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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 20, 2015Don LuciaSam WarningAdam WilcoxDETROIT, MICHIGAN MINNESOTA – 3 THE MODERATOR: Coach, an opening statement, and then questions for the student‑athletes? COACH LUCIA: We're excited to be moving on and having a chance to play for the title tomorrow. I think we felt a little bit of pressure tonight that we knew how important this game was that we had to win. It's always difficult to end somebody's season. I thought Ohio State played extremely well. They've been on a good run here the last month, once they finally got healthy. The first goal was a big one. We had a couple of pipes off the first period and a couple deflections, and Sam made a nice shot off a good forecheck situation. And we were able to get that second separation goal. And Adam played really well tonight, and that was probably the difference. Q. In the last three games, two goals. That's a lot fewer, perhaps than on average you guys have been letting in the season. What's the team been doing in front of you last weekend and this weekend that is different? STUDENT‑ATHLETE: Yeah, I think it's that time of the year. In general goals against for every team in the country has slowed down. We need to have two or less goals at most every game. I thought the guys did a good job of reloading when you're D started to pinch, I think our forwards were getting back and doing a lot better job of that. I think they're doing a better job of rush starting and getting guys back and having layers in our defensive zone. Q. Sam, what did you guys do to get over the hump this time? SAM WARNING: Yeah, I don't think we did anything different, this time it just worked out for us. We played a good first ten, but Wilcox shut the door. Anytime he shuts the door we score a couple of goals. Q. Do you think defense is important to win championships? Adam, what were you focusing on today? ADAM WILCOX: Yeah, the main thing for me was holding my ground and making sure I'm at a good depth. I worked with Justin Johnson all week, and getting the angles in and having my feet set and not getting too aggressive and too out there. I think that's a big thing especially on the smaller rink when pucks were going to be bouncing everywhere. There were a lot of weird bounces tonight; fortunately they were on our side. The thing for me is to just kind of stick with that and have a good base and make sure I'm not getting too aggressive. Q. Was there anything that you saw from the last time you played them? (No Microphone) because once again you're on the NHL sized rink? ADAM WILCOX: Yeah, they're a good team. They've gotten better every time we've played them. They put a lot of pressure on us especially in the third period. I think they got over 20 shots in. I think we did a good job weathering the storm. I don't think we had a ton of turnovers which usually results in goals. We did a good job of clearing it when we had the opportunity. Q. Adam, you've become the program's all‑time leading shutout leader. Can't do it any better way. What did it feel like for a performance like that to get that record? ADAM WILCOX: Yeah, it's a pretty cool feeling anytime you get up there. That was a big number. Creating the goal for 13 seemed like a while away. But when you have a good defensive core and good team every year, you get opportunities to get shutouts. I thought it was a great way to get it. Anytime you can get a shutout in playoffs it's a great feeling. Getting something like that was pretty cool too. Q. Third period, 2‑0 game, it's a two‑man advantage at that point, they pull the goalie. Take us through what was going through your mind? Take us through what was going through‑‑ take us through that, I guess, please. ADAM WILCOX: Yeah, there were four minutes left. If they're going to get a goal, it's cutting the lead in half, so it was a big kill for us. I think we really have one chance to get it clear. Whenever we did get it clear, we got it out, and Boyd fortunately got it in the net to make it 3‑0, and that's a big goal. If they get a goal, it cuts the lead in half and they're going against a team that can get goals. You look at their stats, third period is their best period. I think we did a really good job just kind of weathering the storm, like I said. Q. Sam? SAM WARNING: I think Adam Wilcox said it all. It's all about defense right now. I thought we stuck together, and like Coxy said, boy, we had a nice spin‑o‑rama, full‑length goal. Q. How important is it to get that first goal, two teams playing desperate? And also when Adam's playing like that, have you seen him play that well in his career? Is that as good as it's been? SAM WARNING: Yeah, he's always playing good, and tonight was another example. Ohio State's a great team, and it's always a battle when you play those guys. Give a lot of credit to Ambroz who chipped in, and then Boyd made a good play, and all I had to do was shoot it. So lot of credit to the other guys. Q. Sam, again, the senior class, you guys have been doing a lot over the past two months. You get the first goal, Boyd gets the empty‑netter. What's it mean for you guys to be able to get it done? What's it mean to have that kind of leadership? SAM WARNING: Yeah, definitely. When I came in as a freshman, it kind of went from the seniors there, the leaders. I think this year we kind of fell into that position. So anytime we can lead the team and set an example for the other guys, that's huge. But once again, it's a team effort. It's not just the seniors. It's everybody together. ADAM WILCOX: Look at the seniors resumes, they have two Frozen Fours and four conference championships and a National Championship under their belt. But what they haven't had was a conference playoff win. I thought coming in we had a good mentality. We didn't put too much pressure on ourselves even with what the circumstances were. Even if we did lose, I didn't think we let that get to our heads. Seniors did a good job having a focus on the process, as Coach always says and making sure we're dialed in doing the little things to get the win. Q. You touched on earlier in the week when you hadn't scored in conference tournaments that was one of the problems. But with someone like Adam, do you feel