|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA MEN'S FROZEN FOURApril 11, 2009Enrico BlasiBrian KaufmanTommy WingelsWASHINGTON, D.C. THE MODERATOR: We have Coach Blasi and Brian Kaufman and Tommy Wingels. We'll take Coach Blasi's opening statement and then questions for the student-athletes. COACH BLASI: Obviously I want to congratulate BU in winning, and it was a heck of a hockey game and somebody's gotta lose, and unfortunately it wasn't meant to be for us. They played great. They executed at the end, and I thought it was a great college hockey game. Probably the way it should be. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Tommy, at the end of the game, what did you say to Cody when you guys were talking on the ice? TOMMY WINGELS: I don't know. So much going through your head. I just told Cody it just wasn't meant to be and I'm just so proud to be your teammate and to be a RedHawk. And that's why I'm wearing my jersey right now; I'm sure that's why Brian is. We're just so happy to be part of Miami's hockey team. Q. Brian, can you talk about the mood in the locker room at the end of regulation? Was there still a lot of confidence even though they had scored twice in the last minute? BRIAN KAUFMAN: Yeah, there was definitely still a good amount of confidence. We felt it was the same thing going into the third period, tie game, it was going to take one shot to win it. We were confident we were going to be able to go out and do that, whether it took one minute or a couple more periods, but obviously it just didn't work out that way. Q. Tommy, just wanted to ask you, BC had a couple of years where they lost two games, then won last year. Do you feel like this is a step -- obviously you wanted to win tonight, but do you feel that this cements Miami as a national contender from here on out? TOMMY WINGELS: Yeah, I definitely think so. You know, the confidence we got playing this far in the tournament, the confidence we have in each other now, it's just a feeling you want to get rid of right away, but it's a feeling you want to get back. It's going to be our ultimate goal next year. We feel like we have some unfinished business. And ultimately BU played a great game. And we hope to follow like what you said BC did, for us to come back and win it. Q. There was that timeout and then obviously BU pulled the goalie. Did they do anything different from that point on or did it feel different from that point on? BRIAN KAUFMAN: No, not really. I mean, they just worked hard and got everything in the net. With one extra guy you can't cover everybody. And they did a great job of, like I said, getting pucks to the net and getting traffic and getting everybody there to get the rebounds. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, guys. Questions for Coach. Q. Coach, I know it may be hard to be philosophical at this moment, but you guys played 59 great minutes. You held them to 19 shots at that point. You did everything you wanted to do. I don't want to say what happened in the last minute, because they had the 6 on 5, but can you take us through your process as that was going on and maybe a timeout there or what you were thinking as that whole minute was happening? COACH BLASI: I can tell you we had the right guys on the ice. We knew exactly what they were going to do. We were trying to keep our guys focused. They executed. You know, tried to keep our guys up, and unfortunately, they got caught up in the moment and BU made a play that we talked about on the bench, actually. So it's one of those things. You know, they played great. I thought our guys -- I'm so proud of the way our guys played, right into overtime. I didn't see the final goal. But I can tell you I'm proud of our guys. Q. Coach, with all due respect, you've attributed a lot of wins and losses over the course of the season to just bounces. But you guys played with talent, with speed and with integrity on this national stage, regardless of the way it turned out. Can you just comment on what this means to your program and personally? COACH BLASI: Well, as I told the team, they have a lot of people supporting them not only in Oxford, with the Miami students' community, but alumni across the country. And I think -- I'm pretty sure we've got some more fans in college hockey now. And what the boys did this week, the last couple of weeks, is they made history. No other team in Miami history has ever gone to a semifinal. No other team has played for a national championship. And we've done that. I think hopefully this is a step for more to come. Right now I just want to make sure that we focus and pay tribute to this team, because nobody gave them a chance a few weeks ago. And I'm proud of them and they did a great job. They did a great job. And it doesn't feel good right now. But the sun will come up tomorrow and the guys will realize what they accomplished. Q. Did you talk to Brian after the end of the game? And how hard was it for him where he made the right play going down to block a shot and how tough was it for him to -- just a matter of physics, where it bounced a certain angle? COACH BLASI: You mean Kevin Roeder? Are you talking about those bounces I talk about all the time? Q. Yeah. COACH BLASI: What do you do, Kevin makes a great play, sacrifices his body. Goes over Cody's head and into the net. That's what happens in overtime, you know? And you give -- let's not take anything from BU's win, too. They played great. They executed when they had to. And the game in overtime could have gone either way. Q. As close as you were to even getting to the Frozen Four last year, you guys talked about that as kind of being the fuel, does this feel similar being as close as you were to the title tonight to being as close as taking that step last year? COACH BLASI: I would say that it's worse, obviously. And this senior class has won more games, I believe, than any other program in the country in the last four years. I would say that's pretty damn good. And I'm proud of the way they played tonight. We didn't get the bounce at the end. But in my books they're -- and I know in a lot of hearts around campus and alums and supporters, they're national champions in our book. So it's going to sting for a while, but, like I said earlier, the accomplishments that we have garnered over the last few weeks, you know, we made history and hopefully we can continue that into the future. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|