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NCAA MEN'S FROZEN FOURApril 9, 2014Bill ArnoldThatcher DemkoJohnny GaudreauJerry YorkPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA THE MODERATOR: Jerry York, as many of you probably know, is the winningest coach in the history of college hockey in his 42nd season as a college head coach, not only a great coach but one of the nicest people we have in this sport. Coach, back again. A familiar place, your thoughts so far? COACH YORK: I'm starved right now. I haven't had lunch yet, so we'll be very brief today. Very excited to come to a Frozen Four. Every year is different, every year is unique, and nobody's guaranteed this. So we started September, and we sat down with our captains and tried to outline our team and some goals, long‑term goals. Of course, Boston College we're looking at being part of the regular season trophy, our playoff championship, but in the back of our minds, it's always, hey, can we get back to the Frozen Four and compete for a National Championship? We're not alone in this. I'm sure a number of our colleges now, that's what they all point toward. But, again, nobody guarantees it here. Lots of things happen between when we start cutting the grass‑‑ finish cutting the grass in September, and if you're cutting the grass now in like April, you know you've achieved something very, very important. So we're very proud of what we've accomplished. But, again, we're not just here to look at the liberty bell and enjoy Philadelphia. We want to compete for that really shiny trophy that they have down the hallway there. BILL ARNOLD: Yeah, it's definitely exciting to be back here. At the beginning of the year, like Coach said, this is our goal every year at BC. It's a National Championship or you can't really consider your season a success. So we're all excited to be here. Looking forward to getting on the ice tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Thatcher, you been to Philadelphia? THATCHER DEMKO: No, I have not. Q. How are things going so far? THATCHER DEMKO: Really good. Seniors and juniors are doing a great job of helping the underclass guys just feel more comfortable in this situation. It was a good skate today, and we're really excited to get on the ice tomorrow. JOHNNY GAUDREAU: I think Coach, Billy and Thatch did a good job summing that up.  But we're excited to be back to the Frozen Four and back here to Philly. Like Coach and Bill said, our goal all year was to get to Philly, and we're here now, and our next goal is to win a National Championship. All the guys are excited that we're here and we're ready to go. Q. Johnny, you being from the Philly area generally this is a region that is nuts for hockey, but doesn't have college hockey and doesn't have sort of the grass roots hockey experience in the same way that Boston does, for example. What do you think they're missing down here by not having college hockey? JOHNNY GAUDREAU: I think they need to get a team down here first maybe, and get some fans to get excited about a team down here at a college. But I think hockey is getting bigger down here, and you see more players coming out of the area and going to play in the USHL or the EJ, and then potentially getting into Division I hockey. So it's good to see a lot more younger guys and a lot more New Jerseyian or around the Philly area getting into Division I college hockey. If we can keep producing and keep those numbers, it will be good for the area. THE MODERATOR: What will you remember most taking away from your experience at BC, not just on the ice, but off the ice? BILL ARNOLD: Well, I guess to combine both those, the one thing coach always says he wants his players to do is leave BC with a ring in one hand and degree in the other, at BC. That's what we're all about, and getting the opportunity to do that, and potentially hopefully leave with two rings. It's been an incredible experience, and the best decision of my life to go to Boston College. Q. Bill and Johnny, you played Union last year. What did you take out of that game, and what do you have to do differently this time around? BILL ARNOLD: I mean, they definitely beat us pretty good last year, and I think that's fresh in everyone's mind. But it's a new year. We've got a completely different team, and I think we're much better, and I think they've obviously made it farther this year than they did last year, so they're a better team. We're going to respect them as an opponent, but like we've been doing the last month here, we're focused on our game and what we have to do to win. We know it's made us successful throughout the year, so that's our main focus here. JOHNNY GAUDREAU: Yeah, going off Bill, last year we got off coming from a 2012 National Championship. I think we didn't take our opponent‑‑ I think we took them a little too lightly. I mean, last year in the 2012 season we had a great team and really had a great run at the end of the season. I think we should have went into the game a little more motivated or a little more focused. This year after that first loss against Union, I know a lot of the guys from our team last year didn't want to go through that again. So all the guys are pretty motivated. Like Bill said, that 5‑1 loss is pretty fresh in our minds, and we have a great team this year. So I'm excited for Thursday night. THE MODERATOR: Coach, maybe we can back up to it. I know some of the group here in Philly are trying to get the college feel and what it's like. Obviously, you went to BC and you've been around it a long time. How can you sum up what college hockey is all about and the college experience? COACH YORK: I think Penn State's going to bring that to the state, and certainly Robert Morris. So we're on the cusp of more expansion. I think Penn State making that commitment is going to really help a few other schools in this area really think seriously about hockey. But I think it was or used to be a real unique experience to the northeast and Minnesota, and it's expanding so much now throughout the country. I think the NHL by