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NCAA MEN'S FROZEN FOUR

April 6, 2017

Chicago, Illinois

Minnesota-Duluth - 2, Harvard - 1

MODERATOR: We're joined by the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs, Scott Sandelin and Alex Iafallo, Hunter Miska and Joey Anderson.

COACH SANDELIN: I want to congratulate Harvard on a great year they had. It was a great game today. We made a play at the end to win. But certainly exciting for our team and our program to be playing on Saturday night. And looking forward to see who we play. But it's kind of been our MO all year. Another tight game. Another one-goal hockey game. And just real exciting to be moving on.

MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Joey and Alex, your coach just referenced this, but it's the fourth straight game you guys have won in either in the last minute of regulation or overtime. How do you explain why you guys have been so good down the stretch in the postseason?
JOEY ANDERSON: I just think that we're a really composed team. I think as the game wears on, we play a really good style that allows us to maintain our game, and we're able to finish chances when we get them. And that's been the way we've done it lately.

ALEX IAFALLO: Yeah, we've just been resilient all year. And I think that's been our mindset going into the third or overtime, just glad we didn't go into overtime this time here.

Q. Alex, can you walk us through what you were thinking and what you saw on the play that led to your goal and your last tap-in to win?
ALEX IAFALLO: It was a good pass by Joey. We kept it in there at the blue line. And that was pretty much the key to the goal. And Raskob made a good play. We do it in practice all the time. So simple things like that, getting the puck to the net. Just had to shovel it in.

Q. Hunter, 39 saves and all anybody's going to talk about is the two that hit the crossbar in the last 20 seconds there. Did you see or get a piece of those, do you think?
HUNTER MISAK: I think Wolff said he got a piece with his knee. Yeah, it's all good tonight.

Q. Joey, can you just talk about your -- how you saw the game-winning goal unfolding from your own position and what you did on that?
JOEY ANDERSON: I was kind of below the pile at the blue line, and I was hoping that we'd get a keep, and they happened to make a couple of keeps and it came to me and I just kind of held it for a second and saw Al passing through and saw Willie screening on the weak side, just threw a little pass over to him, and he did the rest from there.

Q. Alex, can you talk about in terms of did you feel you had no time to get a quick shot off, or did you see the 5 hole was open?
ALEX IAFALLO: Honestly, I just shoveled it in. We do it in practice all the time. I just kind of thought just get to it the net, and Raskob made a good pass, why not shoot it in the game. Worked out well.

Q. Alex and Joey, maybe you can answer this. Chicago was the host. What was it like playing at the United Center, largest building in NHL, largest building you may have played in a long time? Talk about the atmosphere and the energy in the building.
ALEX IAFALLO: It was really cool, watching NHL games it's a dream come true, especially playing Saturday, it's going to be awesome. A lot of Bulldog fans out there. We owe it to those guys.

JOEY ANDERSON: I think he hit it right on the -- the nail right on the coffin. It's money.

Q. Alex, it seemed like despite the fact you got 38 shots, a lot of them from the point, and you were having trouble getting through the neutral zone in transition, did Harvard do a good job of holding you guys up and really slowing the pace down?
ALEX IAFALLO: Yeah, they had a great game all around. I thought their D was pretty strong and they're good at moving the puck. So I don't know, we just had to get a couple good chances and hopefully they end up going in. So, yeah, solid D all around.

Q. Joey, talk about your game-tying goal. Looked like Toninato won a face-off down there, just ended up in your possession in the slot there, looked like Madsen couldn't control it.
JOEY ANDERSON: Popped out in the middle, figured get it past a couple guys, get to the net, and it happened to go right through them.

Q. Alex, the Buffalo News is reporting about your relationship with your sister who is quite a hockey player, I understand, and you guys communicate. Have you texted her? Did you get anything yet since the game-winner?
ALEX IAFALLO: I haven't checked my phone yet. But I know she's here right now. And, yeah, she's got better hands than me, I can tell you that.

Q. Kid from New York State playing in Duluth on the banks of Lake Superior, are you a full-fledged Duluthian now and can you talk about the two cultures?
ALEX IAFALLO: Buffalo is similar to Duluth. Duluth is a lot smaller. But, yeah, I feel like I've got Minnesota blood in me. I love New York, but Minnesota-Duluth has been absolutely phenomenal. And I couldn't have made a better choice. I love everybody here.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. Ted Donato said he felt like it was a battle for every inch of ice out there tonight. Does it seem appropriate it was a puck battle that really ended up winning the game?
COACH SANDELIN: Yeah, pretty much. I thought our first period, I thought we had maybe the edge in that. I thought the second period they were really good. I thought they won a lot of puck battles. I thought they controlled a lot of the O zone time especially down low.

They played their game well. The third period I thought they had more rush plays, where I thought we maybe had a little better O zone time than we did in the second period.

But we knew that. They're a good defensive team. They're a good transition team. I didn't think in the neutral zone, for us, I didn't think we spread the rink out enough. I thought the first period was fine. The second period I thought we just tried forcing too many plays and made it a little bit easier for them to stop us through the neutral zone.

And it's a game against a good team that transitions well. You've got to manage a puck. I thought we got away from that a little bit. But it was a battle. We knew it was going to be probably not surprising both goalies were good. And fortunately we made a play at the end and got a little puck luck.

