Coach's Show: 12/4/02

[kr]

Interview with Associate Coach David Hakstol this morning by Tim and Swyg.

With UMin not coming in to Grand Forks, this is one of the main rivalry series of the year. This is developing into a good rivalry, plus this is the only team to have beaten UND this year. The Friday night game was a 3-3 tie going into the 3rd and the Huskies "got it done". The Huskies are clicking at a 36% rate on the pp. DH stated that the Huskies are well coached.

UND's pk took a hit last week because they gave up 7 pp goals against the Maveriks. This last week there was a lot of talk (for fans and such) about the pp - DH said that it is slowly developing and Tim stated that it is the typical UND pp - blows hot and cold, will go 0 for 9 and then 4 for 5. DH said that having a good % is important, however, arguably more important is WHEN the team scores on the pp. For example, in a game during the late stages if UND is up 5 to 1 the urgency on the pp may not be at the highest level and a goal won't effect the outcome of the game, BUT if it is a close game where a pp goal will tie/put the team up by a goal, it is very important for the pp to be effective.... (there was quite a bit of talk about the pp)

Goaltending for tonight: DH doesn't know - he told them that usually if he knows he may sandbag them (I don't know, wink, wink), however, he really doesn't know. Tim said his gut feeling says JS, but who knows.

Lots of talk about David Hale. Tim said that David didn't "snap" during his fight with the Mankato player, which is a shame because the team can't afford for David to be out for 2 games (which if David would "snap" during a fight and get tossed he'd have to sit out the mandatory 2 game suspension) --- Tim was not advocating fighting, just commenting that David isn't someone you'd want to tangle with as without "snapping" he put the hurt on that kid last Friday night. Talked about how David has really developed into a "1st round" player. Sometimes being drafted in the first round can put too much pressure on a kid, however, David has handled that pressure and is a great player.

DH: "We're healthly" and the games should be "good tilts".

After the interview finished Swyg and Tim talked a bit about Coach Dahl. Most coaches have a routine before a game ie: Troy Jutting snuck outside - usually Coach Dahl can be found somewhere reading a book - Tim said that it's usually a book, the title of which he is able to pronounce. Swyg then talked about when he used to go on the road with Tim for the hockey games. When the St. Cloud program was "not" a power in the WCHA (and the National Hockey Center was fairly new) UND went down there and was swept by St. Cloud - Swyg went down to do the post-game interview with Coach Dahl and Dahl said something to the effect: The big dogs came to town and we bit their tails off. It sounds like that is one of Swyg's favorite quotes from an opposing coach.

[PCM]

Thanks for the update, kr.

Actually, I'm more worried about the Sioux penalty kill than I am about the power play, especially against SCSU. In the Mankato series, it looked like everyone was backing in and doing very little to pressure the point men at the blue line. That makes it easy for the opposing team's power play to set up and start moving the puck around.

I also wonder if this tendency to back in is why the Sioux haven't scored a shorthanded goal in some time after getting off to a great start early in the season.