Postgame Quotes: Michigan 2, Michigan State 1
12/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
Dec. 29, 2014
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Michigan Head Coach Red Berenson
On winning the GLI to start the second half of the season ... "If you were to ask me a couple weeks ago what are our chances in the GLI, I would have said that our team is really going to have to overachieve. I told our team that. Usually I would tell our team we don't have to overachieve, we have to play well. But going into this weekend we talked about it as a group that we have to overachieve. We had players that hadn't played that well. Our team hasn't played that well. Our goals-against has not been what it should be. Now we've got some players missing, so we really had to step up. And players that hadn't been in the lineup on a regular basis were going to have to step in and do a job, and they did that."
On the play of goaltender Steve Racine ... "I had my fingers crossed, but I've seen him play really well and I've seen him play not so well. Both of our goalies have been up and down. One thing, when you're coaching a team and you get players on the team that aren't playing well, they're on the team for a reason. You know you've seen them play well. That's why you recruited them. It's just a matter of can you do it now? I thought Steve Racine stepped up and did it now. He hadn't started a game in two months."
On Michael Downing, and if he had extra fire for the GLI after not being selected for Team USA ... "I don't think he took it that way. But the way I wanted him to take it was that this is a chance to play on a big stage as well. (I said) you're going to love this. And he did. He was really good and we needed him obviously on defense."
U-M Junior Forward Andrew Copp
On what winning the GLI means to the team ... "We were just talking about how important this was for us. Coming back after the layoff, getting our feet wet for the second half, I think this is a weekend that we can build on. We have a huge series coming up against Minnesota that we have momentum going into, and we're going to get some guys back that will help our lineup. It was a huge gut-check time, and give our guys credit, grinding out two 2-1 games. This is so important for our team going forward."
U-M Senior Forward Zach Hyman
On what the team accomplished this weekend ... "It's huge for us moving forward. Andrew (Copp) and Steve (Racine) both mentioned we wanted to start our second half the right way, and those two wins are really going to help us in the long run. I remember every year that we've done well in the GLI, we end up having a good stretch. We're trying to improve on that and hopefully have a good stretch run here."
U-M Junior Goaltender Steve Racine
On his game tonight ... "It's a good way for us to start the second half of the year. The guys played great tonight in front of me. I don't think there were many more than five 'grade A' chances against. This is exactly what we needed coming into the second half of the year. We know it's only two games, but it's something to build off of and we're excited for what the rest of the year has to hold."
On where this ranks in his career ... "It feels really good. Me and (Andrew) Copp were joking around on the ice that for our class this is the first thing we've really won since we've been at Michigan, so it feels pretty good and hopefully it's something we can build off of."
