The #1 Gopher Hockey team held their weekly press conference at Mariucci Arena Friday afternoon. Head Coach Don Lucia met with the media, as did Brady Skjei and Travis Boyd. The team are taking on Penn State for the first time ever this weekend at Pegula Ice Arena, the home to Nittany Lions hockey in University Park, Pennsylvania.
Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding playing Penn State for the first time… “As much as you prepare for another appointment, it’s still trying to get your own game in shape. That’s what we try to concentrate on just about every week. We’re looking at elements of our games that we want to improve, and get better at. You know, it’s not like teams play that much different. I mean, you’ve got to be aware what they’re doing on the power play or penalty kill. But I think there’s nothing we haven’t seen before. It’s just making sure we have a good week of practice, and our prep work is in good order. We’ve all been around athletics enough to know that everybody’s eligible for a butt kicking every time you play. I’m sure this is going to be a big weekend for them. It’s their first ever home Big Ten games, and we’re coming in ranked number one. Whether we deserve that or not is debatable. But I’m sure that’s going to get their crowds all fired up and excited for the games. I mean, last year they won at Wisconsin, they won at Ohio State, and they won at Michigan State. They’re certainly capable of beating us as we go in there this weekend. We’re back on a small sheet, so that changes the game a little bit. We have to make sure that we just go in and play the way we need to play for our team to be successful, whether we’re playing Penn State, Michigan, St. Cloud, it doesn’t matter. I don’t think there’s any question that when you can add a brand name school like Penn State, and the tradition they have in their athletic department, that’s good for college hockey in the long run. The more you can bring in brand name schools like that, that just helps. Going back to last year, their first year as far as playing a varsity schedule, they played kind of a club schedule in year one, they’re in that transition of their club players to now they’ve had three years of recruits. But the reality is, it’s not like we get to keep players for four years throughout our lineups either. So many times we’re dealing with groups of players for three years at a time. I think that they’re on the cusp of pretty much being where they want to be. I think you’ll see their recruiting will continue improve now that they have the facility up and running, and they can bring kids to games. And they’ve got a great location. Where they’re at, you put a three hundred mile circle around their location, you’re going to get to the east coast, you’re going to get up into Ontario area, you’re going to get into Detroit…so theirs a lot of hockey players that are all the way through New York that are in close proximity”
Regarding Penn State’s new rink… “It measures 200 x 85. It’s like anything, the latest is always usually the best, right? I mean, you build a new car, and the 2014 model is always better than the 1995 model. It’s no different when you build facilities. You look at what you can do better, from what’s been done. Obviously they had a lot of money to work with with the tremendous donation of Mr. Pegula. From everything I’ve heard, they built a top notch facility. It’ll ensure a really good crowd. I was actually in State College (Pennsylvania) in eleventh grade. I went out there with my Dad when he went out for spring football. We spent a week up there. Beautiful campus, and nice location, so I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve done with their hockey program, and their new facility”
Regarding playing a Sunday-Monday series… “Well, I mean, actually for us it’s good, because we’ve had a couple of guys that have been dinged up. It gives them a few extra days to heal. I think that selfishly for me, having a couple of down days has been good for me to get back on my clock, and everything else. The only negative will be that we’ll roll into the following week, when you have basically one day to prepare for the following weekend. It’s not so much the short practice week, as it’s you hope that you don’t come out of Sunday/Monday with a lot of bumps and bruises, and you don’t have that extra few days to heal”
Regarding why they’re playing a Sunday-Monday series… “Well, Monday’s game is on the Big Ten Network, so I’m assuming that plays into it as much as anything else. I think they wanted to have everyone play one Sunday-Monday. It works out for us, we’re not in school. So it’s not like we have to worry that we have a Thursday-Friday series at Madison, so… Other than the one Thursday-Friday, and the Sunday-Monday, everything else is Friday-Saturday, which is good”
