University of Minnesota Athletics
NCAA West Regional Participants Set to Face Off
3/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
The four teams participating in this weekend's NCAA West Regional at Mariucci Arena held one-hour practices and faced the media on Thursday.
Miami will take on Denver in the first game at 4:30 p.m. Friday on ESPN2, while Minnesota Duluth faces Princeton in the second game at 8 p.m. on ESPNU. The winners meet Saturday at 8 p.m. on ESPNU for a berth in the NCAA Frozen Four in Washington, D.C.
Below are quotes from each team's pre-tournament media conference on Thursday:
Miami University
Head Coach Enrico Blasi
On senior leadership...
"Obviously this is their fourth time here. So those are experiences we are going to have to count on. I think most of our team has been in this situation before so it's not just the seniors but everybody. Obviously the freshmen will get their experience right off the bat and they can rely on the older guys to kind of guide them around a little bit."
On opportunity for team to have breakthrough tournament...
"I keep saying we just have to get here and anything can happen. Being here five of the last six years, we've gotten as close as we can to the Frozen Four last year when we lost in overtime. We've made some pretty good steps, winning NCAA games the last two years. It's just a matter of getting the right draw, the right bounce, the right timing with everything and you just never know. The point of the matter is that if we continue to get here, something will go our way at some point. Maybe it will be this year, I don't know. We have a tough task ahead of us with Denver tomorrow, it will be a great game. We're looking forward to it and we'll see what happens."
On matchup with Denver...
"They're a great team. We're lucky to be in playing the number one seed and I'm sure they're looking forward to playing Duluth on Saturday. Hopefully we can give them a pretty good game."
Senior Captain Brian Kaufman
On chance to play in front of home crowd...
"It's really exciting for a lot of reasons. Growing up in Minnesota, playing at Mariucci is a dream of kids growing up and it's even more exciting to be here for the national tournament. To play here and have my family and friends watching, and the group of guys on the team we have, I could not ask for anything more."
On experience with the NCAA tournament...
"Freshmen year was only the third time the team had been to the tournament so it was kind of something new for everybody. It was exciting and over the four years it's something we've become accustomed to. We're here for business now. Coming in as a walk on and now being the Captain has proved to change things a lot as a player. It's been really exciting and we're looking forward to the weekend."
Sophomore Carter Camper
On expectations for NCAA tournament this year...
"Last year was a little different. We came in being the number one team in the nation pretty much all year and we got the top seed. Going in we just had that confidence that we're going to do great. This year is a little bit different, lots of guys from last year's team learned from our mistakes. Anything can happen so quick so this year hopefully we'll learn and go a little farther than last year."
On leadership this year compared to last year...
"Our goal is definitely always to get back to the NCAA tournament. From now on out it will always be our goal to get to the tournament and make it a little farther than we have in the past. Last year we had Ryan Jones and Nate Davis, who were great leaders. Obviously losing them was a huge loss but with this year's senior class and junior and sophomores, we stepped into big time roles and were able to take care of things."
University of Denver
Head Coach George Gwozdecky
On getting invited back to the NCAA Regional for the second consecutive season...
“Well anytime you can get to a national tournament, it is a great thing. Obviously, we are very excited to be back again. We are semi-familiar with the venue and the location is better for us than it has been in the last few years because it is a little bit closer for our fans to get here. We are excited to be here and looking forward to it.
On the Miami Red Hawks and the familiarity with the team having coached Enrico Blasi....
“Enrico and his staff have done a wonderful job. He was part of our very first recruiting class when we were at Miami University back in 1989. He was a tremendous player, leader, and a tremendous captain for us the four years that he was there. He has built on the great tradition and has built a national power at Miami University so we are very proud of him.”
Thoughts about Tyler Bozak returning to the lineup...
“It is great to have a dynamic offensive player like Tyler coming back. Obviously, he is coming off what I call a summer vacation. He has been off four months. We understand the timing and the rhythm and he is not going to be quite where he needs to be. There is no question that he slots in as our number one center which will move Jesse Martin to a more comfortable role as a number two center for us and also moves Brian Gifford to a more comfortable position at his role as the number three center. In a lot of ways it helps our offensive depth and puts guys in positions that they are comfortable with. Even the little things like face-offs are going to be a real plus to have Tyler back in there helping out in face-off success.”
On the NCAA being a goaltender’s tournament...
