Re: Northeastern 2015-16: Hobey Roy Kenobi and the Freshman Force
JM's comments from conf call yesterday .. (thanks to gonu.com)
"Obviously a lot of people know that we started the year struggling; we won our first game of the year, then went 0-11-2 after that. Much of it comes back to not defending well in our own zone and not scoring a lot of goals. That's not a recipe for success, and through that period we lost a couple of key players in Kevin Roy and Dalen Hedges and we were lacking confidence. As the losses mounted, the confidence waned a little bit.
"I thought the turning point of our season was the trip to Northern Ireland. Our lineup had settled in and we knew how we had to play without are two key offensive players, and went into Northern Ireland with a game plan that was.
"From that point on we came back and played two league games against Boston College, only got one out of four points, but again we continued to play well so our kids were starting to believe and confidence was picking up. Then we had Michigan State after the exam break, we won and then we've been on a pretty good roll since then. We since have gotten (Kevin Roy) back and our lineup has been settled. We've been defending well and transitioning pucks quickly and getting good goal scoring and timely scoring."
Coach Madigan on what he expects from Maine this weekend, and the impact of Steven Swavely and Dan Renouf
"We expect another hard fought series. I think the game Friday is more indicative of how the games will go this weekend. They play hard, they finish every check, they battle, they compete, they are heavy on pucks, they drive the net really hard. That's the game we are expecting to be in, you have to win puck battles.
"Swavely is a senior who is really heavy on pucks and drives to the net well. He wins a lot of loose puck battles. He's their guy offensively in terms of providing momentum for their team just by the way he plays. He plays the game the right way, he plays hard. Renouf from our end is a junior and a defenseman who I've seen an awful lot from Ontario then through USHL, he's a big strong kid with offensive abilities, so we have to watch from the back end that he jumps on the play and supports the rush."
Coach Madigan on the development of Zach Aston-Reese and Nolan
"I think that whole line has been the key. When we put them together it gave us a solid line that could shoulder some of the offensive burden that we desperately needed. All three of them John, Nolan and Zach are all heavy on the pucks; you wouldn't call them a finesse line. They are a power line, they just work at it, they have such great details and habits to their game. They play well down low, they can score off the rush, but they are really good low controlling the puck and puck possession. The Stevens boys have a pretty good hockey pedigree the background with their father. Zach has that same type of pedigree, he doesn't have the same background but he thinks the game the right way. They both complement John, because John moves it, distributes it really well and those two other guys besides being able to make a play can shoot the puck. Aston-Reese has had a better year this year. Nolan has made a huge step from last year coming in as a true freshman, so a big part of his development this year was just getting older, stronger and going through it last year as a true 18-year old his body is catching up to him. He really worked hard this summer getting himself ready for a great season which he's done."
Coach Madigan on the impact of having Kevin Roy back in the lineup
"It was key. He was showing that as he was getting ready to play and that was important. He has a lot of pride in his game, particularly on the offensive side because he's been very good at that for a long period of time. When he wasn't scoring and getting those looks, there was a little frustration that was mounting early and one way to get out of that is by working that extra bit harder and that's what he was doing. You saw it one time before or after practice with us and it's a lot of shooting because that's a part of his game he needs to work on. It's been key to his success.
"The other part to his success has been coming back hard away from the puck so that when pucks transition he's closer to the play with his feet moving, allowing him to transition to offense. He's been very cognizant that way in the games, that's been helpful getting the puck in his hands, which of course we want the puck in his hands as much as we can."
Coach Madigan on freshman goaltender Ryan Ruck
"He's played in 28 games, and so far I equate him to Bruce Racine as far as his demeanor. This kid's balanced, he doesn't get too high or too low. I don't know if he goes to the top of the Prudential Center before games like Racine. This kid remains really balanced, and he's helped get us going in the right direction every game for the last 20, particularly the early ones which were like playoff games for us just to get back in the hunt, so I'm really not worried about him playing in the playoffs. Coming out of the USHL where he didn't have a lot of playoff opportunities but he's played a lot of hockey games. It'll be different because it's a playoff game, but I'm really not worried just because of his demeanor and disposition."