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NCAA MEN'S FROZEN FOURApril 4, 2018Mel PearsonHayden LavigneJoseph CecconiTony CalderoneSt. Paul, Minnesota MODERATOR: We're joined by Michigan. Coach, an opening comment. COACH PEARSON: I'm thrilled, excited, very proud of my team. They've worked extremely hard to get here. It's been a while since Michigan's been to the Frozen Four. And it's great to be back. And I just want to thank all our fans, alumni, all the supporters, and we're anxious to drop a puck tomorrow. MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Tony and Hayden, if you can go and talk about this. Can you just talk about maybe how much you've paid attention to the basketball team and their run to the national championship game, any lessons you've learned from that, and maybe your own opportunity now to move into that limelight? TONY CALDERONE: I think there's a lot of similarities. I think they were the underdogs going into that tournament. And they were able to overcome a bunch of games. But, yeah, we obviously watched all the games. Ann Arbor was pretty crazy but I think we all got together as a team and watched it. So, yeah, I think a lot of similarities between us and it was extremely exciting and good for Michigan. HAYDEN LAVIGNE: I think just watching it as a team, seeing the stuff that they did, being unranked in January and then kind of working their way up, very similar to us. Watching the team shows us we can do the same thing. They made it to the finals; that's our goal right now, just one at a time. And the atmosphere that they brought to Ann Arbor and the energy that they brought it's translated on to us and it's just a good vibe. Q. I'm wondering if each of the players can maybe express why Notre Dame is such a difficult team to play against and why you guys were fortunate enough to win two games against them? JOSEPH CECCONI: I think that obviously they have a very good goaltender with Cale Morris, and they play a good really team defense. I think that's their biggest -- that's their strong point on their team is their team defense and goaltending. HAYDEN LAVIGNE: In our series against them, we've seen their power play. Their power play has been pretty deadly. They've got most of their goals off of that. So I think our job is to shut that down, and at the same time, just like Cheech was saying, their core defense and their team commitment to defense is what makes them really hard. TONY CALDERONE: Just going off what these guys said, I think their defensive zone is incredible. They make it really hard for us to get to the middle of the ice. And as long as we can get there, sacrifice and get some shots on net, get some rebounds, I think we'll be okay. Q. Joe, could you talk about what you and your defensive mates have done along with Hayden this season and where you're at right now defensively? JOSEPH CECCONI: Yeah, I mean we started out, obviously I think it starts with goaltending, and we were rotating goalies the first of the year. When Hayden finally got the number one job, he's taken over very well and is playing with a lot of confidence. And that's helping the D corps and guys like Quinn, Sam, Nick, everyone on D has played much better from the start of the year and last year also. And everyone's picked up their game and has played really well. Q. Joe, how has the defense evolved in your time at Ann Arbor? JOSEPH CECCONI: I think for my first two years here we had, my freshman year, we had Mike Komisarek, our volunteer coach, and he taught us a lot of stuff. And I think we're more offensive team. Michigan hockey is more known for its offense, so the D have to be more offensive. And you have guys like Werenski who came in and things like that. And this year with Mel coming in, I think the D have been more active than last year, that's for sure. And it's just playing in front of a good goaltender helps us develop, and playing in front of offense that puts a lot of goals in the net that helps us out a lot, too. Q. Tony, at what point in February did you see the team turning around? And what factors were most prominent in the fact that you guys went from a team on the bubble to a team that got on a roll and ended up here? TONY CALDERONE: This has been a common question but I think we always resort back to when we actually got swept by Notre Dame. They were number one in the country at the time. And we played with them. I think each game was a one-goal game, all power play goals. So that gave us confidence. Once we started getting that confidence we run into Minnesota the following weekend and was able to sweep Minnesota in Minnesota, which was the first, I think, since 1977. And so, yeah, that was really just snowball effect and confidence kept going. So I think that's our strongest asset right now is our confidence, and hopefully we can keep it going. Q. Hayden, it seemed like you really kind of turned your game on and improved. What was the big change for you kind of midway through the season, and you started getting more starts and more of an opportunity? HAYDEN LAVIGNE: Yeah, getting to play consistently kind of gave me the opportunity to figure out where I wanted to be mentally each game. Coach Shields and I worked a lot on my mental preparation and kind of performance for each game. And I think I just really saw myself grow mentally, in my maturity how I approached each game. I figured out a routine that I like