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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 19, 2015Justin DaSilvaSteve RohlikNick SchilkeyDETROIT, MICHIGAN OHIO STATE – 3 THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Coach Rohlik, Nick Schilkey, and Justin DaSilva. Coach, some opening comments? COACH ROHLIK: Thank you. Obviously, this time of year it's always exciting to get that first win. It's kind of what you're prepared for all year and hat's off to our guys. They've bought in here over the last couple months. We beat a team that was vying for first place a week ago, so it was a good day for us. Q. In your opinion, was this the most consistent game you've played thus far? NICK SCHILKEY: Yeah, I think so. There is still room for improvement. We got sloppy at times when we talked about turnovers at the blue line. We made a couple of those, but we played well. We've got room for improvement, and that's what we'll have to do for tomorrow. Q. Nick, how was it to come back here to Detroit and play in front of the hometown fans? NICK SCHILKEY: It's fun. I played here a couple times with Little Caesars growing up, it's always good to be back home playing in front of friends and family. Just try to embrace it and have fun out there. Q. Wanted to ask Justin about your goal. What did you see in that play? You obviously got all of that one it seemed on the drive pass from Tanner? JUSTIN DaSILVA: Yeah, it was a whitewash. I was at the end of the shift, and I saw them changing. So I decided to jump up as quick as I could. Fritzy left a nice little gift for me there, and I don't think the goalie rally saw it. Their "D" man tried to block it. So it was set up for me and I was fortunate to put it in. Q. (No Audio) you had one a couple weeks ago. It seems things from the blue line are working out for you guys right now. JUSTIN DaSILVA: Yeah, I think the blue line is playing with confidence. We're stressing to hold the puck more and that brings more confidence. And then had our forwards moving at lower high and getting us the puck quick so that we can get shots on that. Q. Talk about scoring the first shot and also you scored before in this building? NICK SCHILKEY: As far as I can remember, I don't think I've scored here before. I don't know for sure thinking back. But, yeah, we had a good bounce there early and between me yelling through the middle and Dave's eyes in the back of his head, they found me and I just came down. Looked up and nobody in front of me and I just went down and put out a little blocker and got lucky there. Q. Justin, jumping up into the play and pushing the back end, is that something the coaches really prepare about getting involved? JUSTIN DaSILVA: Absolutely. The last couple months here we've really been pushing "D" getting up in the play, and having a good F3, whether we come out of our zone D or jump in being available for our wingers, it's tough for them to always make moves to the center. And if you have that weak side "D", it's nice for the wingers. Q. Nick, I know you weren't playing with him, but are you seeing something different in the way Dave Godfrey is playing right now? NICK SCHILKEY: Yeah, he's playing with confidence going out there. He's got a good thing going with that line. They played well last weekend. When you get some consistency, it helps a lot. He's just playing with confidence. It's been in him for a while now, and it's nice to see it come on like this. Q. For either of you, last year the team had some success at this tournament but didn't end the way you wanted to. You had two wins there. You're 6‑3‑1, did this feel it was coming? Are you surprised by the way you played today at all or was it a lot of what you expected? NICK SCHILKEY: This is kind of what we were expecting right now. We planned on the beginning of the year, no matter what happens throughout we have to play our best hockey right now, and that's what the coaches prepared. We always have to believe in that, and turns out that's what we're doing. It's just part of buying in. I think we've done that. As you can see the success we're having lately. JUSTIN DaSILVA: Yeah, exactly what Nick said. (No Audio). We have confidence right now, so the best time to peak is right before playoffs, and fortunately we got healthy. We got back to our game and things are going our way right now. So, I mean, it's not that much. One game doesn't mean anything. You need to win two, you need to win three, so that's our goal right now. Q. A lot of times playoff games get very intense, very chippy and yet there were no penalty minutes in this game. Can you comment on that? That was something pretty rare. COACH ROHLIK: You don't see it too often, I can tell you that. But it wasn't for lack of effort on both teams. Both teams played hard. There were some big hits out there. I thought the refs did a nice job of letting the game play out. I think that's what you want to see this time of year. You're going to call the penalties that are there, and I just thought both teams played hard, played clean, and that's what you kind of saw