D2 ACCHL Elite Championship Recap With Adam Brown

Join us for a special interview where Camden Bilotti sits down with Division 2 Head Coach, Adam Brown to discuss the season and talk about the Championship run his team put together! Make sure to like and subscribe!

And we welcome you into a special segment here on the Mountaineer hockey Network Pleasant hello I’m cam bot is enjoying me today is the one and only and now the champion coach Adam Brown how we doing brownie I’m feeling pretty good right about now I would say um I have not

Regained my voice yet so bear with me I will try to project but there was some uh there was some singing on the bus I don’t think the boys turned the speaker off for like the entire six hours oh that poor bu driver Mark stanitz was on

The uh he was DJ and there were some bangers so I was uh I was really singing along and I’m I’m feeling it today that poor bus driver must have had a lot of fun with you guys that he Dave is the man he had a blast he he loved the guys

And and the guys are always yes sir no sir when they’re when they’re talking to him and and he he loves those guys I think he enjoyed it yeah who wouldn’t enjoy that that that must have been a great weekend let’s start off with St Joe’s uh Friday afternoon game it

Started off you had to get on the bus really early in the morning what was it like playing an afternoon game on a Friday where you had to board the bus and then go right into St Joe’s and what happened in that game for people that maybe not have watched it was

Intimidating and it was it was intimidating due to the fact that last year our only really difficult game was that first one uh Georgetown took us to double overtime before Mitch duallo ended that one um so if you talk about like a recipe for this disaster if we

Know that our first game is going to be our toughest one and we’re going to be on a bus for six hours and we’re leaving at 6: a.m. to go there um it was it was intimidating I I I fully anticipated that we would have to weather a storm

For the first period And then after that um we’re just we’re a much better team than St Joe’s so as long as we did the necessary things and we kept our feet moving I felt really really confident um we just had to get the bus legs out of

The way and bus legs are are rarely an excuse for me but this one was that was was a difficult one I’ll admit it um but but they weathered the storm so so what happened in that game yep so St Joe’s we came out we opened up the scoring um but

They kept it really really tight I think it was three2 us maybe going into the third but we ended up beating them uh six to2 so our conditioning kind of they they looked a little bit tired um we were definitely in better shape so in the third period it was we we dominated

Pretty good so I was able to my heartbeat was able to come down just a little tiny bit yeah all right and then for sure the revolutionaries out of George Washington was your next matchup now they played you guys really really tough it was one to one going into the

Third and late in the third T how decided that he’s had enough and made it 2-1 and that was the final what happened in that game why were you not as dominant maybe as you would have expected to be yeah speaking of games where my heart did not get arrest uh

George Washington was definitely the one and I I wasn’t surprised by it so the thing about George Washington is if you look at their roster and you look at their stats they don’t maybe have like a single thing that that like jumps right out at you and and you’re like oh we got

To watch out for that but they don’t do anything poorly they do everything really really solid um and when we played them the first game of the year this year that was also a one goal game uh so it was 54 so George Washington their coached well um they don’t have

Any real weak spots uh they gave us I was not surprised that it was a close one um but you you said the name tal that man he dominated that game he took that over he was he was by far and away the best player on the ice that night

Against George Washington um maybe sort of an undercover play that he made was pinning pucks against boards to to get the boys going on on the PK he’s that man is a horse it’s insane yeah yeah and you know Tyler Hof is kind of an interesting story and I I’m really close

With him I talked to him whenever we were at the rink he was originally on D1 and then he went to D2 what has he meant to the program and what did he mean for you that whole season Once he joined uh we called him the missing

Piece um we have we have depth but we were missing a second line Center it was we tried different guys um but we just we needed somebody to gel we liked the combination of wheland panchision we needed somebody who could Jael with those guys so what we ended up with when

When thow joined that line was probably our most hockey smart line so then I know we’ll get to it in a second but then when we played Dennison our Gold Line is our most offensively inclined but we were line matching Dennison’s Best Line against Grey Line because they

Have the best hockey senses they they were the most hockey smart um they created this really well-rounded line that I could put out in in any any different situation um and and specifically for thow he’s on the power play he gets minutes five on five

He’s on the PK he does just a little bit of everything he’s a he’s an absolute Swiss army knife and he meant the world to us yeah for sure and as you mentioned you took on the big red at of Dennison the number one overall seed going into

That tournament let’s start after the first period here you guys were down two to nothing over a Dennison team that really was just scking laps over you guys that whole period yeah and you know you talked about it at the end of the game because I heard it because I really

Wanted to hear what you had to say but let’s revamp that what was that locker room like after that first and what did you tell them so I’ll even I’ll take it back to pregame so before we’re going into that game I told the guys you’re all probably