and the way I like to feel going into the game. And once I got a good hold on that and a good process on how to get there, I saw my consistency improve and that gave me quite a bit of confidence, kind of led to just playing a little bit farther out in the crease, being a little bit more confident, going out and getting pucks, stuff like that. Q. What does it mean to have three Big Ten teams in the Frozen Four? TONY CALDERONE: I think it's huge for the league. I have been here for four years. The Big Ten wasn't nearly as good my first three. It's been incredible seeing the improvement over the years. And I think it's great for us, too, playing in the Big Ten because it's prepared us. We've played these teams so many times and I think it's great. It's really exciting to see it move forward. JOSEPH CECCONI: I just think that it makes all the three teams here look really good. Q. Hayden, you kind of alluded to some of the stuff that Coach Shields has helped you with, but has there been anything that -- how much have you leaned on a guy like that, who obviously has so much experience, and what are some of the others where he has helped you improve your game? HAYDEN LAVIGNE: With his experience both here at Michigan and in the NHL, he's kind of there for anything. He's great to just bounce ideas off on technical issues. We review every game and everything like that, and usually it's just minor tweaks and that sort of stuff. But most of what we focussed on all year has been the mental aspect. And I've had a lot of coaches throughout the years tell me that goaltending is 10 percent skill and 90 percent between the ears. So that's kind of where we've dialed in and what needs to improve. And the difference at the next level between goalies isn't really skill. It's all who can perform at their peak day in and day out. That's what we've led as the most important thing. And obviously we have little things here and there. Q. You played for a couple of years under Coach Red Berenson. What are the similarities and some of differences playing for Coach Berenson and now playing for Coach Pearson? TONY CALDERONE: Honestly I think I'd say probably the only difference is Coach Pearson brings a little bit more energy in practices. He likes to get involved and joke with the guys. But I think Coach Pearson coached under Coach Berenson for so long and there's so many similarities. So that made for a really easy transition. He uses a lot of the same -- like the car and all these different things like that. I think it's very similar to Coach Berenson so it made our transition super easy. Q. A car? TONY CALDERONE: Yeah, the car. So the prized car we are and we're on our way to Minnesota and if you have a problem with the car, you stop and fix it. So that was kind of our motto the entire year, and actually my entire four years. Q. Joe, you and Quinn have played a lot of minutes especially later in the season a lot together. How have you had to change your game plan with a guy that likes to get up into the rush so much? And what have you seen in terms of his growth as a player this season? JOSEPH CECCONI: I don't think I have to change my game at all. I think I'm suited to play with a guy with a tremendous amount of offensive talent, like Quinn. And I think at the beginning of the year he was trying to do a little too much, but now he's doing just enough to showcase his tremendous skill and help the team out at the same time. I think for us, we work well together. We have a lot of chemistry. We've practiced for half the year together, we played half the year together. We room together on the weekends. And things like that just help us get close. Q. This is a bit of a follow-up to what I asked before with Tony and Hayden. You're on a campus where arguably the most prominent team is the football team and then basketball. And you guys are third. But this is an opportunity to go and do what those other teams haven't done. Could you just talk about that opportunity to go and as big of a deal Michigan hockey is to even elevate its prominence even further? TONY CALDERONE: Yeah, I think, I mean, it was obviously sad to see the basketball team lose. Even if they did win, I think we go in with the same mindset. We want to win the national championship whether we're the third biggest team on campus or the last biggest team. I don't think our mindset changes that much, but it would be extremely special to be, I guess, the big guys on campus. But, like I said, we wanted Michigan basketball to win and we want to see success in all Michigan sports. HAYDEN LAVIGNE: Just this year alone we've seen tremendous success in all of Michigan athletics. We're probably bigger than most people realize. I had a lot of people after we won regionals come up to me, people in class that I don't even know, come up and congratulate me and kind of say good luck the rest of the way. It's nice to know that you have that support behind you, whether or not you know them, they're rooting for you just for the logo and just because of who we represent. And I think regardless of basketball, like Tony said, our job is still the same we're going out there, we're hunting for the national championship. Q. Does it mean any more to play against Notre Dame? It's one of the great rivalries in all of college sports, Michigan against Notre Dame, does it mean any bit more for you playing that school tomorrow? JOSEPH CECCONI: I don't think so. I