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NCAA MEN'S FROZEN FOURApril 12, 2014Rick BennettMat BodieDaniel CarrShayne GostisbeherePHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA Union – 7 THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for the players. Q. Mat and Shayne, your goaltender got off to a little bit of a rocky start with the first goal and maybe the second one. Can you just talk about how you guys picked him up and how he's picked you up so often this season? MAT BODIE: I think Steve‑O played a great game. That's a very skilled team over there, very deep. He might want to have one of those back, but he made some huge saves throughout the game. But Shayne really picked up Steve‑O. Picked us all up with that first goal and got us going. We just expect guys to pick each other up and that's what we did tonight. SHAYNE GOSTISBEHERE: Yeah, Steve‑O's been our backbone all year. I thought he played great tonight. I mean, there are tough bounces right off the backboard for a guy for an empty net and our defense should have picked it up. But Steve‑O's been our back bone all year. It shows when your goaltender's hot it's possible to win a title. Q. What does it mean for you guys? The program, 23 years, not expected to do much when it first started at Division I, and to be the first team to accomplish this goal, what's it mean? DANIEL CARR: It's an honor. Hat's off to Minnesota. They played so hard tonight, and I just‑‑ it's an honor. It's indescribable right now. It's just one of those things that will stick with us the rest of our lives. We had such a great group here. Mat Bodie leading us all year has done an unbelievable job keeping us focused every day, and Coach Bennett, same thing and other guys too. Cole Ikkala, Shayne, I think the whole thing right now is indescribable. THE MODERATOR: Shayne, how was it there at the end, the pile? SHAYNE GOSTISBEHERE: I don't know. I got lucky. I got paired with Ely. That's a big mismatch. It was definitely pretty awesome. Something you don't get to do often, and to share it with these guys, my brothers I've been going to battle with for eight months now, three years some of them, it's just amazing. To send off those seniors as champions, it's no better feeling. MAT BODIE: It's unbelievable the growth this program has taken over the past probably eight years. I've only been here for four of them, but those championships for anyone that's ever had a hand in Union hockey because we wouldn't be here without all those players before us. We learned a lot from them, and they broke us into college hockey, and we're forever grateful for that. THE MODERATOR: Glad to have Coach Bennett with us. Coach, it must sound pretty good, national champions? COACH BENNETT: Yeah, well, first thing I just want to say to Minnesota congratulations on getting to that final game. They gave us everything we wanted plus more. That's a heck of a hockey team. Don Lucia and his staff do a phenomenal job. THE MODERATOR: How about your team? COACH BENNETT: I think we're just okay, you know? We're just okay. Thanks, Mat. Q. Shayne, I asked you this Thursday how it felt to do this here, a place that you're hopefully going to have at some point in your NHL career. What did it mean to have the game you, have the tournament you have, and to do it in this building in front of Flyers fans? SHAYNE GOSTISBEHERE: Yeah, it's definitely pretty cool. But when I'm playing with my teammates, nothing else matters. When we're just having fun out there and everything is clicking, it's amazing. We go down a goal in both games here at the Frozen Four, and we just bounced back like it's nothing. We've been there before. It starts with the leadership with Bodie and all the way down. It's amazing what our team can do, and I'm glad it all paid off in the end. Q. Shayne, obviously, hockey players of this level use hockey as a means to an end to get to the NHL. When you step on the ice, what is it that drives you? SHAYNE GOSTISBEHERE: My teammates, my coaches, my family, all the support that we have is just amazing. They make me want to play the game, and the game is just fun. Just playing every day, going to the rink with them, having fun. Just winning at the same time is a good combination and something you can't describe when you've got that sitting next to you. Q. Mat and Daniel, I don't want to embarrass Shayne, but I wondered if you guys could talk. He seemed to have an extra gear tonight, and I wondered if you could talk about his contributions tonight? MAT BODIE: He's a big‑time player, and this is the biggest game of our lives and he really stepped up. He's the motor tonight that really got us going. That first goal was a great individual effort and it really got us going. So he's been tremendous all year for us. DANIEL CARR: I mean, the same thing. He's just a big‑time hockey player. You look at tonight and it's a huge game, like Mat said, the biggest game of our lives, and we come out and Shayne scores an unbelievable goal. He's done that for us the last three years. Just offensively, defensively he's unbelievable. The amount of talent is second to none. Q. Daniel, could you talk about that sequence on your second goal? I think you guys had seven shots in about seven seconds, and it sort of seemed to turn the momentum pretty much in your favor from then on. DANIEL CARR: Well, I think we talked about pack of wolves goals. Just being around the net, and every ‑‑ guys buying in and going to those hard areas. That was kind of it. Daniel Ciampini did a great job with the puck there, and all three of us went to the net. Mike Vecchione put it right upstairs. I think that's where we want to go. When we talk about Union hockey, those are the areas that we want to get to, and I think that's what happened there. Q. Mat, can you talk about the ability to score those three quick goals and take advantage of the momentum you got in the game? MAT BODIE: I think that's been a staple of our team all year that we come in ways. You really felt that at the end of the first there. I thought we really carried the play for a stretch of time there. All three of those goals were pack of wolves goals where