moving into states like Arizona and California and Florida, you know, our starting goaltender this year, Thatcher is from San Diego. We have a forward from Naples, Florida, so it's just expanding so much now. The recruiting process where the players are, it's inevitable that we're going to have more Penn States commit to college hockey. It's a combination of football and basketball and soccer. We're all combined. It's very physical. It's a hard sport, but it's also got some fluidity to it, some creativity to it. We're not the National Hockey League, which you're so familiar with, we're a step below that, but certainly on the college campuses, it's very, very attractive. The schools that participate in hockey, I think there are 50 at the Division I level. I'm very glad they're involved in this process. Q. Jerry, around this time of the year, how difficult does it get preparing sometimes when you go against a team like Union where you hardly play them and all you have is film? COACH YORK: Well, I think we have to understand there are no lousy teams left. Everybody knows that. But this particular field, four of the strongest college hockey teams that you would imagine being placed here in Philadelphia. Everybody talks about the history and tradition of Minnesota, NorthDakota's Boston Colleges, but Union has done an incredible job the last couple of years. And Rick Bennett really has to be commended for what he's brought to Schenectady, New York. A small school that doesn't offer full scholarships, doesn't have a history of success in college hockey. Right now everybody feels this is a toss‑up, this field. Of all of college hockey, some favor Minnesota, some favored Union, some picked NorthDakota, others picked Boston College. But there is no underdog. There is no prohibitive favorite. It's just four really good teams. So is it difficult to prepare for them? Certainly because they're good teams. But like Billy said, we'll try to make our team as strong as we possibly can. We've got really good players. We're trying to polish systems and how we play. But the excitement level around our team is off the charts now. Q. Thatcher, you're a freshman and you haven't been on this stage before. You've got a very young defense in front of you, yet you're going against the number two offense in the country. What kind of things are you drawing on to prepare yourself for this challenge? THATCHER DEMKO: Like I said earlier, the upperclassmen have done a great job of letting us know what to expect and that sort of thing. They've just kind of told us coming in there's going to be a lot of hype, but you have to make sure you play your game and don't change anything because we've had success this year, so we can't be trying to change stuff and expecting a different result just because it's on a bigger stage. We have to stay focused on us and make sure we're playing our game. Q. Coach York, I know Peter Laviolette's a Boston guy, and you got a chance to talk with him. Did he address the team at all, Coach? COACH YORK: He talked to a number of our players afterwards. More importantly, he recommended a fabulous restaurant for us last night. We went to Spasso, which is a short walk from the hotel, and he was spot‑on there. Peter is close to our staff. He's playing on the Olympic team with Greg Brown. He knows Marty McInnis through the NHL network. His presence in the locker room is just great for us. He's certainly one of our guys in hockey that we really are proud of what he's done. I'm sure he's going to be coaching very soon at another NHL team. It was just great to have around the locker room, his presence here. I've always liked Peter. THE MODERATOR: Billy, what did you have at Spasso? Was it good? BILL ARNOLD: Some chicken parm and veggies and a band playing for us too. THE MODERATOR: What kind of music? BILL ARNOLD: Not really sure. A string band. Q. Coming into the year there was a little concern about the youth on your defense, and I think that those younger guys have proven they're capable of competing at this level. What have you seen from them in terms of where they are now in terms of where they came in? COACH YORK: They're very good players. They were all 18 when they started that freshman year. They were young for college hockey. The maturity doesn't reflect their age. They really conducted themselves very professionally. I think all three, Scott Savage and Steven Santini and Ian McCoshen are vital cogs in how we played this year. I thought from the blue line back on the year I thought we're going to be extremely young with the goaltender. Of course, Thatch has won the job now. But the three freshmen defensemen now, there are two sophomore defensemen in Teddy Doherty and Michael Matheson, so really I've only experienced four year player of Isaac MacLeod back on defense. As I look at that group and there is so much attention on our offensive ability, but you have to be very strong, I think in my opinion, to advance this far from the blue line back. They've exceeded expectations. I knew they were going to be good, but I wasn't sure this level this early in their careers. So I'm very, very happy in our goaltender. Q. Coach, obviously your first line has gotten a lot of attention. Can you talk about Cangelosi and Fitzgerald and how they've come along this year in their freshmen seasons? COACH YORK: Yeah, it's interesting. We had Claude Julien speak to our team on Tuesday or Wednesday of this past week. He had mentioned the fact that their success is not what you think it is. But just because of our Chara, and Bergeron, and Lucic, and Krychek, it's more kind of the Campbells and Kelleys that blocked shots that killed penalties that are kind of the glue to the team. If you challenged all of our top end guys to really recognize the fact that you're going to a Frozen Four, because there are a lot of players contributing and different roles over the course of your season. I think the players you just mentioned, Ryan Fitzgerald, Patrick Brown is at the center there, and Austin Cangelosi are players that are playing a critical