Ohio State 4, Michigan State 1
12/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Dec. 2, 2006
Michigan State Head Coach Rick Comley
Opening statement
As up as we were, I had a real good feeling after last nights game, I thought we'd come in and really have some juice going but they have a tendency to play that way and really bring everything right down. If we would have gotten out of the first 0-0 it would have been fine. We give up a short-handed goal with 11 seconds to go and another short-handed goal to start the period, and they can sit back and play the style that they play, and they play very well with the lead. I though we were flat, I didn't like our emotion in the first period. The play itself was ok, I think we forced things tonight, we turned the puck over more, and we didn't establish things that I wanted to try to establish.
On the play of Ohio State
They kill well and block shots well and make it tough for you. That team was very mature, and very strong. They have been better on Saturday nights than they have been on Fridays by record.
Ohio State Head Coach John Markell
General impressions
The game played out to about the same scenario as last night where we scored [late in the first period]. You want to say that when you lose you learn lessons - and I thought tonight we had a good second period. Then we survived the final push, especially after they scored. If they would've scored again it would have been real interesting, because we had some guys hurt and some guys tired for that five-minute penalty.
On the importance of special teams play
That's the difference...Special teams are where it's at. We were good on the penalty kill, we had a couple shorthanded and we got a power play goal. That was all we worked on today, the rest is fairly simple.
Michigan State Senior Captain Chris Lawrence
On the quick scores by Ohio State...
We came out flat, like we did last night in the first period. They played harder tonight and it cost us. We turned it up in the third we got a little desperate. We can't be reliant on just one period. Every body needs to take a look in the mirror. We need to learn how to get a killer instinct. That second goal they scored was deflating mentally for us and we were never able to respond after that.
On MSU's powerplay opportunities...
The penalty kills have been okay, it hasn't burned us. As far as power plays, you're not going to win a game giving up two shorthanded goals, especially within the same two-minute penalty. You have to work hard. We're having trouble right now with once we get them in the zone we dump it in. We can't get clean possessions and get setup right away. It seems we always dump it in ands then five seconds later we're going back. We need hard work and determination to win battles in the corner and right now we're not doing that. I don't think it's a matter of personnel. We work on it in practice so, it's a matter of execution.
On a tough loss after the previous win...
I thought last night after the first period we played really well, we saw some things that were building. We didn't play that bad last weekend, and to come out and play well after three games in a row of losing was good for us. I was impressed with the way we came out and fought. I don't want to say it's a step backwards for us, but we didn't build on last night.