tonight. Q. Coach, you talked earlier this week about not so much go‑to guys stepping up for you. Chad today and David gust really stepped up. Can you talk about their performance? COACH ROHLIK: It's what I envisioned for this team. We have 27 guys that have chipped in all year. We started to get healthy there. We're not ever depending on one or two guys. That's why I spoke a lot about some of these other guys, unsung hero types that are going to go out there and play well. And David gust scored a big goal for us today. Nids played great. Stepped in and had to play more minutes here tonight than he has in a while. So this is a team effort all the way around. Q. Coach, going into the third period with a 3‑1 lead versus a 2‑1 lead, how did that third goal change your approach going into the third period? COACH ROHLIK: You certainly feel a heck of a lot better with a two goal lead than a one goal lead. Against a team like this earlier in the year, we were up 4‑0 with two minutes to go, and it went into overtime. So we know what kind of fire power they have. We just wanted to keep the game simple. Keep playing it our way. Chip in and keep the pucks deep. For the most part I thought our guys stuck to the game plan. Q. What did your goaltender do well tonight? COACH ROHLIK: Stopped the puck (laughing). No, go ahead. Q. Specifics, if you could? COACH ROHLIK: Well, to me when Christian Frey has had a great second half. He's quiet and it looked like everything just hits him. Again, tonight he was in the right spot. He's not all over the place, and he just seems in control. When he's in control like this, he's a very good goalie. Q. Singing the praises of Frey, obviously, but looking at the defense, they've really become a strong unit in Frey. Do you see that more consistently now? COACH ROHLIK: I see a deep group that's gotten more and more confidence. Handling the puck, and when you have the puck more you're not giving up as many shots. I think our "D" group as a whole is just believing in one another, also our forwards are back down there helping out. So it's a good time of year to have those six guys back there playing well. Q. Coach, you're playing Minnesota next. You guys were able to defeat them here on senior night. What are you going to have to do to continue to play well to face them? COACH ROHLIK: No. 1, we're going to have to play our best game of the year. Certainly we're playing the best team in the league. They came down to stretch time and they won the league and they deserve that. We know we've got to go out there. They're very skilled from the goaltending on out, and they've got some pretty special players there. So time and space is a big thing. We've just got to stick with our blueprint. Q. How much of a different dynamic is the preparation now? You had a week coming into the Penn State series and now you have a day to turn over and play Minnesota. What is that like for you? COACH ROHLIK: Well, you know what? We knew we had to win three games to have a chance. You've got to start with one. All our preparations for Penn State, everything starts in Minnesota right now. That's an attitude we took. We talked about it after the game. We'll go back and have video tonight. The nice part about it is we understand each other. We know Minnesota. They know us. So all the preparation really starts now. Once we go back, we'll do a little video, come back tomorrow and have a normal game day. We've got to show up and play our best game of the year. Q. I asked Justin about the defenseman scoring but that's been a thing going on recently. Is there a common theme that maybe this guy's going to front? I'm not sure Adam saw the one that DaSilva hit. Was that working for you? COACH ROHLIK: Sometimes if you stay with things eventually something's going to go in. And I think we might have had some shots blocked early and maybe got away from that. They started gaining confidence, and Coach Larson works with them every day shooting pucks. I think them being able to jump up and play a little bit. Like that one there, you see so many teams try to block that initial shot. Most times it works, but sometimes it works against you because it kind of screens a goalie. I thought that one he might not have saw it all the way. But I thought the 6'6" guy got a little bit on that one and hammered that one home. Q. All the goals today were in transition. You had the one that hit the lines man and one go the other way off a shot block, and the other one on a stretch pass. Was that an area of focus or just kind of worked out that way? COACH ROHLIK: It just kind of worked out that way. We didn't want to play all over the place, and run‑and‑gun, and pucks here and there. That's really not our style. Obviously on a line change like that in the second period you can catch teams, and that's what dusty did there. We made a great outlet play. But certainly I'd like to play a more controlled game. But if the opportunities are there, we're going to take advantage of it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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