Regarding health of the team… “Everybody should be available. I’m not sure that everybody would be available if we played tonight, but the extra couple of days I think we should be in a position where everybody should be fine”
Regarding the season so far… “I thought we’d be undefeated by now, I’m really disappointed (laughing). Obviously, yeah, if you asked me at the beginning of the year if we’d be sitting with two losses in January, there’s now way. But the kids have done a nice job. The older guys have blended pretty well with the Freshman. And I think what I like the most about our team, and I thought we’d be this type of team, we’re not one or two guys driven. You look at our lineup, we don’t have a ten goal scorer on our team. Even though Kyle (Rau) and Sam (Warning) and Nate (Condon) combined, what do they have, a dozen goals is all? Three guys that you expected to score for us to be successful. It seems like it’s a new guy every night. For our team, I think that’s the way we have to play, that we can get scoring from different guys. I think a real plus for our team has been the offensive contribution from our back end. The goal scoring. I don’t know what it is compared to last year regarding the overall total, but I mean, when your defensive corp is averaging a goal a game, I think that’s really alleviated some of the pressure from our Forwards. So, hopefully, that will continue. And then Adam (Wilcox) doesn’t let in any leakers. He’s gonna give up a couple goals a game, and when we get to three, then we’re going to win most nights. I just like the position we’ve put ourselves in. And now as we move forward, other than one weekend, we’re in Big Ten play. We did a terrific job non-Conference, and put ourselves in position for the end of the year. But now you have to close and have a successful conference season”
Brady Skjei:
Regarding his World Junior experience… “It was a really good experience. It was good for my hockey career, and it was fun wearing the USA jersey again. But, it didn’t end the way we wanted it to. It ended a little short. But it was a good experience. I mean, a lot of the great players that come through play in that tournament. You see the names they put on the USA team in the past, it’s a lot of future NHL players playing in that tournament. It’s good to play against the top end players in the world that you get to see at that tournament”
Regarding being back with the team… “Feels good to be back with the guys. I missed em for a couple weeks there. It’s great to see all of their faces and get back in the locker room”
Regarding Penn State… “Good team. I think they’re big, and they’ve got the new rink there. So it should be good to go play in that new barn, and get experience in a Big Ten atmosphere. So, it should be fun. We’re always worrying about ourselves more than the other team. We worry about getting better day in and day out. But we’ve got video, and we’ll be scouting em, so we’ll be ready. Expanding the sport, and expanding the Big Ten is huge. Hopefully in some years we’ll get some more teams in the Big Ten, and make it a really good conference”
Regarding playing a Sunday-Monday series… “I don’t think I’ve ever done that, so it’ll be interesting. It’ll be fun, though”
Regarding the season so far… “I think we’re playing really well. If I’d have though coming into the season we’d be at where we’re at now, I’d take it every time. We’ve been playing good. Hopefully we can keep it up all the way to the end of the season”
Regarding being short on defense… “I mean the hardest parts probably practicing for the five D. It gets pretty tough for the guys to get their wind with five D in practice. But during the game, we’re fine. We’ve been down before. At Michigan State when Jake (Parenteau) got hurt, we played five D. It went well. It’s almost nice, because you get a rhythm of the game, because you’re going out every other shift. So, it’s going good”
Regarding Jake Parenteau… “He’s good. Same old Jake. He’s just a great guy int he locker room. I think his recovery is going well. Maybe a little ahead of schedule”
Travis Boyd:
Regarding only having a couple of days between PSU and the outdoor game… “I think our team is focused on this weekend, and playing Penn State. We’ll worry about the outdoor game when it comes. We know that these six points are really important, and we definitely need them. Nobody is looking past this weekend, I’ll tell you that right now. I think it will be fine. Good for us, more games, less practice (laughing). Nah, we’ll be alright”
Regarding changes in Coach Lucia since his return from World Juniors… “I think he’s the same coach, same style, let’s the players play the same way… So, I didn’t see much of a change between Sweden and coming back. Same coach. He’s doing a good job. Came back the same guy. He told us a couple of things that he learned while over there, but otherwise, it’s just been back to normal”
