“We want to compete, we want to win, but we're a family, and we're having fun”: Jenna Trubiano on Team 27
“We want to compete, we want to win, but we're a family, and we're having fun”: Jenna Trubiano on Team 27
The CCHWA Coach of the Year reflects on ACHA Nationals and the ‘22-23 season. Watch out for Part II next week!
We opened the season with a two-part conversation with University of Michigan women’s hockey head coach Jenna Trubiano (who recently collected the CCHWA’s Coach of the Year Award), and now we’re ending it the same way. Part I of the conversation runs today, covering her team’s experience at ACHA Nationals in Massachusetts and reflecting on the season. Look out for Part II next Tuesday, which will focus on recruiting, projecting forward to next year, and continuing the process of program building.
Gulo Gulo Hockey: I know the games themselves didn’t go the way you hoped they would, but can you tell me a bit about the experience of going to Nationals in Marlborough and what that was like for you and the team?
Jenna Trubiano: It was my first experience at Nationals as a head coach, and it is different, obviously. As a player, you're trying to prepare yourself, and if you have a leadership role, you’re trying to prepare the team. But it was our first time to the national tournament since 2016, so none of our players have ever experienced representing the University of Michigan on that scale. I think it was just a really great learning experience for everybody, especially for the core that we're going to have coming back. One of my messages to them was that now people are going to be watching us, and you don't know who's gonna be walking through the door. There's obviously eight sheets at this facility, and to make the national tournament’s a big deal, so conduct yourself as if people are watching you. After that last loss, my message was this loss, this game doesn't define our season. We had a very historic season, and we're going to be a national contender every year. So I think overall, it was just a great experience. Obviously would have loved to win a game or make it a little bit farther in the tournament, but nonetheless, just a great experience. I'm proud of the team for making the tournament—many teams don't even get to go—so it was an honor and a privilege to represent the University of Michigan in Massachusetts.
GGH: You mentioned the difference in the experience as a player versus as a coach. As for the event itself, what’s changed between 2016 and 2023?
JT: Yes, very different, so in 2016, if I remember correctly, that tournament was just for Women's Division I and Women's Division II. And the ACHA National Tournament this year, it was all five divisions under one roof because that facility is so big, so it was just a massive event. It was almost like a festival, a hockey festival. And obviously, there were three divisions for men's programs and two for women, so all the Women's Division I games were on one rink. It would have been nice if there were more seating there, but I think our friends, family and fans did a good job at showing up and helping support us.
GGH: It was a bit hard to tell on the TV broadcast, but it looked like you all had a nice crowd come out. What was that experience like?
JT: There were definitely a lot of families that came out, especially our seniors with it being their last games at the University of Michigan. It was exciting to see them, and I think we had at least two players with brothers that were also playing. Julia Lindahl’s brother plays for Notre Dame's Division III team, and they were in the tournament, so her family was out there. Megan Mathews—her brother plays for Michigan-Dearborn for DI, so her family was out there too. It was cool to see families and sisters supporting their brothers.
GGH: To dive into the games themselves a little bit, that Adrian game felt like it was the most competitive of the three you played against them this year. I don’t want to ask you to blame the officials or anything like that, but I guess I would just say there were a lot of penalties in that game. What were your biggest takeaways?
JT: On the national level, special teams will win you games or they will lose you games. In that game, it lost us the game, so that was probably the biggest takeaway. A positive out of that game, though, is that two first year players scored—Emily Maliszewski and Cara Kolwich. So that was a positive I took out of that. You know, two first-year players rose to the occasion, put the puck on net and scored two goals in the second period when we needed to respond. I think that shows a lot about the future of our program, and we have a really great—it’ll be a sophomore class next year. So now that they have that experience, obviously the expectation, like I said, is to be at the national tournament every season, so now that they have that experience, we’re just looking to build on that and sharing their experience with the players that are coming in next year will be really important.
GGH: And then in the McKendree game the next day, it was obviously very close, it went to overtime. Is that a lesson in just how thin the margins can be at that point in the season, or, if not, what else was on your mind coming out of that game?
JT: Like you said, once you're at that level, every game is so close. Even our game against Adrian, we had a lead. Against McKendree we had a lead. And what I really learned this season is that every game, every period, every twenty minutes, it's all about momentum and whoever carries momentum the longest is likely going to win. And in our game against McKendree, we had the momentum in the first period. In the second period, McKendree scored early, and they took the momentum, and we had an opportunity in the third period to capture momentum and score with a five-minute major and multiple power plays. But we couldn’t, and because we didn’t score and capitalize and execute, McKendree kept the momentum. They have great special teams, they’re obviously a very deep competitive team, but we just couldn’t hold onto the momentum that we had in the first period.
GGH: To step beyond those two games but sticking with Nationals, what other aspects of the experience were highlights away from the ice—whether it’s travel-related or team activities. What made the trip special for you all?
JT: Related to travel, we bussed through a major snowstorm in upstate New York, and it was pretty rocky, especially being at the front of the bus and seeing everything. The players are sleeping and doing homework with each other, but our bus driver was great—said he could do it, and he’s done it before. I’m like ‘all right,’ and we got there somehow. That was something I'll probably never forget because it was just—it was dicey. And then I remember on our way to the Adrian game—our hotel, if you look at Google Maps, it was like five minutes from the rink, but because the roads are so tight in Massachusetts, it took us twenty-five minutes by bus to get to the rink. So we had to go the most roundabout way because we just couldn't make these turns. Some of the players in the back had a karaoke machine, and they were singing some crazy songs, and we were all just laughing at front of the bus. We were like, they're having fun. They're ready. They're ready to compete. They're having fun, they're bonding. And it was just a moment where we all kind of realized this is fun. Like this is a lot of fun. Obviously we want to compete, we want to win, but we're a family, and we're having fun, so that was a really exciting moment from my perspective.
