Postgame Quotes: #2 Michigan 2, #1 North Dakota 0
4/8/2011 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
April 8, 2011
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Michigan Head Coach Red Berenson
On the game ... "Well, if we could have planned a road game like this, this is how you'd plan it. Just go to the first goal. It was huge against this team. You hate to play from behind against them, and especially if they got two. The one thing that we didn't plan was taking as many penalties as we took against their power play, and I thought we were lucky, and obviously our goalie has to be our best penalty killer. But our team hung on. And who would have thought that the first goal of the game would be the deciding goal. But you never know. You watch the earlier game, and there were, what, five goals scored in the first period. And this game you saw one goal scored in 59 minutes. So it was that kind of a game. You never know. Our team is used to playing in close games, and I thought we were on our heels. We had to play in our own zone a lot. Everybody paid the price, and here we are."
On the strong defensive play of late ... "I think part of the defense was just getting the puck out of the zone. And they had a strong forecheck going, and we turned it over a few times. We couldn't quite get it out as long as we wanted. So we didn't want to play in our zone as much as we did tonight. And even though we're talking about the third period, and even in the second period, we only generated three shots. I thought-- we had 16 attempts. We missed the net on our best chances, and we panned on a couple of good opportunities from the slot. But, nevertheless, our team had to play more in our own zone tonight than we have all year. And that was a great team in North Dakota. And they proved it. They just couldn't score. It reminds me of our team in '97 where we were the best team and everybody knew it, and we got upset too. So that can happen. The best team doesn't always win."
On preparing for the final ... "Well, we'll refocus tonight. I want them to enjoy it at least for a couple of hours and then we'll start thinking about tomorrow. And we'll have tomorrow to think about Saturday, obviously. But this team is-- right now they're easy to coach. They're all on the same page. They're in sync. They realize-- I don't know if they're surprised to be here, but they earned it in St.Louis and then, again, they found a way to earn it tonight. And they had to pay the price. So we'll figure it out. But they'll be ready."
On the balanced offense ... "Well, you think about it, Ben Winnett had three goals. He's a senior. I expected more from him in his senior year. But I can tell you he's playing his best hockey right now whether he scores or not. And as is Scooter Vaughan, who's a senior. But I put Winnett with Rust and Luke Glendening. And between the three of them I think they have 15 goals. They played against a line tonight that had 69 goals, and yet they outscored them. So that can happen. And I think that was brought up yesterday at the press conference. They said how can Michigan play against a team that is that good? Well, that's what happens. You know, these guys did a great job, and good for Ben Winnett to score a goal like this."
On the fourth line ... "Yeah, we had trouble getting them on ice. When they lost one of their players, I think they lost Nelson in the first period and they didn't play their fourth line as much so they rotated, and it was hard for us to get our fourth line out there and try and keep them away from their top line. But they played well when they were out there. Moffatt, DeBlois and Rohrkemper played well and gave us some valuable minutes."
On improvements from this game to the final ... "Well, we can't play the whole game in our own zone and we can't rely on our goalie to be the first star of the game. We have to play better than we played. So we won the game, but I can't tell you that this is the kind of game we can get away with playing again. We have to be better with the puck and definitely have to be better in the offensive zone and then hopefully our power play can kick in one. And now we know we're playing against one of the best power plays in the country. So we'll talk about that."
On using the underdog role as motivation ... "Well, we did. We knew we had to overachieve to find a way to win this game. And I think that's what you saw tonight. And yet our goalie had to be our best player. Our penalty killers were strong. Our defense played a lot in their own zone. They held up well. I mean, it was an endurance contest for our team. We were playing in our zone."
On Shawn Hunwick ... "I'm not surprised because this is what he's doing. But it's one week after another. Like I couldn't-- a year ago I would have told you there was no chance that this would be happening, and yet he nearly got us to the Frozen Four last year when he had to come in in late season as an emergency. He had never started a Division I game. He practiced for three years as our third goalie. Never complained once. The players loved him. And when he got his chance to play, they rallied around him. And even this year when he was competing for the starting job and Hogan was healthy, it looked like Hogan was going to take over the starting job and Hogan got hurt again. And then warmup was a big chill, Hunwick came in, got a shot, and he's played every game since, and here we are."
U-M Senior Goaltender Shawn Hunwick
On the defensive play ... "I think I only had one real good moving save when Frattin hit Genoway on the slot. But other than that, I think it was a lot of straight-on shots, a lot of shots in the front of the net that I was able to see. And our team did a good job of blocking shots down there. I don't know if I had to make a save once the goalie was pulled. Guys were diving around like crazy."
On playing a big part in the win ... "Actually, I talked to our video guy earlier in the week. We talked about how I didn't have to-- I didn't have to come in here and steal a game. I look at a lot of scores from previous Frozen Fours, and last year I don't even know if one was in four or five goals. So that wasn't how I think, coming in with the mindset that I was going to have to steal one. But once I settled in in the second, I felt like I could do it if I had to."
On the heavy workload ... "I was pretty confident tonight. I think I'd rather be in a game like that than, you know, getting 15 shots against. Those are tough games. But when they keep coming at you, you've got be ready. And our team did a great job tonight, and I felt like I was seeing it pretty well, like I said earlier. And it was a lot of fun."
U-M Senior Forward Ben Winnett
On the penalty kill ... "Obviously, the penalty kill played a big role for us two weeks ago in our regional. And, again, Billy Powers prepared us very well against a very good power play tonight. And, I always say your goaltender is going to be your best penalty killer, and he was that this evening. And as far as the rest of the guys, they just worked hard and I think we out-worked their top players."