“There is no question that the format the NCAA uses for their national tournaments is certainly you have to rely on outstanding goal tending. We feel that we have one of the best and we are very fortunate to have Marc Cheverie between the pipes for us.”
Goaltender Marc Cheverie
On making the Regional and your debut in the tournament....
“Obviously, this was one of our goals all season long. We are looking forward to it. We have high expectations for ourselves and I think if we stick to our game plan we will have success. It is one of my personal goals and I am excited to be here. I love the pressure and I love everything about it. I can’t wait to get started.”
On the Miami Red Hawks...
“I don’t know too much. From watching video, they are a very optimistic team. They have a very good power play. They have an experienced coaching staff. From past history, I don’t know a lot about them but I do know that we are going to have to bring our A game to have success.”
On last weekend’s games, a win against Wisconsin and a 4-0 loss to Minnesota Duluth?
“We have to play sixty minutes, we can’t take twenty minutes off. Every team is playing well this year and we want to win a national championship so we have to play sixty minutes every game and bring our best.”
Princeton University
Head Coach Guy Gadowsky
On his team’s offense...
“I think a lot of our success has alluded to our team defense but we certainly are a team that likes to get involved in the offense a lot. It just so happens that this year our defensive numbers are good and we probably needed that aspect of our game to get us here more than any other.”
On differences in playing an opponent from the west...
“I don’t know. I think that college hockey is college hockey. They are obviously more used to playing on a big sheet then we are but I think that college hockey is college hockey.”
On solving Alex Stalock...
“How do we solve him, I have no idea. I think that the statistics that he had facing North Dakota, Minnesota, Denver, and only allowing one goal and back to back to back nights is phenomenal. He is obviously a very special goaltender and he is riding a very hot hand right now. I don’t know how to solve him. Hopefully our guys have an answer.”
On how last year’s tournament experience will help this weekend...
“I think it helps a lot, not only for the coaching staff but for the players. I think a little bit of the awe is possibly gone so we can maybe think about business rather than anything else going on around and we are obviously extremely happy to be here but I think the fact that we went through the experience of everything else not just the hockey game but every thing involved with the tournament will hopefully make us more focused on the game and not everything else.”
On playing UMD two hours from Duluth...
“I think that any time any WCHA team that is not the Gophers has to play at Mariucci, I don’t think they consider it a home game.”
Goaltender Zane Kalemba
On Minnesota Duluth’s power-play...
“I am just going to take it as any other game. I am going to compete like I always do. The guys in front of me are going to be blocking shots and getting in shooting lanes. We have had a great penalty kill all year so I don’t think that is going to change.”
On Minnesota Duluth’s goalie...
“I haven’t taken shots on Stalock personally so I think the team is going to have to get a lot of pucks and traffic in front of the net as we would any other goaltender we have gone up against this year.”
On the second consecutive NCAA appearance and the differences between this year’s team and last year’s...
“We really have all of the same players. We had two very different seasons. We had to win the ECAC Tournament last year to get in and this year we just found a way to get in to the tournament, whatever way that was. One of our main goals was to be here at the beginning of the year. One of our other goals was to be at the Frozen Four, so I think we are still capable of achieving one of our goals.”
On the best part about this year’s team...
“Just the way we compete. Night in and night out, guys are pulling for each other. Every guy is doing the little things no matter if he is a goal scorer or not. Everybody blocks shots.”
University of Minnesota Duluth
Head Coach Scott Sandelin
We’re very excited to be here and we’re looking forward to get going tomorrow night. Last weekend was a great time for our team and our program, especially last Saturday night (becoming WCHA tournament champions). We had a good week and our guys, as I said, are excited to get going tomorrow.
On Stalock having the ability to carry the team...
It’s a great place to start. You look at all the teams that win and it starts there with great goaltending. He’s done that for us, not just this year but for two years. Right now he’s got confidence in front of him and they have confidence in him and that’s a good thing. If I were to start somewhere, I’d start there.
On how good Stalock is right now...
To me he’s been the best goalie in the league this year and I said it to people last year. What he meant to our team last year, a team that didn’t score, and what he’s meant to our team this year, our guys have helped him out a times. We have a goalie that can give you a chance, every night and when he’s on, like a lot of goalies, you just hope it stays. He’s proved himself. It’s not like this is a one-time thing. He’s the No. 1 goalie in our league. He’s a very talented goaltender that continues to mature.
