University of Minnesota Athletics
Golden Gopher Women's Hockey Team Holds Annual Media Day
10/3/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Hockey
Women’s Hockey Media Day
Head Coach Brad Frost
Opening Statement
“It’s been a whirlwind these last couple months here. In early August, Laura Halldorson, our former head coach who had been around for 11 years resigned and I was then named Head Coach for the season. I’m appreciative to Director of Athletics, Joel Maturi and Laura Halldorson that they had faith and confidence in me to take over this great program for the season. We have a great group of players coming back, headlined by our two captains Whitney Graft and Bobbi Ross. We also have three other seniors who have great leadership in Erica McKenzie, who is a forward and WCHA scoring champion a couple years ago. Jenelle Philipczyk is another forward and Anya Miller is a senior defender. We have all of our top scorers coming back. We’ve also added five new freshmen that are going to make impacts throughout the year as well as a junior transfer, Rachel Drazan who will play on blue line for us. The staff has changed a little bit and some has stayed the same with my promotion. We were in need of an assistant coach and I hired Tom Osiecki, who the name is familiar to all of you, is a legend in the hockey world in Minnesota. He has been a great addition to our staff and has great experience and great leadership. He’s been an educator for a number of years and really knows how to teach the game. Laura Slominski has remained on our staff as well after her first season of being an assistant coach last year. She was also a player and a captain here as well, won a national championship in 2000. I think the players are ready to play against somebody other than themselves and it should be a great kickoff to the weekend.”
On taking over a historic program with pre-existing talent
“Obviously our goal is to be there at the national tournament in Duluth and some people can see that as pressure, I’m just thankful for the opportunity to be the head coach of this program. Is there pressure? Some can say yes, I say no. We have this great team and the kids are rejuvenated. They’re looking very good in practice this year. I think we’ll be fine. The end result will be what it is, but if we can allow these kids to just have a great experience throughout the year and enjoy the journey, the results will take care of itself.”
Expectations for the upcoming year
I think we’re all disappointed in the season we had last year, not making the NCAAs. Yes, we lost some impact players but the bulk of our team is back. Our expectations are very high for ourselves, and myself as a head coach. The bar is set very high for our players. We are one of, if not the premier programs in the country. We’ve won three national championships in the past 10 years and that’s always the goal in the end. So the expectations are very high. These players know that and like that, which is why they come to play at Minnesota.”
On having Rachel Drazan on the team after transferring from Minnesota Duluth
It’s great to have her on our team versus playing against her. She’s going to add just a ton of different things to our program. She’s got great experience at the collegiate level. She’s a great offensive defenseman, which we didn’t really have last year. She’s going to skate the puck out of the zone when we need her to and she’s a top power play and penalty kill person. We’re excited to have her for her on ice abilities but also for her leadership abilities as well.”
On the drop off of team’s performance after Christmas last year
“I think just playing every game is what’s going to be critical for this team. It is easy to look ahead and we just can’t. Last year we struggled on Friday nights for some reason in the second half of the season and nobody could really figure it out. Part of the reason I’m so excited this year is our leadership and because the kids are so hungry to change what happened last year. It’s a new start and a fresh start for everybody and we’re really looking forward to it.”
On his coaching philosophy
“I’m fairly laid back. However, when the puck drops I’m fairly intense. I’m not the biggest disciplinarian where I have a whole bunch of rules and continue to hammer them down. Certainly we’ll be a team of discipline, we’ll be a team of maturity and a team of respect and that’s my goal for our team this year, both on the ice and off the ice. Wherever we go when we travel and we look good, when we go out to eat and we leave and the wait staff says they were happy to serve us. On ice I’m an offensive kind of coach. I hope our team gets up and down the rink effectively and puts pucks in the net. We also need to be taking care of our defensive zone and making sure that we take care of business there. The further we get to the opposition’s net, we can be a little more creative. It’s really continual conversation with our players, seeing where they’re at, seeing if we can make any adjustments for them to help them play better. As you can tell by how much I talk, I like to communicate so it’s really important for our staff and players to go back and forth.”
