Michigan State 3, Michigan 3
2/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Feb. 10, 2007
Michigan Head Coach Red Berenson
On the series . . .
Well, we won both our games at home this year. We tied a game here last year, so it's not like we've been underdogs. All the games are close games, just like the game tonight.
On the play of Chris Summers . . .
Good for Summers. He's a kid that this week is his first week at forward here, and he's played defense up until now. But we needed a strong skater to play with (Andrew) Cogliano, so we wanted to try Summer's there. He played a little bit of forward last year. It's nice to see him get a couple of goals, obviously. He was a factor in the game. He's a good competitor; he's strong and tough; and he can really skate.
On NCAA tournament position . . .
I think it goes up and down with every game. We obviously put ourselves in a hole last night. I don't think we helped ourselves (tonight), but we didn't hurt ourselves tonight.
On the comeback . . .
I think we played with more emotion tonight, and when you play with emotion, you have a lot more gas than you think you have. It was a good comeback. Anytime you give up a shorthanded goal, it's tough to win the game. We didn't win it, but at least, we won the last half of the game.
Michigan State Head Coach Rick Comley
Opening statement . . .
I thought we got real tired, but they had a lot to do with it. They came at us with some pretty good speed, got 57 shots but didn't win the game. The thing you have to remember is that we're sitting in the locker room, getting outshot like that and we still get a point. So the bottom line is to be resilient and find a way to get it done. We just got tired, and they used their speed to take advantage of some situations that we couldn't deal with very well. We'll go home with a point and get ready for Tuesday (at Ferris State).
On the Spartans' defensive performance . . .
We are what we are. We know that we have some flaws on this team, but you have to remember that we're 11-1-2 in our last 14 games. We haven't generated much offense all year, but that's okay. We're not going to go out of here and hang our heads. This was not a national championship game. It was another game and we didn't hurt ourselves, so we'll take the good out of it.
On Michigan's performance . . .
I thought they played the best they've played (against us). They were roaring; they were determined; and (Andrew) Cogliano has got some real guts. They're a good team, but we were minus (Jim) McKenzie, so we didn't have the same punch. Every game is a learning experience, so just deal with it. All I'm thinking about right now is Ferris State. We've played each other five times, and we're 2-2-1.
On withstanding Michigan's pressure. . .
They dropped the ball last night, obviously. They were very determined (tonight). Red (Berenson) had them ready and they deserve great credit, but they didn't win. I thought they were great for the first nine minutes, and then I thought we were fine for the next 11 minutes. And then when we got the third goal, I was thinking, "Boy, I like this." But then they got that first one and that jacked them up.
Michigan State Forward Justin Abdelkader
Overall thoughts on the game . . .
It felt good, I thought we executed our game plan really well in the first (period). We came out hard. We had a lot of chances, and hit a couple posts. I thought we felt good as a team coming out of that first period.
On the close game . . .
It's just when you play Michigan, you get up. It's an intense rivalry; you want to beat them so bad. It was an important game for us nationally and league-wise too. We knew it was important. It was tough to give one up at the end for a tie, but we'll move on. We have five games left.
On the third period . . .
I don't think we were tired necessarily. I think we sat back on our heels in the third period. We really, really just didn't execute coming out for the third. We kind of sat back on our heels, and they had a lot of jump coming into the third period. We committed a few mistakes and they scored a couple of goals.
On how Michigan came back at the end . . .
They were coming on from the first period on. They really played well in the second period. I thought it was pretty even in the second period, then in the third period, they came out and really came at us and we were kind of on our heels. They had a couple shots and a couple of breaks that went in.
Michigan State Goalie Jeff Lerg
On his 54 saves . . .
I've had a couple of games like that. In juniors one time, I had 90 saves in a triple overtime game, so too bad we didn't keep going and bury it.
On the up and down tempo . . .
To me, I kind of like a little more shots during the game. As you can see, I kind of felt a little more comfortable as the game went on and my confidence grew a little bit. I really thought once we kind of stopped and got them down to five minutes left in the game, I thought we were really going to close them down and bury it.
On being tired after the last two games . . .
I was actually a little bit. Ferris (State) is kind of sitting back, and I'm sure they're just watching the game tonight waiting for us Tuesday night. We've kind of had two grind- them-out games where we're just holding on for dear life. We really must get some more energy going and get refocused.
