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NCAA MEN'S FROZEN FOURApril 12, 2013Keith AllainCarson CooperAntoine LaganiereJeff MalcolmPITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA THE MODERATOR: Questions for the players? Q. It looked like last night the game was sort of a little cagey opening. Then when Mitch scored it sort of loosened things up a little bit. Did you feel that way? How do you think the game shifted after that first goal? CARSON COOPER: Well, I believe the first goal in every game is pretty huge to go either way. But after Mitch scored, I think both teams loosened up in one way or another. We got it out of the way, and just had to play the game after that. THE MODERATOR: Jeff, I'm sure you like it when your team scores first? JEFF MALCOLM: Yeah, absolutely. It's nice to get that lead. It doesn't change the way we play. No matter what the score is, we're always going to have the same mentality. ANTOINE LAGANIERE: I was going to say something similar to that. I guess it takes off pressure, but you can't look at the lead and become complacent. I don't think we did that even when they came back, I don't think we were complacent. It's just the way the game goes, and we stuck to our game plan the whole time, and it paid off. THE MODERATOR: Coach, you like it when your team scores first, I'm sure. COACH ALLAIN: Yeah, I think the way that Lowell plays, it was beneficial to be playing from the front rather than from behind. Q. Jeff, what is it like for you to go such long stretches of time with no activity in the zone? How do you stay mentally prepared? JEFF MALCOLM: I think it's kind of cliche to say that you're just not into the game when you're not getting the shots. Obviously, the mentality for myself doesn't change. I have to focus on the next shot, the next play. Last night I thought I was handling the puck, so that kept me in the game. Q. For any of the players, obviously, it is the national championship, but when looking at the rivalry between you guys and Quinnipiac, is the approach like any other game? ANTOINE LAGANIERE: The short answer to that is absolutely. We have a game plan set up for tomorrow, and we're ready to work hard. So nothing changes tonight or tomorrow. CARSON COOPER: Just like Antoine said, we're going to stick to what we do. We're going to play Yale hockey. It's what's gotten us here, and we're going to keep doing that. JEFF MALCOLM: Yeah, I think we've established a routine from day one, so we're just going to stick to our routine and go from there. Q. Just wondering what your impressions at this point have been of Pittsburgh, the host city, and what you've been to see, anything fun? Anything not fun? JEFF MALCOLM: It's a beautiful city. Everything Jesse told us about it, it's gorgeous, very picturesque. Coming out of that tunnel is pretty nice. ANTOINE LAGANIERE: Yeah, I agree. It's a beautiful city. I think we also appreciate the way that everyone here has treated us here at the CONSOL Energy Center and at the hotel. The fans are great as well, so it's nice. CARSON COOPER: I'm going to have to go along with those guys too. It's a very beautiful city. Coming through that tunnel, I was very surprised to see such a picturesque view there. Just amazing treatment from everyone around the CONSOL and the hotel. It's just a first‑class treatment. It's unbelievable. THE MODERATOR: Coach, what have you done that's been fun? COACH ALLAIN: We played a hockey game last flight. THE MODERATOR: Have you been here before? COACH ALLAIN: Yeah, when I was with Wash, we had a couple of playoff series here, so I've been here this time of year as well. Q. For any of the guys, would you agree in the last few weeks that you guys have done a lot of the little things better, and maybe even your compete level, for whatever reason, has gotten to where you guys expect it to be? CARSON COOPER: That's a tough one there. But definitely the little things. We've really been working on things in practice, and just looking after little parts of the game that sometimes you might overlook. Obviously, it's been proven with seeing it in our success lately. ANTOINE LAGANIERE: Yeah, I would agree the little things. But it kind of comes down to focus and focusing on game day and during the game, I think. I guess during the playoffs or during the national championship we've definitely come together and done that every day. THE MODERATOR: Coach, you want to chime in on that? COACH ALLAIN: Yeah, as a program, one of the things we want to be is about growth. We want our players to get better as individuals each and every day, and we want our team to get better as a team each and every day. Early in the year, I thought we were pretty good. And I told everyone that we'd be better in January than we were in December, and we'd be better in March than we were in January. Because of the time and the focus and the energy that these guys put into it, that's turned out to be true. Q. Could all of you speak to the Ivy League, the scholarship situation meeting the high academic standards, what do you think it says for the ivies that you guys are in this position this year? ANTOINE LAGANIERE: Yes, I'd agree the academic standards are very high, and I'm sure in all the Ivy League schools it's tough to balance the hockey life and education. I don't know what other schools are like. I just know that it's pretty hard for us, and we have proven that we can do both and excel both education‑wise and athletics‑wise. JEFF MALCOLM: Yeah, I think off the ice it's kind of tough to balance both, but we've done a good job to this point. Mentally it can be a wear throughout the season, but it's gotten us to this point, so... CARSON COOPER: Yeah, definitely, for me, the freshmen having older guys like Antoine and Jeff, they showed me the ropes, showed me how to balance school work with hockey. Now that's especially important for me coming in. And I've been able to, this second semester really found a groove, and it's helped me in my personal game. THE MODERATOR: Coach, what about those challenges? COACH ALLAIN: I've always believed that you could combine excellence in athletics with excellence in academics. When I came back to Yale, one of the thing that's I wanted to try to prove was that you could go to the best university in the world and compete in college hockey at the very highest level. Q. Three losses to Quinnipiac this year, maybe it's a different time of the year, but there have to be some things that you know have to be different in tomorrow night's game. What do you think those things are? ANTOINE LAGANIERE: Yeah, I think during an NCAA Tournament game, first of all, what happened in the regular season in the playoffs doesn't really matter at this point. It's just a one and