Greenville, SC—Earlier this week, I got the chance to sit down with Swamp Rabbits defenceman Ethan Cap. Cap, 23, has played 20 games for the Rabbits, tallying up five assists.
Looking back at the latest game, the Rabbits were better defensive and offensive wise, as they won against the Gladiators at home on Wedneday. I asked Cap for his thoughts on the game.
He answered: “I think we were pretty good, especially compared to that last game against Savannah on Sunday. Obviously you don’t like to give up any goals, but I thought, in terms of a 60 minute effort, I thought we were pretty good. But I thought it was a pretty good effort all around from the guys. Something we were focusing on recently is playing that full 60 and not having, you know, those 5, 10 minute relapses. So I thought that was a good step.”
Recently, as defenseman Max Martin has been recovering from injury, Cap has stepped up to the rank of playing on the top powerplay unit. I asked if he was pressured at all jumping to a new defensive title and had to adapt at all with his play style for the top powerplay line.
“I mean, we’ve got two pretty good power play units going on the team, and you know working with that I guess the second unit it’s not really much of a transition to to the top one, but the guys on the top one are elite players. So, I don’t really change much, it’s really about getting into their hands and letting them make plays.”
Turnovers and poor puck management in the recent games played have been an issue for the Rabbits, especially from their matchup against Savannah last Sunday. Cap tells me that it was mainly “Turnovers and execution”.
He says, “Savannah plays a really tight, structured game, they don’t give you much and then they hit you on the counter and we fed right into that. We didn’t execute, we weren’t passing like we usually do – making some characteristic plays away from what our identity is, and you’re not going to beat a team like Savannah again by getting away from your structure. So it was something we keyed on, we wanted to see that get improved against Atlanta, and it was a lot better.”
With recent call ups and injuries affecting the Swamp Rabbits defense, i asked how that sort of thing affects their defensive structure and core.
“We keep an X-man up mentality. When those guys are in, whoever’s out is a heck of a player. We stay ready, stay ready to go. The six that we have in right now are playing really well, we got a great d-core top to bottom, so anybody that’s out for whatever it is is ready to go. Call up’s dont really effect us much.”
Cap and among other Rabbits’ wear the Alternate Captaining A’s on their jerseys. I asked what it’s like to be in that leadership group on and off the ice.
“It’s nice, especially for a team with so many returning guys. We could have 15, 16, 17–we could have the whole team wearing a letter at this point with the character – the amount of guys we have top to bottom that are really leaders on the team. It’s amazing to be on a team with that kind of top to bottom character.”
This season marks Cap’s third season in orange, so I asked him what he likes about this season compared to the two seasons before.
“It’s interesting because every year I’ve been here feels like another step forward. My first year, we were I think last in the league going into Christmas, and then we poured it on, got to playoffs, but we really were an underdog against Florida. And then last season we took a huge step, finished third in the division; we felt like we could have been first. We played JAX, we thought should’ve won that series; we were confident going into it. And then this season, another step forward so far through the first 20 games. Its been really cool to be part of this team; the group we have in the locker room is amazing, were meshing well, everyone says the right things, does the right things. We got 21 guys really pulling all the same direction. Its a treat to come to the rink everyday with this team.”
I asked Cap what he’s looking up to and is expecting once they play against their division rivals on the road starting this Friday in SC.
“It’s a tough stretch for sure. It’s three rivalry games; it’s our three closest teams we play the most throughout the year. We’ve been pretty good on the road so far this year, but this is a tough three-game schedule. I think you prepped for it like you would any other week, maybe a little bit more rest in between. But we’re a strong team mentally, we have that 79 stretch whatever it was we hung through that would be pretty good, so that’s something we can’t handle, but we definitely have to lock in a bit for the weekend.”
