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NCAA MEN'S FROZEN FOUR

April 6, 2016

Tampa Bay, Florida

MODERATOR: We're joined by the University of Denver, head coach Jim Montgomery, Grant Arnold, Trevor Moore, and Danton Heinen.

Coach, an opening statement.

COACH MONTGOMERY: Well, it's awesome. Tampa Bay, the Lightning organization, the entire city has been fantastic. Right from when we set foot on ground, there was a band playing. So it's been an incredible experience for us so far.

Now it's time to get down to business. And looking at North Dakota, we know they're a great team. We've been .500 against them during the year. It's going to be a great college hockey game. And the team that makes the most plays is going to prevail.

Q. Danton and Trevor, you guys have been 0-for-19 on the power play against North Dakota in the five games this season. I'm wondering what you guys have struggled with against them from their penalty kill and what you need to do to have success against them tomorrow if you get power play chances?
DANTON HEINEN: I think our power play, the first time we played them, at least, wasn't where we wanted it to be. And I think it's improved since the season has gone on. I think the main thing is we need to have a shot-first mentality and really off that create seams and more shots from that.

TREVOR MOORE: I think when we played them before, why we haven't been that successful is we've just been getting outworked on their penalty kills, not working our power play. If we outwork them, we're going to get the puck more and we're going to create plays and we're going to be fine.

Q. Could you just talk about the arena, the trip so far, the excitement and how practice went today?
GRANT ARNOLD: It's been awesome. I think Monty said it great, the Tampa organization and the city have treated us great. It's been an awesome experience so far. The band going, we were taking pictures. It's an awesome experience, the sun is shining, the ocean is right there.

It's extremely special to be here. Practice went great. And I think now, like Monty said, it's time to get down to business. It's time to play some hockey. Once tomorrow begins, it's going to be two teams -- four teams trying to make it to a National Championship. So it's all business tomorrow.

TREVOR MOORE: I really think it's been unbelievable. I didn't know what to expect coming here, but it's exceeded all my expectations. Everybody's been so awesome. Hospitality has been amazing. The ice is great. The arena is beautiful. So I'm really excited.

DANTON HEINEN: For sure, everything's been first class. Just the welcoming we got. Everybody, all the people have just been unbelievable and treating us well. And it's really an honor to be here. And the rink's unbelievable. The facility is great. And they treat us well here, too, so it's unbelievable.

Q. Grant, you and your fellow seniors have gone through a lot in your careers at Denver. What does it mean to you guys to be finally in this tournament playing in the Frozen Four?
GRANT ARNOLD: It means a lot to our class. It means a lot to a lot of people. Means a lot to the alumni. It means a lot to the school. Denver Athletics takes a lot of pride in winning championships. The skiing won the National Championship, and along with lacrosse last year.

So it's a huge honor to represent the university. There's no question about it. And to be a senior and make it to the Frozen Four, it's extremely special. I think this team has definitely earned it. And like I said, it's a huge honor to represent Denver at the Frozen Four here. We're real excited to be here, there's no question.

Q. Danton and Trevor, guys, your line has provided a lot of offense. How has the line maybe gotten better in chemistry over the second half of the season along with your guys' better record?
DANTON HEINEN: I think at the beginning of the year we weren't doing the little things right, I think, being on the right side of the puck and winning our battles. But now that the season has gone on, I feel Coach Monty has really stretched that with our line, and I feel like we've done a better job of that lately, and it seems to lead to more offense. So I think that's been the key.

TREVOR MOORE: Same thing, kind of like our power play, when we're working, things seem to work. So when we're working hard, our skill kind of takes over. We just need to make sure we're working hard. I really think we got a lot more comfortable talking to each other and being open about things. If we didn't like something that happened, we talked about it and just worked through some stuff.

Q. For any of the players that would like to touch on this, there's such a rich history between your program and North Dakota's program. You guys have met, historically these programs have met on this stage in the past. I'd like to get your personal thoughts on facing a team from your league that you have so much familiarity with on college hockey's biggest stage?
GRANT ARNOLD: I think it's awesome. I think North Dakota and Denver both deserve to be here. I think they're both great hockey teams. I think this college hockey game embodies everything that Division I hockey is. I think there's great coaching. There's great speed. There's highlight-reel players and great defense and goaltending and a great rivalry.

Awesome stage for the rubber match this year as we've gone .500 with them. So, yeah, this is just going to be another North Dakota/Denver game with a lot of intensity and a lot of fire behind both benches and behind both teams. And it's going to be highlighted on the North Dakota-Denver timeline. This is a Frozen Four game. There's more at stake, no question about it. But it's going to be an awesome game. I think it's great a rivalry and it embodies a lot what college hockey is about.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. Couple of people have remarked to me seemed like you guys were going pretty intense in your practice compared to maybe some of the other teams. Talk about the intensity you are bringing especially where you guys are going up and down the ice for about five minutes here?
COACH MONTGOMERY: That's just the way we practice. I think a lot of our personality on the ice in games comes from our personality in practice. And a lot of that emanates from me. Intensity is what I was about as a player. And as a coach, I think to get these guys to realize that all this type of stuff, it's awesome, that we have so many journalists here and that we're on so many different websites.

But we're not used to that. So we gotta get back to what matters most, and that's our preparation. And if we're business-like, and especially if I'm business-like, I think it gets our players on the right page.

Q. How is this different for you as -- in Milwaukee you were a player in a Frozen Four, and now as a coach in the Frozen Four, could you talk about some of the contrasts?
COACH MONTGOMERY: The biggest contrast I guess is what I was just talking about in the previous question is I gotta get everybody on the right page. I gotta get everyone's focus and mentality channelling in the right direction.

And when I was a captain, I had to do that a little bit at Maine. But we had such an easy group. And to be honest, we were better than everybody else. So it was a little bit easier. It was just about yourself.

And now, as a coach, you come back -- the only thing I do like about my playing days that I can draw to the team is sharing the experience with them about how it's a great event, you've got to enjoy the event, but when it's time to play, you've got to be in the moment.

Q. Monty, how do you think the Pacific Rim Line is going to do on the Atlantic Coast?
COACH MONTGOMERY: Well, you know what? We're not used to this humidity, so we're not used to being this body temperature warm and sweating as much. Our players were remarking right away they were sweating profusely compared to what we do in Denver and the Midwest. So that's going to be our biggest obstacle physically for the Pacific Rim Line. Besides that, they're going to go over the boards just as much.

Q. Wanted to know, I heard you remark on the ice that players are breathing a little heavier. Can you talk about the adjustment as far as you mentioned the sweat, definitely, but also just the atmosphere that the air is a lot thicker down here. What are you telling your players?
COACH MONTGOMERY: We've got to hydrate and you've got to keep your body temperature cool, because you do sweat profusely here compared to Denver. And they just gotta realize that they're going to have to deal with that tomorrow night. So our shifts are going to have to be shorter than usual.

Q. Monty, North Dakota matches the Pacific Rim Line with the CBS Line. What plans do you have in place to try and contain Boeser, Caggiula, and Schmaltz?
COACH MONTGOMERY: We have four good lines that can play 200-foot hockey. We don't have last change. They're going to be able -- and I'm sure every time there's an offensive zone draw, they'll be out there two out of every three. And we'll expect that and put out the line that we think can win the faceoff on that side of the ice.

Besides that, I've already kind of publicly tried to challenge Coach Berry to let's go head to head, CBS against Pacific Rim Line. It would be a helluva show, but he wants to go with his defensive line against them. Maybe he'll bite halfway through the game.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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