Regarding Penn State… “I don’t know too much. I’ve watched them play a couple of times when they’ve been on Big Ten, but other than that, all I know is that they’re new, and they have a really nice rink. So, I’m looking forward to getting out there and playing in it, because they have some good facilities. It should be a good time going out there and playing. It’s definitely new, but at the same time, you’ve gotta come to the rink every week and prepare the same way, to have your team perform the best. So, little things, adjusting towards what that team is going to do is minor. We’re more focused on us being ready to go, and being able to play the best game that we can”
Regarding his scoring outburst last weekend… “It was a good weekend for me. I think for me, I just have to make sure I keep it going, and keep working with both of my linemates. You know, we’re really clicking well, and we’re creating a lot of chances. I think if we keep playing well, hopefully the bounces will keep coming my way, and I can continue to keep putting points up. We’re definitely working well. We were broken up on Friday, but back together on Saturday, and it sparked us. My line played well on Saturday and put a couple of pucks in the net. We play well together. We’ve got good chemistry. We work well, and move the puck with each other, and move without the puck. At the same time, we keep it simple. Get pucks to the net, and get bodies to the net. I think Broz (Seth Ambroz) and Tommy (Serratore) use their bodies, and I guess I’m more the guy that’s gotta go get em the puck, and I’ve got no problem with that”
Regarding playing a Sunday-Monday series… “It’s a little different, but at the same time, I don’t think will affect us too much. You know, once it’s game day, it’s game day. It doesn’t really matter what day of the week it is. It might be a little weird next week, having only two practices before we play Ohio State. But at the same time, it’s just another game day, so we should be alright”
Regarding being ranked #1… “We don’t really get too caught up in rankings right now. It’s not even the middle of January. Last year, and even my Freshman year, we were ranked number one early on in the season, and both years felt short of being ranked number one at the end of the year. And that’s the ultimate goal. You know, I like where we’re at, being that we’re playing well now. But at the same time, we have to come to the rink every week and we’ve gotta keep getting better and improving as a team. So by the time we hit the NCAA tournament, we’re playing full stride, and playing the best hockey of the year. We can’t become complacent. In all areas of the game we can get better”
Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding playing Penn State for the first time… “As much as you prepare for another appointment, it’s still trying to get your own game in shape. That’s what we try to concentrate on just about every week. We’re looking at elements of our games that we want to improve, and get better at. You know, it’s not like teams play that much different. I mean, you’ve got to be aware what they’re doing on the power play or penalty kill. But I think there’s nothing we haven’t seen before. It’s just making sure we have a good week of practice, and our prep work is in good order. We’ve all been around athletics enough to know that everybody’s eligible for a butt kicking every time you play. I’m sure this is going to be a big weekend for them. It’s their first ever home Big Ten games, and we’re coming in ranked number one. Whether we deserve that or not is debatable. But I’m sure that’s going to get their crowds all fired up and excited for the games. I mean, last year they won at Wisconsin, they won at Ohio State, and they won at Michigan State. They’re certainly capable of beating us as we go in there this weekend. We’re back on a small sheet, so that changes the game a little bit. We have to make sure that we just go in and play the way we need to play for our team to be successful, whether we’re playing Penn State, Michigan, St. Cloud, it doesn’t matter. I don’t think there’s any question that when you can add a brand name school like Penn State, and the tradition they have in their athletic department, that’s good for college hockey in the long run. The more you can bring in brand name schools like that, that just helps. Going back to last year, their first year as far as playing a varsity schedule, they played kind of a club schedule in year one, they’re in that transition of their club players to now they’ve had three years of recruits. But the reality is, it’s not like we get to keep players for four years throughout our lineups either. So many times we’re dealing with groups of players for three years at a time. I think that they’re on the cusp of pretty much being where they want to be. I think you’ll see their recruiting will continue improve now that they have the facility up and running, and they can bring kids to games. And they’ve got a great location. Where they’re at, you put a three hundred mile circle around their location, you’re going to get to the east coast, you’re going to get up into Ontario area, you’re going to get into Detroit…so theirs a lot of hockey players that are all the way through New York that are in close proximity”
