University of Minnesota Athletics
Photo by: Brad Rempel
Gopher Hockey Alumni Update from Coach Motzko
4/16/2020 9:34:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Nobody wants to get things up and running again faster than Bob Motzko.
With the season canceled amidst a red-hot second-half stretch of hockey, and now a stay-at-home directive for Minnesotans and most Americans, all he can do is wait — and Zoom — just like the rest of us.
We caught up with Coach Motzko for his updates on projects, alumni plans, coaching in quarantine and more.
Gopher Hockey: How have you been dealing with the lockdown? How does this impact day-to-day coaching and recruiting?
Bob Motzko: There's no question we're in uncharted territory right now — but we all are. It's affected every single one of us, so in a weird way that makes it easier because we're all in the same boat on this. There is no recruiting right now outside of telephone and online communication. There's no in-person, there's nothing to watch right now, so that's a complete change in our world because this has always been such a busy time. We're riding it out. We're waiting for news when we can get back to it. We know we will get through this. We will be in rinks again.
Gopher Hockey: How are the players taking it?
Bob Motzko: I think we're starting to get the wiggles right now. The first few weeks actually went OK. Then the next couple of weeks, you hunker down. Well, now, we all want a date. Give us something to fight for.
Gopher Hockey: How do you approach training right now?
Bob Motzko: It's a little bit old school right now for our athletes. The old school is: you're on your own. We're staying in contact with our players every week. We're encouraging them first and foremost to be safe. But this is from the old school — you go home for the summer and you're on your own to train. And this is really old school because you're training with what you have at your disposal in your basement, in your backyard, or maybe a field that's close by. I think it's going to be a wide range of what's available to all student-athletes. You have to have a lot of self motivation and a lot of push to be accountable on your own right now, and I think it's positive. We're going to use this as a great learning tool for these guys. They know what they have to do to have success next year. We want them staying in contact with each other. We put them on a buddy system. We want them to have communication with at least one of their teammates at least a couple times a week during their workouts. That's the best we can do — communicate through Zoom, Facetime, telephone, text. Anything motivational we can do is great.
Gopher Hockey: Is it true you had a special guest on one of the team's Zoom calls recently?
On our last Zoom call we had Blake Wheeler (2005-08) come on. Blake was outstanding. It was one week after FOX Sports North re-aired the game against North Dakota from 2007 — the WCHA Final Five Championship. His message to the guys was great. First and foremost, he talked about his experience at the University of Minnesota and how it made such an impact in his life and his world. He said it was neat because during the rebroadcast, he and all of his teammates were communicating during the game. It gave them a reason to reconnect and bring guys back together. And our guys were texting and watching the game too. Then to have Blake one week later as a surprise to bring it full circle was outstanding. He also talked about what it's like to be a pro athlete quarantined at home and how he gets ready. He just had a wonderful message for our players on self discipline and how he's staying motivated — it was powerful. Engaging alums with current players is so important for the program.
Gopher Hockey: What's the latest on projects around the rink?
Bob Motzko: The alumni room, the weight room and the offices are all under construction. That's all still a go. They're still anticipating an early June completion date on that — and we can't wait to unveil that for our alumni. More to follow, but construction is still going forward with that. This is going to be an exciting area — a showpiece area for them.
Gopher Hockey: Are there any alumni events planned?
Bob Motzko: We definitely had one planned for the fall, but everything is on hold at the moment. The big thing for us right now is that we're just coming out of our 99th year of Gopher Hockey. Next year is the celebration of our 100th year. Our University and athletics department have terrific things planned for our 100th year. We will have a great social gathering as soon as this clears. Let's hope we can do it in the fall.
Gopher Hockey: What does the Gopher Hockey alumni base mean to you?
Bob Motzko: I said it when I got hired that one of my main focuses was going to be on uniting and reuniting our alumni to be a part of this program and really grab hold and take ownership of it. I can tell you that in the first two years it's been a passion project for me. One of the more enjoyable parts of it has been getting to know the alumni, watching them come back to the fold and get involved, and reconnecting with hockey guys that I've known over the years. I've said it from day one and I'm going to follow through with that. But most importantly, they're a great group and they want to be a part of this. The response back from our alumni, it has floored me with how great they've been. We're going to do everything we can to continue to grow that excitement.
