After 11 seasons at North Dakota and seven as an NHL head coach, Dave Hakstol has taken over as the lead man for Arizona State hockey, becoming just the second head coach in Division I program history.
With such a quick turnaround prior to the game in Lowell, MA, it's Hakstol's first few opportunities to speak with the media and be able to share the message and strategy for the upcoming week, where the Sun Devils have a well-positioned bye for the new coach to try to settle in to Tempe.
How Important Was The Institution To You And What Stood Out?
"That's where it all starts, the depth and the quality of the institution itself. Not just academically, but culturally throughout athletics. The depth top to bottom here(at Arizona State), and that's a huge part of everyone's experience that's apart of anything here on campus."
You Left The NHL For This Job (Colorado Avalanche). First Time in College Hockey in 12 years. Why Was the Transition Back to College Something You Wanted To Do, And Why Here?
"When the initial phone call came, it wasn't something top of mind, we had started our season. In terms of timing, very very challenging timing. The gratitude I have for the Avalanche...not an easy time of year to make a transition, but they were open to allowing me explore it. It's something I felt career wise, was an excellent opportunity, for our family was an outstanding opportunity. Those things stood out, and as we had further discussions, obviously we didn't have a lot of time, but we had some great in depth discussions between Graham(Rossini) and myself. It became very obvious that this was a great opportunity, and one that I wanted to pursue."
You Jump Into The Best Conference in College Hockey (NCHC), What Are You Expecting From The Conference, and What You Looking For To Be a Mainstay at The Top?
"It's night in and night out. The one thing that struck me as I was leaving(North Dakota), and we were early on in the growth of the conference, but it was very obvious the commitment that every school had to college hockey... over the last 12 years that's become more and more evident when you look at the results. There's no soft weekend."
"As you start looking at how you build your season to enter into the national tournament, how you build your season to be successful and be playing your best hockey at the end of the year, this conference makes it extremely challenging , but also it's going to prepare you very well... you're going to be as well prepared as any team."
You Get the Sweep at UMass-Lowell, the First Sweep in Nearly a Year, How Important Was That for the Group and Feel Good Going in the Same Direction, and Also Being 4-2 Heading Into the Bye Week?
"Being 4-2 in terms of the non-conference is a big difference from 3-3, a big difference from being below .500, those are extremely important in terms of staying alive, and putting yourself in a position to enter in the national tournament, which is our goal each and every year."
"It's really nice to be able to come home this week during our bye week, and be able to learn and work, and build coming off of a positive experience, and I think the players deserve that."
"Saturday's game was better than Friday's... and I thought the 3rd period(on Saturday) was a blueprint for us on in terms of how to close out a game... those are positive building blocks that we can take into this week."
"We're going to have a mini training camp for five days, get as many good reps, build as good of a foundation as we can going into the first conference week(vs St. Cloud State)."
"We're rebuilding our entire structure from top to bottom, that's not easy to do in the middle of a season. We're going to be far from a finished product coming out of the week, but I believe that this is the right time to do that, take advantage of this time, and just ask for 100% focus, concentration and work. That's all that I ask out of our players, and that's what they're giving."
With a Weekend Under Your Belt Back in College Hockey, What are Some of the Things you Had to Get Back in the Swing of, and What Are You Going to use From Your NHL Experience That Going to Help You?
"I think we use something from all of our experiences. I'm in a different spot in my career now than I was day one when I took over at the University of North Dakota"
"I feel very strongly that the college game is continuing to grow. When I look at the level of play, it's tremendous. With the opening up of the CHL, that's opening up a whole new realm of player development pathways, and that continues to grow the level and quality of college hockey."
"Coming back, there's different rules, there's different things we have to adjust to, but luckily for me I got great people around me... and a really good group of players."
Recruiting Players from Canada, the Boston area, the Midwest, What's your Pitch to Bring Them Here?
"There's some obvious features, but I'm a big believer in wanting players and students coming here for the right reasons, because its the right fit for them... for me there's two sides to that. Number one, every player has goals in terms of their individual development. We want every player to have the opportunity to be a part of a developmental process here that allows them to be at their very best... that gives them the best chance to play in the National Hockey League. While they're doing that, we want them collectively to have an opportunity to win. When you combine those goals, that's the foundation we want to set moving forward."
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