Regarding Penn State’s new rink… “It measures 200 x 85. It’s like anything, the latest is always usually the best, right? I mean, you build a new car, and the 2014 model is always better than the 1995 model. It’s no different when you build facilities. You look at what you can do better, from what’s been done. Obviously they had a lot of money to work with with the tremendous donation of Mr. Pegula. From everything I’ve heard, they built a top notch facility. It’ll ensure a really good crowd. I was actually in State College (Pennsylvania) in eleventh grade. I went out there with my Dad when he went out for spring football. We spent a week up there. Beautiful campus, and nice location, so I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve done with their hockey program, and their new facility”
Regarding playing a Sunday-Monday series… “Well, I mean, actually for us it’s good, because we’ve had a couple of guys that have been dinged up. It gives them a few extra days to heal. I think that selfishly for me, having a couple of down days has been good for me to get back on my clock, and everything else. The only negative will be that we’ll roll into the following week, when you have basically one day to prepare for the following weekend. It’s not so much the short practice week, as it’s you hope that you don’t come out of Sunday/Monday with a lot of bumps and bruises, and you don’t have that extra few days to heal”
Regarding why they’re playing a Sunday-Monday series… “Well, Monday’s game is on the Big Ten Network, so I’m assuming that plays into it as much as anything else. I think they wanted to have everyone play one Sunday-Monday. It works out for us, we’re not in school. So it’s not like we have to worry that we have a Thursday-Friday series at Madison, so… Other than the one Thursday-Friday, and the Sunday-Monday, everything else is Friday-Saturday, which is good”
Regarding health of the team… “Everybody should be available. I’m not sure that everybody would be available if we played tonight, but the extra couple of days I think we should be in a position where everybody should be fine”
Regarding the season so far… “I thought we’d be undefeated by now, I’m really disappointed (laughing). Obviously, yeah, if you asked me at the beginning of the year if we’d be sitting with two losses in January, there’s now way. But the kids have done a nice job. The older guys have blended pretty well with the Freshman. And I think what I like the most about our team, and I thought we’d be this type of team, we’re not one or two guys driven. You look at our lineup, we don’t have a ten goal scorer on our team. Even though Kyle (Rau) and Sam (Warning) and Nate (Condon) combined, what do they have, a dozen goals is all? Three guys that you expected to score for us to be successful. It seems like it’s a new guy every night. For our team, I think that’s the way we have to play, that we can get scoring from different guys. I think a real plus for our team has been the offensive contribution from our back end. The goal scoring. I don’t know what it is compared to last year regarding the overall total, but I mean, when your defensive corp is averaging a goal a game, I think that’s really alleviated some of the pressure from our Forwards. So, hopefully, that will continue. And then Adam (Wilcox) doesn’t let in any leakers. He’s gonna give up a couple goals a game, and when we get to three, then we’re going to win most nights. I just like the position we’ve put ourselves in. And now as we move forward, other than one weekend, we’re in Big Ten play. We did a terrific job non-Conference, and put ourselves in position for the end of the year. But now you have to close and have a successful conference season”
Brady Skjei:
Regarding his World Junior experience… “It was a really good experience. It was good for my hockey career, and it was fun wearing the USA jersey again. But, it didn’t end the way we wanted it to. It ended a little short. But it was a good experience. I mean, a lot of the great players that come through play in that tournament. You see the names they put on the USA team in the past, it’s a lot of future NHL players playing in that tournament. It’s good to play against the top end players in the world that you get to see at that tournament”
Regarding being back with the team… “Feels good to be back with the guys. I missed em for a couple weeks there. It’s great to see all of their faces and get back in the locker room”
