Extra Aucoin, McShane quotes from today's feature

Here are all my notes that did not make it into my "From Norwich to the NHL, with thanks" story that appeared on the front page of today's Times Argus.

Keith Aucoin:

Biggest adjustment – the speed and the strength of the guys, size of guys, that was the biggest thing. I had to get stronger, I was already pretty fast skater. small guy, use my size to my advantage

No change – the biggest thing was coaches taught me in minor league, to become more of a defensive player, knew I could score but to get to next level had to be better at both ends of the ice. once I did that I became a lot better.

How hard has that been on your family? Hasn’t been too bad, the worst thing was travel. home summer Massachusetts, travel all year, my wife and I were in Hershey, younger back and forth every summer. My parents traveled a lot to watch me play – in Massachusetts. This moment – Washington.

Living in Washington, apartment here, everything was set up for when we got here. it’s nice to be able to know we’re taken care of. even in the minors they take care of you, too. but here they got it the next day, they were really good about it.

 First moment called up to NHL with the Hurricanes?

It was an excuiting day, phone call in Hartford 730 am, get a flight later that night, father picked me up, brought me to the airport, moment you hope will come eventually. it’s a moment no hockey player will ever forget. 2006-07, was playing in Lowell in the AHL

Regular season vs. Stanley Cup – never been a big pregame guy, get to rink, take a nap, most guys keep routine. on the ice, lot more hitting in the playoffs, biggest thing to adjust to was the hitting

Tell me about your game, how you are contributing, what you think you can bring to the organization? Power play?

I’ve always been a guy on the PP, always been an offensive guy, especially in the ML, playing on fourth line, just want to go out there and don’t turn the puick over and help the team, second power-play unit as well. pass the puck more than I shoot, pass to guys when they’re open and set them up.

Why hockey?

Parents started me pretty young, skated first time when I was three, playing hockey and baseball growing up, liked baseball the best, hockey was the sport I was the best at, opp to play college hockey, goal in high school, and coach mcshane gave me an opportunity to that.

 

NU – I wanted to play D1, didn’t get a chance to do that, HS coach went to NU, coach mcshane came to scout me, got brand-new hockey rink the next year, trally good traidition, 2 hrs from home, it was a perfect fit.

What do you remember about Norwich hockey? Did you follow them this year – Frozen Fenway, etc.?

He’s a strict coach, every college kid you’re demanded a lot of, go out every shift and work hard, and if you did that youd be successful, if you didn’t you didn’t play. winning first national championship is something you’ll never forget.

I try to follow them as much as I can, much easier to follow on Twitter, saw them at LP, saw them there

It’s one of those things that’s worked out very well for my family, finish out in the playoffs against your team you routed for. win the first round, even better to beat the hometown team – bruins fan growing up.

Still talk to former teammates? Keep in touch through text message couple times, I’m playing, he’s coaching

Challenge – my lack of size, hockey is a sport of bigger guys, 6-feet, 6-1, I’m only 5-8, figuring out how to be successful at this level, use my size to my advantage. Use my speed, down low in the corners, use my speed, bigger guys have trouble containing me. when I first came into the league, there was hooking and holding, and now there isn't. that’s the biggest thing.

Mike McShane:

At NU – he came in at 139 pounds, very small, played ona  very good HS team, coach was a NU grad, he was a great worker as far as conditioning goes, built himself up, by the time he left to 175, now he’s down a little to cut weight for speed.

Moment – I thought maybe he’d be a very good player in Europe because of his size, when he was in college, the physical size was huge in the NHL, didn’t draft smaller guys, when they put in the new rules 7-8 years ago to help more skilled guys, helped guys emerge because size wasn’t as much of a factor. Keith in 6-7 years in AHL, broken records, was MVP of AHL, he’s done it all. Won the Cup they win for the AHL. The only thing that kept him down a little, now you watch the games I’s not a factor. Article in the Globe, the 4^th line of the Bs is usually the difference maker in a lot of games, but Washington’s fourth line has been outplaying Boston’s fourth line, and that’s a concern for the Bruins.

Where'd you watch Saturday's Game?

Was in Maine Saturday and we made sure we found a spot.

They (current NU players) follow him, the kids today with the media, cell phone, Internet, they know everything that’s going on, it’s such a small world now, they’ll say something to me that I didn’t know happened. Derek tries to do a good job here, but he wasn’t here. If you didn’t know the kid, it’s hard.

 

You know our fan base, a lot of fans that have been around a while, they know more sometimes more than I do. They’ll go to the AHL games, Manchester, Albany. One night he played against Curtis McLane, for Wilks-Barre, Pittsburgh, carloads went down to watch him play. Great local fan base that follows all those kids. Eski still playing in CHL, Brian Molally still playing in Holland, Jimmy, number of former players that played in Europe or minor hockey in US, great experience for the kids.

82 regular-season games a year, no sport takes more out of you than hockey with equipment, physicality, travel. Boards and glass out there, it’s a rough sport. To be able to withstand that and keep on going, and keeping yourself in that condition. He had a special skill, but he took that skill and did everything to make it better by doing all the little things right.

Everybody’s watching the games, I was routing for the Caps to make it to begin with. Looked like the Bs were going to pla Ottawa, caps won last game, he got a big assist on, put them in the position to play Boston. I was thrilled when they won.

-Anna Grearson