Jan. 8, 2011

Recap |  Final Stats

Head Coach Mike Eaves

On finding a way to win despite struggling at times:

"Well first of all, I thought we played really well. We fired fifty-three shots, we dominated, when we go look at the scoring chances they will be two to one for us. So, let's put the game in perspective a little bit in terms of being in their zone. Jake Gardiner himself hit about six posts, seven posts this weekend, his arms are tired from shooting so much. They get three or four goals that are tipped in on 22 shots. We do a lot of good things, the biggest thing that we did is we stayed with it. There were a lot of ups and downs over the course of tonight's game especially, and we showed great resiliency in terms of having mental toughness and we got the job done. I think it will just go under the category of being one of those wild and wacky games that we found a way to win."

On Goaltender Brett Bennett's play:

"It's tough to assess tonight, because the goals were so different, tip-ins, screens. The boy made a great move on the breakaway, you have to tip your hat to that. It was a tough night just for a goaltender, because the puck was getting tipped. We made some bad decisions, Jordy (Murray) goes and tries to get his stick when we are killing a penalty and he should have been in the shooting lane, Sean Dolan breaks his stick and they get it through, the guy chips it from the high slot. So, it was a tough game to assess for Brett (Bennett). I feel bad for him in terms of first game back trying to show what he can do and it was a game that had a lot of funky goals in it."

On the third unit being used on the power play:

"We had been on the power play a lot, and that's our quote, unquote third unit. It was to give the other guys a rest, and keep people involved because they had been sitting on the bench for so long. That was the purpose we did that. (Assistant Coach Gary) Shuchuk said that we didn't have that killer instinct in that like we should have, but we didn't do that because we were backing off, it was to get guys the chance to get involved and stay in the game."

On Keegan Meuer's first career goal:

"Well, the whole unit, Keegan (Meuer) and the two Little brothers (Sean and Ryan), actually they had some opportunities during the course of the game, but just lost the pass. It was great contribution. If you take a look at what they did for us tonight, they chipped in offensively, they gave us good energy, they didn't take any penalties, they drew penalties, so it was a good night for what we would call our fourth unit."

On how it feels to get a win in overtime after the long drought:

"Both Bill (Butters) and Shuchuk brought that to my attention on the bench. But more than anything it's the win. It was about getting that 14th win for us, now we have got 14 games left in league and we've got to work our way up to that 20 win plateau before the season ends. History tells us that if you do that you are going to keep yourself in the RPI where we need to be."

On the current seven-game winning streak:

"We had the discussion today. If you talk about strength of schedule versus wins, which one is more important, we are sitting at 14-7-2 and we are up in the rankings."

On the mental toughness the team showed over the weekend:

"It just adds to the chapter on mental toughness. You have heard us talk before about the fact that every game is a riddle and there are no textbook answers. Well the riddle tonight was to figure out how to win this game that was wild and wacky, and we figured out the riddle tonight. We can take that as experience and put it in our hip pocket and get back into league play. It will help us tremendously down the stretch."

Wisconsin Player Quotes

Justin Schultz:

On the amount of opportunities the team got:

"We had a lot of shots tonight, obviously, and the pucks weren't going in for us this weekend, but it is a good sign we are getting lots of shots. Our power play was working, we had a ton of shots, (Jake) Gardiner just couldn't find a way to put one in there, but it was nice to see us getting those opportunities."

On the team's ability to stay calm under pressure:

"I think right before Christmas you could see it. The young guys definitely have matured a lot and they are starting to figure it out. We have got a great group of guys in that dressing room and we all want to win, so it is going to be exciting to see what we can do down the stretch."

On the winning goal:

"Right when he (Jake Gardiner) caught it, I knew he would see me, he always does. It was a perfect pass, I just had to put it on an open net. It was all Gardiner there."

Keegan Meuer

On what happened to allow Canisius to get back in the game:

"We talked about it in the locker room a little bit, we got up by three and we might have just relaxed a little bit. Give credit to them, they did what they needed to do. They weren't pretty goals, I think they were all deflections and whatnot, but give credit to them they came back with three goals in a row. But we never lost faith and we thought we were coming out with a win, and we were lucky to."

Brett Bennett:

On his play:

"It was a tough night definitely. Sometimes nights like that happen, pucks get deflected, that is just part of being a goaltender. I wish I could have a few of them back, you can say that after every goal, every goalie would tell you that. But it is a little bittersweet, you don't really have the performance that you want to against your hometown team, but it feels good that I have a good team in front of me and we came away with that win. It was just awesome, just really exciting about (the win) and I want to celebrate that with my teammates."

On which goal felt better for him, the game-tying or game-winning one:

"They both felt great. They took that lead there, they scored two pretty quick ones on the power play. The team always looks at a goaltender to stay composed and you might have to make another big save down the stretch, and I just tried to be calm in there. I knew the guys could do it, and they went out and they got the job done. Both goals were awesome. Wow. It was a great win, just really excited. It would have hurt to lose to those guys for sure, being from Buffalo, they really played hard and the guys really came through for me."

On if the save he made in overtime was the hardest of the night:

"I think the breakaway save was a better save. But yeah it was big, the guys got sticks up, the rebound came right back to me so I just covered up, nothing too big. The guys came out and scored a goal, these guys are the heroes tonight."

Craig Johnson:

On if it felt good to end the overtime losing streak after 26 games:

"Absolutely. I didn't know the stat, but we found a way tonight, it was nice. You could see the way we celebrated, it felt like we won the Stanley Cup, that's what a lot of guys were saying in the locker room. So, it was nice to get that win. I think it went from 3-3, to 4-3, to 4-4, to 5-4, and then we fought hard to get that win, and it was nice to get it at least in overtime."

On the team's ability to not panic after adversity:

"Well we have young guys, but they are young guys that are mature now. You know, second half of the season, they have learned from their mistakes in the first half. They are skilled, we know we are a good hockey team, and coming into the second half we expect to do big things. I think we have won seven in a row, they haven't been pretty games, but like tonight we have found a way to win. We will continue to work hard and improve each week and keep going."