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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 16, 2017Steve RohlikDavid GustMason JobstDetroit, Michigan Ohio State - 6, Michigan State - 3 STEVE ROHLIK: Well, at this time of year, any time you can come away with a win, certainly your team has done some things right. I can't remember the last time I played, we played Michigan State and it hasn't been an overtime or one-goal game. I'm proud of our group. We've got a lot of work ahead of us, and we're happy that we can live to fight another day. Q. You had those two goals pretty quickly in the third period. After that point after the second goal, how were you feeling about your guys' chances to win the game? DAVID GUST: Pretty good, up by two, but then again we were up by two early in the game and you saw what happened there. We couldn't get too high and we just had to focus on closing it out. Q. David, you've got a lot of high-profile, high-scoring first-liners surrounding you. You end up being the offensive star today. Are you comfortable in the spotlight? DAVID GUST: Yeah, I feel like I've kind of been in that role the past two years, so I'm pretty comfortable with it I'd say. Q. And can you take us through the specifics? DAVID GUST: Yeah, the first one was the power play goal, and we always want to run it through Dakota down low. Schmitz (ph) kind of gave to me and I tried to give it down to Dakota, and he took it to the net, and then it was just chaos in front and smacked it on the rebound. Second one was just kind of a scramble play in the neutral zone and I just tried to bury the head, drive wide, moved the feet, and just tried to get it on net. Q. Mason or David, what's it like to be able to come here and partake in the finals tournament at Joe Louis Arena in terms of college hockey? MASON JOBST: Absolutely. It's certainly special. This is my first time at The Joe, farewell tour. It's a pretty cool experience for all of us for sure. DAVID GUST: Just being a senior, last go at the tournament here, and just want to finish out strong with it. Q. When you were down, when you were up 2-0 and then saw that lead evaporate, what was going through your head and what was the strategy on the bench? DAVID GUST: You know, we know we're a very offensive team and we knew the chances were going to come, we just had to stay positive and just play our game and we knew good things would happen. MASON JOBST: Yeah, just kind of like he said, I thought we were playing really well down low and working them and we were getting lots of shots and we just knew that we've got to keep shooting and one will go through. Q. Mason, you guys average over four goals a game, you average over 30 shots a game. How much fun is it in the room when you guys are all filling up score sheets? MASON JOBST: Yeah, I mean, absolutely it's fun to score goals. Just proud of the guys for shooting the puck and we've been super offensive all year and sometimes we've been down, but we've managed to stick together and we know that we can score goals, and I thought we did a good job coming down to the third. Actually I challenged Gusty in the locker room in the third to come out, and I'm super proud of him as a senior to come out and step up and score two big goals for us. DAVID GUST: I just think we're a pretty loose team and we kind of like to keep it loose in the locker room and not get too serious about it and grip the sticks too tight. I think playing loose kind of helps us. Q. Mason, you guys were really good against Wisconsin last weekend. What do you have to do tomorrow to be better against Wisconsin? MASON JOBST: I think that was a good key word there, better. I thought we played well last weekend, but we know they're a very good team. 2-2 on the season with them, we've just got to come out and play even better than we did last weekend. Q. Coach, you guys got two quick goals on your first three shots on goal or something like that, then turned around and gave up those three goals near the end of the first period. What was happening that caused that swing in your eyes, and what did you tell your team to do to overcome it? STEVE ROHLIK: Well, first and foremost, you've got to take care of the puck, and that's why this guy on the end is such a special player. He's the first one. Little giveaway there, it started momentum for Michigan State, next thing you know it's 3-2, but then you look down the bench, and who scored the two big goals, the guy on the end right there. Our team just knew we had confidence, and we were just going to continue to try to play well, and I mean, stick with the game plan. That's all they kept saying. Q. Regardless of playing Wisconsin tomorrow night, what do you take away from this game that you have to do better tomorrow? STEVE ROHLIK: Well, take care of the puck, number one. That's for certain. Any time you get satisfied with where you're at, you're going to get beat. We certainly know that we've got to be a better hockey team tomorrow. We've got to get much better, and we want to get better in all facets, not just one or two if we think we're going to move on. That's kind of our game plan. Q. The culture of college hockey and professional hockey, there's a lot of systems in place, a lot of people clamping down and not a lot of free-flowing offense. You might have what people characterize as fire wagon hockey. You've got 21 wins to show for it; are you just going to keep preaching offense? STEVE ROHLIK: Well, I mean, you tell me if there's a forward or defenseman out there that wants to enjoying playing college hockey and wants to get up and score some goals when we see everything being 2-1 or 3-2, you know where you want to go: Ohio State. Q. Where do you need to be better against Wisconsin because you were already good. What do you take out of that last weekend series that you need to improve? STEVE ROHLIK: Well, first and foremost, last weekend is over. That's the first thing that we understand, and we know they've got a very good hockey team. We know they're going to be a lot better. Like I was just saying over here, we reevaluate everything, and our motto is we've got to continue to get better in all facets, and as soon as you get satisfied with one thing or another and think that you've conquered that area, then you're going to get beat in that area. So for us, it's a 60-minute hockey game being consistent, and I think that's the one thing we've been preaching right now. Any time you're in the Playoffs you've got to stay consistent, and that's what we're hoping to do tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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