You finished the 06-07 season with a 14-8-6 record. Six ties is a record for the program. Any thoughts on why you couldn’t finish off teams in those games?

Well I think on the six ties, and you can correct me if I’m wrong, but in five of those games we had the lead and couldn’t hold it. With that said, the biggest problem with our team this year was we couldn’t get that big goal when we needed it, and we couldn’t get that big save when we needed it. So if you look at those five games as potential wins, it looks like much better record. Again, it was a case of not getting that big save when we needed it or getting that big goal to go up by two to put the game away.

Some fans feel our schedule may be to tough. Has there been any discussion on perhaps making some changes? Perhaps by adding some weaker teams from the Northeast division to the schedule?

If you look at our schedule, a lot of it begins with loyalty. You have to look at teams our program has played against for so long. It is tough to get rid of teams. Honestly, with Morrisville coming in the league, your going to have to get rid of somebody. So loyalty is a big factor as is cost of travel. Time spent away from campus where players are missing classes also plays into that as well. With that said, we are probably looking to get Castelton on the schedule down the road because it is a quick trip, and some of our fans can make that trip. It would be a trip where our players would not miss a lot of school. We may have to lose some teams that we might have played for years. Games against those teams don’t mean a lot now because the SUNYAC is where it is at. So for us to go to Boston to play Curry for one game just doesn’t make a lot of sense. I think we do need a little bit of a softer schedule, but if you ask other teams that play a soft schedule, because nobody will play them, they'll speak differently.

Some people feel Plattsburgh has dropped back to the rest pack. Is this the case or has the over all play in division III improved that much?

I say that the landscape has changed. It all starts with the schools. They want to win and they want to be competitive. They are going out and hiring good young coaches who are willing to go out and pound the pavement and work their tails off. It is a tough profession time wise during the seven months you’re really working hard. These coaches are going out and finding players. Then you have news schools that have come up in the past that packaged kids real well and go from the beginning of their program to winning over night. When I first came to Plattsburgh, teams just couldn’t beat us no matter how bad we played. Now any team can beat you on a given night. Just look at our league. It went from being a league in the middle of the pack to being at the top of the pack, just by schools changing their policy towards hockey.

This past season featured a change in the SUNYAC play-off format. Do you like these changes to the tournament?

It is not whether you like it or not - it’s not by choice. We have no choice. There are four teams that play in the NCAA tournament on that Wednesday night. You don’t really have a good chance to win in that Wednesday night game if you play a two out of three series the weekend before. If I had my choice, I would play a four out of seven series like the NHL, because we are here to play games. The players like playing games. But that is not going to happen. With that said, if you look at most college sports today like basketball, it is one and done.

I think a lot of fans and perhaps even players assumed just because the finals were at home, that we would automatically win. What are your thoughts on the loss to Fredonia in the SUNYAC finals?

My thoughts going into the game, and we kept reiterating to the players all week long, just because we are home doesn’t mean we are gonna win. We told them they had to work for it. With that said, I thought we worked for it. I thought we out played them. I thought if we got four goals we would win the game. My objective going into the week was to keep the goals out. We were unable to do that. Who’s fault is that? That’s everybody’s. We think that the Fredonia game went like our first part of the season went. We couldn’t get the big save when we needed it or we couldn’t get the big goal when we needed it. We worked hard and battled back in that game. I told that players after the loss that I appreciated the work they put into the game. We played hard pretty much all year long, but we just couldn’t get over the hump. We couldn’t find a way to get it done. We just couldn’t get that big goal or timely save. I think we could have beat anybody - we did beat anybody who was anybody. But we couldn’t find a way to get it done when we needed to get it done in the end. I thought we played great in the second semester. We lost against Neumann, but we missed an open net in overtime. In the Geneseo loss, we couldn’t have played any better. We outshot them I think 42-17. Then we didn’t lose again until the Fredonia game. But, we’ve got no one to blame but ourselves. We just couldn’t find a way to get it done. We were a good team, but great teams find a way to get it done.

Oswego State becomes the second SUNY team to ever win a hockey national championship. Your thoughts on the Lakers winning the title?

I’ll tell you first and foremost, I am happy for Ed Gosek. I don’t go online, but I hear a lot of stuff about what some of his fans had to say about him. If people only knew how much we coaches really contribute to a win or a loss, they probably wouldn’t say as much. Coaches don’t put the puck in the net, they don’t save the puck from going in. They can try to prepare the team the best they can, but in the end it is up to the players. Coach Gosek was probably going through hell after losing to Fredonia in the conference semi-finals. All the experts as I call them, had a lot to say. Some of these people have probably never laced up the skates once in their lives, and they had something to say. I think he shut them up. Where are they now? They are probably under rocks so they can’t be seen. As I told you before Bill, my biggest problem with the online stuff is that people don’t have to put their names on their comments. People who write newspapers articles, go on talk shows, any media types on TV all have to have their names associated with their comments and opinions. Then we have these people who hide behind their alias names on the internet. I think it is chicken you know what and gutless. So I am happy for Ed - he shut them up. Gosek is a great guy and I am happy for him more so now after what he has been through. He should not have had to go through that.

Coach Gosek clearly had a lot of pressure on him to win. Can you talk a little about the pressure coaches of top hockey program may feel?

I think in sports, pressure and stress comes from expectations. I could work a lot of jobs in division III hockey where people wouldn’t care if you won or lost. There wouldn’t be much stress. We as coaches are responsible for our own expectations. I tell people all the time the two best days of my life are the two national championships. But at the same time they are my two worst days. Now everybody expects national titles. It is where the standard of the program has been set. However, with the league being where it is, maybe getting to the conference finals can be considered a good year now because the landscape has changed, because there are so many tough teams and because of the different financial aid policies.