done. It's a whole new time. I also believe that if we can do little things like we talked about earlier and stay focused on our task and our game plan and get a lot of pucks low and get to rebounds and get some traffic in front of the goalie, we'll be successful. COACH ALLAIN: Obviously, they have an excellent hockey team. There is a reason they've been the top ranked team in the country for most of the year, certainly the whole second half of the year. But as has been alluded to earlier, I think the details in our game and our individuals was better now than they were the last time we faced them. So I think we're up to the task. Q. Do you speak to some of the similarities of the team? Quinnipiac just like Yale can skate very well. Has a lot of fast smaller forwards. CARSON COOPER: Yeah, they're a great team. We've got a great goaltender. They've got a great goaltender. Their "D" corps is hard to play against, definitely. And their forwards, we've got a great top line, and they've got a great top line. Right through the two, three, and four, we both have great lines. We play pretty similar, I believe, and using our speed and transition. COACH ALLAIN: Our goaltending is good. Their goaltending is good. I believe both teams try to play an up‑tempo game. They'll get after it in the forecheck, so there are some similarities between the two, for sure. THE MODERATOR: If we're done with the players, we can let them go and finish with Coach here. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. Q. Keith, how similar is the game plan going to be from the Lowell game just in terms of shutting down team speed, stopping that transition game in the neutral zone? COACH ALLAIN: Well, we're still formulating our game plan. But I do think there are some similarities between Lowell and Q‑Pac, particularly with the way that they defend. So it's a work in progress right now. Q. Coach, I wanted to ask you about Ryan Obuchowski's performance yesterday. He seemed to make a number of great defensive plays? COACH ALLAIN: I thought Ryan had an outstanding game. It was sharp of you to notice that. He had a great stick defensively in front of our net. He really competed hard for some pucks in our zone. Also, for a freshman guy, as the game went on, he grew with the game. He had some golden opportunities there in the third period to get the game‑winning goal.  He's been like that for us all year long. Q. Coach, you mentioned you're still formulating the game plan for tomorrow. How different is that process going into a game where you faced the team three times in the regular season as opposed to a team you haven't played before? COACH ALLAIN: Well, I mean, it's a little bit different because you've got some knowledge on them. But like we had ten days to get ready for Lowell and we've had a day and a half to get ready for our opponent on Saturday night. So the process is the same, really. We watch tape, we make assessments, and we try to come up with a way to counteract their strengths and attack their weaknesses. Q. The second line, Stu Wilson's line, can you talk about the line in general? You had them out in the final minute last night in a 2‑2 in regulation. COACH ALLAIN: Yeah, I've got a tremendous amount of confidence in that group defensively as well as offensively. That is one of the reasons they were out there. But Stu and Josh are our two primary penalty killers. They're the first guy off the bench. So obviously, if I trust them 4 against 5, I feel pretty good when they're out there 5 on 5. But they have good speed. They have tenacity; they have a very high hockey IQ as a line, and they've really meshed well for us down the stretch. Q. Maybe a little different question than has come to you. Lowell mentioned that they thought they came out flat footed. Motzko said if he had one wish, he wished he would have the first 11 minutes back. But is there anything you guys do to create a different tempo or different start to make sure that you don't get caught "flat‑footed" or caught in that level of energy that comes in the first period? COACH ALLAIN: I mean, we do what we've done all year long. Nothing is going to change. We have our game‑day routine. The way we warm up in the morning, the way we warm up when we get to the rink. We encourage our guys to have a good pre‑game skate on the ice here prior to the game. But we pride ourselves in being ready, and we pride ourselves on playing fast and pushing the tempo, and that's what we'll try to do tomorrow night. Q. Something you alluded to earlier. Asked you about Pittsburgh, and you mentioned when you were an assistant in the '90s with Washington. Those series were not walks in the park. They weren't flowery for either team. There were some legendary things and still are with those two teams. I would think someone that would be part of that might not have the greatest impression of Pittsburgh. Both of them were old barns in old cities. Can you talk about your impression of Pittsburgh then and what you see now with this building? COACH ALLAIN: I loved it. Actually then, one of the series we won. We upset the Penguins, and the other one they won. We had that four overtime game back in Washington that Petr Nedved threw it over (Indiscernible) shoulder. I haven't forgotten too much about that. But I think Pittsburgh is hilly. It's got rivers, and it's got some real character to its makeup. It seems to be more of a booming city now than it was then. It just seems a little more vibrant, a little more colorful to me now than it was back in the '90s. And this building wasn't here. No, I like the igloo though. THE MODERATOR: Which one are you picking? COACH ALLAIN: We'll see how it goes tomorrow night. Q. Coach, obviously, it is the national championship, but when looking at the rivalry between you guys and Quinnipiac, is the approach just like any other game? COACH ALLAIN: Yes, you said obviously. I mean, yeah, it's obvious to me too. Q. I was talking to Commissioner earlier and we were talking about some of the irony and the foreshadowing of the championship game being a consolation game in Atlantic City. I was just wondering if you could speak to thinking back what it was like then versus where you guys sit today? COACH ALLAIN: I think emotionally our team is in a different place now. In a consolation game, no one likes to play a consolation game, first of all. We probably played our worst game of the season that Friday night against Union. They're a great team, but maybe they played their best game, but it was an awful night for us. So the Saturday afternoon game, I don't think there was much life on either team. THE MODERATOR: Keith, thanks very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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