Dec. 4, 2009

Recap |  Box Score

Dec. 4, 2009

Head Coach Mike Eaves Post-game Quotes
On Blake Geoffrion's hat trick: "Yeah, it had it all didn't it? I understand that's the first senior hat trick since Troy Howard. I didn't know Troy was a goal-scorer to be honest with you. I think the last hat trick we had here was Jack Skille four years ago. Usually when you have a big night, somebody is a multiple-scorer guy and Blake's are goals [from] right where he's supposed to be, and he did some things and things happened for him. So it kind of set the table for us."

On the Badgers' play during the start of the game vs. the last two periods: "Well, we walked into our locker room up 4-1 and the coaching staff has to be the level there. It didn't seem like we should have been up 4-1. I think sloppy is a good word: we didn't take care of the puck as well as we would have liked to. I thought we tightened things up in the second period and we did a much better job and that carried us through."

On manufacturing goals: "We were much better tonight. I think the last goal that Bohmer (Andy Bohmbach) got, Patrick Johnson was standing right in front of the goal, he took his eyes away and he created a rebound and Bohmer got it. That was one of the type of goals that we talked about. That's manufacturing a goal. Yes, we had some puck luck in terms of Blake's first goal going off his skate, and Derek Lee's goals kind of hit two skates and a stick before it went to him in a one-time position. But we scored some goals and we went to the hard areas and we manufactured goals. On nights where maybe we don't have puck luck, well we can still manufacture those goals as we talked about last week, so we were much better in that area tonight."

UW Players Post-game Quotes
Blake Geoffrion
On what he has been able to give to the team thus far: "I think even though I am getting credit for these goals, I really think that it's a unit of five out there...Tonight, for example, we made some great plays down on the first goal. Steps (Derek Stepan) got it down to Mike (Davies) and then me. I was trying to go over to Smitty (Brendan Smith) and the puck goes off the guy skating in. That all started with a little battle at the beginning of the face off. The second one...what happened on the second one? Oh yeah, the backhander. Once again, they moved the puck all the way around, Smitty made a nice pass to me and I whiffed on the shot and it went in. But that all led to good puck movement, all of us working together. And then the third one was moving it all around, Smitty made a really nice pass to me in front of the net, I stalled my stick and tipped it in. So, yeah, I'm the one getting all the credit for these goals, and it's nice, but without all these guys moving the puck all the way around and moving the puck up and back, I'm not going to get credit for these. So yeah, I'm producing, but the only way I can do that is with the help of these guys."

Brendan Smith
On the improvement of the defense between the first and second period: "Coach kind of came in and was a little upset with our performance. We weren't ready to play and didn't really come out with our normal first period [performance]. Coach came in and said we have to do the little things, play better defensively, find the people in front of the net and get the blocks out. They're a hard-working team ... they work hard and they get in front of the net. So I think the main message was to match or better their hard work and we'll be successful. To have it 4-1 in the first period didn't show off what actually was going on in the game. I felt that we were very lackadaisical, so to come into the second period with a 4-1 lead after our poor performance in the first period was great."

Derek Lee
On senior captain Blake Geoffrion: "Well aside from his obvious skill set, he's the hardest working guy on our team. He wins battles all over the ice. He's a great leader in the locker room, he gets everybody going, everyone listens to him and respects him, and he's kind of the epitome of this program right now. He's our captain for a reason, and he's doing a great job. It just shows tonight...three goals--leadership right there."