NCAA MEN'S FROZEN FOUR: DENVER VS BOSTON COLLEGE

April 13, 2024

Greg Brown

Eamon Powell

Jack Malone

Xcel Energy Center

Boston College Eagles

Finals Postgame Media Conference

Denver - 2, Boston College - 0

GREG BROWN: Congrats to Dave and the Pioneers. They played a heck of a game tonight. And it was a championship battle, and they were as stingy and tight defensively as we've seen this year. They did a great job. Played a lot of winning hockey. They played like a championship team.

So that being said, proud of our guys, too. It was not only the season they had, but the game they had tonight. I thought first period both teams were very smart, helped each other out.

And I thought the second period we did a nice job, had a great penalty kill. And then seemed like they took momentum -- we should have taken momentum after a good penalty kill. But the next few minutes, five, seven minutes or so, they seemed to just have better legs right in that stretch. Little quicker to pucks. And they were able to capitalize on a couple.

And then we made a great push in the third. Had a lot of chances. Their goalie played great. They got some blocks. Hit a post or two.

When it's a one-game series, you need some breaks in there. So our guys gave everything they had, and tonight wasn't their night.

Q. What do you see taking from BC wherever your hockey career takes you?

EAMON POWELL: I think the special thing about BC and when you get on campus as a freshman is the culture and the tradition that BC stands for. Obviously I was here with Coach York for two years and then Coach Brown, and I think just the way everyone carries themselves around the locker room, around campus, the way they can talk to the team, I think that's one of the special parts of our team.

Obviously we have a lot of talented players, a lot of players that are going to have very bright futures. But the people that lead the campus are unbelievable. They're some of the best. I just can't speak highly enough of the culture and everything that BC hockey stands for.

JACK MALONE: I consider myself very lucky to have spent the year with the Eagles. I learned a lot about myself as both a person and a player but also what makes a great team succeed. I think that it really made me appreciate each moment that we had together this year. And I don't think I'm ever going to play on another team like this one.

And throughout the year, pieces started to fall together, and it was awesome to see. It was great to see some of the young guys develop into the young players they are today. And as a team, I couldn't be prouder to be an Eagle.

And I learned that you can never take a moment for granted when you're doing something that you love to do. We gave it everything we had right up until the end this year. It didn't fall our way. But like I said to the guys, we have a lot to be proud of, and we laid it all out on the line. That's all you can do as a team.

Q. We noticed that all the players are in your class, Eamon, and were kind of embracing that moment on the ice together for one last time. Can you speak about what that felt like?

EAMON POWELL: Obviously we wished it was happening in a different way, but obviously I've been at the school for four years. And Colby Ambrosio and Gentry Shamburger were two guys I came in with. And we built a tight bond over the years.

And obviously four years have gone by way too fast. And you start out as a freshman, I wouldn't say take for granted, but you think you have a lot of time left, and you snap your fingers and you're a senior and you're in the playoffs and it could be your last game.

I just really was trying to embrace that last moment on the ice with them. And I know I'll be friends with them forever.

Q. Jack, what were some key things that Denver was able to do tonight against you guys? And obviously, I mean, you guys are a terrific offensive team. To shut you guys out is not something most teams are able to do. What did they do well against you guys?

JACK MALONE: Like Coach said, they did a good job slowing us down, especially through the neutral zone. And when we got into the offensive zone, I felt, until the third period, they did a good job keeping us to the outside and keeping our shots not as much of a threat as we want them to be.

And like Coach said, I commend their goalie. He did a tremendous job for them. And they have a great team. They know how to win. And I think that they just used their experience to their advantage.

And it took us too long to get going and they suppressed us for that two-thirds of the game. If we could go back and try to change the way we started, we would, but that's not how it works. And I think they've got a great team there. And they put together a good game.

Q. You talked yesterday about sticking to your identity, playing your game. Did you do that? Did Denver force you out of that? What did you think generally of kind of playing the way he wanted to play?

GREG BROWN: Yeah, I mean, we were trying. I don't think we were playing like to someone else's strengths, but Denver did a good job of getting above, especially in the neutral zone. We're usually pretty good at breaking pucks out and having speed through the neutral zone. And they had three and four guys a lot of times above our guys right away.

I just didn't think we generated as much speed, and that's more a credit to them. I thought a few times, especially in the first, they were higher in the neutral zone than we thought, and we didn't come back as usually a couple forwards will come deep and join our D and come at them with a little more speed.

We were trying to play kind of above their second layer right away but we didn't have secondary speed to fill in once we got the puck. So they were either able to stop that or if we chipped it in, we didn't have quite enough speed to get into the forecheck really until the third, and then we did a better job of that, that speed away from the puck in the third. So a little bit us not skating enough, but a lot of credit to them for getting those four guys above us.

Q. Obviously you guys came up one game short but still a historic season, nonetheless. When you think of this team and this season, what are you going to think of and what's going to come to mind?

GREG BROWN: The commitment they had. The guys, right from the first, that's a lot of practices starting September 1st until now. They kept pushing. They grew as a team. We were young, very young. Tons of freshmen.

They grew in the first semester. And then they started to hit stride, play really well, and then that loss to BU in the Beanpot kind of hardened us, and we played a lot of good hockey after that. Right up until today, we had a pretty good streak going, of finding ways to win, and then so that's what I'll think. Mostly the commitment that they had. They weren't satisfied.

We see some young teams, you string a bunch of wins together, they start to think it's easy and start to not play as hard or as tight thinking the wins just come by magic, and they never did that. It was rewarding to see that and mostly a credit to the older guys in the locker room to keep pushing.