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NCAA MEN'S FROZEN FOURApril 8, 2017Jim MontgomeryJarid LukoseviciusTanner JailletWill ButcherChicago, Illinois Denver - 3, Minnesota-Duluth - 2 MODERATOR: We're joined by the eight-time national champion Denver Pioneers. We have players Will Butcher, Tanner Jaillet, and Jarid Lukosevicius. Will, opening statement. WILL BUTCHER: I don't know where Coach Montgomery is. He'll be coming in pretty soon. Great for the university, great for our fans, great for the city of Denver. It's hard to put into words what this win means. I love each and every one of the guys on this team, and I'm so proud of them. MODERATOR: Questions for players. Q. Will, after the loss last year to North Dakota, I know you guys have talked about the mission, to finish it off this way. What's it mean to you guys? WILL BUTCHER: Yeah, again, it's hard to put into words. After that loss, it seemed like everybody was focused from that day on to become better, become committed to excellence, like we always talk about. And just sticking to our process as usual. And like I said, I'm so proud of these guys. They followed Coach Montgomery, followed our leadership group this year. And like I said, I can't put it into words. COACH MONTGOMERY: There you go, boys. (Laughter.) Q. Duluth fired 17 shots on you in the third period. Talk about the barrage and how you guys were able to stand it, especially after they scored the second goal? TANNER JAILLET: They were coming strong. They were throwing the kitchen sink at us. Our guys had huge blocks, making plays. We were able to weather that storm and obviously come out with the win. Q. Jarid, when was the last time you had a hat trick in a game? JARID LUKOSEVICIUS: Midget hockey. I didn't get one in Juniors. I wasn't that good. I don't know what Monty saw in me. COACH MONTGOMERY: Obviously a lot. Q. Jarid, what kind of advice did your coach give you about the importance of scoring three times in a championship game? (Laughter.) JARID LUKOSEVICIUS: I don't know, he didn't. He just said stick to the process, and we did. Asking me hard questions here. This is my first press conference, by the way. (Laughter.) Q. Will, talk about when Tariq went down and what you guys had to make adjustments defensively with being down a defenseman and what it did for the team morale getting knocked out like that. WILL BUTCHER: We talked about how deep our team is. And Matty Van and Michael Davies, our freshman, and Blake Hillman stepped up huge for us. Rolled five defensemen the whole time, kept the quick shifts and rolled through it. And relied on this guy back here to make some key saves for us, and we stuck with it. Q. Jarid, your coach scored a hat trick in the third period of the '93 championship game. Did you know about that and how that came to play in terms of now you guys are connected in history? JARID LUKOSEVICIUS: No, I didn't know it before. I guess it's my turn to start balding. (Laughter.) STUDENT-ATHLETE: What do you mean start? Q. Jarid, here's another tough question for you. Most of those goals seemed to be a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Can you just talk about maybe your emphasis in trying to be in that right place so that when Troy makes some of his moves you can go and capitalize? JARID LUKOSEVICIUS: Yeah, Gams and Troy did an unbelievable job. They forechecked their butt off. And I wouldn't have scored any of those goals if it wasn't for those two. I just happened to stay in front of the net because I knew that they were going to shoot pucks or bring the puck to the net. And I was in the right place at the right time. Q. Tanner, it did get hairy in the third period, guys were gripping their sticks tight, but you seemed unflappable? TANNER JAILLET: They were coming, obviously, but we practiced all year staying composed and closing out games in third periods. And, I mean, I've got to give a lot of credit to my team. They were blocking shots, making plays, chipping pucks out. But obviously it was good. We were calm back there, and we got the job done. Q. Will, the momentum seemed to switch after the injury and Duluth made quite a push at that point. What was that moment like emotionally for you guys to see a teammate go off, and how did that affect what happened on the ice the rest of the way? WILL BUTCHER: I mean, it's terrible when a teammate and brother goes off like that. Guy's battled all year and that game especially with a play like that. It was very tough. Like we said, we knew they were going to come with a push. It was the last game of the season. So everybody was going to come with a push in that kind of situation. But like he said, we just stuck with it. Might not have played our best period, but we just stuck with it, relied on T.J. to make some saves back there and just tried to play defensively as well. Q. Tanner, talk about the night you had. Duluth was just relentless in the third period. Talk about the night you had and how you were able to withstand them in the end. TANNER JAILLET: I mean, they're a good team, obviously. We knew they were going to come, like Butchy just said. But try to make saves, put rebounds in the corner. Obviously I wasn't alone out there. My defense and forwards, they're blocking