Whitney Graft
On the transition of Frost taking over as the head coach
"To me, it's not really that much different then in the past. He's done an amazing job as an assistant coach for my first three years that I've been here. For him to step in as our head coach hasn't been too much different for us."
On having Rachael Drazan on the team after transferring from UMD
'We've given her plenty of hard times since she came from Duluth and they are our rival school. Last year, that was the something we did a lot and gave her a hard time. This year she's a part of our team and we've accepted her. She's just as much a part of our team if she hadn't played at Duluth. It's fun having her here."
Bobbi Ross
On the transition of Frost taking over as the head coach
"One of Brad's greatest strengths is that he has been a great teacher. He knows how to explain things to us in ways that simplify it and we can go out there and apply it in game situations. He's really good at teaching us in all aspects. He's a great person and he really cares about all of us as individuals. I think we have great leadership when you look at our entire staff and is headed by Brad, which we are very confident in his ability to take us in the direction of where we have the potential to go."
On the drop off after the Christmas break
"We are thinking of canceling Christmas this year. We're not really sure exactly what was the cause for the drop off. There's no question there was one in the second half, which is not something I really want to talk about. I think a lot about this year is going to be different. Hopefully our mentality throughout, not just when we come back for Christmas. A lot of things will be different and I wouldn't expect the same problems that occurred in the second half would be that significant this time around. It's a new season and a new outlook. There will be challenges, but I'm expecting they will be of a slightly different nature."
On the goals on the year
"Like Brad has been saying, our big goals are always the same. Our first goal is to win the WCHA regular season, which takes place every time we face a WCHA foe. Our next step is to win the WCHA tournament and we would obviously love to win the national championship. I imagine those goals are pretty general for most teams. Other then that, our goal is to have a very memorable season. Some of those memories will be created with big wins, but a lot of it is going to come off ice and to hang out with teammates. We want to make sure we get better every day and have no regrets once everything is said and done.
Head Coach Brad Frost
Opening Statement
“It’s been a whirlwind these last couple months here. In early August, Laura Halldorson, our former head coach who had been around for 11 years resigned and I was then named Head Coach for the season. I’m appreciative to Director of Athletics, Joel Maturi and Laura Halldorson that they had faith and confidence in me to take over this great program for the season. We have a great group of players coming back, headlined by our two captains Whitney Graft and Bobbi Ross. We also have three other seniors who have great leadership in Erica McKenzie, who is a forward and WCHA scoring champion a couple years ago. Jenelle Philipczyk is another forward and Anya Miller is a senior defender. We have all of our top scorers coming back. We’ve also added five new freshmen that are going to make impacts throughout the year as well as a junior transfer, Rachel Drazan who will play on blue line for us. The staff has changed a little bit and some has stayed the same with my promotion. We were in need of an assistant coach and I hired Tom Osiecki, who the name is familiar to all of you, is a legend in the hockey world in Minnesota. He has been a great addition to our staff and has great experience and great leadership. He’s been an educator for a number of years and really knows how to teach the game. Laura Slominski has remained on our staff as well after her first season of being an assistant coach last year. She was also a player and a captain here as well, won a national championship in 2000. I think the players are ready to play against somebody other than themselves and it should be a great kickoff to the weekend.”
On taking over a historic program with pre-existing talent
“Obviously our goal is to be there at the national tournament in Duluth and some people can see that as pressure, I’m just thankful for the opportunity to be the head coach of this program. Is there pressure? Some can say yes, I say no. We have this great team and the kids are rejuvenated. They’re looking very good in practice this year. I think we’ll be fine. The end result will be what it is, but if we can allow these kids to just have a great experience throughout the year and enjoy the journey, the results will take care of itself.”
