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NCAA MEN'S FROZEN FOURApril 7, 2011Red BerensonCarl HagelinShawn HunwickBen WinnettST. PAUL, MINNESOTA Michigan – 2 MODERATOR: Coach Berenson, your thoughts on the game. COACH BERENSON: Well, if we could have planned a road game like this, this is how you'd plan it. Just go to the first goal. It was huge against this team. You hate to play from behind against them, and especially if they got two. The one thing that we didn't plan was taking as many penalties as we took against their power play, and I thought we were lucky, and obviously or goalie has to be our best penalty killer. But our team hung on. And who would have thought that the first goal of the game would be the deciding goal. But you never know. You watch the earlier game, and there were, what, five goals scored in the first period. And this game you saw one goal scored in 59 minutes. So it was that kind of a game. You never know. Our team is used to playing in close games, and I thought we were on our heels. We had to play in our own zone a lot. Everybody paid the price, and here we are. MODERATOR: Questions for the players? Q. Shawn, great game, lots of shots again. But did you have good looks? Did you still feel your team was clearing out well and not giving up second shots? Just give thoughts on that. SHAWN HUNWICK: I don't think -- I don't think (indiscernible) thought too much. I think I only had one real good moving save when Frattin hit Genoway on the slot. But other than that, I think it was a lot of straight-on shots, a lot of shots in the front of the net that I was able to see. And our team did a good job of blocking shots down there. I don't know if I had to make a save once the goalie was pulled. Guys were diving around like crazy. Q. Shawn, you actually knew that you were going to play a big role in this game with it being the playoffs in North Dakota. Did you ever feel that pressure during the game or before? SHAWN HUNWICK: No. Actually I talked to our video guy earlier in the week. We talked about how I didn't have to -- I didn't have to come in here and steal a game. I look at a lot of scores form previous Frozen Fours, and last year I don't even know if one was in four or five goals. So that wasn't how I think, coming in with the mindset that I was going to have to steal one. But once I settled in in the second, I felt like I could do it if I had to. Q. Ben, take me through the mindset of the penalty killers tonight. Coach said you took a few too many penalties, but how were you able to stay strong out there? BEN WINNETT: Obviously, the penalty kill played a big role for us two weeks ago in our regional. And, again, Billy Powers prepared us very well against a very good power play tonight. And I always say your goaltender is going to be your best penalty killer, and he was that this evening. And as far as the rest of the guys, they just worked hard and I think we out-worked their top players. Q. Carl, what was the emotion like? You blocked that shot at the end. Did you -- were you thinking at all about taking a shot yourself, or were you trying to get it over to someone who had a better look? CARL HAGELIN: Usually I'm pretty bad at scoring those empty-netters, so I just tried to give away the puck. My foot was hurting pretty bad at the time, so I just gave it to Louie, and he's not great either at scoring empty-netters, so he gave it to Scooter. So Scooter obviously put it in. So it was a great feeling to have some good chances at the end. And we got that second goal, I think it felt like the game was over after that. Q. Ben, take us through what you saw of the puck, the shot before you got it and scored and take us through the whole sequence of your score. BEN WINNETT: Yeah, Jonny Merrill did a great job of keeping the puck in at the point, and was able to find the seam as he usually does and get it on net, and I think it hit the post and bounced up to me, and Luke Glendening drove the net hard and basically took two guys out of the play and was able to kick it to me, and I just had a wide-open net and was able to put it in. Q. Carl, you mentioned your blocked shot. Can you talk more about the team's attitude? It seemed like you guys were going down a lot out there. CARL HAGELIN: We came into the game knowing that we had to play well defensively, and that includes great goal keeping, blocking shots, back-checking, and just our Ds playing low. And we all have that mindset, that we want to block every shot, we want to get the puck out. And that's been the strength of our team lately. We want to make sure we're playing well defensively, and things are going to go our way then. Q. Carl, you came back your senior year along with Matt Rust and Louie. You potentially could have jumped ship and left for your senior year, and you wanted to come back and win a national title. Did you ever think you'd be one win away from accomplishing what you set out back to do in the summer? CARL HAGELIN: I knew we were going to have a good team, that's for sure, a lot of good seniors coming back, strong juniors, strong sophomores. I didn't know much about the freshmen. But, as you can see today, they had a really strong game. Our goal was to come to the Frozen Four and do well, and now we're here. So it was obviously my dream and I'm so happy to be here right now. But one more game to go, and if we don't