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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 18, 2017Liam FolkesGuy GadowskyPeyton JonesDetroit, Michigan Penn State - 2, Wisconsin - 1 (2OT) GUY GADOWSKY: I'm just -- I don't know, incredibly proud, grateful to be a part of this University, to be part of this team. I'll tell you what, to play so many periods in three days and to pull it out was -- I mean, I know they're really good players, but, boy, I had no idea they had that much grit and just really proud to be a part of it. Q. Peyton, we talked to Jack Berry, he said you shared a goalie coach in New Jersey. Did you know of him because you were in a great goaltending dual with the guy on the other end of the rink? PEYTON JONES: Yeah, actually growing up, I had a goalie coach, George Bosak, back in New Jersey. He pretty much taught me -- he was with me from when I was six until this day. He's taught me everything I know and I give him all the credit in the world for everything he's done for me. He's been a great mentor to me. And I know he worked with Jack Berry, as well. He's a great goalie coach. Jack Berry is great goalie and it was a great game tonight. Q. Since you were in a goalie dual for the ages, a couple of freshmen? PEYTON JONES: Yeah, it's always cool playing against a freshman, someone who's in your shoes, in your same position. You know, but yeah, you know, it was a tight game like that, it's definitely a goalie dual, and it's nice to come out on top. Q. Liam, you take the pass from Brandon Biro, what are you see on the breakaway and what was kind of going through your head? LIAM FOLKES: I don't know how I got that wide open, and Biro made a really good pass. And then I just made the move that I always go to in practice, and it seemed to work out. Happy with that. Q. You've seen him make that move before in practice? PEYTON JONES: Yeah, it's a nice move. I'm not going to say he scores on me regularly, but he's a good player, and I'm really happy for him. LIAM FOLKES: When I do score, I use that one. Q. Liam, in the second overtime tonight, what was the speed level like after being in double OT the previous night? LIAM FOLKES: I think the guys were -- we never wanted to get down. Of course we're tired. We played 13 periods. But we knew if we just played our game, got the puck deep, then good things will happen. Q. When you guys are coming off a double overtime game last night and you head into another double overtime game tonight, what does that do for your confidence that you've done that before already, and how does that affect your mental state, I guess? PEYTON JONES: I mean, like the guys were saying in the locker room, we've been here before. And we did, we were there, what, 24 hours ago, and they weren't. That was definitely a little more comforting for us to know that we were there last night and we ended up pulling out a win, so that was definitely good, a little positive in the locker room. Like Liam said, we've played 13 periods, so guys were tired. As much as we're going to say we weren't tired, we were tired. It's a tough game. Playoff hockey makes it even harder on your body, and going into double overtime, we were positive, and it was good for us to get the win there. Q. The team defense that your team played this weekend seemed to be elevated compared to -- like the puck control you guys had. Can you talk about perhaps the total team effort that there was on both sides of the puck? LIAM FOLKES: Well, it had to be because, quite honestly, we could tell even when we started this game that we didn't have quite the legs. And if you could tell what was going on in the third, the guys were just trying to -- they were in survival mode. It did take -- everybody was just trying to play defense, just doing whatever you can to survive. That's really sort of what happened. GUY GADOWSKY: You know, your goaltender is your best defensive player often, the most important for sure. And he tremendous all three games, but really, I thought our D were great. I thought our forwards came back and helped. They wanted to win. I mean, defense is a lot -- at least I'd like to think a lot of it is desire and want, not necessarily about Xs and Os, and these guys sure wanted it and had a lot of desire? Q. All season long we've talked about Smirnov and Jones and to see Brandon Biro and Liam Folkes connect twice, what's it like to see those two? GUY GADOWSKY: I love the question because it's really gratifying, and they've both worked so hard at puck battles and the other parts of their game. Actually they had a tremendous tournament, aside from the goals. They had a tremendous tournament. They were winning pucks. It's fantastic to see. I think they've been a hugely important part of this team, so for them to get -- be a part of two huge goals like that I think is very fitting. Q. Seemingly every championship team needs one of those heroes in the last game of the season. Who did you expect to be the hero tonight, and what did you think when Liam ended up being that hero? GUY GADOWSKY: Yeah, well, we actually asked in the locker room, and John Hanna called Brandon Biro, so I thought since he's so young that he was the guy -- this is like a youth hockey tournament. You really look at it, it's like four games because of the amount of periods we played, so I thought John made a really good call. John Hanna and I, we called Brandon Biro so it was nice to see him a part of that. As Liam said in the locker room after, this was just a total team win, and happy for every single guy in this program. Q. This is the last college hockey game at the Joe. Is that a fitting end to it? GUY GADOWSKY: I mean, it's really special, yeah, it is. It's a very special thing. And for us, I mean, the Big Ten is -- to win the Big Ten is unbelievably special, and you look at the iconic college programs that we have to go through to get here, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin. I mean, that's unbelievable, and to do it in the Big Ten and do it in Joe Louis Arena, wow, it's incredibly special right now. And I know as time goes on, it's going to be even more special. It's awesome. Q. I think it was during the first overtime period, obviously Kris Myllari dives and makes this unbelievable block. I know you've raved about him all season but to see him again come up to huge, what's that like? GUY GADOWSKY: Yeah, it was déjà-vu because he's been doing it all year. I think if you look at -- there was a question from Paul about team defense. If you look at the overall team and I think Trevor Hamilton and Kris Myllari, for the mentality of it, deserves the most credit. And we've been watching Kris do that all year along with Trevor Hamilton, and very fitting that he came up with just another huge one. Q. Coach, you got a freshman with a 52-save performance. Can you put that masterpiece in perspective? GUY GADOWSKY: All I can say is he's a winner. I mean, it's phenomenal to see, phenomenal to watch. Just sat back and enjoyed it. It was a spectacular performance, not just to night but this whole tournament, he was absolutely spectacular. Can't say enough. Q. Going off that question a little bit, Peyton Jones of course is a freshman and he's a hero. Liam Folkes gets the two goals tonight. This is a young team and to get the Big Ten Tournament win this year, what do you expect for the future? GUY GADOWSKY: I don't know. I expect to sleep tonight. And you know, this is really special to win the Big Ten. It's really a special thing. And to the people back in Happy Valley, this is a really special thing. And so you want to sit back and enjoy it. But we're very fortunate, we have the NCAA Tournament coming up. I'm not even -- my mind is not even going there right now, I'm sorry. Q. You're in now, the NCAA Tournament. You said that was the goal the last couple years. You've talked about that. How does it feel to finally be there? GUY GADOWSKY: Phenomenal. Phenomenal. It's great. It's very special. You look at the tremendous programs that aren't going to be there this year and weren't there in last year, in recent years, and I mean, boy, this sounds -- I don't feel old, but I've been doing this for a while, and this is only the third time. I know how hard it is to get there and how you have to be really good and you have to be really fortunate, and we're going to enjoy every minute of it because it's really hard to do. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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