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University of Massachusets Athletics
VIDEO: Meet UMass Hockey's #24 Dennis Kravchenko
September 16, 2014 | Hockey
Q: What number are you going to be wearing at UMass and why did you choose that number?
A: "I'm wearing number 24. I used to be number 24 my whole life up until I hit juniors and then I was number 18. Ever since I decided to come to UMass, Ryan Miller - Coach Miller, had it all planned out. When I played for him I was number 24 as well so I guess it all just came hand in hand."
Q: What made you choose UMass?
A:"All three coaches and I have a lot in common and we really clicked when we started talking. Everything about the school just makes me happy. The hockey team is great, the guys are really good guys. It's overall just a great play to be."
Q: What specifically did you like about the coaching staff?
A: "The coaching staff and I had a relationship before UMass. Ryan Miller was my head coach back in Kimball Union. Coach Micheletto and Coach Gasparini were both my coaches when I was committed to Vermont. Ever since then we had a connection. They know what they're talking about, they're really good guys to be around and you can really learn a lot from them."
Q: Tell us about where you are from.
A: "Laguna Niguel, California. It's a really sunny place. It's in the city, right by the beach. There's a lot of great people there. It's a really safe place in California. Living in Orange County, you get to see a lot of different sorts of people from all over the world. It's a really relaxed place where you can do your thing and have a great time."
Q: Take us through your hockey background, some of the places you played.
A: "I played at Kimball Union Academy for Coach Miller. That was a good time. Obviously prep school is a good place to go to really start improving your skills and get to the next level. After that, I went to play in the USHL for the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders. Being in the USHL, you start the kind of "grind" that they call it of juniors in a sense. The USHL is a really different kind of hockey game. It's a lot faster, a lot quicker, a lot of better players and smarter players that make better decisions. After that, I got traded to the Sioux Falls Stampede. I was there for the last two seasons."
Q: Describe yourself as a hockey player.
A: "I'm a small guy who's quick. I can move the puck pretty well. I feel like I do well at making plays, I see the ice pretty well. I like to anticipate and see where other guys are going to be or where they should be, in a sense. I try and play as smart as I can, I play physical, I try to get aggressive. I do whatever I can to protect my family."
Is there a specific NHL player that you model game after?
A: "I wouldn't say necessarily that there's a player that I play like. I really look up to all sorts of players. Dustin Brown is a really good leader -- he really knows what he's doing. He makes sure that he's trying his heart out every game. He's working hard. He used to be, and still might be I'm not sure, have the most hits in a game by average. Something like that, especially being from California, you watch the Kings."
Q: What are your interests outside of hockey?
A: "I used to play soccer back in high school. I really enjoyed that. I would say I'm not too bad at golf, either. Other than that, I usually try to body board at the beach in California. Other than that, just keeping active."
Q: What was your first hockey memory?
A: "I was pretty young, just starting out hockey. I was pretty small at the time too. We were playing back in like in house type of hockey in California and I was playing for the Redwings for the in house team. Our team won the Geno Cup after one of the coaches that had been there for a while; they named the cup after him. It was a big deal at the time. I couldn't even lift it because it was so big and I was such a little guy, but that was probably my first big memory when I started playing hockey."