Expectations for the upcoming year
I think we’re all disappointed in the season we had last year, not making the NCAAs. Yes, we lost some impact players but the bulk of our team is back. Our expectations are very high for ourselves, and myself as a head coach. The bar is set very high for our players. We are one of, if not the premier programs in the country. We’ve won three national championships in the past 10 years and that’s always the goal in the end. So the expectations are very high. These players know that and like that, which is why they come to play at Minnesota.”
On having Rachel Drazan on the team after transferring from Minnesota Duluth
It’s great to have her on our team versus playing against her. She’s going to add just a ton of different things to our program. She’s got great experience at the collegiate level. She’s a great offensive defenseman, which we didn’t really have last year. She’s going to skate the puck out of the zone when we need her to and she’s a top power play and penalty kill person. We’re excited to have her for her on ice abilities but also for her leadership abilities as well.”
On the drop off of team’s performance after Christmas last year
“I think just playing every game is what’s going to be critical for this team. It is easy to look ahead and we just can’t. Last year we struggled on Friday nights for some reason in the second half of the season and nobody could really figure it out. Part of the reason I’m so excited this year is our leadership and because the kids are so hungry to change what happened last year. It’s a new start and a fresh start for everybody and we’re really looking forward to it.”
On his coaching philosophy
“I’m fairly laid back. However, when the puck drops I’m fairly intense. I’m not the biggest disciplinarian where I have a whole bunch of rules and continue to hammer them down. Certainly we’ll be a team of discipline, we’ll be a team of maturity and a team of respect and that’s my goal for our team this year, both on the ice and off the ice. Wherever we go when we travel and we look good, when we go out to eat and we leave and the wait staff says they were happy to serve us. On ice I’m an offensive kind of coach. I hope our team gets up and down the rink effectively and puts pucks in the net. We also need to be taking care of our defensive zone and making sure that we take care of business there. The further we get to the opposition’s net, we can be a little more creative. It’s really continual conversation with our players, seeing where they’re at, seeing if we can make any adjustments for them to help them play better. As you can tell by how much I talk, I like to communicate so it’s really important for our staff and players to go back and forth.”
Whitney Graft
On the transition of Frost taking over as the head coach
"To me, it's not really that much different then in the past. He's done an amazing job as an assistant coach for my first three years that I've been here. For him to step in as our head coach hasn't been too much different for us."
On having Rachael Drazan on the team after transferring from UMD
'We've given her plenty of hard times since she came from Duluth and they are our rival school. Last year, that was the something we did a lot and gave her a hard time. This year she's a part of our team and we've accepted her. She's just as much a part of our team if she hadn't played at Duluth. It's fun having her here."
Bobbi Ross
On the transition of Frost taking over as the head coach
"One of Brad's greatest strengths is that he has been a great teacher. He knows how to explain things to us in ways that simplify it and we can go out there and apply it in game situations. He's really good at teaching us in all aspects. He's a great person and he really cares about all of us as individuals. I think we have great leadership when you look at our entire staff and is headed by Brad, which we are very confident in his ability to take us in the direction of where we have the potential to go."
On the drop off after the Christmas break
"We are thinking of canceling Christmas this year. We're not really sure exactly what was the cause for the drop off. There's no question there was one in the second half, which is not something I really want to talk about. I think a lot about this year is going to be different. Hopefully our mentality throughout, not just when we come back for Christmas. A lot of things will be different and I wouldn't expect the same problems that occurred in the second half would be that significant this time around. It's a new season and a new outlook. There will be challenges, but I'm expecting they will be of a slightly different nature."
On the goals on the year
"Like Brad has been saying, our big goals are always the same. Our first goal is to win the WCHA regular season, which takes place every time we face a WCHA foe. Our next step is to win the WCHA tournament and we would obviously love to win the national championship. I imagine those goals are pretty general for most teams. Other then that, our goal is to have a very memorable season. Some of those memories will be created with big wins, but a lot of it is going to come off ice and to hang out with teammates. We want to make sure we get better every day and have no regrets once everything is said and done.
Players Mentioned
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