win that one, we're not satisfied. Q. Shawn, can you just describe what it's like to be in a game like that where you are able to see anything, the shots are racking up, it's pretty much a one-goal game? Are you confident? Is it nerve-wracking? Is it calm? What's it like? SHAWN HUNWICK: I was pretty confident tonight. I think I'd rather be in a game like that than, you know, getting 15 checks against. Those are tough games. But when they keep coming at you, you gotta be ready. And our team did a great job tonight, and I felt like I was seeing it pretty well, like I said earlier. And it was a lot of fun. Q. Ben, can you talk about matching up with their No. 1 line? Obviously you guys were trying to try and get out there against Frattin and those guys, and what you were able to do to obviously keep them off the score board just like you were able to do with Colorado College's group a couple weeks ago? BEN WINNETT: Going into the game our line knew we were going up against a very high-scoring line and being the away team and having last change it made it a lot harder on Coach to get us out there. But we were able to do a pretty good job and frustrate them early, and I think that kind of set the tone for the rest of the game. But it was a total team effort. They were out there against our fourth line. Our fifth and sixth defensemen, they were able to do shut them down as well. So it was a total team effort, and to keep those three guys off the score board feels very good. Q. Question for Carl. In the third period, maybe more so midway through the third period you guys seemed to kind of set back a little bit and kind of went into a defensive mode against them. Do you think that frustrated them a little bit, especially with the amount of firepower that you have? CARL HAGELIN: Yeah, I think just playing -- we played a lot of games this year where we've been down and the other team just sits back and kind of playing the trap. It's always annoying to play those teams, especially with all the blocks and just getting the puck out every time. So obviously that frustrated them, and we'll take it. MODERATOR: Okay. Good. Guys, thanks very much, congratulations, and look forward to seeing you tomorrow. We'll continue with questions for Red. Q. Red, since that first 30 against Nebraska-Omaha in St. Louis where you gave up two goals, you've given up one goal in nine periods. Can you talk about the defensive execution of your team through the tournament? COACH BERENSON: I think part of the defense was just getting the puck out of the zone. And they had a strong forecheck going, and we turned it over a few times. We couldn't quite get it out as long as we wanted. So we didn't want to play in our zone as much as we did tonight. And even though we're talking about the third period, and even in the second period, we only generated three shots. I thought -- we had 16 attempts. We missed the net on our best chances, and we panned on a couple of good opportunities from the slot. But, nevertheless, our team had to play more in our own zone tonight than we have all year. And that was a great team in North Dakota. And they proved it. They just couldn't score. It reminds me of our team in '97 where we were the best team and everybody knew it, and we got upset too. So that can happen. The best team doesn't always win. Q. Coach, you have little over 43 hours left before the next faceoff. What do you do to get your team ready to play in the championship game between now and then? COACH BERENSON: Well, we'll refocus tonight. I want them to enjoy it at least for a couple of hours and then we'll start thinking about tomorrow. And we'll have tomorrow to think about Saturday, obviously. But this team is -- right now they're easy to coach. They're all on the same page. They're in sync. They realize -- I don't know if they're surprised to be here, but they earned it in St. Louis and then, again, they found a way to earn it tonight. And they had to pay the price. So we'll figure it out. But they'll be ready. Q. Coach, Louie didn't score tonight and Carl didn't score tonight, so you had Ben Winnett, who hasn't scored since December, and Scooter Vaughan, who was a defenseman. Does this sort of speak to the way your team operates this season, this sort of scoring by committee? COACH BERENSON: Well, you think about it, Ben Winnett had three goals. He's a senior. I expected more from him in his senior year. But I can tell you he's playing his best hockey right now whether he scores or not. And as is Scooter Vaughan, who's a senior. But I put Winnett with Rust and Luke Glendening. And between the three of them I think they have 15 goals. They played against a line tonight that had 69 goals, and yet they outscored them. So that can happen. And I think that was brought up yesterday at the press conference. They said how can Michigan play against a team that is that good? Well, that's what happens. You know, these guys did a great job, and good for Ben Winnett to score a goal like this. Q. Coach, not a whole lot of offensive chances tonight, but it seemed like some of your best chances came from your fourth line. Can you talk about that? COACH BERENSON: Yeah, we had trouble getting them on ice. When they lost one of their players, I think they lost Nelson in the first period and they didn't play their fourth line as much so they rotated, and it was hard for us to