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BIG TEN CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 21, 2014Ryan DzingerSteve RohlikNick SchilkeyST. PAUL, MINNESOTA Ohio State – 3 THE MODERATOR: We have head coach, forwards Ryan Dzinger and Nick Schilkey. Opening statement from head coach. COACH ROHLIK: Well, I guess first and foremost, I'm really proud of our locker room, our guys, in order to come out here and play the No.1 team in the country in their backyard. Obviously, our guys never played here on a big stage. I thought we played well. We played well enough to win the game tonight. We bent, but we didn't break. We got to expect to win. That's what we told our team. You got to expect to win every game you play no matter who you play. We just beat the best team in the country tonight. It's a good feeling, but we're not done yet. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student‑athletes. Q. Ryan, you had a couple battles with Adam Wilcox this year. Did that make it feel any better when you got your game‑winning goal? RYAN DZINGER: I don't think I was worried about that. I was worried that we could take the lead. Obviously he was a great goalie. It was a garbage goal. That's how playoff hockey is. Threw it into the net. Usually the first one doesn't go in on him, but that one went in. Q. Nick, knowing you have to win to keep playing, was there a feeling of desperation? Something you talked about? NICK SCHILKEY: We did talk about playing desperate. We know that we just got to play our game. That's really the bottom line. As desperate as we need to play, we got to stick to our fundamentals and our systems, we should be fine. Q. Do you feel in the post‑season the gap between teams becomes smaller? RYAN DZINGER: Yeah, I think the gap is a lot smaller. I think everyone is doing the little things. As you can tell blocking shots, there's four guys going down to block every single shot. A lot harder to get things on net, create offense. Minnesota is a skilled, flashy team. In the playoffs, it's more garbage‑type goals you usually see. I think it definitely narrowed it down a little bit. NICK SCHILKEY: Just to add to Ryan, these are close games. Overtime yesterday. We know these are going to be battles. That's what they've been. Q. When you need to keep winning, what is the advantage of playing a team like Minnesota? NICK SCHILKEY: I don't know if we need to focus as much on them. We know we need to play to keep going, play our game. That's what we've done. Just got to keep it going tomorrow. RYAN DZINGER: I don't think there's an advantage to play Minnesota. Obviously they're an unbelievable team. Knowing we have to win, you play a little bit differently. Just the feeling you get when you look at those four seniors in our locker room, they're done if we lose. That feeling is a lot different. Q. Ryan, could you take us through your goal a little bit. Looked like you almost had time to tee up the puck. Surprising to have that much time? RYAN DZINGER: Yeah, I think I called off Schilkey. I went to take a shot. The guy came out. Obviously it was a great pass by Tyler. I think I just closed my eyes, tried to shoot as hard as I could. Didn't come off as hard as I wanted it to, but it went in. Q. (No microphone.) RYAN DZINGER: I just saw it go in. I'm not going to worry about it. Q. Have you thought at all about what winning tomorrow would do as far as making the NCAA tournament or are you just focused on win one game at a time? NICK SCHILKEY: Well, I think it might be in the back of our minds a little bit. Obviously we know we need to focus one game at a time, win to advance. That's really what our focus has been on. RYAN DZINGER: I mean, yeah, I definitely look a little bit ahead. None of these guys in the locker room have ever felt that feeling. We've never gone there. Yeah, we look ahead, but that's not going to affect our game here. Looking ahead and I'm excited for it, but we know the task at hand and we have to look forward to tomorrow. Q. Seemed like you were able to kill off time. How did that feel, knowing you had the lead, just had to hold it? RYAN DZINGER: I definitely don't think we were on our heels. Coach tells us to stay on our toes. We have a lot of confidence behind us. It gives us the ability to play the way we want to, stay on our toes. A lot of teams get a lead, try to lay back and kill the time. I think that showed the last three or four minutes, we were controlling the pace of the game. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Nick and Ryan. We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. Is this a little bit more the welcome home you imagined? COACH ROHLIK: Like I told our guys, this certainly isn't about me and it never will be about me. It's about the guys in the room. I just couldn't be prouder of a group of guys that dug in tonight and did what we did to win the game. Q. Obviously this time of year you need goaltending. What is Christian doing right and how is he helping you? COACH ROHLIK: I know one thing he's doing right, he's stopping pucks. You know what, he's got a quiet game. He's calm. He doesn't say much. It's kind of how he goes through his routine every day. Practice, he's the same way. Since he's gotten here at Christmas, what you see here today is what he's brought since he's come to Ohio State. Pretty amazing to step in in the middle of a year without going through a grace period to get to know players, campus, anything. I think he stepped in before even taking a class. What you saw tonight he's brought every day. It's really a credit to him. Q. (No microphone.) COACH ROHLIK: I've seen Alex give up one goal in three games here when we won at Duluth. Pretty amazing there, too. For a kid to step in at Christmas, which I haven't been around in my years of coaching, and do what he's done, I'd say it's pretty amazing. Q. It seems like a lot of these games, especially in the playoffs, are tight defensively. How do you keep your guys disciplined on offense to be patient and wait for the chances? COACH ROHLIK: That's exactly it. You have to be a little bit patient. I think you see that out of every team. You see the scores are 2‑1 all the way through here. 2‑1 again tonight. If you start to get loose offensively against good hockey teams, especially against a team like this tonight, they'll chew you up. You have to be disciplined in your forecheck. You have to stay in your lanes. You almost have to wait for turnovers and wait for your chances. I think that was kind of us going into it. We weren't going to get caught with three guys deep, get caught with our D running down the walls. We were going to play our system, play smart, and not give up the uneven numbers. Q. You've mentioned 2009. Having been through that experience in this building, having to get three games in three nights out of a team, what can you bring to tomorrow night? COACH ROHLIK: I told them, it can be done. I was there. I just told our guys, you know, you got the two games behind you. I said that tomorrow you're going to feel great. Yeah, it's three games in three nights, but you also have another great opportunity to play another great team in Wisconsin. You're playing for a chance to get a championship and play in the NCAA tournament. I think our guys are pretty excited about that chance. Like I told them before, this can happen. Q. We know it's not about you, but you probably would have picked that other team in red if you had the choice. COACH ROHLIK: The other team in red? I'm just looking forward to whoever we play (laughter). I'm good with it. THE MODERATOR: Thank you very much. COACH ROHLIK: Appreciate it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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