Wisconsin Postgame Quotes
Wisconsin vs. Minnesota
January 23, 2016
Kohl Center– Madison, Wis.

UW Head Coach Mike Eaves
Opening Statement:
"Being around sports long enough, you're going to have nights like this. It's disappointing, but they happen. We don't have to overanalyze it. Young goaltender struggled, we weren't good enough in front of him, and didn't do enough good things to get off to a good start. I think what we need to do is, we'll take a look at things and be honest.

"We told a story to the boys after the game, let's put this in perspective. 1986 with the Calgary Flames. When you play at the pro level, you win or you loose, you're either happy or you're miserable, and when you loose a lot it's really miserable. With Calgary, we hadn't won in 12 or 13 games, and we were playing Hartford, got beat like 9-2. Heard the worst song ever in the world after goals, nine times. Coach Johnson comes in and says, 'Hey boys I know this has been a tough stretch, but that power play goal we scored was the prettiest goal I've seen in a month. We're going to come out of this and be okay.' We went to the Stanley Cup finals that year.

"So you know what, that's what resonates in my head. Let's not over analyze, it's bad. This happens. Let's go back to work on Monday, we know we're better than this, let's keep going again. That's how we put it in perspective for the kids."

On taking Matt Jurusik out and then putting him back in:
"That's part of his growth. I wanted him to clear his head a little bit and said 'Matty you're going back in.' Just let it go and see if you can get yourself going. It's tough to do as a goaltender. I'm really happy that [volunteer goalie coach] Jeff Sanger was here because right after the game they can sit and talk. Jeff's had similar experiences. For the next 24 hours you just gotta let it go, get together on Monday and look at some things, talk about things and get back to square one." 

On the one item to build on going forward:
"I don't think there's one item. At the base of the pyramid, it's all about playing hard. We have to go back to playing hard and win battles. Play smart, play well as a team. We'll go back to our foundation and that's where we have our foundation."



Cameron Hughes
On what to say to a goaltender after a game like this:
"It's not really the goalies fault, it's a five-man group. At the end of the day if it goes in, it looks like his fault because he's the last guy there, but it's really not. It's a five-man group so we kind of take that on amongst us, as a group. Jurusik has been great for us all year long, so by no means is this his fault at all."
 
On what he would attribute to not finishing goals:
"There goalie played pretty well. If you're not getting the chances that's when you start to worry I guess. As a group we just have to start bearing down. Hockey is a weird game that way, a lot of their shots had eyes so it just happens that way. As long as we have the chances, we can't really complain."
 
On whether or not the team feels they should "burn the game tape":
"We'll look at it, we'll learn from that absolutely. It's one that you'd like to be able to forget but you have to learn from your mistakes and that's how we're going to get better. We'll get back to work, some guys on Sunday and some guys Monday. We're still  committed to this, the biggest thing is just getting back to work here."
 
On being down 4-0 so quickly:
"It obviously wasn't the start we wanted, but we just had to regroup. I thought even in the second period we came out and we had a lot of chances, we played pretty solid. It was tough but there's not much more you can do."
 
On the difference between the second period and the first and third periods:
"It's just the flow of hockey. I thought we didn't real move our feet in the first, and then we were moving our feet in the second. You just have to create stuff, and I thought in the second we were creating opportunities. it was just a weird game."
 
 

Kevin Schulze
On whether or not he feels the team has been improving:
"I think the biggest thing with any team is consistency, playing a full 60 minutes of a good hard game, and we haven't done that yet in this second half."