Sarah: Why don’t you talk about how you thought the season went last year.
Rob: It went really well, I guess, and we just couldn’t capitalize it to top it off at the end which would have been a nice end to the season, but it was still a great season. It was a great experience for me and a lot of fun to win that many games.
Sarah: What was most memorable for you?
Rob: That is a tough question. I don’t know what was. The whole year was really just an experience. I don’t think there was one thing that really stood out as that much better than anything else.
Sarah: Can you talk about that last game, some of the feelings and thoughts now?
Rob: Well, the first thought afterwards was that it could have been our worst game of the year. We still couldn’t let that ruin our whole year. I mean, we had to get over it and still enjoy the fact that we did have a really good season. To concentrate on that game a little bit, Matt Carney, probably just to think back, he probably played one of his better games and it was too bad that the rest of us couldn’t have supported him a little bit more. Other than that, I mean, we just came out really flat and never got it going.
Sarah: How about your role on the team?
Rob: I am not going to be one of the super stars on the team. I mean, last year I was happy to be playing. This year I expect to play but I’m still going to be a role player that is going to have to go out there and hopefully get something going, but I am still not going to be the person that is going to be called upon to put the team on my shoulders and carry us through the playoffs or whatever else. I am still just going to be one of the kids that has to fill a spot out there and get my job done. As being a veteran, I will help the new kids develop and fit in and try to make them get as much out of this year as I did out of last year.
Sarah: I know Reinholz said he didn’t consider himself that vocal off the ice. Do you consider yourself vocal?
Rob: Not very. I mean, I am a person that believes you’ve got to lead by example before you can lead with your mouth. I haven’t really done that yet this year, so I haven’t felt that I should really speak up and say a lot. Until that happens, I mean, the better I do on the ice then the more vocal I will get.
Sarah: What are your future plans?
Rob: Obviously, I would like to go to a Division I school as either a walk on or partial ride or something like that. But if things don’t work out with that, then I’ll either just go to school to go to school somewhere or I’ll go to a Division III school and play hockey there.
Sarah: Is there anything you would like to accomplish or anything that you would really like to do, not necessarily having to do with hockey?
Rob: This year or in college?
Sarah: In the future.
Rob: Well, I have no clue what I want to go into at school, but obviously a college degree would be nice and come out of there with an opportunity to get a job and just about anywhere I would like to go. I guess I really don’t know what the heck I want to do.
Sarah: What about through the season, what are some goals for yourself?
Rob: I still think we can finish at the top of the league. I don’t think that is by any means out of the question. So that would be one for sure. And if that’s not one, then make sure that we make the playoffs and put ourselves in a good position to begin the playoffs where we’re going to have home ice advantage throughout most of it and get to the national tournament. We should first win the league, but it would be nice to go to another national championship even though they’ve changed it around a little bit.
Sarah: Would this be your last year with the Bucs?
Rob: Yeah, for sure. I can’t play another year because of my age.
Sarah: Can you think of anything that would be most memorable, not just through the Bucs, but any time?
Rob: Probably my senior year, my last game of my high school. We last in double overtime to go to state. It’s not a nice memorable moment, but it’s probably the most memorable moment, other than with the Bucs. With the Bucs it would probably have to be winning the Clark Cup in Omaha. That was pretty cool.
Sarah: That was pretty cool! That was quite a game. Is there anybody who has been influential in your life for anything, whether it was hockey?
Rob: My parents for sure. They’ve been there for everything. That was our weekends when I was little. I mean, that’s all we did. My sister came along to the tournaments. They devoted a lot of time for me to be able to be where I am now. I mean, my father made a rink. We lived on a lake and he made a rink and that’s where I learned how to skate. He’s put in probably as much time or more than I have in hockey. For sure my parents.
Sarah: Do you have a game day superstition?
Rob: Take about a two-hour nap. Other than that, I’ve gotten away from the superstitions. I used to be pretty superstitions, but I try to get myself more in the frame of mind of what happens before the game isn’t going to really matter as long as you go out there and you’re focused when you’re out there. Try to go do it instead of thinking about which skate you put on first of whatever else. I think that’s fine if that’s how people get focused, but once you step on the ice that’s what is going to really matter anyway.
Sarah: You’re right. Is there anything that you would like to tell anybody?
Rob: I would like to just say thanks to my parents for everything they’ve put up with and gone along with or ever let me come play junior hockey. I mean, sure it was really my final decision but they supported me the whole way with everything. I mean, with me coming back for another year, with me not going to school last year and coming here. I mean, they’ve supported me the whole way. If there is anyone I would like to thank, it would have to be them for sure.
Sarah: Any story you would like to tell me?
Rob: I wish I would have known I was going to have this today cause I would have tried to think of some stuff to say. I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.
Sarah: Thank you.
