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NCAA MEN'S FROZEN FOURApril 10, 2015Nate LeamanShane LukeRoss MauermannNick SaracinoBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS MODERATOR: We'll begin. Q. Could you go back to the night of the selection show and how confident were you that you were going to get into the field, or were you still worried at that point, and despite what had happened? COACH LEAMAN: Well, there's a couple of people that break down all the analytics of the NCAA Tournament. So after we got knocked out by UNH, we were reading someone that ran 3.1million different scenarios in the NCAA Tournament. So it's basically all the different scenarios. And I believe we had a 20percent chance to be the 12 seed. We had a 33percent chance to be the 13th seed. And we had a 24percent chance to be the 14th seed. We only had a 7 percent chance to be the 15th seed and 2 percent chance to be the 16th seed. When we read that after the week, after we got knocked out by UNH, we felt pretty confident about being in the tournament. All the results started to go pushing us down, pushing us down, pushing us down. So, you know, after Minnesota beat Michigan, we knew that we got locked in the tournament. I immediately texted Don Lucia and told him thank you and that I owe him lunch in Naples this year. And we felt good about it. We felt like we had a second life. Read a book this summer from Malcolm Gladwell about David and Goliath, and he calls it Near Misses. We had a near miss. I think it was probably a good thing for us, because it increased our level of desperation, it increased our level of‑‑ it brought us together, I think, as a group, and we've been playing our best hockey. Q. You talked yesterday or Wednesday about how your season‑‑ people thought it was a disappointment and you turn around and kind of went under the radar a little bit. Kind of mirror hockey as a whole where people thought it was just a down year for Hockey East and something struggled out of conference early. And then there's a big kind of turnaround for hockey around the midpoint of the season. Now obviously you guys have two teams in the National Championship. Was there ever a point you thought it was a down year for Hockey East? COACH LEAMAN: No, I didn't think it was a down year for Hockey East. I do think that a lot of our team struggled out of the gate in nonconference play. You've got to give credit to the NCHC. They had a terrific year in nonconference play. I think they were 15‑2 against the Big Ten, which that's pretty remarkable. But two years ago our league had five teams in the tournament. And I think we advanced two or three teams to regional finals, and then we only had one team make the Frozen Four, which was Boston College. This year they had six teams get in the tournament. And I think they had quite a few advance to regional finals and obviously two in the Frozen Four. I just think it works that way. I think they're both really, really good leagues. I would say that last year we had five teams. This year we had three. I think last year they might have had three and this year they had six. It's really how you do nonconference. We struggled a little bit out of the gate. And we've been fortunate to win the games since then. Q. What allowed your team to evolve between the first half and second half with a much dynamic threat offensively? ROSS MAUERMANN: It was to stick with the process. Early on in the season we played against some tough opponents. Working hard and not getting the results we wanted. And the coaching staff and some of the other guys for sure, from our previous experiences, kind of knew we just had to keep working hard in practice and keep bringing it. And I think the biggest thing was to make sure we're getting pucks to the net, not trying to make the pretty play all the time. Early we were doing that too much. In the second half it was just get back to our hockey, getting pucks to the net, being gritty around the net and getting second chances, and it's paid off for us here in the tournament for sure with a lot of second‑chance goals. Q. Nate, you earlier had you said, to paraphrase you, that adversity and stumbles are what bring together growth. I was wondering from your players what have you learned about lessons about when things didn't go right that made you realize and appreciate when it did go right? SHANE LUKE: I think just sticking together. We're a pretty tight‑knit group. When things don't go the right way, you have to stick together. This year we had a lot of ups and downs, and during the times we were down we came together. And that's a big thing about being back on track is keeping together and sticking in the process. NICK SARACINO: We definitely stick together and fight through the adversity together. MODERATOR: Did you watch the game? COACH LEAMAN: A little bit but not much. Q. You've obviously watched them but haven't played them in a long time. What are some of the things that concern you most about that team? COACH LEAMAN: They have a great transition game. Grzelcyk and Fortunato do a great job getting up in the offense. I think they've got a very good power