get our fourth line out there and try and keep them away from their top line. But they played well when they were out there. Moffatt, DeBlois and Rohrkemper played well and gave us some valuable minutes. Q. Coach, what's the number one thing you need to do Saturday night that you didn't do tonight? COACH BERENSON: Well, we can't play the whole game in our own zone and we can't rely on our goalie to be the first start of the game. We have to play better than we played. So we won the game, but I can't tell you that this is the kind of game we can get away with playing again. We have to be better with the puck and definitely have to be better in the offensive zone and then hopefully our power play can kick in one. And now we know we're playing against one of the best power plays in the country. So we'll talk about that. Q. Coach, you kind of touched on your '97 team, how you guys were kind of the favorites going in. Arguably maybe North Dakota was kind of the favorites coming into this season. Can you kind of touch on what maybe they might be going through in their locker room right now, maybe the emotions and stuff like that? COACH BERENSON: I'll tell you, they've got to be stunned. I know we were in '97. We were stunned. There's so much confidence and so much momentum built up in your season. And they rolled through the season, they rolled through their playoffs, they rolled through the first regional. I mean, they outscored their last two opponents something like 12-1, is that right? And I don't think anybody gave us -- it was pretty hard to match us up. I told you the other day that, you know, they're a better team, there's no way that we can match up with them. But in one game, can you win that game? Absolutely. And our team found a way to do that. But they're stunned. They can't believe it. They're gonna second guess themselves, you know, I should have shot or that or I should have scored or whatever. And you can't get it back. So they've had a great season. They've got a lot of seniors that can be proud of their career. And if you notice their seniors, they've all had their best year this year, far and away their best year. They all stayed together. Genoway came back for his fifth year to help get to this Frozen Four and to win it, and they were as good as it gets. So we're on the other side of that, but I've been there. That's a tough pill to swallow. Q. You mentioned a few times this week that North Dakota was a better team. Were you guys planning to kind of embrace that underdog role? And do you think, if that was the case, that you guys provided that role? COACH BERENSON: Well, we did. We knew we had to overachieve to find a way to win this game. And I think that's what you saw tonight. And yet our goalie had to be our best player. Our penalty killers were strong. Our defense played a lot in their own zone. They held up well. I mean, it was an endurance contest for our team. We were playing in our zone. Q. Congratulations, Red. You talked about Hunwick having to have this kind of a game coming in tonight. What is it about this kid this last stretch and then a game like tonight that I suppose you hoped he'd have? But even in your wildest imagination, this was a pretty special game this kid played. COACH BERENSON: I'm not surprised because this is what he's doing. But it's one week after another. Like I couldn't -- a year ago I would have told you there was no chance that this would be happening, and yet he nearly got us to the Frozen Four last year when he had to come in in late season as an emergency. He had never started a Division I game. He practiced for three years as our third goalie. Never complained once. The players loved him. And when he got his chance to play, they rallied around him. And even this year when he was competing for the starting job and Hogan was healthy, it looked like Hogan was going to take over the starting job and Hogan got hurt again. And then warmup was a big chill, Hunwick came in, got a shot, and he's played every game since, and here we are. Q. Coach, you said you don't think your team can get away with playing that kind of game again and you talked about how good North Dakota is. It's not too often your team runs into a team that can dictate the tempo to you as North Dakota did tonight. Did you ever question whether your team could play that kind of a game in the first place? COACH BERENSON: No, I didn't, because we'd been that kind of a team this year. We don't have the firepower that we used to have, and for one reason or another we don't have one 20-goal scorer. And that '97 team had seven 20-goal scorers, for example. But normally we have more high-powered offense that we can -- but usually the shot chart looks the other way around when Michigan is playing. But not tonight. And North Dakota, we knew we'd have to play good defense. We had to play good defense against Colorado last week, we had to play good defense against Nebraska, and the same thing in our own league. This was a tough CCHA battle. We kind of inched our way into first place the very last game of the season, and it was by playing good defense. Our goals against went down a lot because our team and the coaching staff realized we don't have the offense. MODERATOR: Coach, thanks very much. Congratulations. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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