Recap |  Final Stats

Dec. 6, 2014

UW Head Coach  Mike Eaves

On how tonight was different and if it was better than last night:
No doubt. That fact that you bring that up firsthand says that you saw that too in terms of last night. I think we played with a boldness in our step and the way we played-the message to the boys after the game was a quote that I read about how life is understood by looking back on it, but unfortunately life is lived moving forward. We are going through a tough stretch right now and we might not understand the lessons that we're going to get from this time until we're past it, but what we can control right now is keeping our effort at a high level and coming back on Monday purposely ready to get better. Those are the things that we can control and that was the message to the kids as they left the rink. 

On what you will remember about your 500th game:
Well somebody brought that up earlier this week and it caught me off guard because you don't keep track of that stuff until somebody brings it up. Being here 13 years is four times as long as my wife and I have been anywhere in the coaching profession, and so it's really nice, as my wife has said, "the circus has come home." Bethy was born and raised here, her mom and dad are here and family and so for all those years I took here all over North America and Europe, we finally were in a spot for long enough. It's the first time that I've ever seen a city change. I've seen new apartment buildings going up and stuff taken down and seen stuff like that. We are actually gathering stuff in the basement for the first time because we you move that often you throw those things away, which is a funny anecdote, but you know 500 games means we've been here a while, it's been most enjoyable, learned tons. Have lots more to learn, we're learning a lot with this young group, it's funny, we think these young people are learning from us in terms of how to go to the next level and play-they challenge us in how to become better coaches because of the challenges that we have with this group of young men, and so there's learning going on both ways. 

On having the lead taken away very quickly:
Yeah, the tide kind of turned. And we really felt the second and third goals, you hear coaches in hockey talk about the bounces of the puck and we didn't have much puck luck there, but we did a good job on the penalty kill. We were in the right position and we have a pass that we break up and it happens to carom over to a guy who's on his one-time side and he shoots the puck and it hits about three things and squeezes in for the goal. So you think, "jeez that's, one where we did the right things." And then on the short-handed goal we gave up, Kevin Schulze breaks his stick. He tried to pass the puck three times and is wondering "Why can't I pass it?" and then I actually think Rumps (Joel Rumpel) would like to have that shot back. I think he overplayed that a wee bit. But we came back, we had great energy on the bench for the third period, we fought like dogs, we skated those six young men for about the last three minutes there when we pulled the goalie. So there was good energy, there were things to build on there, so we'll come back to work on Monday, purposefully and get ready for the Under-18 team. 

On the attitude in the locker room:
The attitude, I think on a natural level, they're disappointed, they're frustrated. There's not a lot of reward for their hard work and being a former athlete, that can grind on you, I'll be really honest. This might be one of the golden nuggets that's involved in going through a time like this is they learn the fact that they have a choice to make every day, "Do I come back on Monday feeling sorry for myself and moping around or do I come back and say "You know what? I'm going to be a piece of this in terms of turning it around and getting it going in the right direction." So that might be the carrot that's there for these young men, but in the locker room, yeah there's some frustration, I won't lie. When you work as hard as you do and you don't get that ultimate satisfaction of finding a way to get a W, it can wear on you. But that's why we as coaches talk about the things that we do, point out the good things that we do and build on those little victories so that we can get that big victory of that W.

On Grant Besse's health after coming out after a big hit early in the game:
Yes, yes, he's okay. Andy for sure, our medical staff wouldn't let him back, but he had good strength in the area that was hit, and they wrapped him up a little bit and he was good to go, and he played hard. He played hard for us.

Wisconsin Players

Senior Goaltender Joel Rumpel
On if you thought the team played better than last night:
Yeah the team played a lot better, it was a lot better effort all around. It was a lot more fun to watch. The guys were going hard, winning races, winning battles, just like you said, some bad bounces, we still battled back, but it just wasn't quite enough tonight.

On the attitude of the team after the game:
Nothing changes. I mean, it's just back to work Monday, getting stronger every day, getting our systems figured out, our lines, everything like that. Nothing changes, just back to work

Junior Defenseman Kevin Schulze
On what happened on your goal and when your stick broke to set up Penn State's short handed goal:
My goal, (Ryan) Wagner, (Matt) Ustaski, and Corbin (McGuire) were working down low, Corbin bumped it off the boards and I shot it on net, Matt had a great screen and it went it. Then on the short-handed goal, we were kind of changing, I just wanted to get up and get off to be honest, and then the stick just broke and it went right to their guy and they came in and shot and scored. Unlucky.

On the unlucky things that happened tonight:
Yeah I was talking with Brian Posiak and he said that if we didn't have bad luck we wouldn't have any luck at all, so it's the way it goes sometimes I guess.

Senior Forward Morgan Zulinick
On if the team played better and with more energy:
Yeah definitely. I thought we played a lot better tonight. We had a couple of unfortunate bounces, that one goal that Kevin Schulze's stick snapped on the power play. That was unfortunate, and the other goal, it was bouncing, just a lucky bounce in the net, but I thought we played a lot better than last night, and we're going to keep moving forward, building on this. 

On the attitude of the team after the game:
Moving forward. The biggest thing is just moving forward, keep building.