Q. Scott, just like Al said, you've been resilient. Resilient all night. Is there one thing you can attribute to your resilience all year?
COACH SANDELIN: Again, we've got our experience. We've got our senior group. They've been through, they've won a lot of games, they've been in some big games. But I think just the way our year has gone, maybe getting some confidence, winning some of those games earlier in the year and throughout the year.

Obviously we play in a very difficult league. So every weekend you go in thinking those are the types of games you're going to be in. And very seldom are there blowouts. And it can change from one night to the next.

But I think we've just gained -- part of it is maybe our older guys settling everybody down, making sure everybody is having that belief or confidence maybe through those games that we've won that we can do that. And so far it's worked out.

Q. Not to ask you to comment about officiating because I know you won't, but you take three minor penalties in the first 15 minutes. And Harvard gets a power play goal. Do you have to guard against changing your style of game at that point?
COACH SANDELIN: One thing I've learned is I don't -- don't take penalties or play 5-on-5 because we seem to take more. We kind of addressed it, and I thought a couple of them -- I thought Wolff's hit was a good hit. And if he had to make that play again, I'd tell him to make it again.

But, yeah, you've just gotta get a feel. I think at that point I think our guys were maybe getting a little riled up and that's where we just kind of settled down and play and don't get -- just play hockey.

But you gotta guard a little bit because obviously their power play is very good, as you saw. They're going in at 26, 27 percent. And like any power play that's good you don't want to give them too many opportunities. And we limited those as the game went on too.

Q. Coach, a lot of time left still when you take the lead 2-1. What are you like in those final 26 seconds? What's going through your mind as that plays out?
COACH SANDELIN: First I was waiting to see if Teddy was going to take his timeout, because if not I was going to take our timeout to make sure we've got the guys we want on the ice. But he took that.

Again, you work on that stuff. I mean, we haven't seen a lot of their 6-on-5 play. I thought it was a good move by him by pulling the goalie instead of waiting. I like that. I like that aggressiveness. We iced the puck the one time, we made a play to get it out, and sometimes they bite you. But the puck got by Joey, and I was going uh-oh, and they made a play to the slot. And fortunately we got some puck luck, and that was good. And we finally got it out.

But they got some great players. They're a great offensive team and they've got some guys with hands and can shoot pucks around the net. If you get that chance, probably in ten times he's probably going to put it in seven or eight. But fortunately for us it didn't go in the pipe.

But I was worried after -- I don't know if we were kind of cheating on that play a little bit. Instead of just -- but it got by his stick. If he tips it, great. It's going the other way. But it didn't. And the next thing we know we've got a couple of guys taught. Sometimes you have to have a little bit of luck, too.

Q. What can you say about the fans here? They were pretty vocal on plays they didn't like. And you had the band here too.
COACH SANDELIN: It's great. It's great. I know there's a lot of people that I think are coming Saturday, too, now. But we've had a great following. It was awesome. If we could have had more, we probably would have had more. But those tickets got gobbled up quickly, and that's great. So I'm glad they can enjoy the rest of the tournament and a game on Saturday just like our players can.

Q. I was just wondering if you could sort of talk about Alex's growth over his four years and was it appropriate that he shoveled home that winner?
COACH SANDELIN: He's had a great year, obviously, I think when you look at numbers. But he's been a real good player for us. He's had some really good parts of his first three years he's been a really good player, but maybe a little inconsistent by his standards, by our standards. And I think last year, when he didn't have the kind of year he wanted personally, and also that we didn't win that regional game.

But he had made the decision to come back at Christmas, I think, or shortly after. But he went back and was determined to have a good summer, a better summer. Worked hard to continue to get stronger.

I think he worked on shooting the puck. He's obviously got tremendous quickness. He's really got great edges. And he does have pretty good hands. I don't know if his sister's are better. I haven't seen her play. But he's just been really good for us at a high level all year. And it was probably fitting, our best player up there scored.

Q. Joey scores with a minute and a half left in the first period. It seemed to really give you guys a momentum boost. Took it to them at the second half shooting 10-3, did you feel that lift on the bench after Joey's goal?
COACH SANDELIN: Yeah, I thought we had a good first period as far as how we wanted to come out. We had a good jump. I thought we were winning races to pucks. We had the puck. At the end of the period, you look, it's 14-13, whatever, they had nine of them on the power play.

But I just like how we were playing. I think our intensity level was good. We had some real good time in the offensive zone. But yet we hadn't scored. So anytime you get a goal later in a period, you know, it certainly gave us a boost.

But I thought they, in the second period, came out and they started to win the battles and they were a little stronger over the puck and they started to establish their game, especially down low. They play really good 2-on-2 low game and get those guys moving around. And we struggle with that a little bit. We got out of the period 1-1. So that was good.

Q. Having national championship game experience, what can you tell the guys in the locker room for the next game to try to limit their nerves a little bit?
COACH SANDELIN: We'll talk tomorrow. I don't know. I just want them to enjoy tonight. You know, obviously we talked before. I talked to some of the older guys, and, again, this is a great -- you want them to enjoy coming to the Frozen Four.

You know what, I've had the disappointment of losing on a Thursday in '04 and having to turn around and catch multiple flights home and you never really experience the whole thing. And obviously in '11 we stayed and won.

So it's a great experience for those guys, for everybody, fans included, to be able to stay and play for a national championship. Regardless of how if we would have lost tonight, I would still be extremely proud of our guys. I'm obviously very proud of our team right now. And hopefully we can take one more step.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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