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NCAA MEN'S FROZEN FOUR

April 9, 2009

WASHINGTON, D.C.

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Vermont to the podium with head coach Kevin Sneddon, Drew MacKenzie, Justin Milo and Dean Strong. We'll follow the same format that we've been following all week long. We'll start out with an opening statement from Coach Sneddon and questions for the student-athletes.
Opening comments.
COACH SNEDDON: First, I want to congratulate Boston University. Wish them all the best in the championship game on Saturday night. I thought they played a great game.
Obviously tough to put into words the emotions that are going on in our locker room right now and with the student-athletes, with myself, with our staff, with the fans of Vermont.
You know, we had a taste of it toward the end of the game there and unfortunately it slipped through our hands. But, again a, lot of that is a credit to Boston University and their strong ability to put up offense.
We needed to be a little bit better tonight defensively in order to get the job done. But that being said, I couldn't be any more proud of our student-athletes and what they've accomplished this season.
And this certainly stings a little bit, but as I told them in the locker room, they'll be able to look back at this moment in time for the rest of their lives as a very positive experience, and one that they know full well they left it all out there on the ice.
And as a coach, you know, good seasons don't always end in championships. But I've got a lot of champions in that locker room.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Drew, Coach said that you guys could taste the victory. How disappointing is it to sort of rally from 2-0 and blow a couple of one-goal leads?
DREW MACKENZIE: Definitely disappointing. We were battling hard and thought we had them at the end. But they're a good team. They kept coming. We tried our hardest.

Q. Drew, I wonder if you could talk about your swing in emotions from scoring the goal to have that one go off your stick to tie the game.
DREW MACKENZIE: Obviously scoring my first goal this season went from being a high point to, you know, letting one go on my stick. Obviously I'm disappointed, but there's nothing I can do about it now. If I could take back that goal, I would. But it happens. I can't do anything.

Q. Guys, it seemed like in the first period that Boston University was able to have a lot of success, and then you guys came out and physically really had a lot of success, you really stymied their offense and really had a lot of offense success yourselves. Can you talk about what you changed going to the second period or what you guys addressed in the locker room, or what changed?
DEAN STRONG: Yeah, BU, they took it to us there in the first, and we knew we had a lot more to give. We really had to get the pucks deep and pressure the defensemen and try to get them shots on net. It was amazing to see our team battle back like that and have a big third period. And I think we just got hungry in the second.
JUSTIN MILO: I think we just had to get some of the jitters out in the first period. They definitely took it to us a little bit, but we were trading chances, and we had some good chances ourselves. And we calmed ourselves in between periods, and I think the team was pretty confident we were going to come out with a good second period, and we did, but it's unfortunate we couldn't keep the lead.

Q. Dean, last game and you've never missed a game, but what's going through your mind right at this moment?
DEAN STRONG: First and foremost, it hurts really badly right now. But for the positive, I'm very proud to be a part of this hockey club, and I can't think of a better way to have spent four years right now with our coaching staff and the group we've had this year and in the past three years.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. Questions for Coach.

Q. Coach, what kind of memories are you going to take from this experience in Washington?
COACH SNEDDON: Well, just that our student-athletes left it all out there. And, I mean, I told our guys, I thanked them before and after the game, because they're just great people. I had a lot of fun just living through them this whole tournament. Really the whole season, because they're just such great gentlemen.
We had no attitudes to deal with, no off-ice issues. I always say you've got a great team when they're low maintenance. Everybody accepted their role, embraced their role, cheered each other on.
Nobody was really at the forefront of our team, even though we had guys like Viktor Stalberg who is a Hobey Baker finalist. He's as modest as they come. And it's the memories, what a great family we were able to create this year. And I think we got the most out of our team. And that's -- as a coach, you're able to look back and enjoy the process.
We can enjoy this journey, because they did everything we asked and they did it to the best of their ability. Unfortunately, we just were one or two goals shy.