With the season canceled amidst a red-hot second-half stretch of hockey, and now a stay-at-home directive for Minnesotans and most Americans, all he can do is wait — and Zoom — just like the rest of us.
We caught up with Coach Motzko for his updates on projects, alumni plans, coaching in quarantine and more.
Gopher Hockey: How have you been dealing with the lockdown? How does this impact day-to-day coaching and recruiting?
Bob Motzko: There's no question we're in uncharted territory right now — but we all are. It's affected every single one of us, so in a weird way that makes it easier because we're all in the same boat on this. There is no recruiting right now outside of telephone and online communication. There's no in-person, there's nothing to watch right now, so that's a complete change in our world because this has always been such a busy time. We're riding it out. We're waiting for news when we can get back to it. We know we will get through this. We will be in rinks again.
Gopher Hockey: How are the players taking it?
Bob Motzko: I think we're starting to get the wiggles right now. The first few weeks actually went OK. Then the next couple of weeks, you hunker down. Well, now, we all want a date. Give us something to fight for.
Gopher Hockey: How do you approach training right now?
Bob Motzko: It's a little bit old school right now for our athletes. The old school is: you're on your own. We're staying in contact with our players every week. We're encouraging them first and foremost to be safe. But this is from the old school — you go home for the summer and you're on your own to train. And this is really old school because you're training with what you have at your disposal in your basement, in your backyard, or maybe a field that's close by. I think it's going to be a wide range of what's available to all student-athletes. You have to have a lot of self motivation and a lot of push to be accountable on your own right now, and I think it's positive. We're going to use this as a great learning tool for these guys. They know what they have to do to have success next year. We want them staying in contact with each other. We put them on a buddy system. We want them to have communication with at least one of their teammates at least a couple times a week during their workouts. That's the best we can do — communicate through Zoom, Facetime, telephone, text. Anything motivational we can do is great.
Gopher Hockey: Is it true you had a special guest on one of the team's Zoom calls recently?
On our last Zoom call we had Blake Wheeler (2005-08) come on. Blake was outstanding. It was one week after FOX Sports North re-aired the game against North Dakota from 2007 — the WCHA Final Five Championship. His message to the guys was great. First and foremost, he talked about his experience at the University of Minnesota and how it made such an impact in his life and his world. He said it was neat because during the rebroadcast, he and all of his teammates were communicating during the game. It gave them a reason to reconnect and bring guys back together. And our guys were texting and watching the game too. Then to have Blake one week later as a surprise to bring it full circle was outstanding. He also talked about what it's like to be a pro athlete quarantined at home and how he gets ready. He just had a wonderful message for our players on self discipline and how he's staying motivated — it was powerful. Engaging alums with current players is so important for the program.
Gopher Hockey: What's the latest on projects around the rink?
Bob Motzko: The alumni room, the weight room and the offices are all under construction. That's all still a go. They're still anticipating an early June completion date on that — and we can't wait to unveil that for our alumni. More to follow, but construction is still going forward with that. This is going to be an exciting area — a showpiece area for them.
Gopher Hockey: Are there any alumni events planned?
Bob Motzko: We definitely had one planned for the fall, but everything is on hold at the moment. The big thing for us right now is that we're just coming out of our 99th year of Gopher Hockey. Next year is the celebration of our 100th year. Our University and athletics department have terrific things planned for our 100th year. We will have a great social gathering as soon as this clears. Let's hope we can do it in the fall.
Gopher Hockey: What does the Gopher Hockey alumni base mean to you?
Bob Motzko: I said it when I got hired that one of my main focuses was going to be on uniting and reuniting our alumni to be a part of this program and really grab hold and take ownership of it. I can tell you that in the first two years it's been a passion project for me. One of the more enjoyable parts of it has been getting to know the alumni, watching them come back to the fold and get involved, and reconnecting with hockey guys that I've known over the years. I've said it from day one and I'm going to follow through with that. But most importantly, they're a great group and they want to be a part of this. The response back from our alumni, it has floored me with how great they've been. We're going to do everything we can to continue to grow that excitement.
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