guys were on net, and second and third chances. I think that's probably one of the biggest staples of our team all year. Q. Shayne, at the ECAC Tournament, you said one of your proudest moments was when you were named Co‑Defensive Defenseman of the Year. Talk about your improvement there and the play in the last 90 seconds when it looked like the Minnesota player might have had a step on you to set up the goal? SHAYNE GOSTISBEHERE: It's a thank you to my coaches. They worked with me every day for the last three years on the defensive side of my game. They really improved that aspect of my game, and I can't thank them enough. Coach Tapp, going the extra ice with him, and doing whatever I could to get better with the defensive side. I was kind of happy it got noticed with all my hard work. Again, I was just trying to make the play at the end there, and that's what I did was the work at the end and scored a really big goal for us. Q. Shayne, on Thursday you said you didn't get a chance to really take in the environment and you were kind of consumed with the game. Did you do that tonight? It was a better crowd. Did you get a chance to look at the building and take it in? SHAYNE GOSTISBEHERE: I noticed the Union faithful out there for sure. I saw the fans in the stands, and they looked pretty happy. My mom was crying, of course. It was really awesome. It feels like we're dreaming right now, but sometimes dreams come true. THE MODERATOR: How was the atmosphere out there tonight? Could you tell on the ice? It seemed electric to us upstairs. DANIEL CARR: It was unbelievable. I mean, so many supporters just of the game of hockey in general and of Union College came all the way down. I mean, even the rink was unbelievable, but even back at school we got sent videos from the Thursday night game, and just the whole school rallied around us. It's just an awesome feeling. MAT BODIE: I don't think many guys really took in the atmosphere during the game, but once that buzzer sounded, you look up and it's a big building. I didn't realize how high the stands went up. It was just an incredible moment for me to soak it all in and see that jam‑packed building. My parents got to be here, so I'm grateful for that. But like I said, during the game we were just all business. I hope everyone got to take it in at the end of the game there. Q. Shayne, does this‑‑ does winning like this make your decision even harder about coming back next year? When do you plan on finalizing that decision? SHAYNE GOSTISBEHERE: I'm not really thinking about that right now. I'm just thinking about all the hard work we put in this year to get that right there, and just having fun with my teammates right now and how we send off the seniors perfectly as champions. Just thinking about that right now with my team. Q. I was wondering a lot of people have used the term Cinderella season, Cinderella team, et cetera. Does that bother you? Do you embrace it? How do you guys look at that? MAT BODIE: The only way we're a Cinderella team is just name recognition. I really think no one in our room ever believed we were a Cinderella story this year. We believed we belonged with the big boys, and hopefully some people start to realize that Union hockey is here for good now. SHAYNE GOSTISBEHERE: I said earlier this week we never looked at ourselves as Cinderella. We looked at ourselves as Union College and we're just a team trying to win the national title. I guess we proved all those people wrong. THE MODERATOR: Guys we'll let you go celebrate. Enjoy. Q. This is 23 years in the making. What does it mean for you and Union College to do this? COACH BENNETT: Oh, I'm just extremely excited for our program, our school, for the community. For every player that has worn that jersey, for every coach that's coached here before us, I think it's a tremendous accomplishment. I want to thank them. Obviously I can't name them all, but it's just a surreal moment right now. Q. Coach, we talked with Shayne a little about his defensive play. Everyone can see how good he is offensively. Can you talk about how he's grown and you worked with him on the defensive side of the game? COACH BENNETT: Well, just as far as I'm more in the practice realm of it. The extra work that he does with Jason Tapp, Joe Dumais and John Ronan, I think that's where you as a player make a lot of gains, because it's basically like a one‑on‑one or one‑on‑three‑type of relationship. He's a willing guy when he gets out there. He practices so hard, and games are almost sometimes easy for him because he practices so hard. I know you've heard that before. But we kept preaching. It was more towards the last half of the year. It was a message that the coaching staff said our practices are going to be tough. You guys better buckle up. Through that, there was a lot of tough love going on, but they never once complained. I think that's when we got better. Q. Rick, can you talk about Shayne? I think he had a staggering plus‑7 tonight. Just his ability to step up and play in these big games? COACH BENNETT: Yeah, you just never know when a guy is going to come to the forefront in the magnitude of this game. That is phenomenal. Again, if you come to practice and every time we do a small game, an area game, he's coming out of his cleats there. He really wants to win no matter what. He has that in him. Mat Bodie has it in him. Dan Carr, they're winners. Everyone in that locker room is just a winner. Through that I know Shayne was‑‑ obviously, this story here tonight. But there are a lot of other guys too that tonight, chipped in. Q. Coach, twice this weekend you fell behind in the first three minutes of the game. What's it say about the resolve of your team that that didn't bother you and you came back to win both times? COACH BENNETT: I kind of was like a snap shot of the Boston College game. It actually settled us down because I thought we were kind of gripping that stick a little bit. Guys were huffing and puffing on the bench. Guys were standing up, which is not our style. So we just needed to take a deep breath, and that was a theme on the bench throughout the whole game is deep breaths, take it easy, sit down, relax. This is just another game. We're back at Messa Rink. That's how we approached it between periods, and guys bought in. Again, it's not what I say. It's what we're going to do out there. These guys are just guys you can talk to, and they did a great job of that. Q. This is the third time in the last four years you've been a first‑time champ at the college hockey level. It's usually a lot of schools that go over and over again. Do you think something's changed in the college hockey landscape to allow the new, smaller schools to break through in this era? COACH BENNETT: I guess that's a fair question in the fact that a lot of teams are getting hit by the NHL. It's a fact of the matter.  