shots and making tons of plays for me. Kept everything pretty much to the outside. That's all I can ask them to do. And, I mean, we did it as a team. And it's awesome. Q. Jarid, you guys had the first nine shots of the game, you had a great start but hit a couple of posts, and Duluth seemed to counter in the last half of the period. What did you talk about between the first and second period, since the last time you hadn't scored in the first period you lost to North Dakota? JARID LUKOSEVICIUS: We stuck to the process all year and we knew it was going to come if we kept playing with the process. And that's what we did. Q. For any of the three of you, it's been 12 years since this program's won a national title. Can you put into words what this means for the city of Denver and the school? WILL BUTCHER: Again, can't put it into words. I think everybody's going to be very proud about this one getting back here and being in Chicago with the amount of support and the alumni that are here was amazing. It was the biggest fan base that we've ever had. And just seeing everybody at the hotel, down in the corner at the end of the game, it was something I'm going to remember the rest of my life. So I think just that in itself was just unbelievable. Q. Will, any of the other guys chime in on this as well, talk about what it was like the moment you knew the mission was accomplished; and also seeing Tariq in the celebration afterwards and getting to see him, who he probably lobbied to stay in the United Center, just talk about seeing your guy afterwards and winning the championship? WILL BUTCHER: Yeah, the moment I realized we had won it, I looked up at the clock, and it was like at one point something. And the puck was going to out of the zone. I turned around, threw my stuff. And I was trying to get my helmet off; I couldn't get my helmet off. I'm looking at T.J., and he's like -- he's looking up, and I don't know, it's just something I can't put into words, to be honest with you. And seeing Tariq come back out was unbelievable. I was asking David Tenzer and a couple of the other guys was he going to be there, because I wanted him to be there to celebrate the victory with us. And it was amazing to see him to have the will and guts to stay and celebrate with us in the end. JARID LUKOSEVICIUS: We wouldn't be here without him. He's my best friend. He's a battler. It's unfortunate he went down. But it's awesome he stuck around and was able to celebrate with us. Q. How special was it to win the championship on this ice where there's been so much history with the Blackhawks over the last decade? TANNER JAILLET: I mean, it's awesome. Obviously the Blackhawks, pretty awesome franchise. Like you said, so much history in this building. It was awesome to go out there and be able to pull one out for our program. Q. When you met with Tariq close to center ice, what did you guys say to him? JARID LUKOSEVICIUS: Beep, beep, beep, beep. Championship. (Laughter) that's the truth. MODERATOR: Thank you very much and congratulations. An introductory of your son and your opening statement. COACH MONTGOMERY: This is my second son, Colin Donald Montgomery. Say hello to everybody. COLIN MONTGOMERY: Hello. (Laughter). COACH MONTGOMERY: But, incredible moment. First, I want to congratulate Minnesota-Duluth on an incredible year. I thought they were going to be the team to beat before the season started. And they started off so well. And a lot of respect that our staff and our players have for the way they play the game. Their staff, led by Coach Sandelin, is an incredible person, and they had an incredible year. We won the regular season, they won the playoff, and we met in the championship game. It speaks volumes about our conference and about the two teams headed for the collision course in the final game here. Once I saw the tournament bracket, I was happy we weren't going to see them in the semifinal. Q. So you see one of your players get a hat trick in the NCAA final. What memories did that bring back to you? What's you reaction? What did you say? Looked like you said something to the guys when they showed it up on the video board up above the ice here. COACH MONTGOMERY: No, I didn't know -- the players were asking me if I saw the board, and I said I'm staying in the moment. My eyes are staying below the boards. I didn't know he meant the scoreboard. So I did not know. I did not know there was another -- that's the first hat trick. But I'm glad I'm part of both, and I'm glad we won the championship on both nights. Q. Just talk about the recovery from Tariq's injury for your team. It seemed like they pushed against you right after that and looked like you guys were struggling, took a lot of wind out of your sails for the first three, four minutes right after that injury. COACH MONTGOMERY: Tariq Hammond is a warrior, our biggest most physical defenseman, and he was matching up against their top two lines and doing an incredible job. And obviously when a warrior goes down, you know, we talk about staying in the moment, we talked about picking up a warrior and we have to all play like warriors. But human nature, they're going to come push. I thought we were playing really well the first two and a half minutes until his injury, and I thought