On his goal ... "[Jon Merrill] did a great job of keeping the puck in at the point, and was able to find the seam as he usually does and get it on net, and I think it hit the post and bounced up to me, and Luke Glendening drove the net hard and basically took two guys out of the play and was able to kick it to me, and I just had a wide-open net and was able to put it in."
On North Dakota's top line ... "Going into the game our line knew we were going up against a very high-scoring line and being the away team and having last change it made it a lot harder on Coach to get us out there. But we were able to do a pretty good job and frustrate them early, and I think that kind of set the tone for the rest of the game. But it was a total team effort. They were out there against our fourth line. Our fifth and sixth defensemen, they were able to do shut them down as well. So it was a total team effort, and to keep those three guys off the score board feels very good."
U-M Senior Forward Carl Hagelin
On the empty-netter ... "Usually I'm pretty bad at scoring those empty-netters, so I just tried to give away the puck. My foot was hurting pretty bad at the time, so I just gave it to Louie, and he's not great either at scoring empty-netters, so he gave it to Scooter. So Scooter obviously put it in. So it was a great feeling to have some good chances at the end. And we got that second goal; I think it felt like the game was over after that."
On blocking shots ... "We came into the game knowing that we had to play well defensively, and that includes great goal keeping, blocking shots, back-checking, and just our D's playing low. And we all have that mindset, that we want to block every shot, we want to get the puck out. And that's been the strength of our team lately. We want to make sure we're playing well defensively, and things are going to go our way then."
On returning for his senior season ... "I knew we were going to have a good team, that's for sure, a lot of good seniors coming back, strong juniors, strong sophomores. I didn't know much about the freshmen. But, as you can see today, they had a really strong game. Our goal was to come to the Frozen Four and do well, and now we're here. So it was obviously my dream and I'm so happy to be here right now. But one more game to go, and if we don't win that one, we're not satisfied."
On the third-period defense ... "Yeah, I think just playing-- we played a lot of games this year where we've been down and the other team just sits back and kind of playing the trap. It's always annoying to play those teams, especially with all the blocks and just getting the puck out every time. So obviously that frustrated them, and we'll take it."
U-M Senior Forward Scooter Vaughan
On his empty-net goal ... "It was a team goal right there -- blocked shots by a couple guys and a very, very patient, unselfish play by Carl [Hagelin]. He turned around and easily could have just dumped it off the boards, but he found Louie [Caporusso] coming down the middle, and Louie --another very unselfish play -- found me coming down the wing. I was actually kind of nervous. The puck was rolling, but luckily I just put it in the net."
On beating a favored North Dakota team ... "That's why we came here. No one expected us to win, but everyone in this locker room knew we could. We had no doubts in this room. It's good being the underdog. I mean, no one expected us to win, no one gave us a chance, and we proved everyone wrong."
U-M Sophomore Forward Chris Brown
On the game ... "Great game by us and our goalie, Shawn [Hunwick}. Everyone played well. Defense was the key to the game. We knew that they had a high-powered offense, so we had to shut them down, and Rusty's [Matt Rust] line did a good job shutting down their top line."
On what it means to advance to the championship ... "It's a dream come true. At the beginning of the year, never thought that we'd make it here, but we battled through and we played really well today, and hopefully we come out [Saturday] and do the same."
U-M Freshman Defenseman Jon Merrill
On the game ... "I think it was a great team effort. I think we grinded it out there at the end and real excited for Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday."
On his assist on the goal in the first period ... "I saw the puck coming up the wall there and I kind of faked to the inside and threw it on net blindly and hit some traffic and luckily popped right to [Ben Winnett's] stick."
On confidence the team gets with Shawn Hunwick in net ... "Coach always said whatever team had the best goalie is going to win this thing and I think for sure we have the best goalie right now, so it's a lot of weight off your shoulders when you have a guy back there for sure."
U-M Junior Defenseman Greg Pateryn
On the game ... "They're a great team and really good offensively and we were able to expose them a little bit defensively in their zone with that first goal, but everything was a hard battle and the guy who wanted the puck more came out with it and that's how the whole game was up until the last shift."
On the defensive mindset of the team ... "As a team we like to have a good gap and make sure they can't get into the blue line very easily, but when they do we like to keep them wide and give them the bad angle shots and Shawn will stop them any day. We have faith in him and he has trust in us."
On his emotions knowing he is playing for the national championship ... "Just feels unbelievable. I'm still a little dizzy from the game, but I just don't have words to describe how exciting it will be."
U-M Senior Defenseman Chad Langlais
On the game ... "I thought we got off to a pretty good start. We knew it was going to be a tough game; they had a ton of fans. It was a home game for them pretty much and I thought it was huge we got that first goal."
On the play of Shawn Hunwick ... "We have a ton of confidence in him right now. He showed up tonight. I think we relied on him a little too much tonight, but he bailed us out."
On the experience gained from his Frozen Four trip as a freshman ... "I think when we came in as freshmen we were just happy to be there and I think we may have overlooked that first game. When you have a game against North Dakota, the best team in the nation, it's hard to overlook them, so I thought we came in prepared and took care of business."
On playing for a national championship as a senior ... "It's everything you dream of coming in as a freshman. You hope to stay all four years and you hope to contribute and you hope to play your last game to make your last game a positive one."