Nervous and if you’re saying you’re not nervous you’re probably lying because you’re a human being but I said Dennis I promise you two things number one they’re more nervous so their highs their emotional highs and their emotional lows they’re going to ride those higher and lower and we’re going

To take advantage of that because if they get ahead they’re going to be a little bit too high and they’re not going to refocus and and if we start to pil it on they’re going to get a little bit too low because they don’t have the

Experience that we have um so I wasn’t intimidated at all when they were up by two uh but the guys were they were taking it a little bit hard so I walked into the locker room and and they were totally silent there wasn’t anybody saying a single word word and I said

Guys Dennison can’t do you think that your little vow of silence is going to affect Dennis in any way like they can’t hear you they don’t know what’s going on in this locker room so uh I I’ll keep what was said between us and the team

But uh I told the boys in in this is much fewer words than I used but I said we’re gonna have some fun this period I I don’t care what happens we’re gonna have a blast and uh Mason Smith took it from there and uh we we went from

Intimidated and and a little bit flustered to uh a bunch of crazy people uh guys were screaming guys were yelling guys were chirping nobody was taking penalties though um we were hitting we were skating I they turned into a pack of wild animals and it totally overwhelmed Dennison so they they rode

The high too high and just like we said it would happen when we started to pile it on the lows were just a little bit too low and they they never got back into it yeah and you know we talked about on the broadcast a lot by by the

Way shout out to W they did an amazing job with how they put that on the whole weekend it was amazing to listen you know to not my voice for three hours um but you know they talked about how that goalies mentality really took a hit after you guys just started throwing it

In and he didn’t look like himself you know that’s probably one of their best goalies they threw out there against you guys but he just didn’t look like himself throughout the game what was the second and third period like for your guys and what were you saying like hey

This goalie doesn’t look like himself or yeah and we wanted to take advantage of that so anytime you see a goalie if you can detect any sort of mental struggle or hiccup or anything like that you want to take advantage of that you want to strike while the iron’s hot so I told

The guys especially going into the third because when we open we open the floodgates in the second and then going into the third I told the guys every single time there’s a shot going towards the net stop right in his face get right in his face let him know you’re there

Tell him uh what a lovely game he’s having and then skate away get right out of there but get right in his grill you want to if you see that little bit of a crack because because because goalie is such a a mental position so if you see that

Little bit of a crack take advantage get get right in his face get every single rebound pucks to the net you want to intimidate him you want to to strike while the iron’s hot yeah and then let’s move into a different goalie from the other side our side here you said it all

Year long I think I heard it about 50 times Griffin canar was the best goalie in our league Griffin canar is the best gool in our league I’ve heard it so many times it’s ingrained into my brain he showed out he was the MVP what has he

Meant to you this season and what do you expect from him next year I don’t know how many different ways I can say it but he is he’s the best goalie in the ACC um I’ve been saying it forever and uh to this to this

Point that mvp Jersey that he got at the end of that game that’s the first Accolade that the league has recognized him for so he wasn’t goalie of the Year this year um he wasn’t selected for the the European All-Star team and so I wanted to make it an absolute point that

Every time WRAL interviewed me I wanted to throw something in there about the fact that we have the best goalie in the league and Griff did the rest so he showed up for all of it uh he didn’t have a single out of nine periods that

We played didn’t have one bad one the whole time just like I knew he wouldn’t when you have a goalie that’s that automatic the guys can play just a completely different game in front of you they play with no fear they never they never feel like they’re out of it

Um Griff means the world to this team and he is coming back for at least two more years I’m working on the fifth year already I’ve planted the seed I don’t think I’m gonna win that fight but we’ll see what happens I have him for at least

Two more yeah and you know that wraps up that ACC but let’s look at the season overall you know such a fun team to cover you know day in and day out I was really excited to cover D2 because the mentality in that locker room was always

Happy you know you had a few bad games here and there but you always you know smoothed it out and there was never a bad day going to the locker room what was this team like for you you know first year head coach obviously coach under coutch last year what did this

Team mean to you and how did you know that this was the team this team means the world to me and and I’ve told them that on a couple of occasions including after we won the championship um they I I don’t know if I’ll be able to

Put it into words right here right now um but they they really mean the world to me and and a few like a big handful of the most influential athletes I’ve ever had the opportunity to coach are on this team right now um so I would I

Would do anything for those guys and uh that was what was necessary for the course of the season because you’re talking season as a whole they didn’t come out firing they were very very young and we took some L’s early um there were a few times we stumbled

Against teams that we shouldn’t have but we never lost sight of the big picture the season as a whole every decision that we made every every practice every everything that we did we wanted to tackle the obstacle in front of us and simultaneously we had to