On being considered an underdog...
You look at Miami and Denver, they been in this tournament a lot more. Princeton was here last year in the tournament. It’s been five years for us. I would consider us an underdog, but I think it’s a very evenly matched regional. I think there are good goalies on all the teams. We’ve just got to keep playing the way we need to play. Obviously Princeton is a team who mirrors what we are. The have good balance, good goaltending, they work extremely hard; they are one of the most tenacious teams I’ve seen on the puck. It’s going to be a tough challenge, but hopefully we keep the formula that we’ve had. Try and get a lead and build off that and play good defensively with our team and our goaltender.
On the idea of being home-ice advantage
I think it’s great from a standpoint that we bused a couple hours and for our fans a couple hours or less and that’s a benefit. Obviously we played in this rink a few weeks ago and we played on a big sheet out in Colorado. We’ve played some good games here against Minnesota that could have gone either way, but good players can adjust to any size sheet.
Senior center MacGregor Sharp
On the level of play by Bulldog goalie Alex Stalock...
Obviously he’s been huge for us all year. He’s been the backbone of our team all year and is a leader for us. Having him back there every game gives a chance to win and is going to keep us in the game every time. We’ve got a lot of confidence in him and especially in the last five playoff games he’s been unbelievable. We have so much confidence in him right now and it’s great to play in front of him.
On his own success playing in the Xcel Energy Center and Mariucci Arena...
Obviously the last couple times, I’ve been pretty lucky. We’re just looking forward to the weekend and our team is playing really well. From goaltender out to defense I think we are all playing pretty well as a unit and as coach said, we’re just excited to get out there and play.
On their turning point during the season and how that got here...
I think the turning point was the last home series and we could have clinched home ice and it was a disappointing end to the season. I think that it showed us a feeling that we don’t want. We don’t want to go out on a losing note like that, especially with the seven seniors and all of our upperclassmen. From there, we decided to finish the season on a good note. Starting in Colorado we’ve done that and we have a lot of confidence. When there’s a will, there’s a way and all of our guys want to win so bad right now and we’re excited to play.
Junior goalie Alex Stalock
On playing in front of his hometown crowd...
It’s similar to last weekend. It’s nice that we got this draw and we’re kind of the hometown team now. It’s nice for the people in South St. Paul to make there way over here in family and friends and whatnot. Anywhere we ended up we knew that we had confidence to make a run and that’s our goal. We ended up in a good spot and we like where we’re at and it’s not far from home so it’s a good draw.
The difference in his game the past four starts...
I didn’t change anything in my game. I’ve played the same way I have all year and it’s more of what the guys have done. We didn’t get some good bounces late in the season and we didn’t finish how we wanted to, but we had to regroup and figure out what we needed to get back to. It’s been key and guys have been contributing throughout. Our penalty kill has been unbelievable. Guys are blocking shots on five-on-three. I’ve been able to see the puck clean on every shot. There hasn’t been traffic. Guys are cleaning out rebounds and the big key is that I’ve been able to see the first shot and I’ve been able to do that during playoffs. I have to give all the credit to the guys in front of me and it’s been a lot easier to play the game. It shows and that’s why we’re here.
On their competition against Princeton...
I haven’t sat down and broke them down, but they are a hard working team and have a lot of skill. You’re not going to get in this tournament with luck. You’re here for a reason and you’re not going to take a team lightly in the NCAA tournament. Everybody is going to be good and we’re just excited. We are probably going to have to feel them out early in the game and then we’ll see some tendencies and make some changes after the first period. We’re just going to go out and play our game and we’re not going to worry about them. We just need to worry about us and how we show up and we’ll do the best that we can and be fine. We’ve got that confidence that’s almost unbreakable.
Senior defenseman Josh Meyers
On how Stalock he communicates with the defense...
As a defenseman, you definitely have to be on your toes with him back there (laughter). Communications is something that we’ve worked on for three years and luckily I’ve been able to play with him for that long and most of the time I have a good idea of what he’s going to do. He’s definitely like a third defenseman as far as that goes. It really helps out.
On Barry Melrose picking them to win the national title...
I don’t think there’s really any pressure because it’s where we want to be. I thought that was kind of funny when I saw that myself. I think he’s going off what we did in the WCHA playoffs, but it’s definitely kind of fun to get picked like that.