role in our team. Valued very much by our coaching staff and by our players sitting up here on the dais. So I think you could have other marquee players and you need those players to be really good. But they have to have a supporting cast that does things also. It's not like where you start five players and they play the majority of the game. We're using every night 18 players on a regular basis. Q. Johnny, given your ties to the area, is it special to be playing here? JOHNNY GAUDREAU: Yeah, very special. I've got a lot of friends and family asking for tickets and stuff like that. It's difficult to give them all tickets because we only get about six each. But I'm trying to give out a few to my friends. My mother wasn't having too much of it because I had to give them all to the family. But it's good to have people want tickets and wanting to come watch the game. I'm really excited for this weekend. COACH YORK: John, you've played here before, so you're familiar with Wells Fargo, right? JOHNNY GAUDREAU: Yeah, I played with Mites on Ice, that's about it. Q. Johnny, if I read this right, your brother's getting to make this trip with you as part of this team. How special is that for you? JOHNNY GAUDREAU: Yeah, it's been really special. I got the chance to go win a National Championship my freshman year, and that was really, really special, with a great group of guys. And we have another great group of guys this year. It's been a great year so far, and it's been even more exciting to have Matty around the locker room, and getting to be with him every day. BC has been like home to me these past three years, but feels even homier now because I have Matty there and get to mess around and joke with him all the time and give him a hard time. So it's been a fun year so far this year. Q. Bill, your line is known to be the top scoring line in college hockey. But you're known as being the guy that holds the defensive key to that. Can you talk about the importance of you guys keeping Union off the scoreboards since they're such a good scoring team as well? BILL ARNOLD: Obviously, as a line we like to score goals, but we all three of us really embrace a two‑way game. Just talking about Johnny specifically, he's super offensive. Like he has over 70 points. But whenever you ask him what he wants to work on, he's always saying improve on his defensive play, and he's really embraced that. So as much as we like to score goals, we know if we get scored on, we have to put two in to be a positive for the team. It's a lot easier to keep them off the board and make sure we're helping our team by scoring goals every chance we get. Q. Johnny, a couple weeks ago on the conference call I asked you about Shayne being your roommate. Any good stories Shayne told me you guys had some problems with watching TV over there in Ufa, were you surprised he didn't make the Hobey Hat Trick? JOHNNY GAUDREAU: Yeah, we had a few problems. We couldn't get one English channel on the TV. So trying to watch as much TV as I could because there was nothing to do out there. I don't know. I think we were watching Sportscenter or whatever they've got over there in Russian. So it was difficult to watch that. But, yeah, he's a great player. He brought his team here as one of the captains, and got his team now to the Frozen Four. He's an exceptional player and great offensive, defensive player. I'm definitely surprised he didn't make it. He's a great player. Yeah, he's a good player, so he probably should have been in it. THE MODERATOR: Any good food there in Ufa? JOHNNY GAUDREAU: Not too much. Q. Bill, there are a couple players on this team that are going to move on to the pros after this weekend, you're one of them. Obviously that's great, but this is the end of your BC career this weekend, one way or another. What's that do for you going into this game? How does that change your thinking about that? BILL ARNOLD: First of all, I don't think anyone in our locker room is thinking about what's going to happen after this weekend. Everyone's focused on taking this day by day and getting better every day. I'm certainly in no rush for this week to be over. I loved my time at BC, and did would mean a lot to me to go out on a high note on a National Championship, so that's where all my focus is right now. Q. Thatcher, I know you grew up in San Diego and went to high school in Michigan and now you're here. Coach talked about how hockey in general is growing in parts of the country where it used to not be. So for you to be in San Diego to have made this journey and be where you are and be at the Frozen Four, what's it like for you? THATCHER DEMKO: It's awesome. We've had a lot of Californian players come up and play in college hockey and play in major junior and play in the pros lately. It's just been good to serve as an example for some other Californian players to show that it can be done. Just through hard work you can get to places you want to go in the college world. Q. How and when did you know that you wanted to go to BC? THATCHER DEMKO: I think my freshman year is the first time I was exposed to college hockey. I kind of saw BC as one of the better teams in the country and kind of saw their history and was attracted to that. It was always kind of down the road for me. Then when they started talking to me a little bit my junior year, that's when I really knew that was the place I wanted to go. Q. Johnny, I just wanted to touch base with you about matching up with Charlie Vasaturo. I know you know him very well from South Jersey. Just talk about what you expect to see from him? JOHNNY GAUDREAU: Yeah, he's a really good player. Defensive defenseman. So it's going to be tough tomorrow night. I get to play with him down in South Jersey, whether it's Chine or whatever, practicing, whatever, he's a great defenseman. It's going to be tough playing against him. I know they've got a lot of good and talented "D". So it's going to be fun to get a play against him too. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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