Can you talk a little about the profession of coaching division III college hockey?

When I got into the profession, I never knew what it entailed. It is long days, long weeks. But you take the good with the bad with any job. There is a lot of administrative stuff and recruiting. Coach Moffat and I probably spend 60 to 65 percent of our time recruiting. Whether it be on the phone, email, or on the road. Between practices and games, we probably spend the least amount of time coaching than anything else.

Since most of your time is spent recruiting, what is the recruiting process like? What does it take to get a player to Plattsburgh State?

The process of recruiting is different with every individual. Everyone is unique and everyone is different. You can’t really put a number on the hours it takes to get a guy. It make take 100 hours to get one guy and only 10 hours to get another. It is an ongoing battle. Like I said before 60 to 65 percent of my time is spent on recruiting.

What do you feel your recruiting needs are for next season?

Well, obviously I think every year we need to get better at all positions. I think we could use that high end impact sniper. With Janco leaving we need fill his spot. But we’ve got Breslin and Rolls back there, so we are pretty damn good. They will be the two leaders back there on defense and they will be supplemented really well with the other guys. Those are the two main concerns. I would like to somehow work with Molinaro in a way that will improve his play and get him to the next level, because I think the foundation is there. He has proved that at times. Obviously we would like to see a little more consistency.

Middlebury, Norwich, and Oswego all have fairly new arenas. All three have won national championships since getting those new facilities. Having said that, next summer the Stafford Ice Arena will receive some major upgrades. How important are these upgrades for the program?

Having a facelift in our rink is vitally important. The rink, the lockeroom, and the weight room are all very important in the recruiting process. If you look at Louiseville football and what they have done to their facilities in the last five years and where their program has gone in the last five years, you will realize that good facilities come first. With that said, I think our facelift in the Stafford arena is going to help. Is it going to be the answer? Probably not. But it will help in the recruiting process.

There has been some talk about possibly making the ice surface bigger. Any truth to that rumor?

There is a lot of talk about this whole complex up here. Talk about having all the coaches offices up here and all of the sports up here, including basketball. With that said, I think there are phases. I can tell you for sure that expanding the ice size is not in phase one. It would be in phase one if the building size would accommodate it.

Can you talk a little bit about your three graduating seniors.

Ryan Busby has been an emotional kid who works hard and has brought a lot of energy to the team. What we are going to miss most is that energy. We will also miss the open nets he missed all the time (laughs). At least he was in the right place at the right time to get those chances.

Shane Remenda, we are going to miss his physical play. The thing with Shane is that he has had a hard time putting a whole season together because it is so tough to play at that level every night. Especially when you factor in injuries.

Janks (Rick Janco) was a steady guy, and had been real steady back on defense. His poise will be missed for sure.

You’re losing three players from your leadership group next season (Busby, Remenda, & Galan). Can you talk a little about who will be in that group next season?

Nick Rolls will return next year in that role. In the back of our minds we have three or four guys in mind. Guys we are looking at are guys like CJ Tozzo, who brings a lot of energy. TJ Cooper, who had a great year for us. What you see is what you get with him. He is not a high end skilled guy, but very valuable to the team. Then you have Tom Breslin, who already has been a great leader in his freshmen year. Joey Wilson is someone who we will look at as well. He has a
tremendous work ethic and hopefully that will rub off on others.

Can you talk a little about how this past season’s freshmen class performed?

I thought they played well. Every year there is an adjustment period for the freshmen. So you can’t rely on them all the time. I look for bigger and better things from those guys. I am looking toward to having them back as sophomores, and to get more from them. Not having that adjustment period for them next season is key.

Your former Associate Coach Kevin Houle won his first national title as a head coach of the women’s program. Your thoughts on Kevin’s championship season?

I am obviously happy for the school and everyone on the team. But I am more happy for Kevin. To get out there and run his own show, which we knew he could do years ago. He had a lot of opportunities to leave Plattsburgh and to run his own show at the men’s level, but he likes the area and wanted to stay. Those school’s loss is Plattsburgh’s gain. He has brought a lot of expertise to the women’s game. I think the women’s program was pretty talented from the get-go. They just lacked a leader. Once Houle decided he was going to jump the other side of the fence, his leadership and coaching ability took him right to the top.

Aaron Saul has been named head coach at Potsdam State. Your comments on what he will bring to the Potsdam program?

I think he will get Potsdam going in the right direction. He will help make our league even tougher, and I think he was well deserving of the job. I supported him for the job and recommended him for the job in a few different ways. I think he is a good kid, and he is going to make our jobs tougher here at Plattsburgh. But hey, that is what sports are all about. To me it is a lot harder in Division III now than it used to be. Our league is better, and our teams are given a lot more respect from top to bottom from other leagues around the country.

I am sure this is a question on many Cardinal Fan’s minds. Can Plattsburgh State can compete for a national title in 2007-2008?

I think that is the goal of the program. Overall, I think there are a lot of things that play into that. Injuries, team chemistry, believability and confidence. A lot of different things play into that. I thought Plattsburgh State could have challenged for a national championship this past year. Like I said, we just couldn’t get it done. No one is ever going to know the reason why. But, I thought the talent was there. I thought the leadership was there.

Speaking of leadership, I know in the past you have made statements in the media questioning your teams leadership. However, this is something we have not seen in past couple of seasons.

I think in the last few years we have had some great leadership. I think people know me and I call a spade a spade and I’m a pretty honest guy. I would tell you if we went 30-0 and the leadership was bad and we just won with talent. I thought the leadership has been good the last couple of years.

Thanks for your time coach.