the next six minutes was we were just holding on, like we were wearing seatbelts. We weren't skating anymore and our communication was poor, which just allowed them to hem us in our end. And I thought we took for the next four minutes. I thought we were really good until the eight-minute timeout, and then it was kind of even until they scored that goal. I thought we were playing really good. We made a mistake on their second goal. But give them credit. They're a great team and they pushed at us and they caused us to turn the puck over and created 2-on-1 and capitalized, and it was back to putting the seatbelt on and hang on. But thank God we have the Mike Richter Award winner, and everybody realizes why he won. He was incredible in the third period. His confidence and poise and how secure he was in controlling rebounds gave us confidence we were going to be able to prevail. Q. I'm sure neither is better than the other, but the fulfillment of winning as a coach and player, can you talk about the emotions that go through from 25 years ago and then tonight? COACH MONTGOMERY: Yeah, I think when your adrenalin is going as a player, it's maybe more euphoric, just in the sense that you're just -- your heart rate's up. Mine probably 180. But as a coach, it's an incredible feeling. And you're more proud of your student-athletes and how they've grown and how they seized the moment. And being part of that and being able to lead that group, so to speak, as the head coach, it's an incredible feeling of pride that we were able to do this and to be able to lead a group like Shawn Walsh did, who is a mentor of mine, the way he led us. I'm not saying I'm like Shawn Walsh, because he's a legend. But I just draw a lot, my experiences from him. And especially Grant Standbrook, who I've worked with. And I spoke to Grant today about what does it take. And we had a great moment. And he's in his hospital. He's battling cancer right now. And he's texting me, he's calling me in between periods to give me advice. And it's just a special bond when you're part of a special program and a special family and you have that kind of commitment to each other. It never dies. And these young men I know will be friends for life and they'll be proud Pioneers for the rest of their life. Q. Jarid said he didn't know what you saw in him when you recruited him. Can you tell us what did you see in him, not only when you recruited him but why you put him on the first line? COACH MONTGOMERY: Well, what I saw was a guy who knew how to score goals and had really good hockey sense. And then we needed to upgrade our goal scoring ability. And you never turn away goal scorers. He came here and he didn't understand the work ethic that you need in his freshman year. In his sophomore year, he stayed all summer in Denver. He worked out with our strength and conditioning coach. And he was a beast. And then when Trevor Moore signed in August, I said you're not playing right wing anymore you've; got to go learn how to play left wing. Every day you're on the ice, take hard passes on the back end, take every puck because we need a goal scorer. Give him credit because he relished the role and he was hard to play against. They're not easy goals he scored. I know that everyone says like he might have an open net, but he buried them and he was in the area where it's tough to score goals. And you need players like that, especially on your first line when you have playmakers and dynamic skaters like Gambrell and Terry. Q. Can you give us any details on Tariq's injury, what his prognosis is and the process for him in the next couple days? COACH MONTGOMERY: Yeah, first, I want to share my moment with Tariq when I saw him on the ice. I was overcome with emotion when I saw him come back out. But I'm not surprised. He has the heart of a champion. He's an incredible teammate. And he's definitely wearing a letter next year, probably our captain next year. And he was emotional. But he just kept saying: We did it, we did it. And his prognosis is probably a broken ankle. And I guess it wasn't easy for three orthopedic surgeons that were here to put it back in place. But I guess that's how tough a kid he is. Once it was back in place, he wanted to hop out on the ice. Just shows the character of the individuals that we recruit at Denver. Q. I went back up and looked up your pressers after you played Duluth in December. And you said the difference between winning and losing was your best player. Troy Terry was your best player on the ice Friday night and he was held without a point on Saturday. Talk about Troy's performance tonight. He seemed to be all over the ice on those goals with Jarid. COACH MONTGOMERY: He's incredible. I thought ever since the NCAC playoffs started he's been our most dominant player, all over the ice. He's been relentless. I think that opportunity to win gold with the World Juniors has given him an idea how to mentally prepare when you're playing in big stages. And he's just incredible, what he did on that second goal, I mean, I thought he scored it -- that's why I didn't know that Lukosevicius -- I didn't know Luko put it in. Q. Can you talk about Blake Hillman's growth and how important he was on the back end for you guys this year? COACH MONTGOMERY: Blake, I don't know what it is. I gotta get him to play as good in the first half as he does in the second half. Again, this year he just took it to another level in the second half. And he has great poise. He finds the middle of the ice. He's able to look people off and allow our forwards to skate with penetration. And with Butcher moving on, he's going to have to have a bigger role next year. But he plays the style of play -- I don't know if everyone knows it, he's drafted by the Blackhawks. So he's Blackhawk-style defenseman, very cerebral, good skater, knows how to make good plays in all three zones. Q. What does it mean to win this for this senior class? COACH MONTGOMERY: It's a little bit romantic that it's my fourth year. So I feel like I'm graduating with them. But incredible, because their commitment has been unreal to the program, especially in the last 18 months. And what they learned from Grant Arnold, who was an incredible captain for two years, it helped me change the culture into a selfless and about the team first and not about individuals, it was mindboggling. And then what they did to add to it as a group was incredible. And for them to be rewarded. I was worried yesterday with all those individual honors coming that we never thought about and the emotion of it. I mean, you know when Will won the Hobey, it's an incredible moment. And I'm wondering, here's our best defenseman, is he going to have legs tomorrow night and give them credit they never thought about anything about themselves. He didn't even spend time with his family. He's like: I'm going with you, Coach, we're going back. It's just a special group. Q. You just kind of talked about it a little bit but seemed like your puck support, when you guys were going well in the first and second was just really good. Seemed like every time someone was in trouble, one of your other guys came to bail them out. What can you say about the puck support and how important that was in getting the lead in the second period? COACH MONTGOMERY: It's a big focus on how we play. We want to play fast. We want to generate speed. And we gotta have -- we talk about 10- to 15-foot puck support. If people aren't moving their feet to get the space for their teammate, they're not doing the right thing. And over the course of the year I think that's why we get better offensively is because we drill it every day. And we may go about it differently, about how we attack every opponent, because we see holes differently. Every opponent we have played a completely different game throughout this tournament. And for us to be able to adjust and just keep playing relentless hockey with puck possession like that, it's because of those guys' commitment to each other. Q. You had a great start. You fired the first nine shots on the game, and you really set the pace. But then Duluth was able to kind of turn the tide for a bit. During the first nine shots you hit a couple posts. Given some of Duluth's puck luck, what were you thinking at that point? COACH MONTGOMERY: I wasn't thinking anything. I was thinking I like the way we're playing. We knew they were going to push back, and they came back in the last half of the period. And they got some chances. They had I thought one great chance and great save by Jaillet on the rebound I think on Toninato. Q. Last year you were in a very similar position, one minute left in the game. D zone draw. Can you talk about what you said to the guys on the bench this year compared to last year? COACH MONTGOMERY: Oh, I said stop icing the puck, was one thing. You know? But when it came down to it, with that last timeout, we talked about it. We didn't have our timeout because I used it in the second. We talked about what we need to do in the D zone and we need to communicate and we needed to have bump plays to get pucks out. The opening game against Michigan Tech, we made the exact same mistake in the end of the second period as we did and we got scored against. And that, I cracked down on that after that weekend and talked about our game management has to be better. And I give our players credit. Because I only thought we had one forced icing down there in the wild stretch of hockey where Duluth was coming at us. Q. Given what happened last year in the Frozen Four and everything you went through in the summer and fall, do you think this is a team of destiny? COACH MONTGOMERY: We can say that now. But I never feel like there's a team of destiny. I always worry about when things are going too well, about making sure we stay grounded and we hold each other accountable. And I think that loss to North Dakota helped us that way. Q. You see teams all the time let up after scoring a goal. You guys didn't seem to do that in any tournament game. What made you guys different? COACH MONTGOMERY: Well, we always talk about keeping our foot on their throat. And we talk about going right back at them. And if you watch the neutral zone faceoffs, we're never retreating, we're going forward with it. And I think that's a big part of our mentality is when we score, we want to keep people down. MODERATOR: All right. Thank you, Coach. Congratulations. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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