comfortable? COACH LUCIA: Well, I felt comfortable with the way Adam was playing. I think it was after the second period I'm thinking, boy, we scored two bowls in the last eight periods. That's it, but we were ahead. I felt like we needed another one. If we get one more, that would be that separation goal that we needed. I thought Kloos's line was really good tonight. They've been really emerging and coming on. That was a big goal by Vinny. Cammy made a nice play on the breakout. Ben jumped up into the play, and Vinni used his speed to get to the net and score on the rebound. Then he made some mistakes towards the end, but Adam just seemed‑‑ it was one of those nights where you look at your goaltender and say I don't think they're going to score one tonight. That's how it ended up. Q. Coach, can you talk about playing a conference Final Four game outside of Minnesota because it's been a long time since that's happened? COACH LUCIA: Yeah, for me, the last time was Milwaukee when they would rotate from St. Paul to Milwaukee back and forth. But, you know what, I'm not sure it matters. Sometimes there is more pressure at home in our own building because you get to this time of the year, it really doesn't matter where you play, it's how you play. Tomorrow the nice thing is we know we're going to get Michigan, Michigan State, and hopefully we can have a good crowd tomorrow. You get to this time of the year, and you want to play in front of good crowds. Doesn't matter if they're cheering for you or against you. It's kind of what you're used to all season long. We knew going in this is how it was going to be. It's the first time we've ever played in this building before any of our guys, so that was all new. Just trying to get used to the boards and some of the nuances of the rink. But when your goaltender plays as well as he did, then he's going to give you a good chance to win. Q. Going off of that, how big of an adjustment or how long did it take for your guys to make the adjustment? COACH LUCIA:  I thought they came out in the first period. We weren't getting a lot of pucks through. We attempted a lot of shots. We missed the net a lot which initiated some breakouts. We had a lot of shots blocked. In the first period we hit a couple of pipes.  We kind of had riding time, they use that term in wrestling. But you come out of the first period after digging a couple off the ball, and you go that first goal is going to be big. Second period, I thought we were fine. It kind of turned into a patient game, that one‑goal game. After it seemed like we got the second one and then we pushed and we just tried to defend at that point in time. Q. How were you able to slow down Ohio State's offense? COACH LUCIA: Ultimately plays like that. That is the bottom line. We talked Ohio States been scoring a lot of goals lately. Now that they're healthy you saw the team that they probably would have liked to have had all season long. I think the goaltenders were playing really well here in the last month as well. It's hard to end someone's season. We know how difficult that is. Goaltender made some good saves, a couple blocks, maybe get a lucky break here and there, but that's all part of it. So hopefully we didn't get some breaks last year in this conference tournament and tonight we got a couple. Q. How much, if any, does this alleviate the pressure that you've got to win to get into the NCAA tournament? COACH LUCIA: Well, it's what we've talked about for a long time. Winning takes care of everything. There are still a lot of scenarios where if we don't win tomorrow we can't get in. It's kind of crazy that you win your league and you're in the championship game and you still have that possibility. If we win that takes care of everything tomorrow. Obviously, we're hoping for the favorites to win tomorrow, and there's not a lot of upsets. If that happens, then it won't matter. You play this tournament to try to get in and solidify your spot or earn a spot in the NCAA. I know whoever we play tomorrow, their only way in is to win. So that's going to be a difficult game for us playing in their backyard because both Michigan and Michigan State obviously have a lot of experience in this rink and this venue. Q. Last weekend was the regular season on the line for four different teams and you've got a lot of experience winning championships. Did you sense before going into last weekend maybe a shift in the team? Sort of knowing like shifting even into playoff mode even then? COACH LUCIA: To be honest, I think it was more the end of January. We knew the position that we were in, and you keep getting asked the question on what do you have to do? Well, just keep winning. If you keep winning, you put yourself in the position. I never felt we were that far out of it even within the Big Ten at that point because so many home and away. We hadn't played many home games. We'd been really good at home the last few years. Maybe our team was built better for the big rink than even a small shoot right now with the team that we have. But the guys kept with it and put us in a good position. Obviously it was a thrill to put on that very last couple weeks and be able to get a share of it or not a share of it, but to win it outright. Even that last game we go in thinking we can finish first, second or third. The last thing we wanted was to end up third having to play the Thursday game knowing we had to make three to win the NCAA tournament. That was a huge game. Tonight was a huge game for us. I'm just proud of the guys how they've responded and what they've been able to accomplish. This season has been a bit of a roller coaster, and we've kind of ridden it out. The finish line is not that far away. Hopefully we can play better tomorrow. I think we'll need to. I think we'll have to play a better, more complete game tomorrow to give ourselves a chance to win. Obviously, we hope that Adam can continue to look as sharp as he did tonight because I think that was as sharp as he's looked this year. I mean, really in control, and big and patient in the net. We'll just sit back and see who we play tomorrow. It will be easier for us to have the early game too. That's kind of nice. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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