Michigan State University Athletics
The Miller Diaries
3/6/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
March 6, 2002
Early on, it was always ingrained in me to work hard. Good things happen when you do that. I've never seen anyone get by with pure skill or pure luck alone. A bout 99.9 percent of things come from hard work. Very rarely is it the case that it's luck or you're just that good. It's always something you have to work for in hockey.
I think the (Central Collegiate Hockey Association) playoffs are all about competing and battling hard. You kind of have to throw out everything that you did over the season. You can use it as a foundation, but stats and everything don't apply.
My mentality has to change just a little bit during playoffs. Every game is a must-win. You have to do everything in your power to give the guys a chance to win.
By not winning the regular-season title, I hope there is a little more motivation to win the playoff title. I never really saw the losing of this title as a real bad thing. It's not something that is going to destroy our season, we have a lot to work for.
With the new setup for the CCHA tournament -- allowing two additional teams to come down to Joe Louis Arena -- it should make it interesting. It's a chance for teams to get on a little bit of a roll. Usually, they have that play-in game, but now they're adding a whole series to that. Since it's new, I don't know exactly how it's going to work. We'll have to see, but it's probably going to have a lot to do with momentum.