think we all just want to play, we can play any team right now. There's four teams left, excited to be here. Whoever comes in our path is going to be moved out of the way, I think. Q. Michigan, Notre Dame, does it ring a bell, is it exciting? TONY CALDERONE: Being from Michigan, I think I've seen it plenty of times before. It's obviously a huge rivalry. Like Joe said, I don't think we're going to let that come into play. No matter who we're playing, we're going to play the same way. I guess it's better for the fans than it is the players. But it's special to be a part of it, I guess. HAYDEN LAVIGNE: I think since the creation of the Big Ten for hockey we saw that rivalry die off a little bit. And with Notre Dame joining the Big Ten this year, I think it really gave it an opportunity to reignite that rivalry. It's going to elevate this game to more of a -- it will have more of a personal feel, I think, for me. Playing them four times, we know what's at stake. And both teams know each other really well. So it's going to be a hard-fought battle. Q. Mel, what's the rivalry like in your mind? COACH PEARSON: I think these guys have answered the question very well. It's going to take a while to get it back to where it might be a football rivalry. But I think games like this, just add to the rivalry and obviously the games we had this year. It's the first year they've been back in the Big Ten. It will take a little bit of time. But I think five years from now it's going to be a great rivalry. I know our fans are excited. I know their fans are great when we go down there. I think it's just the beginning of really forming that rivalry back. MODERATOR: Questions for Coach. Q. Obviously you're a first-year coach. But coming into the season, you probably had a lot of questions marks, but maybe goaltender was probably the biggest one that people talked about. Maybe just ask you how about Hayden's progressed and how he was able to take the number one spot. COACH PEARSON: I'm very fortunate to have a great goaltender coach in Steve Shields. I don't really do much with the goaltenders. Obviously they're young. They're only sophomores, both of them, still. Tough year last year. I don't think it was all on them. We struggled defensively at Michigan. That's one of the things we needed to correct is total team defense. And they're just part of that. Steve has done a great job with them. Steve played a long time. I recruited Steve Shields when I was an assistant coach at Michigan. And I had him at Michigan Tech with me to help Phoenix Copley, Jamie Phillips, both guys who signed NHL contracts. Steve's been tremendous and he's done a great job with Hayden. Q. I'd like to go and ask about the other programs, and maybe from your perspective how much easier is it to perhaps recruit to Michigan given the prominence of some of the other sports? Does that make things easier for you and are there times when you kind of wish that maybe some of the resources that the really big money sports get, that you kind of wish they were in your pocket? COACH PEARSON: We have no issues with resources to recruit at Michigan. Warde Manuel is the new athletic director. Special guy. I knew him when I was an assistant. He was actually Associate AD in charge of hockey back in the day. He's been tremendous since I've been back, and always has been. So resources aren't an issue. Our recruiting is going fine. Recruiting is a little different this day and age. And with some of the younger people you need to recruit, but that won't be an issue. As far as football, basketball, that only adds to our recruiting. I think that block M, wherever you see it, on television, whether it's the basketball team and the recognition they give to our school, it just enhances our recruiting. Very happy for John Beilein and Harbaugh and the job they're doing, I think it just really adds and helps us. Q. Wanted to ask about the blocked shots. How did you get buy-in on that and how much has that helped this end of the season stretch? COACH PEARSON: It's so important. We didn't do a very good job the first half. If you look at the stats, first half to second half we've done a much better job. It was just a constant showing on video. And we finally realized why one player wasn't blocking shots. He wasn't wearing a cup. (Laughter). If you can believe that. We're wondering why he wasn't getting right down there and blocking shots. Well, you know why now. Anyway, it's been a better buy-in since we started wearing cups, I guess. (Laughter). That's true. Q. I was wondering, Tony Calderone had a breakout season as a senior and has been obviously very important for your team. What did you think was the difference in his game, how did he have such success offensively this year? COACH PEARSON: Commitment to being a better player. He really did a good job this summer. I met him in April, talked about a lot of things. One of them was do you want to try and play after you're done? And there's certain things that he had to do to make himself a better player. He was a good player, always could score. Needed to work on his skating, especially his speed. Just work on his conditioning, his all-around commitment to the game of hockey. Everybody wants to play after, but do you want to put the time in and make that commitment to be a player. And he has. And good for him. He's had a tremendous year for us. He's a great young man. Great captain. But he