Oct. 15, 2010

Recap |  Box Score |  Photo Gallery 1  |  Photo Gallery 2 

Head Coach Mike Eaves:

On the success of the power play:
To be honest, in watching them in practice, there were pretty good indications that we were going to do well on the power play. We knew that Jake Gardiner would be able to step in there. I knew that Jordy Murray would do well up front and we were hoping that Mark [Zengerle] would be that guy who has good hands and has the vision.

On depth of defense:
Goaltenders are our veterans, so we felt confident. Our defensive core is strong. Eric Springer and Craig Johnson have practiced at a high level, and Eric Springer has been starting to feel more comfortable out there and doing things in the game.

On having a younger team:
Confidence is always something that you want your players to have especially in a young team, and we are seeing and believing in some of the things we’ve been doing. As long as we execute, we can grow our reservoir of confidence. We are going to have some down points in our season so it will be important to tap into that reservoir of confidence during those times.

On being put on the power play in the 2nd period, and giving up no goals with 5 v. 3:
It was one of the turning points in the game, and Patrick Johnson gets that hard-hat for blocking two shots. Those are moments that we need to handle and it was nice to see our young team do that.

On impact of Justin Schultz:
He has improved on his ability to come across the ice on the power play and get a shot through. His release and strength of shot have improved and now he has this reservoir of confidence and it’s a huge jump for last year.

Sophomore Justin Schultz

On his performance:
We are all just familiar with each other, we’ve been doing well in practice and we just feel really confidant right now.

On his role on the team:
I think my role is to lead by example. We’ve got a couple young guys back there and a couple of guys who played last year so me and [John] Ramage played last year so we just try to lead by example and show them how its done.

Senior Sean Dolan

What to take from this game from a captain’s perspective:
We just stuck to our game plan. We wanted to come out in the first 20 minutes and come at them hard and that’s what we did. We kept our feet moving all night and it paid off for us.

On blocking shots:
It is just a matter of willingness; you have to want to get in front of that puck. That is something Blake [Geoffrion] took a lot of pride in and no matter who you are. Patty (Patrick Johnson) and I, or anyone who is on the penalty kill, has to block shots and get it done.

What it means to have success offensively tonight:
It’s a confidence builder. Starting off the season like this is good, because we know we are going to have a lot of ups and downs this season, so it’s good to see our hard work pay off.

Freshman Mark Zengerle

On first competing in first home game for Wisconsin:
It was awesome. You don’t know what it’s going to be like until you actually get out there. A lot of our freshman we’re pretty excited to get out there for the first game at the Kohl Center.  It’s safe to say that we have some of the best fans in college hockey and it’s definitely a lot of fun.