WMU vs. UMD 1/31/14
Head Coach Andy Murray
Thoughts overall on tonight's game
“Overall, we are naturally disappointed. We played a team that was on top of their game and Duluth had a tremendous weekend. They had their skating legs, their work ethic, their work boots were on, and they played really hard. I thought tonight was a total difference from last night's game in the sense that I liked my team tonight. Last night, I felt at times I was coaching a group of individuals that had a focus that was beyond what was good for the team and tonight I thought we had a group that battled and competed hard, it was unfortunate that we didn't score on some of the opportunities that we had. 9 shots on that one power play and we couldn't find the net. Things that we have to continue to work on but I liked the compete in our team and I liked our composure. I thought I had a team I was coaching tonight and we talked in the dressing room and we have 10 games remaining in the regular season and play offs. It still remains our goal and will remain our goal to see that our seniors get to play two more games at home in the playoffs. That is what we are striving to do and we will continue to work in that direction. Just a great weekend for Minnesota Duluth, they played really really well. We were not good last night and we had a team that battled tonight.
Shots in the 3rd period—Minnesota out shooting in the third
“They are a good team. They put a lot of pressure on you and they can skate. Some of our individual players will look at this weekend and say they were not on top of their game and we need to find a way so that is not the case. You always need your top guys going but, I give Duluth credit, they want to win too. They were playing real hard and battling which made it difficult for us. We turned some pucks over, we mis-managed a few pucks and they did a good job of hanging on to it. They had more time with the puck and when you have more time with the puck you are going to get more shots.
Rebounds from Crandall
“He did not give up a lot and we were hanging around the net pretty good. They were a better team this weekend than we were. Our players did not play well last night and we came with a much better game tonight. Unfortunately it was not good enough to beat Duluth the way that they were playing.”
Potential Rivalry?
“I just assume we have a rivalry with every team. I think our fans are being treated with outstanding hockey and unfortunately this weekend most of that was on the Duluth side. Certainly last night but it is an intense and physical brand of hockey. That is what we are building towards and the types of players that we are recruiting so we can compete in these kinds of games. We are taking steps here every single day and we were picked to be 8th in the league and we have surprised a few so far and we want to continue surprising people so we will continue to play hard. It is a great rivalry with Duluth and I like to think that when we go into Miami and I know they won't be too happy because of what happened last time either so that will be a real battle.
Junior forward Will Kessel
Emotion of winning streak and the losses this weekend
“Our team was riding high and we were confident coming into this weekend. Obviously two losses is not what we were aiming for at all. Our team is down right now but Monday we are going to come back and regroup and be ready for next weekend.”
More motivated and energy focused tonight?
“We were more energetic last night but maybe in the wrong ways at times, a little too much after the whistle. Today we brought it together and we were able to establish forecheck. We worked them down low we just have to put together our chances and finish.”
Did it come down to your chances tonight?
“Definitely, we made some bone head plays and we weren't there mentally on some of the goals that we gave away. Two down changes but we will be better next weekend, we had some opportunities to finish and we will be better.”
Potential Rivalry?
“I don't know if it's a rivalry, they are a chippy team and we are a chippy team. They are fun to play against, they got the best of us in the four game series this year but hopefully we get a shot in the playoffs.”