Q. You talked a lot about how your team can play offensive now more so than when you first took over, and used that to your advantage to come back in this game. But similar to, perhaps, the UNH series earlier this year, is your team just not comfortable playing that style at this point still in the program?
COACH SNEDDON: As I said, I think we needed to play better defensively. We got in a hole right off the bat. We didn't play well in the first period. Our defensemen didn't move the puck very well. We had a lot of turnovers at the offensive blue line and they were a much stronger team out of the gate. We had to take some chances and open things up a little bit.
We talked about in between periods making simpler plays and getting the puck out of the zone, especially the neutral zone. And the second period it was all quick decisions by our defensemen. We countered attack very well and I think we had some puck luck there as well. I don't think Millan gives up those goals too often.
But, again, I thought we stole back the momentum in the second period. I don't know what it was. I think that penalty kill was a good sign for us when we were up a goal and they had a tremendous power play and I was pleased with how we killed that one.
We made a couple of defensive mistakes, one on a 2-on-2 play that just shouldn't have happened and then off the face-off we just lost our assignment.
They're just such a good team that you can't give them an inch. I don't think it's a matter of us being uncomfortable or not, it's just, again, we needed to be a little bit better defensively.

Q. What do you say a game like this does for Hockey East as a conference, to teams like you guys and BU going back and forth in prime time on national television putting on the kind of show you did tonight?
COACH SNEDDON: I think you're right. I think it was a great college hockey game, and I'm sure the people at ESPN were pleased with the product that was put out there. I think for Hockey East, you had two great programs going toe to toe.
And I think it was just great for college hockey in general. Obviously, selfishly for our league and our two programs, it was great for a lot of people all over the country to see that kind of hockey. It was a great game.

Q. There was a play it looked like -- I was hoping you could talk about it, a play where you put a shot on and it looked like a Boston University player -- the only thing that stopped the puck is it beat Millan -- the only thing that stopped the puck was a stick getting it down and the play transitioned quickly into a Boston University goal. Could you talk about that play and what you guys are feeling on the bench or what you saw.
COACH SNEDDON: What period was that? First period, right? Their second goal?

Q. Second one.
COACH SNEDDON: We had really two good scoring chances, roll off on the -- we got by Gilroy there on the break-away, and I know it went to replay. We knew it didn't go in.
But the puck just got underneath him and I don't think he knew where it went. It's a game of inches there. And then I think it was -- I think we actually hit the crossbar on that play, didn't we? Scramble in front of the neck, Jack Downey tried to get it upstairs and hit the crossbar and they came down, went the other way.
It's a game of inches. And unfortunately the pucks weren't bouncing for us early but I thought second period we got some puck luck back on our side, and that makes for a great college game when there's momentum swings.

Q. Want to give us a early handicap on Boston versus Miami in the final?
COACH SNEDDON: Should be another great college hockey game. Enrico has done a great job with the Miami team. Dynamic forwards. Defense of course played well. And I think BU is the team to beat. They're, in my opinion, the best team in the country and have been that way for most of the year.
So but as Jack will tell his team, that doesn't mean much going into a one-game finale. Obviously I want to wish both teams much success. Enrico is a great coach and great friend of mine, and Jack Parker is a legendary coach and has done such a great job with that team this year.
Hopefully it will be a great college hockey game for the fans to enjoy.

Q. What do you say to a kid like Drew MacKenzie, to experience that kind of high and then immediately follow with that kind of low? It would be messed up for anybody, but for a freshman to deal with that kind of stuff, that's a lot to process. What do you say to him, kind of balance him out heading into the off-season?
COACH SNEDDON: It's part of the game. It's a game of mistakes. We made our share of mistakes tonight. We wouldn't be in the situation without him having the poise to put that puck in the net in the first place on the power play.
It's a learning experience. He's a freshman. He's going to be a tremendous player for us. We love him.
And, again, he'll be able to put that away pretty quickly. He's a mentally tough young man, and he's had such a great season for us. I mean, there's a guy who came back from mono the second half of the season. He was down and out for quite a while and built himself back up to be one of our better defensemen.
So we're still very proud of his efforts and he'll be able to drop that pretty quickly.

Q. In your opening statement you said you had a taste of it. The seniors, this is their last game, but for yourself and for everyone coming back, once the sting settles a little bit, how much is getting this close to the national championship game going to drive you guys in the off-season heading into next year?
COACH SNEDDON: These are all great experiences for our student-athletes to have and you can't buy that experience. So we're hoping that this is the first of many for the guys in the locker room. Obviously tough for the seniors because they'll never have that opportunity again.
But we really wouldn't be -- I wouldn't be sitting here talking to you without our seniors. They were tremendous leaders, made my job very, very easy this year because they handled the majority of any issues in terms of accountability on our team.
So it's the hardest for them. To take off that jersey tonight was not very easy for Dean Strong, and he gave a great post-game speech to the team after I addressed the team that our guys won't ever forget.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach.

End of FastScripts

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