Nov. 20, 2010

Recap |  Final Stats

Head coach Mike Eaves

On what to take away from the series against Minnesota Duluth: “I thought we played pretty well. I think we could have got more points last night. We’ve lost three out of four here recently at home…by one goal. Two of them were in overtime. But we’re close, we’re doing some good things. I feel bad for the kids because they’re battling, they’re putting in good effort. It’s a bounce here, a bounce there, and we’re not getting rewarded. So now it’s about how do we respond to the adverse situation that we’re in and how we come back on Monday. We’ve been knocked down to the mat a couple times in the last four games, and it’s about getting up and moving forward. It’s our choice of how we respond, and that’s the most important thing right now.”

On why he started Brett Bennett at goalie: “(Scott Gudmandson) really struggled, so that was an easy decision. The fact that he fought the puck last night and to come back with Brett was just a natural progression of thought based on how good he played last night.”

On the positives to take away from the series: “This group doesn’t quit. To give up a short-handed goal late in the game is very disheartening. But the battle cry on the bench was that we have three quarters of a period here to get it back and we did get it back and we created some other chances could have won us the game in regulation. This group didn’t quit, didn’t stop working, didn’t stop trying, and those are good qualities that we can build on.”

On his timeout in the third period: “(It was an) integral part of the game and our guys had been out there a long time. Just the fact that we didn’t know if we were going to get another power play, so we wanted those guys rested a little bit. It was predicated by the fact that those guys are power play guys and those guys were on the ice for an extended amount of time while there was a delayed penalty.”

On how the players will move on from the losses: “It is tough. There is no doubt about it. When you’re not rewarded for your efforts, you seem to get knocked down a notch or two, but that will be an area that we’ll talk about. This is a situation that we got ourselves in and the only anybody is going to get out of it is that it’s going to start with hard work and coming back on Monday. Slowly but surely working our way out of this hole that we find ourselves in right now. I think things happen in life for a reason. I think for this team right now it’s a matter of building a certain character and will through these tough times. From tough times you build character. It’s in our locker room. It’s a fundamental truth of one of the great things athletics can provide for you as a lesson of life.”

Junior forward Jordy Murray

On what to take away from the series against Minnesota Duluth: “I thought we made a big step from last weekend already. Nothing is coming easy for us, especially wins. We’re close, we’re right there. We think we’re playing good hockey, but just couldn’t pull it out. I mean that was a great team. I give them a lot of credit, but we thought we had one there and even last night. We’re going to go back to work Monday and we will be good to go for next weekend for sure.”

On what the team needs to do going forward: “We just have to play a complete game. We had some letdowns in the second period last night and then tonight some shifts we were just off, but that’s the way the game goes. It was a funky game last night and a lot of weird bounces in a high scoring game, but tonight it was a good game. We showed resilience again coming back at the end, but we need to find ways to get that last goal and win games. We’re a young team and it will come. It’s a little frustrating right now, but we’ll be better by next weekend.”

On the differences/similarities of North Dakota and Minnesota Duluth: “They are completely different teams. North Dakota is a big, older team that likes to bang bodies. Duluth is a real skilled team. I thought we matched up better against Duluth, at least this week. We know we are a hard working team and our plan was if we all work, then we are going to win these games. I thought we did outwork them but just came up short at the end.”

Freshman forward Michael Mersch

On what the team needs to do to fix their problems: “We have to stay together and keeping working hard in practice. We just have to keep at it and hopefully good things will come.”

Senior goalie Brett Bennett

On positives to take away from the series: “We’re close. We’re not a winning team yet. We’re finding ways to lose right now and we have to get back to practice, work hard and just find ways to win the one-goal games. Two in a row now and a couple close ones with North Dakota. We just have to find ways to win. It starts in practice. We just have to keep working hard, keep grinding and we play again Friday night. We have to come out against Michigan.”