Look at the playoffs so we we coached for the playoffs from the very very beginning yeah and we’re going to move it we have three more questions here the first one is what did it mean to have those seniors go out with another ring it it I want to do it for every

Senior class after it’s it all started with that first group it really did and I can’t thank them enough um for the work that they put in because it took them the full four years to get there but at this point the the culture is

Built if we could do it with 14 freshman on our team this year there’s no reason that we can’t do it next year and the year after what can’t set in now is a little bit of complacency if the seniors next year want their ring on their way

Out then they have to stay hungry because they haven’t lost a playoff game in in three years yeah you know as of next year it’ll be three years um so they have to stay hungry they can never take it for granted that that’s going to happen it’s not an automatic thing you

Have to work really really hard for it so we’ll keep him on track and and I’m really glad we could do it for the seniors this year I want to do it for the seniors the year after and the year after that and Nate Connelly your buddy

What did it mean to have him you know you’ve been friends with him a long time what it mean to have him come in as your assistant coach do a lot of scouting and what did he mean to you this year yeah he stinks next question no I’m

Just kidding he’s uh Nate’s I’ve known Nate since kindergarten man and and our Journeys have have always been been parallel we’ve been really really close that way Nate’s a dog he grinds he loves the game he puts in all of that work that coaches have to do away from the

Rank he’s right there he does it man it’s pre- Scout it’s he’s recruiting with me um we did much more film this year than I think this team has ever done um the stat keeping and stuff like that uh one of the messages that I delivered to the guys after the after

The Championship Game is we made strides in many different areas uh the film that we’re doing the the advanced analytics that we’re keeping stuff like that but we want to keep moving forward and Nate’s a huge driving force there and I can’t I I can’t put into words what he meant for

This team uh what he means to me I love that guy um so I guess he’ll be back next year oh shcks I know spoiler alert and finally how is your suit doing how is your beard doing and how is you know how you doing how’s that how’s that

Beard and how’s that suit going uh my suit is sitting in my suit my tie and my dress shirt are sitting in a garbage bag uh waiting to go to the dry cleaner um my body is in absolute shambles um I am so tired it has been the longest two

Weeks of My Life um but I wouldn’t trade it for the world uh all of that work it it it’s the it’s the greatest feeling it’s the greatest feeling to win that championship and it makes it all worth it um I exhausted I will rest up and uh

I have a little family ski trip this weekend so hopefully I can get some rest and relaxation and and I’ll bounce back but have you not heard about the beard no oh I have go fill everybody in it’s coming off you getting rid of it all I’m

Gonna I’m gonna shave it tomorrow I’m gonna start fresh for uh I’m gonna grow it back but but for a few months I will be just a mustache no you can’t just do the beard you got to shave it all nope I’ve I want to try a Muzzy uh

My father before me had a mustache uh I come from a long line of mustaches so I gotta see what it looks like we’re gonna put that I haven’t seen my own chin in nine years so I just want to try it I’m scared to see how it looks tomorrow I

Don’t know if I’m gonna be able to recognize you I I won’t be able to recognize me I I don’t remember what my what my chin looks like well coach it’s been an absolute pleasure covering you for the past two years now can’t believe I’ve been here

For two years you know every day is a blessing and it’s been a blessing to work with you for the past two years every day I text you I say you know what’s going on here you always have an answer for me you know in minutes so I’m

Truly blessed to work with you and all the coaches not just you but it’s been a blessing to work with you and congratulations on winning your second win from all of us here in the Mountain High Network well it’s it’s been it’s been a real pleasure to to work with you for

The last two years and and to the whole intern team I think that the collaboration between the coaches and the interns this year it it is at an all-time high and as a result of that like the things that we’ve been able to do this year like social media wise and

Like promotions and stuff like that that that cohesive team that we all have it paid it paid off in a big way like I we really pushed things forward this this year um you know you guys were on the road doing broadcasts we brought TJ on and everyone saw the videos that he’s

Been doing on Instagram um and just that that group chat and that teamwork that we have between the coaches and the interns that was not for nothing and it’s pushing things away from the ice and away from the rank it’s pushing those things in the right direction in a

Big way and you guys I hope you guys know what a huge piece of the of this equation you guys are because those aren’t fake things you know recruits see those things the other team sees those things I mean those are very real pieces of this puzzle and and I really really

Appreciate you guys all of you well coach it’s been a pleasure to work with you congratulations on winning your second ring your second hat congratulations to the whole D D2 team another am out amazing season and all of our players that play for wwu hockey congratulations on finishing another

Season that’ll do it for us for this season here on the Mountaineer hockey Network we have a few more videos that’ll be coming your way so stay tuned for those but that we’ll see you all next year it’s been a great season goodbye folks