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Tuesday @ The Rink
CHAT LIVE With RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson
Welcome to the CSTV.com moderated chat room!
On Tuesday, October 11 at 1:30 p.m. ET, RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson joins us at "Tuesday @ The Rink",
presented by CSTV.com and
USCHO.com. The Tigers officially join the ranks of Division I hockey when they kick off the season Friday at Quinnipiac.
Wayne Wilson is eager to lead RIT into the Division I era. The Guelph, Ontario native knows what it takes to compete at the highest level after playing and coaching at Bowling Green State University.
During his tenure at RIT Wilson has guided the Tigers to an impressive 118-33-12 record. In 2003-04 he became the third coach in the program's storied history to win 100 games. He sits third all-time in coaching wins with 118. He's led RIT to three NCAA tournament appearances, four ECAC West Tournament titles and has been named the ECAC West Coach of the Year three times.Wilson earned AHCA Coach of the Year honors in 2000-01 when he guided the Tigers to their fifth appearance in the NCAA Division III National Championship game, after an unbeaten regular season (22-0-1).
Wilson starred at Bowling Green State University, playing on defense for the Falcons from 1981-84. He captained the team in 1984, helping the Falcons to the NCAA Division I National Championship. He earned a degree in Health, Physical Education and Recreation in 1984 and added his Master's Degree in Education at BGSU in 1987.
** GET YOUR QUESTIONS IN NOW!!:
Wayne won't be stopping by until 1:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday, October 11th,
and his time will be tight, so feel free to submit your questions now and we'll save them for his arrival!
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| CSTV.com Moderator: Welcome to another edition of "Tuesday @ the Rink". We've got a fun doubleheader lined up today, so let's dive right in with the head coach of Division I's newest team - RIT's Wayne Wilson. |
| Coach Wilson: Hi, everyone. It is a pleasure to be here today. I'm looking forward to your questions. |
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| Matt (Springfield, Mass): What has been the toughest thing about making the transition to Division I? |
| Coach Wilson: I think the toughest thing so far has been a lot of the away from the game preparation for Division I. It has been things like how we handle tickets; we are televising 12 games, so we have had to coordinate that with our radio; improving on our locker room facilities for the visiting teams (not making them too comfortable, of course); and, of course, putting together a schedule. The opposing coaches have been great with that, though, so it was a bit easier than I anticipated. |
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| Skippy (Toledo): How has your preparation for a D1 schedule differed from D3 and how close is high level D3 to D1 |
| Coach Wilson: In regards to the scheduling part of it, in my six years of D3, you were preparing your schedules on a year to year basis and were always working for the next year, whereas in Division I, you are working for two or three years down the road and have a league that prepares a schedule for you. So now, I'm looking for games for the 2007-08 season, instead of in Division III, where I would be looking for next year. A lot of that is from the league office preparing a schedule for you. I think there are varying degrees in all levels of play in both Division I and Division III. I think the division between low end D-I and high end D-III is a fine line, as there is a fine line between low end D-I, mid-level D-I and high end D-I. Having said that, I think anyone can beat anyone else on any given night if you don't bring your "A" game to the table. I think our biggest challenge is going to be our preparation of trying to play at the highest level we can for our team game in and game out. |
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| Martin (Mankato): As you make the move to D-I, are there other D-III programs watching you to see how it goes? Should there be? |
| Coach Wilson: To be honest, I was out recruiting this past week and told someone that we, of course, want to be successful with our D-I schedule this year. We feel that a lot of the traditionally ranked Division III programs will be watching us in our transitional year. |
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| Leon (New York): What are your expectations for this year in D-I? FOr five years from now? |
| Coach Wilson: As a team, we have both short term and long term goals. Our short term goals are to garner as many points as we can every weekend. Our long term goals are ones we will establish after we play 10 games and see how well we are able to compete in Division I. In the first half of the season, we have games against Quinnipiac, Alabama-Huntsville and Canisius, so we'll be able to see fairly early what it takes to win in those respective league. Our games against Cornell in January will show us just where we stand against national contenders. |
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| Falcon Fanatic (Bowling Green): How excited are you to come back to BG to play as an opposing coach? |
| Coach Wilson: I'm very excited, along with my assistant Brian Hills, who was a teammate and Hobey Baker candidate there, to come back to Bowling Green this season. I speak for Brian when I say we are both very proud of Bowling Green and what they are doing now, not to mention our days there. Scott has done an outstanding job of getting the program back on track, but if I'm going to wish him bad luck, it will be the game we play them. My only request to the fans is to be cheer for the orange team. |
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| Brett (Rochester, NY): What can you tell us about the goaltending situation? Have you chosen a starter, or are Menard and Guimond likely to split time until one emerges? |
| Coach Wilson: We are going to go through a series of games alternating goaltenders and let their early play dictate how much ice each deserves as we go through the season. If there ever was a year where, as a coach, I can be patient before making a final decision, it is this year. Everyone is going to get an opportunity to show their assets and the coaching staff will make their decisions when the time is right. |
| CSTV.com Moderator: That is all the time we have today with Coach Wilson. |
| Coach Wilson: Thanks you all for the chance to answer your questions. I had a great time. |
| CSTV.com Moderator: "Tuesday @ the Rink" continues in just a couple minutes with CSTV hockey analyst Dave Starman. |
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