GGH: On that topic, what goes into balancing enjoying the experience of getting to go back to this event for the first time since 2016 with going there for the purpose of winning games?
JT: Our leadership group made it very clear: We're here to win, we're here to compete, and that's been the message all season. And that's something that's changed a lot since last season, from Team 26 to Team 27. Obviously with the students missing a lot of class, we budgeted for a fair amount of free time for students to visit with their families that came out and in order for them to do schoolwork. We had just some team meetings, and we had a practice Wednesday night where we were out there at the rink, which was nice to get on the ice and for everybody to see the facility. They had a little media day too. But I think just the message all season is that yeah, we're here to have fun, but we want to win, and we want to compete. And competing for us is fun. It's fun to compete; it’s fun to win, and I think we just—we've set the standard from the start of the season to the end of the season and obviously not the outcome we anticipated or prepared for, but I think it's going to make us stronger for next year.
GGH: I know getting back to Nationals was a goal from the very start. At what point in the season, did it start to seem to you that this was a team that belonged in that tournament?
JT: I think our weekend at ASU [in mid-January]—just seeing the resiliency and the compete level. While we were down there and played really tough games you know, back-to-back-to-back nights. I think that's when we realized this was possible. Obviously ASU won their league, so to be able to beat the top team in another league, I think that really shows the strength of our team and also the strength of the CCHWA in general. Obviously we tied and then beat ASU [after beating Grand Canyon University] and having that strong of a showing against a top team just really sent a message, and it really helped our rankings as well to solidify us as a top ten team in the nation.
GGH: This isn’t exactly related, but I keep meaning to ask. I always see “Demon Time” attached to your game day posts on Twitter. Can you tell me a little bit about that mantra I guess, and where that came from?
JT: [laughs] I'm gonna try my best to describe it. I might have to refer you to one of the players, but I first heard of it during our trip to Utah. We did a quick hike up overlooking Salt Lake City. Mariana Ceballos wanted to take a picture with Coach Ned [Glysson], and then she did the demon time thing, and I think she said ‘say demon time on three.’ And we're like, ‘Okay, we're gonna say it, but we have to understand what it means.’ And she was like, basically, you can loosely quote me on this, but basically, it's like taking it to the next level, which is demon time, like you're unstoppable. You're going demon on whatever you're doing. I don't know if that's helpful to you, but that's my understanding of it. So it's like basically, like, take it up a notch like, you know, we're going demon time. And there's that picture of her after she scored against URI, she did like the demon time celebration, which was so funny.
GGH: That’s awesome, and then I guess maybe as in some ways an extension of that, when you look back on this team beyond just the hockey, what kind of things come to mind?
JT: I think culture this season has been very, very important. Obviously, we've had a large roster, but I think our first-year players fit in really well. They're gonna do things off the ice as normal college students do. I think that there may have been a lot of that to help bridge a connection within the team. I do know a lot of players live together as well, which I'm sure helps the team chemistry and culture. But I think that they were able to hold each other accountable from honest practices to off-ice workouts to making sure everybody's on the same page, all of our club sports paperwork’s handled, we’re fully compliant. And I think that it starts with the leadership group. So I think they did a really great job at being transparent and setting the standard. You know, hey, this is what we're doing this year, welcome aboard. So it seemed like everybody was able to buy in, which I'm super excited about. And obviously, building a culture doesn't happen overnight. So I'm excited to see where Team 28 takes us.
GGH: Going off that, I think it was striking to look at the balance of young players like Lindahl and Kolwich with having eight seniors. You alluded to it already, but can you tell me more about the role those veterans played this year?
JT: Yeah, I would definitely make note of Jordan Eliason, who was one of our alternate captains. She suffered an injury in our second game in Tempe, and she didn't return until the CCWHA Tournament, but her energy is just so infectious on the bench. Not having her on the bench for almost half a season really, really hurt. She's super positive. She's skillful, she's motivating. She's somebody that will lay it all on the ice, no matter what, because she loves her teammates. And that's—you can't really coach that, and that's something that we're really going to miss next year.
GGH: Absolutely. And then, as far as you mentioned this being a legitimately historic season for the program. You won the CCHWA Coach of the Year, a bunch of players made the All-Conference teams and the All-ACHA teams. The team won Club Sports Team of the Year at Michigan. What do you think all those accolades say about the state of your program?
It means a lot. I think it shows that we're growing, and we have grown exponentially over the years. So I'm super excited to see what happens next year and where the program takes us. I think that it's not just about building a team, it's about building a program. I had a conversation with someone last week where we talked about building a team versus building a program, and we're really just trying to build a program. So 99% of that is off the ice, really just working behind the scenes, talking with university administration, supporting alumni, how can they support us. All those things off the ice that make our success on the ice —that was a big focus this year. I know that we gained a lot of momentum from social media, which has been a huge help. Obviously, people like yourself that are following us, Arbor Broadcasting that is putting in the time and putting the effort in to help grow visibility for the program. So I thank everybody that has been a part of the season. And that's really what those awards are. It's not about one specific person. It's about the program as a whole, and it's literally every single person that has contributed anything to our success this year.
This conversation has been edited for clarity. Thanks to @umichwhockey on Twitter for this preview image. You can support our work further by subscribing or by giving us a tip for our troubles at https://ko-fi.com/gulogulohockey.