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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 16, 2017Red BerensonTony CalderoneSam PiazzaDetroit, Michigan Penn State - 4, Michigan - 1 RED BERENSON: You knew it would be a hard fought game. We just played Penn State two games at Yost last weekend. And I thought the team that got the best start tonight was going to have the advantage, and obviously they took advantage. They scored I think with six seconds left in that penalty, and then scored a late goal, last-minute goal in the first period, and we just couldn't answer the bell. It was a tough night to get things started offensively. Their goalie was good when he had to be, and give Penn State credit, they played hard the whole game and they played the right way. We just weren't good enough. Q. There's so much emphasis from the players put on this game, obviously knowing that your season was on the line. I guess what went wrong to get down at the start? SAM PIAZZA: Yeah, like Coach said, they just jumped on us early and they were able to get that power play goal. It was just unfortunate to went down to the power play. Thought we finished the game strong, but it was just too much to come back from. Q. In the locker room after the game, can you speak about the emotions, what it was like? TONY CALDERONE: Yeah, I think it's extremely emotional. I mean, obviously for the seniors, but even for us, I think as juniors we've only got one more year left, and it's always easy to say we've got next year, we've got next year, but it's going to be us next year if we don't pull it together this summer and come back with a better season next year. Q. You've got that first goal, made it 4-1 midway through the second period. Was it just not -- were you guys trying to get momentum? Was it something you couldn't do because it wasn't happening, or what was going on at that point? SAM PIAZZA: Yeah, I mean, it was unfortunate we got that goal disallowed from the offsides and then we were able to get that one goal, but we had a bunch of chances in the second, like Coop hit one off the post and we had a lot of offensive zone time, but just one of those nights where you couldn't put it in the net, unfortunately. Q. Heading into this game from last weekend, you guys were able to have a lot of success against Penn State. Did you have a different approach heading into the game tonight? TONY CALDERONE: No, I don't think we had a different approach. I mean, we got to get up for Big Ten games. It's a tournament game, do or die, and I think that was the only difference with the games. But I think we prepared the same way. We knew they were going to put shots on net. We knew they were going to come hard. Unfortunately we weren't able to match that in the first period and couldn't come back. Q. If you could just talk about what it's like playing for Red and characterize the relationship. SAM PIAZZA: Yeah, I've really enjoyed it. This was my junior year, and my first two years I didn't play much. But I stuck with it and Coach recognized that, and this year I was able to play a lot. So I really appreciate that, and I'm excited for next season. TONY CALDERONE: I love how honest he is. I think it really keeps the guys knowing where they stand. He'll tell you if you're not playing good. He'll tell you if you're playing good. I think that really helps with knowing where you're at and where you stand, and I think he's obviously a legend, so it's been really cool playing for him, and we're looking forward to next year. Q. Obviously there's been a lot of speculation leading into this game of your status for next season. Do you have any thoughts on that now that the season is done? RED BERENSON: Well, I'm disappointed that it was an issue, and I don't know where it started. But I can tell you where it is. It's similar to last year, where I'm going to have a meeting with Ward Manuel. We talked on Tuesday, and we talked about revisiting the hockey program's coaching situation after the Frozen Four, and we'll decide what's best for the program. So there's been nothing decided. There's been no ultimatums, nothing like that. So Ward is busy now with the basketball tournament, and we were hoping to be more busy with the Big Ten hockey tournament. But that's what it is, so you can forget about it for now. Q. This is the last time you'll coach at Joe Louis Arena. What does it mean for the state of Michigan as a whole to have a place like this for the hockey culture? RED BERENSON: Well, we've been talking about it during the week. I think Joe Louis has been a tremendous venue for college hockey, and the exposure for college hockey and the credibility for college hockey, and the Ilitch family has been tremendous working with first the CCHA and the NCAA. I've seen finals here and final fours and regionals and so on, and we had the CCHA Playoffs here every year, and it was a thrill for every team to get here. The slogan was "the road to the Joe" and don't think all those players that have played in Joe Louis Arena weren't thrilled to play here, so I think it's been great for college hockey. Ironically, I think I coached the first NHL game in Joe Louis, too, when I was coaching St. Louis. You could look that up. Q. Not only have you closed out Joe Louis Arena, but we're lucky enough to have someone who played at the Olympia, coached at the Olympia. Can you share a memory or two from the Olympia? RED BERENSON: Well, the great thing about the Olympia, and people used to complain about the size of the ice, and it was shaped a little bit like an egg in the corners, but it was a great place to play, and the seating sight lines were terrific. They were really steep. In fact, there were railings on just about every row the higher you got. But it was a great atmosphere, a great environment. Now, Joe Louis was probably much needed at the time and maybe now the new Little Cesars Arena is maybe badly needed. But they've all had their times. They've had great players in there, great teams. I was honored to play for Detroit in the Original Six in the Olympia, and I was honored to -- I didn't play in Joe Louis, but I've been honored to be a coach in here and watch all the happenings of hockey over these years. It's been a great thing. Q. After going down 4-0, Zach kind of settled in and stopped his next 20 shots after that. What did you tell him after that? RED BERENSON: I didn't tell him anything. I thought he was victimized on a couple of the goals. And he's played so well for us, and he gave us, we thought, our best chance. He had the momentum coming into this tournament. He got shutouts in his last two Big Ten games, as you know, and I think Steve Shields has done a great job with our goalies. And all three of them could have played tonight, but it was Zach's time, and we were disappointed that we couldn't get a couple of goals for him. The goalies can't score goals, and we've been in these games where the momentum changed, but Penn State wouldn't let us change the momentum. Q. Can you speak to what the atmosphere is like in a game like this, especially for the seniors? RED BERENSON: Well, I don't think it hits you until the game is over. Like we didn't worry about any of that coming into the game. We worried about having a good game, our best game so that we'd have a chance to play again tomorrow. And now that it's over, it's going to hit the seniors hard, and they're going to start realizing that this is it. They didn't know that this morning or this afternoon, but they know it now, so it's real and it's over and it's tough. It's this way every year. If you don't win your last game, it's a tough way to finish your career. Q. Last year you had almost exactly twice as many goals as you did this year. Seems like offense was an issue through players leaving or whatever. Can you sort of describe whether the two -- how much more fun it might have been last year than this year? Can you compare the situation in the room between the two years? RED BERENSON: Yeah, it's night and day. I mean, it was just so much fun last year. You know, I told most of my friends that last year would probably be my last year, and by the end of the year we were all having fun, the players, the coaches, the fans. And the offense was a big part of it. There's no question. And there's nothing like winning, and there's nothing like losing. So last year was last year, but that was more of a Michigan team that could score, and we had trouble this year. Q. Reflecting on the end of last season, beginning of the season, heading in, you knew you were going to be losing a lot of the guys from last year's team. What were the hopes of this year's team, and now at the end -- RED BERENSON: Well, you heard us talk early in the year. We were hoping our two freshmen goalies and Nagelvoort could give us all the goal keeping, and I think we got all that. We were hoping our defense could be rock solid and give our goalies a chance to be good, and we were hoping our forward could do a better job defensively. We knew we weren't going to light it up that much, but we thought we'd be in every game. It didn't work out that way. We gave up too many shots, too many goals against, and we couldn't score. It doesn't always go the way you planned. I thought our coaches worked hard, our players worked hard. We just weren't good enough. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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