Wisconsin Head Coach Mike Eaves
Opening Statement...
"Our thoughts as a coaching staff is that it was a typical tournament game. It was highly intensive out there. I thought the first period, we weren't as good as we had hoped - a lot of that had to do with the Vermont team. I thought in the second period, we got our feet moving better, did better things in terms of supporting the puck, winning to races and winning battles and overall picking it up after that point. Obviously, the power play was huge tonight. It created a lot of scoring chances for us and goals. And in the end when the game was on the line, we got a big save from (Gudmandson) with about three minutes to go, and then I thought we did a good job when they pulled their goaltender. We looked like we knew what we were doing, and that's a good thing going on further into the playoffs.
On Blake Geoffrion and Brendan Smith:
"In a big game, they played the way they are capable of. If you're going to win these types of games, you're best players have to be your best players. They were that tonight for us."
On the physical style of the Badgers:
"The base of our pyramid is to play hard. You have to give yourself a chance to win when you play hard and play physical. Certainly, we don't want to take penalties...playing hard is part of what you have to do in this game to win. As I said, we don't want to take penalties, but we want to be on that edge."
On the start of the game:
"We got the first goal, which is certainly what we wanted. But we weren't playing the way we wanted. Part of it was Vermont, part of it was the delay, part of it was nerves. It was a semifinal - game 7. I don't care what you say, the kids know that, and that's why it's pleasing to us as a coach that they settled down in the second."
On playing SCSU:
"We certainly know what's ahead of us. This is our sixth time playing. We know that Mr. Lee is playing very well right now. We fired 20 shots on him in the third period and couldn't quite solve him, so we know that will be a challenge. It's going to be a great game, both teams know each other inside out...I think people that show up tomorrow at the Xcel (Energy) Center are going to see a whale of a college hockey game."
Wisconsin Junior Defenseman Brendan Smith
On why the power play was working in their favor:
"The biggest thing is that we were moving the puck. We use this method a lot, "The Twig," we take what is given. We did that a lot. If they took me we went down to Mikey (Davies) and Mikey is so talented with the puck he fould Blake (Geoffrion) or back up to (Derek) Stepan. I think we just took what was given and that was good for us. I felt that sometimes they were running around and they didn't know who to cover. I think it worked for us and hopefully we can take it out tomorrow."
On "The Twig" theory:
"First it was a good play by Steps taken behind the net and back to me. I just got the puck and shot it. I wasn't even really looking at the net. We hadn't had a shot for a bit, I just shot and wished it went in."
Wisconsin Senior Center Blake Geoffrion
On the conversation after the first period:
"I think the biggest thing is we were getting out-worked and losing a lot of battles along the wall. We talked about getting the puck in and getting the puck out. We didn't have the support there we needed and we were losing a lot of battles. We talked about that and getting it going a bit and playing Wisconsin hockey and dictating our style of play. We came back out in the second and fired on all cylinders."
