The #2 ranked Gopher Hockey team held their weekly press conference at Mariucci Arena. Head Coach Don Lucia met with the media, as did Captain Zach Budish, Defenseman Jake Parenteau, and Winger Travis Boyd. The team takes on Minnesota-Duluth this weekend at Mariucci Arena. Gophers are coming off of a split last weekend with Wisconsin, winning in Madison on Friday night before dropping a one goal game at Soldier Field on Sunday in the Hockey City Classic.
Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the Hockey City Classic… "I think it was a great experience for us, and I think if you ask all the players, they're glad we played in it, and it's something they'll remember all their lives. I think from our standpoint it was a real positive experience, other than the score. I'm sure at some point we'll probably be doing one here at TCF Bank Stadium, and look forward to that when it does eventually happen"
Regarding playing at home… "It's been about four weeks since we've played at home. When you look at 3-2 on the road against the teams we've played, that's good. The disappointing part is the last two times we've won on Friday, and had an opportunity to do a little better on Saturday, but couldn't get it done. Overall, 3-2, we'll take that and move on. And now we have four straight at home, now we have to hold serve, and try to win some games at home.
Regarding UMD… "I think they're a really good skating team. They're probably as good a skating team as we've seen. A couple of their Freshman have played a high impact role on their team. They've got some veteran defenseman that have been through it the last number of years. I think the big thing is they haven't scored on a consistent basis throughout their lineup this year. Their top end is very good, and their team speed is as good as anybody"
Regarding the conference race… "Who knows what we have to do. I don't think we can worry about that. I think all we can do is worry about our preparation for this weekend and let's just try to win games. However it falls out it falls out. If we win, we put some pressure on other teams. You look at the compression of the league standings, we could still win the league, or we could be on the road the first round of the playoffs. We gotta win games, and the rest will take care of itself"
Regarding high rank, and not leading the WCHA… "It has to do with what we've done non-conference. You go back a year ago at this time, and we were leading the WCHA, and we're a bubble team for the NCAA tournament. I like the position we're in today a whole lot better. We did a great job non-conference going 8-0, and beating some good teams. So when you look at our overall record, we've put ourselves in a great position. We just need to win enough games to secure home ice, and then go from there. The level of play in our league has been awfully high. If you look right now, if the NCAA tournament began today, five WCHA teams would be in, and I think two more have a legitimate chance to play their way in. That's why the last three, four, five weeks are going to be a dogfight"
Regarding Mark Alt… "Mark has played better here the second half. I think he had his ups and downs the first half of the season, and he seems to be playing his best hockey of the year right now. He's a big strong guy, and needs to play a little bit more of a shutdown role, than a big offensive role for our team. He's a guy you want to have on the ice when you're ahead by a goal"
Regarding Zach Budish… "Zach's done a good job. One of the things with Zach this year is that his game has really improved as the year has gone by. Earlier in the year, maybe he put too much pressure on himself, being Captain affected his game a little bit. Since Christmas time, he seems to be moving better, and scoring more, and having a much bigger impact game in and game out. Zach's a great kid. He's a good student, and he represents himself in community service and everything else. He's just an A plus kid. He had to make the adjustment this year of playing with Erik (Haula), and not Nick (Bjugstad) and Kyle (Rau) this year. He's a team guy. He doesn't care where he is, he just wants the team to have success"
Regarding injuries… "Seth Ambrosz I don't think will be able to play this weekend. If we were in the NCAA tournament he could probably play, but we're going to look at the big picture and probably hold him out this weekend. At least Friday for sure"
Zach Budish:
Regarding the Hockey City Classic… "It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. It was a big stage for us, and we had a blast with it. Coming out with a loss makes it not the greatest experience of all time, but still a fun experience. It was really cool"
Regarding the teams play… "We gotta start being more consistent from Friday to Saturday night and figure out a way to put together a full weekend. It's on us as players to make sure we're ready to go. Make sure the focus and intensity is there every day"
Regarding UMD… "Coaches talked to us yesterday and said they're a lot better than their record shows. They won a national championship here two years ago, so a lot of their guys still on the team, so they know what it takes to win big games. They maybe don't have the greatest record right now, but they're a better team than their record shows, and they've got some talented players. I think we're excited to be back on home ice, it's been a while. Five games on the road…it's good to get on the road a little bit, more team bonding with the guys and whatnot. But it's always more comfortable being in our own rink, in front of our great fans. We expect a huge turnout Friday and Saturday"
Jake Parenteau:
Regarding the Hockey City Classic… "It was really cool. It's a once in a lifetime kind of thing. It's one of those things where you have to win, because it's a once in a lifetime thing. But it was really fun, and we'll cherish that for a long time. We played hard, but we couldn't pull out the full sixty minutes. That two points was huge for us. I think we should have won, obviously, but there are still games left. We just gotta win out, and go on a run"
Regarding UMD… "The games are going to be fast and physical, same kind of play as us. They're going to be shooting hard and passing hard. We've gotta match their play, and play better than them"
Travis Boyd:
Regarding the Hockey City Classic… "It was tough. If anything, we learned that it doesn't matter what the conditions are, you've still gotta come out and play at one hundred percent, for one hundred percent of the game. We said, once again, if we play a full sixty minutes, we win that game. We fell apart in the second period, and they got three straight goals. That's not playing a full sixty minutes, not playing a full game. And it's one of the reasons we're not winning back to back games right now"
Regarding the teams play… "We have to put a good weekend together. A good weekend is two nights, not just one. We've been coming out pretty consistently and playing well on Friday, and not playing good enough to win on Saturday. We're a couple of points away from not even being at home in the first playoff series for the WCHA. We have to put together a couple of good weekends here at home"
Head Coach Don Lucia:
Regarding the Hockey City Classic… "I think it was a great experience for us, and I think if you ask all the players, they're glad we played in it, and it's something they'll remember all their lives. I think from our standpoint it was a real positive experience, other than the score. I'm sure at some point we'll probably be doing one here at TCF Bank Stadium, and look forward to that when it does eventually happen"
Regarding playing at home… "It's been about four weeks since we've played at home. When you look at 3-2 on the road against the teams we've played, that's good. The disappointing part is the last two times we've won on Friday, and had an opportunity to do a little better on Saturday, but couldn't get it done. Overall, 3-2, we'll take that and move on. And now we have four straight at home, now we have to hold serve, and try to win some games at home.