Regarding Penn State… “Good team. I think they’re big, and they’ve got the new rink there. So it should be good to go play in that new barn, and get experience in a Big Ten atmosphere. So, it should be fun. We’re always worrying about ourselves more than the other team. We worry about getting better day in and day out. But we’ve got video, and we’ll be scouting em, so we’ll be ready. Expanding the sport, and expanding the Big Ten is huge. Hopefully in some years we’ll get some more teams in the Big Ten, and make it a really good conference”
Regarding playing a Sunday-Monday series… “I don’t think I’ve ever done that, so it’ll be interesting. It’ll be fun, though”
Regarding the season so far… “I think we’re playing really well. If I’d have though coming into the season we’d be at where we’re at now, I’d take it every time. We’ve been playing good. Hopefully we can keep it up all the way to the end of the season”
Regarding being short on defense… “I mean the hardest parts probably practicing for the five D. It gets pretty tough for the guys to get their wind with five D in practice. But during the game, we’re fine. We’ve been down before. At Michigan State when Jake (Parenteau) got hurt, we played five D. It went well. It’s almost nice, because you get a rhythm of the game, because you’re going out every other shift. So, it’s going good”
Regarding Jake Parenteau… “He’s good. Same old Jake. He’s just a great guy int he locker room. I think his recovery is going well. Maybe a little ahead of schedule”
Travis Boyd:
Regarding only having a couple of days between PSU and the outdoor game… “I think our team is focused on this weekend, and playing Penn State. We’ll worry about the outdoor game when it comes. We know that these six points are really important, and we definitely need them. Nobody is looking past this weekend, I’ll tell you that right now. I think it will be fine. Good for us, more games, less practice (laughing). Nah, we’ll be alright”
Regarding changes in Coach Lucia since his return from World Juniors… “I think he’s the same coach, same style, let’s the players play the same way… So, I didn’t see much of a change between Sweden and coming back. Same coach. He’s doing a good job. Came back the same guy. He told us a couple of things that he learned while over there, but otherwise, it’s just been back to normal”
Regarding Penn State… “I don’t know too much. I’ve watched them play a couple of times when they’ve been on Big Ten, but other than that, all I know is that they’re new, and they have a really nice rink. So, I’m looking forward to getting out there and playing in it, because they have some good facilities. It should be a good time going out there and playing. It’s definitely new, but at the same time, you’ve gotta come to the rink every week and prepare the same way, to have your team perform the best. So, little things, adjusting towards what that team is going to do is minor. We’re more focused on us being ready to go, and being able to play the best game that we can”
Regarding his scoring outburst last weekend… “It was a good weekend for me. I think for me, I just have to make sure I keep it going, and keep working with both of my linemates. You know, we’re really clicking well, and we’re creating a lot of chances. I think if we keep playing well, hopefully the bounces will keep coming my way, and I can continue to keep putting points up. We’re definitely working well. We were broken up on Friday, but back together on Saturday, and it sparked us. My line played well on Saturday and put a couple of pucks in the net. We play well together. We’ve got good chemistry. We work well, and move the puck with each other, and move without the puck. At the same time, we keep it simple. Get pucks to the net, and get bodies to the net. I think Broz (Seth Ambroz) and Tommy (Serratore) use their bodies, and I guess I’m more the guy that’s gotta go get em the puck, and I’ve got no problem with that”
Regarding playing a Sunday-Monday series… “It’s a little different, but at the same time, I don’t think will affect us too much. You know, once it’s game day, it’s game day. It doesn’t really matter what day of the week it is. It might be a little weird next week, having only two practices before we play Ohio State. But at the same time, it’s just another game day, so we should be alright”
Regarding being ranked #1… “We don’t really get too caught up in rankings right now. It’s not even the middle of January. Last year, and even my Freshman year, we were ranked number one early on in the season, and both years felt short of being ranked number one at the end of the year. And that’s the ultimate goal. You know, I like where we’re at, being that we’re playing well now. But at the same time, we have to come to the rink every week and we’ve gotta keep getting better and improving as a team. So by the time we hit the NCAA tournament, we’re playing full stride, and playing the best hockey of the year. We can’t become complacent. In all areas of the game we can get better”