Jan. 3, 2015 Recap | Final Stats
Wisconsin Coach Postgame Quotes
Wisconsin vs. Michigan Tech
Jan. 3, 2015
Kohl Center - Madison, Wis.
Mike Eaves
On where Joel Rumpel is on his performance spectrum tonight:
"We talked with Jeff Sanger in the locker room after the game, our young goaltending, our volunteer coach who works with Joel (Rumpel) and he said that he'd be hard pressed to think of another game that was as good as that. He was in control, his rebounds… he fought to see pucks through screens. He had a couple posts there, but he'll tell you that he was on his angle. I thought that when he did handle the puck, he was very sharp. In talking with the coaches after, we said in the beginning of the year that this was going to have to be our formula. Have great goaltending from Joel (Rumpel), find a way to score, and then find a way to win. That was the recipe tonight starting with Joel (Rumpel), got a power-play goal, killed four off. We won more battles tonight… we played at a higher pace. Those are the kind of things that indicate that we're moving forward."
On if he feels that his team was better tonight:
"Yes, they were. There's a big monkey off their back. As an athlete, one of the things you battle is confidence. We've talked about confidence, you get some of that in practice… the way you work, the things you do in practice, but you need to perform in games and get results to really solidify that. Our confidence level is a little higher right now. We still have a lot of work to do, but we'll come back with a little more jump in our step on Monday, and have an idea of what we're talking about when we're talking about playing at pace and against a team that's hard to the puck and has great back pressure that plays championship hockey. We're a little closer to that now, and we'll carry that into practice and get ready for Boston University."
On if he thinks this was his best game of the year:
"I would say yes, just because it was an important win at the time and the formula was followed, we had great goaltending. We competed. We competed tonight, and for 50-50 pucks and one-on-one battles, we were willing to block shots. So, yes."
On what he saw from Jack Dougherty, Ryan Wagner, and Cameron Hughes tonight:
"Well those three, and even you watch Rocky who jumps in there, Adam Rockwood, who shows tremendous poise with the puck coming out of our zone at times. That's great for him because he feels that I can do this here, I can do this at this level, and I think that will only project all those young freshman to a higher level. Jake Linhart… playing at that pace and tempo for the first time. That's the fastest game he's probably ever played in. That's a good thing, and he understands what it's all about now so we can move forward as a group."
On what happened in the sequence with Jack Dougherty and Joel Rumpel during power play:
"I actually went down and asked the guys what happened back there and they said that they sent two guys down and Joel (Rumpel) didn't hear what we said so it got all discombobulated, so you're right, we avoided a big mistake down there. At one time, we were going what the heck is going on, and then all of a sudden were going yeah, we scored. But isn't that sports sometimes."
On what the locker room was like today compared to last night after the loss:
"There was an air of determination in that room. I think what happened last night kind of embarrassed them, getting beat like that at home. So there was an air of determination. In the first period, they expressed that with the tempo they played and they battled more fiercely for pucks right away, so I would say that."
On what message did he leave with the team last night:
"The message was that tonight is over, we didn't go 1-and-0. We have to let that go. We'll come back and look at things that we can do better… and now our focus becomes Saturday night being 1-and-0 and we achieved our short term goal tonight."
Wisconsin Player Quotes
Joel Rumpel:
On if he had his worst performance last night followed by his best tonight:
"Yeah I guess you could put it that way. I never really thought of it like that, but I guess that's what it looks like."
On what he was feeling after being able to bounce back from a tough loss yesterday:
"Obviously after a game like that on Friday, you want to put your best foot forward even though you might be a little nervous or doubting yourself. It was good to go out there. My team kept the first few shots to the outside which gave me a little bit of confidence which helped out a lot."
On his confidence level going into the game:
"Well it never feels good to get pulled. But I got back to work and skated hard. You just have to get out there and work harder so you're confident going into that game."
On if his body took a beating tonight during the game:
"I was joking, I think I got all the turkey out over Christmas after this one. It wasn't too bad. With hard D-man, the forwards kept everything to the outside. It was easier than it looked out there."
On if he could read the expressions of the opponents faces:
"You could see it (their expressions) once in a while. A few of the guys came up to me and gave me a tap after a couple of saves. That's always an interesting feeling when the other team is saying 'good job.' It gave me confidence knowing I was in their head and making those saves. It helped."
Morgan Zulinick:
On Joel Rumpel's goaltending tonight:
"Incredible. That's the only way I can describe it. He was amazing all night. Like that one save, he was down laying, his stick was in the corner. The puck jumps out to the D-man. He pops up and makes a second save. It's things like that that make him an unbelievable goalie."
On his power-play goal:
"I hopped on the ice right away and I looked up and Jedd fell down and the puck was right there. He kind of poked it, and then I grabbed it and had a partial breakaway. The goalie I think thought I was going to cut to my back hand but I didn't think I had that option so I held the puck over here (on the opposite side) and saw a lot of net and what do you know? It went in. It's a good feeling."
Jack Dougherty:
On what was different from last night to tonight:
"I think last night we knew we weren't a team that would lose 8-1 to anybody. I think the effort was there last night, but we went out there and stepped it up big time. It was a gutty win. A lot of effort from everybody, and it's a good feeling."
On what was different from the locker room last night to tonight:
"Obviously we're all happy. After tonight, we took a huge step forward, and we're looking forward, we aren't looking back. We don't want to take a step backwards. Now comes the preparation for next weekend. We have to start right now."
On if this was a coming-of-age weekend for him personally:
"Yeah it was definitely a confidence booster this weekend. But I owe it a little bit to the coaches. Even when I'm not having a good game, they can still put me out there and eventually I'm going to do something right and build my confidence, and it seemed like this weekend was one of them. My teammates were helping me out. I had a great D partner that can bail me out of situations when I screw up. It's just great knowing that I've got everything going for me and everyone supporting me around me."
On if he's ever seen as strong of a goalkeeping performance as Rumpel's tonight:
"Yeah, maybe when I watched Miracle. I feel like Rumpel was a little like Jimmy Craig out there. Every two seconds there's a big save and the crowd roars. We knew we could jump on his back and we knew he was going to have to come up big this year and maybe steal some games and that's what happened tonight."