made that commitment this summer. Finally the switch went on. Q. I wanted to know if you could put a finger on when you thought you had something special with this team. COACH PEARSON: I think the players alluded to it previous, is that series against Notre Dame, you know, Notre Dame had been one or two or -- top all year. And I think that series, you saw some things that our coaches, okay, maybe we have a chance. If we play like we did this weekend, we got a chance to win every game we play. And it was a daunting task because that put us two games under .500. We're going on the road to Minnesota, who I think was ranked top 10 at the time. We had Penn State ranked 12th. Then it was Wisconsin ranked 15th. As a coach, you look at the schedule and you go, wow. Maybe it's time to start trading and look to the future. But that weekend really showed us something. And we went into Minnesota and had a good weekend. Penn State came to Yost. We swept them. At that point things started to come together. I think one of the issues also is the players had a new coach. They had to understand my expectations and what I was all about. And that takes time. And I think that was the other part of it, is just the comfort level that they had to get with me and understand what we wanted them to do and get that message across. And once we got some wins, I think they said, maybe this guy knows what he's talking about, maybe they weren't so sure about that. Q. When you told Hayden that he was your goalie, that you were going to go with him, take us back to that moment and also what it was about the way he was playing that convinced you, yeah, he's the guy I'm going with? COACH PEARSON: The first half we split our goalies. We got to the GLI tournament right after Christmas. I started Jack LaFontaine the first game and he had a tough outing. Hayden came in and won the next game. At that point, talking with Steve Shields, we decided, you know what, let's go with Hayden. We just felt that the numbers in the first half and his game at the GLI warranted that. We told him he's going to play the Notre Dame weekend; you don't have to look over your shoulder if you have a tough night or if you give up a bad goal. You're going to get the weekend. That's the first time we really committed to that. And I think it just gave Hayden some confidence but at the same time more just relaxed him and he had to play relaxed. And he had to earn that confidence. He had to get a few games together to get that. And he did. Fortunately for us he did. And from that point on he's been pretty good. I'd put his numbers or put him against anybody the second half of the year. Q. I know before the season you talked a lot about liking to pick other coaches' brains and seeing how they ticked. And I now you have a close relationship with Coach Beilein. Was there much dialogue between you guys during both of your tournament runs? COACH PEARSON: Oh, absolutely. We talked at least a couple times a week. I've known John since my days as an assistant at Michigan. He used to come over to the rink quite a bit actually. Him and Coach Berenson would talk. I've known him quite a while. I've stayed in touch with him when I went out to Michigan Tech and since I've been back. We talk about a lot of things. It's a different sport, but there's a lot of similarities. And just managing the team: Days off, giving them rest, how long are you going to practice, strength and conditioning, all those things. Especially we did a lot of that the last month because we had some times where we both had an extra break, an extra few days' break, how are we going to handle it. And I would just like to say thanks to him. I mean, I really appreciate him taking the time as -- I still consider myself a young coach and a young head coach, for sure, and him taking the time to talk and help. Q. You played in the Frozen Four when you were at Michigan Tech. 11 times as an assistant coach, now back, you went on the committee. Share some thoughts how this has changed and evolved over the course back to when you played to today. COACH PEARSON: It's come a long way. And I would like to make sure that I give a shoutout to St. Paul, the Xcel Energy Center. When I was on the committee, looking for different places to put it, I think this is one of the cities that comes to mind right away. You can almost do it every year here. They do a fantastic job here and they're going to do a great job for this tournament. So good for them. But no, it's evolved tremendously. Just from a press conference like this to the 18,000 whatever we're going to get here, we played in Duluth my senior year, the old deck, I think a lot of you probably weren't even born then. 5200 people or whatever it was. It's come a long way. Just everything, from the following it gets, the media attention, to the players, the players. We've got fantastic players. You'll see some great players here, and you're going to see some great games. It's just grown tremendously. And it's good. It's good for the sport. Now you're seeing players from all over, whether it's California or Arizona or Florida. Just so many more players playing the game. I think hockey, college hockey is in a really good spot right now, a really good area. And the game has grown so much. I expect it to continue to get better and better. MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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