Regarding UMD… "I think they're a really good skating team. They're probably as good a skating team as we've seen. A couple of their Freshman have played a high impact role on their team. They've got some veteran defenseman that have been through it the last number of years. I think the big thing is they haven't scored on a consistent basis throughout their lineup this year. Their top end is very good, and their team speed is as good as anybody"
Regarding the conference race… "Who knows what we have to do. I don't think we can worry about that. I think all we can do is worry about our preparation for this weekend and let's just try to win games. However it falls out it falls out. If we win, we put some pressure on other teams. You look at the compression of the league standings, we could still win the league, or we could be on the road the first round of the playoffs. We gotta win games, and the rest will take care of itself"
Regarding high rank, and not leading the WCHA… "It has to do with what we've done non-conference. You go back a year ago at this time, and we were leading the WCHA, and we're a bubble team for the NCAA tournament. I like the position we're in today a whole lot better. We did a great job non-conference going 8-0, and beating some good teams. So when you look at our overall record, we've put ourselves in a great position. We just need to win enough games to secure home ice, and then go from there. The level of play in our league has been awfully high. If you look right now, if the NCAA tournament began today, five WCHA teams would be in, and I think two more have a legitimate chance to play their way in. That's why the last three, four, five weeks are going to be a dogfight"
Regarding Mark Alt… "Mark has played better here the second half. I think he had his ups and downs the first half of the season, and he seems to be playing his best hockey of the year right now. He's a big strong guy, and needs to play a little bit more of a shutdown role, than a big offensive role for our team. He's a guy you want to have on the ice when you're ahead by a goal"
Regarding Zach Budish… "Zach's done a good job. One of the things with Zach this year is that his game has really improved as the year has gone by. Earlier in the year, maybe he put too much pressure on himself, being Captain affected his game a little bit. Since Christmas time, he seems to be moving better, and scoring more, and having a much bigger impact game in and game out. Zach's a great kid. He's a good student, and he represents himself in community service and everything else. He's just an A plus kid. He had to make the adjustment this year of playing with Erik (Haula), and not Nick (Bjugstad) and Kyle (Rau) this year. He's a team guy. He doesn't care where he is, he just wants the team to have success"
Regarding injuries… "Seth Ambrosz I don't think will be able to play this weekend. If we were in the NCAA tournament he could probably play, but we're going to look at the big picture and probably hold him out this weekend. At least Friday for sure"
Zach Budish:
Regarding the Hockey City Classic… "It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. It was a big stage for us, and we had a blast with it. Coming out with a loss makes it not the greatest experience of all time, but still a fun experience. It was really cool"
Regarding the teams play… "We gotta start being more consistent from Friday to Saturday night and figure out a way to put together a full weekend. It's on us as players to make sure we're ready to go. Make sure the focus and intensity is there every day"
Regarding UMD… "Coaches talked to us yesterday and said they're a lot better than their record shows. They won a national championship here two years ago, so a lot of their guys still on the team, so they know what it takes to win big games. They maybe don't have the greatest record right now, but they're a better team than their record shows, and they've got some talented players. I think we're excited to be back on home ice, it's been a while. Five games on the road…it's good to get on the road a little bit, more team bonding with the guys and whatnot. But it's always more comfortable being in our own rink, in front of our great fans. We expect a huge turnout Friday and Saturday"
Jake Parenteau:
Regarding the Hockey City Classic… "It was really cool. It's a once in a lifetime kind of thing. It's one of those things where you have to win, because it's a once in a lifetime thing. But it was really fun, and we'll cherish that for a long time. We played hard, but we couldn't pull out the full sixty minutes. That two points was huge for us. I think we should have won, obviously, but there are still games left. We just gotta win out, and go on a run"
Regarding UMD… "The games are going to be fast and physical, same kind of play as us. They're going to be shooting hard and passing hard. We've gotta match their play, and play better than them"
Travis Boyd:
Regarding the Hockey City Classic… "It was tough. If anything, we learned that it doesn't matter what the conditions are, you've still gotta come out and play at one hundred percent, for one hundred percent of the game. We said, once again, if we play a full sixty minutes, we win that game. We fell apart in the second period, and they got three straight goals. That's not playing a full sixty minutes, not playing a full game. And it's one of the reasons we're not winning back to back games right now"
Regarding the teams play… "We have to put a good weekend together. A good weekend is two nights, not just one. We've been coming out pretty consistently and playing well on Friday, and not playing good enough to win on Saturday. We're a couple of points away from not even being at home in the first playoff series for the WCHA. We have to put together a couple of good weekends here at home"