We've lost a lot of guys here recently, and I think it's too bad. There are some guys that have left our program, and now just seeing us here celebrating tonight. Now I feel bad. I really do. Major Juniors is a big part of it, but, you know what? If you want to be a student‑athlete, there is no better place than Union College. We feel we've got the best, basically, recipe for success here. It's a phenomenal school, and we feel that you can get out there because you're only taking three classes, and they can work on in school. They can be the best in school they can, and they can be the best hockey players they can because they have the time to do it. Q. Coach, about Shayne on his defense. You were talking about it earlier. Towards the end of the game he has this sort of sprawling block that leads to the breakaway and leads to the decisive goal. Talk about what you made of that play and what it meant, and the message it sent about the kind of player he is? COACH BENNETT: I guess big‑time players step up in big‑time situations, and that's what he did. He did it all game tonight. You know, guys are going to feed off that. Our bench, you could just tell by their reaction watching every guy on that bench after these plays that he actually made were just crucial plays. You know what? Like I said, great player. The magnitude of this game, he brought it. Q. Coach, how did you celebrate? Who was the first person you hugged? COACH BENNETT: I'd have to say it was our whole staff. So it was a team hug. I didn't shake an individual's hands or hug an individual's hand. It was fitting. It really was fitting. It was a team bench hug. It was great. THE MODERATOR: Have you had a better feeling in hockey? COACH BENNETT: No, actually, I don't. I thought winning Western Massachusetts back in high school as a player was pretty phenomenal. To my coach back home who is watching and wanted to be here, but he couldn't make it, Coach Carlin, this one's a little bit better. Sorry about that. Q. A lot of people talk about plus‑minus being an overrated staff. But with Shayne leading the team in it over the season, and then again being plus‑7 tonight, what's that say about what he delivers for the team? COACH BENNETT: A plus‑7 is pretty staggering. He's, you know, maybe some of the plays he wasn't really a part of, but just his presence out there does create something, because you've got to be aware. That's the sign of a great player. I thought their defensemen over at Minnesota, No. 5, Reilly, was phenomenal for them tonight too. So I can see what type of pressure when you have a guy back there‑‑ and we're fortunate enough this past year to have about six back there that you've got to be aware of. Q. Could you put into perspective this senior class and what they've accomplished? First NCAA, first Frozen Four, first National Championship now? COACH BENNETT: Like I said, it was great to have a part to recruit them as an assistant coach, so I'm a little probably closer with their families than some of the classes, the juniors, sophomores and freshmen. So this is pretty darn special to have a hand in the recruiting process and to be the coach of the phenomenal program here, and to see them go out as winners, it's pretty darn special. Saw a guy in the back there. He only played 13 games for us, Mike Inglesby, and he was a phenomenal player. Concussions basically cut his career short. So it was great to see him as I was walking to this press conference, and I think there is a reason for that. He was a big part of this program. He lives with our senior class. They'd be the first to tell you that his career was cut short, but he has really brought it in the classroom as well, and I think that resonates to that house that he lives in. And these guys know, every one of them, every senior does a phenomenal job in the classroom, and I think it really helps how they play on the ice. Q. What kind of turning point was that three‑goal stretch in the first period, and what was it like to watch it unfold from the bench? COACH BENNETT: It seemed that were a lot of fireworks there going on. I'd like to write a few things down after goals, and it seemed like I was grabbing that notepad and pen and writing pretty furiously there. So it was a good time to write. It was just an explosion. That's what this team can do at certain times. Our first period hasn't been our best period this past season. Usually we're a second and third‑period team. You know, but you just never know from game to game with this group. Q. Coach, your senior class was a big part, but two freshmen scored in that flurry. Can you talk about Vecchione, Lichtenwald, and Pontarelli I thought also had a good game. COACH BENNETT: Yeah, let's hope our future is bright with those guys, because they did an excellent job this past season as well as Noah Henry, Jeff Taylor, Griffyn Martin, Alex Gonye, just the whole group. Everybody chipped in. Mike Vecchione, obviously, had a career year for a freshman. Picked up some awards here and there. But he's a humble guy and a team guy. I know the recruiting process was kind of a whirlwind, but we are one lucky program to have him. He was one of the guys after the game to say thank you very much. I just want to say to him, thank you very much. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you very much and congratulations. COACH BENNETT: Thank you, everybody. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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