play. And obviously I think they have the premier forward in the country. Q. The press conference after this one will be NCAA State of the Game. One of the issues coming up will be whether going back to whether regional sites. Could you talk about how you feel about that and how much of a benefit was it for you (indiscernible), that you're playing in your town next year? COACH LEAMAN: I'm against hosting regionals. I've entertained the idea of the No. 1 seed hosting four teams, but I think you're going to run into possible building problems, with having the No. 1 team being able to host four teams, as far as locker rooms and it being a good experience for the student‑athletes. I like the process we have. I don't think it's an issue in the East. I think finding the correct sites in the West has been a struggle I think the last 10 years. But the bottom line is if we were to have filled out the paperwork instead of Brown to host that regional, by rule we would have been put there. If Notre Dame would have won our league championship, they would have been put there. They would have been in South Bend. I'm for being a great experience for the student‑athletes. I'm for having people in the stands. I'm for it being a special time of the year. And I think you battle all year long to get to that spot. I think there should be neutrality, as far as it being, you're getting placed by a committee. Q. I know it's been a long time, but can you talk about obviously the first game, you guys lost pretty bad to BU. Then you came back and beat them on the road. What was the biggest difference from Game 1 to Game 2 in that series? ROSS MAUERMANN: I think for us early on it was kind of finding our identity. Every year is a new year. I think coming in we kind of struggled out the gate of bringing it both nights. And Friday night we just, at home, just didn't have our game. Weren't playing our style of hockey and I think Saturday we got back after it and be able to grit out a win there. It was a while ago. I mean, we know that this is a new game, a new stage, and looking forward to the opportunity. SHANE LUKE: Yeah, I think like Ross said, we were trying to find our identity. They took it to us that first night. But the second night we rebounded and that's been our philosophy all year. It's going to happen all year like it's been down, Friday nights we haven't come out the way we wanted but Saturday night we've been able to rebound. I think that was one of those times. But going into this game, we've just gotta play our game. NICK SARACINO: We definitely didn't have our game the first time we played them on Friday. But I thought we bounced back well Saturday and took it to them more. Q. Nick, Noel ‑‑ we were talking about your assists last night. Were you just seeing the ice really well? NICK SARACINO: For the first assist I was going to the net, got a piece of it. Noel did most of the work digging it out and finding the loose puck. And Mark was just wide open up front and I just saw him and gave it to him. Q. Is there any relationship between Providence's current situation and like the'85 team? Did you think about having anybody come back and talk to these kids or Terreri or show them film or anything like that? COACH LEAMAN: No, we didn't show them any film. I did have one gentleman from that team reach out to me, and we were kind of trying to work it out and things just kind of got a little too hectic. We want to keep it simple right now. We want to focus on us. This is a great experience as far as the Frozen Four. But all along we've kind of said let our families soak in all the festivities. Let them have the experience. We want to be focused on the ice, focus on the game. That's been the message we've tried to get across to the guys. I think the guys have done a terrific job. I was pleased to come into the locker room after the game last night and there weren't guys jumping around. There weren't guys‑‑ they were sitting in their stalls, drinking a Gatorade ‑‑ or POWERade, sorry, POWERade, and they were like, all right, Coach, what's the agenda? What's next? We kind of try to take that business‑like approach. Q. When you took the job four years ago, did four years seem like a reasonable timetable to get here? COACH LEAMAN: I didn't put a timetable on it. I've just never believed in that. I think that's when you‑‑ I think that's when you can get in trouble, when you set up expectations or false expectations. I think that's when you set up big downs. You try not to get too high, not too low, just try to get better one week at a time, one month at a time, one year at a time. Just grind away, just keep finding ways to get better. If you take enough little steps, big things can happen. But that being said, we realized we got some bounces to get here. As we mentioned we got to play in Providence. We got to play against a Miami team that was probably without two of their best forwards. So you don't know sometimes when those opportunities are going to arise, you just put your head down and try to keep getting better. MODERATOR: Thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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