Dec. 31, 2010
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Wisconsin Head Coach and Player Quotes
Wisconsin vs. Massachusetts
Wisconsin Head Coach Mike Eaves
On the first period:
“It was a pretty even period. Actually the goal that they scored was a pretty fortunate bounce for them, The guy missed the puck. The shot hit Scott Gudmandson in the mask and bounced down right on their stick and it was a 5-on-3. We knew we had a lot of time left and nobody panicked. They got a lucky bounce and there was still forty minutes to go. We had done some good things. They had come out fired up. It’s human nature when you lose, you’re going to come back at a higher rate. I thought we matched their intensity pretty well. They got the lead on the power play, but we stayed with it and that was the message. The end of the first period was kind of a mess and we didn’t know what was going on until we came out of the locker room. We found out we lost one of our leading goal scorers and they lost their goaltender. It was a bizarre night. After the second period it seemed like the third period. It was so slow with the reviews and everything. Turning points in the game; I think their starting goalie getting kicked out, he’s a fine goaltender and I think the fact when they did the review and it looked like they had tied it up. We thought our goalie had been run into and it was confirmed on the video. We started firing pucks and got some bounces and then we got the goals we needed. Our guys really stayed with it. They were patient and persistent, they stayed with the game plan and they were rewarded for it.”
On Jordy Murray’s goal:
“Jordy was snake bit pretty much all week and he had some glorious scoring opportunities. Sometimes to get yourself going you need a bounce like that and he got that for himself and the team. That’s a good thing.”
On the importance of the sweep:
“We told the boys after the game the importance of this week. That’s a good team, they’re feisty, they compete and when they go back east they’re going to beat some teams. When that happens, our rankings are going to rise up - that’s our hope. It wasn’t your normal Christmas tournament; it was a war out there. It was feisty, it was competitive. It’s hard to beat teams back-to-back, because you know they’re tendencies and you make adjustments. The team that loses is ticked off and the other team is more comfortable. It was a war out there tonight and a good way to get going. We’re back and we have to keep building on this. I liked the weekend for us, I think it was good and got us snapped back into it. Now we have Canisius coming and we have to keep rolling.”
On the physicality:
“This weekend for six periods was a real battle. It was a war. That’s how they’re coaches are and they follow their coaches. Toot Cahoon is a competitive gentleman and he’s got his team competing. He gets kids who’ll compete no matter what the score is.”
Sophomore Craig Smith
On start:
“I thought we were playing well. They got a weird goal there, the guy broke his stick, took a whack at it and it ended up in the net but it didn’t knock us off our game. We were staying persistent and playing simple.“
On physicality:
“It’s a game of hockey. It’s going to get a little physical and guys are going to get into disagreements and that’s what happened tonight. It’s just a part of the game.”
On bounces:
“Jordy Murray’s goal had a funny bounce there. A couple of games here we’ve been pretty quiet and Jordy’s been a little frustrated with it, so it’s good to see him stick with it and get a goal like that. It was kind of funny, on the power play we’re getting so many good chances and then we end up scoring on a goal like that.”
On looking forward:
“Two wins is where we want to be. It’s good to get these two wins against a pretty good team out east. We have another good team coming in next weekend and we’ll be ready for them.”
Junior Jordy Murray
On his goal:
“It was one of those weird goals. It was actually a weird night for me. I thought I was fighting the puck all night. It was my first shot of the game, I just threw it at the net and it got a lucky bounce of the goalie. I think it hit the guy’s shin pad and bounced in. I was pretty fortunate there, but I figure hard work and you’ll get those bounces once in a while.”
On his shots:
“I had five shots last night and didn’t get one in and had only one shot tonight and got a lucky one. That’s just how the game goes. It’s kind of fluky like that. I was just fortunate.”
On the weekends two starts:
“We’re used to having to come back, after the way we handled that earlier in the season. I didn’t think we had that bad of a start tonight. They had a fluky goal, it bounced of Gudmandson’s helmet I think and they popped it in. We didn’t let it get us down, we kept going at them. We knew if we kept working pucks would go in for us and they did in the second.”
On looking forward:
“We know these non-conference games are huge, especially later in the season with RPI and ratings. Coming into these two weekends we knew we wanted to go 4-0 and we got that good start. Now we have to refocus for tomorrow and then Canisius.”
