2003-04 IHM vs. Minnesota -- Postgame Quotes
11/29/2003 12:00:00 AM | Ice Hockey
Michigan Head Coach Red Berenson
On tonight's game ... "It was a close game. The difference in the game was an unearned shorthanded goal that we gave up and a four-on-four faceoff goal that was the deciding goal in the game. Obviously the power play when you look back that we didn't score on a five-on-three, five-minute major and that's a factor as well."
On the team's effort ... "That's the hardest our team has played all year and it's too bad it took us an embarrassing loss to Wisconsin to get our team to realize the kind of competition that's out there. That is one of the reasons we have this Showcase Classic, because it gives you an idea of the kind of competition from outside our conference. Minnesota is a very good team and we played with them. We played with them for most of the game, and that's the good news. The bad news was that we came up short. We probably shot ourselves in the foot and we're not as good as we think we are. We've got a lot of work to do."
On how the team can regroup ... "The first part will be an overall better work ethic on our team from start to finish. Whether it is the break out plays coming out of our zone, the kind of forechecking pressure we saw this weekend. We need to do a better job in the neutral zone; we need to do a better job in the offensive zone. We need to show up and compete harder. Part of that is going to show up in practice, part of that is going to be a mental part that we need to put into our game plan."
Junior Defenseman Brandon Rogers
On the lack of power play production ... "The power play is a huge part of our game. Earlier in the year we were talking about how the power play was making a difference and getting some important goals for our team and right now it's not doing well. We're not scoring, and that's the main objective on the power play is to help out the team and get the advantage, and we're not doing that now. Obviously teams are going to scout us, we do the same thing for them. We know what the power play is going to give us, it's just a matter of hard work and really wanting to score."
On moving forward to next week ... "It's always a wake up call and a gut check when you lose two games in a weekend. It's just going to start on Monday. When we come to the rink, we've got to work hard and prepare for the weekend to get back on track."
Sophomore Goaltender Al Montoya
On tonight's game ... "It was a good game. Both teams were going up and down the ice. It was just a high-skilled game, what you expect from two teams like Michigan and Minnesota."
On tonight's game compared to last night's game ... "We definitely played better. Last night was a gut check, we got shut down in some situations. We definitely bounced back from last night."
On getting the five-on-three power play late in the second period ... "When we got on the five-on-three, momentum was back in our direction. We all thought we could roll off of it and we were going for it. Then we got shut down once again on our power play. To be a successful team you've got to be clutch on special teams and I don't think we were tonight."
