Head Coach Andy Murray

Overall

We're pretty excited. There's four teams from the CCHA left that have a chance to win the championship, and we're one of them, so that's gratifying.

Our guys were very determined. We thought we needed to play better than we played last night. We challenged our guys today. The first thing we did at our meeting here this morning was I asked everybody who in the room thought they could play better tonight than they played last night, or could be better than they were last night. I put my hand up, and everybody else put their hand up as well. We all needed to be better, and I thought we were tonight.

2nd chance opportunity goals

We knew that to score goals, we'd have to score pugnacious goals. We had to score dirty goals, we had to be right in front of the net. Their goal tender's one of the best in the league, and we had to find a way, as I said, to score pugnacious goals. We had to be greedy, get to the front of the net, take advantage of opportunities and keep working it. What we wanted to have tonight was, they played very good defense, so we wanted to have them in the chasing mode rather than the guarding mode. We didn't want them to be able to have structure and guard us, we wanted them to have to chase us. And with our speed, they had to chase us a lot tonight.

Everyone contributing

Yeah, we had contributions from everybody, and obviously if you're going to move ahead in something like this you need that. I don't know if you noticed, but we had all five seniors on the ice for a faceoff in our zone with 1:45 left to go. All five were forwards, but I told them on the bench, "You guys started here together, and you're going to close this rink out here tonight as well." Then they got scored on and they were all minus one. So. Then I lost my nerve and I took them off.

First time going to Joe Louis two years in a row

Can I just enjoy this for about a half-hour more? Every game in this league is tough. It's a new challenge for us. We're excited about it. Last time I was in Joe Louis, I was with a different team. So this is going to be exciting.

Ian Slater

What was the lap like after the game?

It will probably set in later. It was emotional, but it felt good. It felt like we really started something here at the beginning of the season, and it was a nice way to top it off.

What's still itching at you from last year's playoffs?

Last year we were there and everyone didn't know what to expect, everyone was so excited. But now we want to go back with a chip on our shoulder and with something to prove. We don't want to just go there to go there, we want to go there and make a mark.

Everyone contributing

We like to roll four lines. We like to play with a deep line-up. Secondary scoring, we said it was going to be huge from us, my line in particular, throughout the playoffs. We did it this weekend, but we gotta stay consistent.

What's it like knowing you won, but you can take it to the next level

It's a commitment, it puts an onus on you. We all played well last night, but you can't settle on that. We knew we had areas to improve in. We came out ready tonight, put some pressure on. But much respect them, on the coaching staff, the leadership on that team, they gave it to us the entire game. They didn't sit back once. We got that Saturday funk out of us last week, and it feels good. We'll get hot the right time of the year, that's what we're hoping for.

Kyle O'Kane

Goals

It was... I can't even express it in words. It was pretty cool. I've been knocking on the door all year, finally bury a couple pucks for the guys, and I know they appreciate it, so it's pretty cool.

Final lap

I thought it was going to be easier, to be honest. But once you hear that horn, bang - you realize it was over, playing in front of this awesome city, these fans. It was tough, but definitely a pretty cool experience to be waving bye to them, and I'm still all smiles.

All-senior faceoff

We were laughing about that. We all go out there and get scored on. We come in together, we get scored on together. It's alright, we're smiling about it.

Headed to the Joe

I think we're headed in the right direction. We're staying positive, and we've got some unfinished business to do. I think our program knows we're not just satisfied with making it there anymore, we're an elite program in college hockey. We're gonna win the whole thing and take first place.

Derek Roehl

Everyone contributing

It's a great feeling. Obviously it's playoff time, post season now, and everyone's got to contribute if we want to keep going and make a run for this.

On the strong start

It was very important that we came out hard, and didn't give them a sniff. That's what we talked about before the game. We didn't want to give them any life or give them any reason to be hanging around, or leave the game for a bounce. So it was important we came out with a big start and finish the same way that we started.

All-senior faceoff

Wouldn't have it any other way, wouldn't pick any other classmates. It was a nice moment. That's the only time I've actually smiled a little bit after getting scored on. I gave [Coach] a little bit of grief for putting us out there in our end for a faceoff, I mean he could've waited a little bit, but that's alright.

Headed to the Joe

Every year we set goals as a team, and making it to the Joe was one of them. So now that we've got that opportunity, we've got to make the best of it and win. Unlike last year, we're going to finish the job.