Colorado eventually?
TS: “I’m not sure. I guess I’ll keep playing hockey until I can’t anymore, and then wherever a job takes me. I don’t know what I’ll be doing. I’ll think about that later on down the road. But I could see myself there eventually”
GH: Any hazing or pranks that go on in the locker room? Who's the instigator or instigators on the team?
TS: “I feel like a lot of us Senior’s earned the right to prank guys here and there. We put water in their helmets, so when they go to grab it, they get water dumped on em. Maybe tape their sticks up before practice, and make em scramble a little bit. But we don’t really ever cross the line too much. Maybe a little tape on the skate blade right before practice…I don’t know”
GH: Do you have a nickname given to you by teammates?
TS: “Everybody just calls me Tommy”
GH: Were you ever a Gopher Hockey fan before you got here?
TS: “Yeah. When my Dad used to coach the (Minnesota) Moose, we’d come to games here and there. And then we’d always come back in the winter time, so I’d get to come see a game for the Mariucci Classic when I was here with my family. Ever since I was little, I was coming to games, got butterflies when the Gophers would score a goal, you know. I really didn’t think this would be an option for me, coming in. But, later on in the process, I got to talk with the coaches, and it ended up working out. So I was pretty excited”
GH: Any players that you watched that you were a bigger fan of than others?
TS: Well, obviously their National Championship teams with (Thomas) Vanek and all those guys. Phil Kessel, too. I really didn’t get to see many of the games living out in Colorado, but those names stuck out for sure”
GH: Take us through the life of a hockey prospect? Coming out of High School, was there any interest from the Gophers? How were you contacted by the Gophers, and who contacted you?
TS: I played three years of Junior hockey. I played my first two years in Sioux City, Iowa, and had a lot of injury problems those two years. I went into my last year, and played pretty well in Youngstown, Ohio. Then John Hill and Grant Potulny recruited me midway through the season, and I came in for a visit. I couldn’t really say no after that”
GH: What does your off-season training look like? Do you stay in town, or head back to Colorado?
TS: “I head back to Colorado Springs. I work hockey camps there for a couple of months, and work with my Dad. I train out there too.”
GH: Do you think training in elevation gives you an advantage?
TS: “Cal (Cal Dietz - Strength & Conditioning) sends me workouts, so I’m still doing the same thing as the rest of the guys. But I think the high altitude training helps a little bit as well. I come in with better lungs, and whatnot. They do that with all of the Olympians, go out there and train. I think it does help a little bit.”
GH: Do you have access to any facilities out there?
TS: “Thanks to my Dad, I get full-on access to the Air Force Academy weight room. That’s a good deal there. They’ve got a really nice setup”
GH: What other sports did you play growing up?
TS: “I played Baseball, right up until High School when I had to pick a path. So I went the Hockey route. I also played Inline Hockey with my buddies growing up. Inline Hockey got pretty big in Colorado. A bunch of my buddies never played Ice Hockey, but they started playing Roller Hockey there. I don’t know if it’s a west coast thing or what, but I got involved in that. Obviously more ice hockey for me, but it was a fun thing to do in the Summer”
GH: Your Dad (Frank) and your Uncle (Tom) coach at Air Force and Bemidji State respectively. Knowing there's no way possible that they will ever see this interview, tell me why you didn't play for either of them? Also, it's OK to use profanity to make your point.
TS: “My Dad said that he would have offered me, but my grades weren’t good enough to get into the Air Force Academy. So, that was out of the picture. And my Uncle and I didn’t talk about it at all. I thought it would be better for me to go somewhere on my own, and stay away from the whole family deal”
GH: Speaking of you Dad, I was talking to him last year when Air Force was in town, and he mentioned something about you practicing with his team over the Christmas break last season? Said he wouldn’t let you in his locker room, and made you sit in your own locker room?
TS: (laughing) “Yeah, we played them around Christmas time last year, and he was giving me a hard time, like, ‘we don’t want you in our locker room, you can go in the guest locker room’. He didn’t actually go through with it, but…. He likes to have fun that way”
GH: Do you have any interest in following in the family footsteps, and getting into coaching?
TS: “Yeah, I’ve thought about it. Obviously, it would probably be good to play hockey as long as I can before I would do that, but, you know, that’s obviously something that I’d be interested in getting into, for sure. I really don’t know much about the business of coaching, but obviously my family is a big hockey family. So, it’s something I’ve been around my whole life. My goal right now is to play as long as I can, and figure it out after that”