MK: Are there any lessons from last season that you are applying to this season?
WW: I think we learned that we definitely want to finish in the top 4 of our league but don’t have to leave everything out on the ice to and hurt our chances in the play-offs. We want to win our regular season but not at the expense of not being ready for the play-offs.
MK: RIT has been one of the last teams to play a conference game. Is that by design?
WW: Not really but it is nice playing non-conference early to learn about our team and get everyone involved. We do look forward to league play as points are on the line.
MK: The exhibition game is late in the year at the Blue Cross Arena. Is this to get experience on that size sheet of ice?
WW: I would prefer to play that game before our non conference games but it doesn’t always work out that way. I thought playing a second game at Blue Cross Arena in the second half of the season would be good for our team. Hopefully we can play a team like Niagara at that time in the future.
MK: Would you agree that the conference has gotten better since RIT and Air Force have joined and how much of an impact have your two programs had in that area?
WW: I think that Atlantic Hockey was getting better every year before we joined but since RIT and Air Force joined I think it accelerated the competitive side of things. Our league is very balanced and is competing at a very high level.
MK: What were some of the things you hoped to see during the Orange vs. White scrimmage?
WW: I was pretty focused on the freshmen and how they were going to do. We have a great group of young players and I couldn’t be any happier with our veterans and leadership.
MK: Was there anything that you didn’t see that you wanted to during the scrimmage?
WW: I was pretty happy with everything. I thought we got good goaltending from all three goalies, our defense was solid and our forwards showed some real quickness. In regards to special teams our penalty kill was very strong and our power-play was solid.
MK: Do you hope to get Louis Menard a little more rest this season?
WW: I was very happy with our goaltending and think that Louis will have some competition which is a good thing. Louis will get some rest because our goaltenders are very capable. Mike Germain does a really good job with our goalies.
MK: What do you feel are your overall strengths this year?
WW: Our strengths going into our season are our leadership, balance at all positions and our team speed.
MK: What areas do you think you will need to work on more this year and improve?
WW: You always are trying to get better in all areas of your game but we will have to start playing games before we will find out what areas are exposed.
MK: Do you feel that you have developed any sort of rivalry? Some fans feel like there may be one brewing with Canisius for obvious reasons.
WW: I think every team in our league is some sort of a rival but I feel that our biggest rival is still Air Force because of the quality of the games and what has been at stake. Canisius is a team that can become one once they move up in the standings. Last year the unfortunate incident was caused because they were not in the game and were very frustrated. They play a chippy style and unfortunately we got involved.