Michigan State 4, Ferris State 1
12/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Dec. 8, 2007
Michigan State Head Coach Rick Comley
On his team's style of play...
I think this is us, and I'm not sure how much prettier there is. We're scrappy. We played well in the first, they played well in the second, and then we played really well in the third. This is three games in a row that we've played really well in the third period. I just don't know if we have the polish to look really good. We'll take it; 12-3-2 is pretty good.
On the play of the defensemen...
(Michael) Ratchuk has played very well all weekend. He's cut his turnovers down, he's not as risky, and his skills are getting a chance to really flourish. I put him down on the goal line for the power play. He's got such great puck skills.
We lost (Brandon) Gentile, so we had to do some scrambling. Justin Johnson came in, and did a heck of a job for us. The one position that isn't set for us is defense, to be honest. I think you'll realize as the year goes on that we're still trying to find what works.
On where his team is through the first half of the season...
I think it's been a great first half. If we could have split against Miami, then you'd be really happy with it. I knew that there were going to be some mental things. I think, actually, that we'll be a better team in the second half. Coming off of what we came off [being defending champions], there's just pressure every night being expected to win. If you cut the season in half, I think it's easier mentally. I like the fact that we're chasing people a little bit right now. I'm looking forward to the break, but I'm looking forward to the second half as well.
On the team's penalty killing ...
I was really happy with penalty killing tonight. That's been our biggest flaw, obviously, the whole first half. Nationally we were like 45th in the country coming into the year. We've got to get better in that area, so we tried to really get after them and pressure. [Ferris State] had two or three power plays, and we killed them pretty well, so that might be our biggest challenge in the second half.
Ferris State Head Coach Bob Daniels
On what his team takes from this weekend...
I think that we can learn from this weekend. I think we can look at some of the things (Michigan State) does on the offensive side of things, and try to mimic those. It's not easy though. We also need to know that we aren't where we want to be. Just because I think we played well doesn't mean we're at where we want to be.
On the current state of the CCHA...
It's separated right now. You've got the top four, and then you've got us, Bowling Green and Nebraska-Omaha. There's no doubt that the league is split. And it's separated sort of into three areas right now, and everyone is fighting to get up into the next level. As of right now, we're not ready for that.
Michigan State Freshman Forward Corey Tropp
On how he has improved in his first season...
The last five or ten games, I feel like I've come into my own a little bit more. Game by game, I'm feeling better personally. I'm catching up with the pace of the game, the speed of the game, and making plays quicker. You have to make plays a lot quicker; you don't have as much time.
On winning two games this weekend...
We wanted to go on break with two wins. The teams above us in the CCHA haven't been losing, so the only way to stay up there is to win.
On MSU's play in the first half of the season...
As a team, I think from game one until now, we've improved a lot, and I can see us improving a lot more in the second half of the season. We still have a lot to work on, and I think we'll be good. We come back after Christmas refreshed, and ready to work. I think we'll be fine.
On what the team needs to work on for the second half of the season...
Definitely the penalty kill. Coach is already stressing that in the locker room; we've kind of struggled in the first half. We've got to play 60 minutes every night, so there are no letdowns. We can't take five minutes off and just go through the motions -- 60 minutes going all out, working hard out there and competing.
Michigan State Junior Forward Tim Crowder
On breaking out of his scoring slump this weekend...
It feels really great. Obviously, I'd been struggling for so long. To get four goals in a weekend is great, and hopefully I can just carry that over, come back from Christmas and do the same thing. It's kind of tough right now to go on break now that I'm doing alright, but it's good to go home for Chirstmas and see the family.
On what he did to work himself out of his slump...
Just practicing hard, staying after and shooting some pucks. And just bearing down everytime you get a chance, and trying to get open more during games; good things will happen. The coaches kept pushing, and they knew it was coming. And I knew it was going to come; it was just a matter of time.
On the team's play in the first half and looking forward to the second half...
I think we're playing pretty well. There were a few games we should've won that we tied. I feel, overall, we've played pretty good. We want to kind of get rid of the national championship title and just focus on this year, and make sure good things happen each game.
Michigan State goalie Jeff Lerg
On his assessment of first half of the season ...
Compared to my first couple of years here, it is good to see a lot more wins here on the board right now. We aren't as sporadic as we have been in the past. I think we had a little bit of an eye-opener against Miami; it was obviously a very good team, who has a lot of depth. That kind of opened our eyes up as to where we need to be, if we want to beat a team like that. We had a couple of games where we could have put a couple more wins, those two games at home [against Minnesota and Wisconsin]. But overall, it was a pretty good first half, being able to come away with a lot more wins than we have in the past.
On Ferris' scoring chances ...
Ferris is a team that tries to shoot it from everywhere. I always like playing them, because they always throw it at the net from everywhere. They kind of keep me in the game. They just throw it at the net, and then just try to look for rebounds. That was something I worked on throughout the week. Everyday it was just making sure I controlled my rebounds. Whether it be shots up high, or on the ice. But, those are the type of goals that they look for by crashing the net, and looking for rebounds and bounces. The goal they got tonight was a bounce off of a skate. You can't be lackadaisical at all, because when you step back for a second, that's when they score.
On having players crash the net ...
That is the nature of the game, I am used to it now. It's just guys going at the net hard, and that is obviously one of the scouting reports on me; they try and get to the net hard and create traffic and rebound opportunities. I know how to deal with it, and obviously a couple of times guys lose an edge, and slide underneath me. But, I am pretty well padded, just as long as there isn't a skate hitting me or anything.
On the last three goals from his view ...
I think the Wisconsin game has kind of stuck in our mind a little bit - with 10 minutes left in our own building and giving up two goals like that. It's something that we kind of preached on, and how championship teams and good caliber teams don't do those type of things. We played great against Lake Superior State in the third-period, and obviously, this weekend too. We didn't give them too many chances there in the third. Most of their shots were from the blue-line.
Michigan State senior forward Chris Mueller
On your score and Crowder...
Christmas came early for Crowder and I.
On being hot...
I think with Crowder and I, we are getting the bugs out, and a lot of it has to do with luck - being in the right place at the right time. And right now it's changing a little bit with Crowder scoring, and I'm getting points. So hopefully we can continue it, and other guys just keep getting the points they have gotten all year.
On being inconsistent...
Since I have been here, we have been a 500 club going into Christmas, and we weren't on 12-3-2 runs on the second half. So, I'm hoping that it's not going to be vise versa, and hopefully, we can go on and do what we usually do in the second half. And hopefully all the younger guys have bought into what Coach has tried to do. It's going to be good to go home at Christmas and relax with the family. When Christmas comes around you got to start getting excited to continue our season.
On the team's goals...
Bryan Lerg and I have talked about it all summer, along with our trainer Dave Carrier. We haven't won a league title for a long time, and that's, basically my class and the junior class, all we haven't won yet. So yes, it was definitely a goal, and you have to start out to go the right way. We slipped two to Miami, but they are the number one team in the country right now. But they just lost to Alaska, I believe; so, we are getting help around the league tonight. Hopefully we can get some help with Notre Dame. We have two games with them and four games with Michigan. So, our goal it to win the league championship.
We know that we are chasing. We have chased every year that I have been here. Now we have three teams up there, Notre Dame, Miami, and Michigan, but we aren't far off. We have only lost two games [in conference]. If we do our job, we are going to have a heck of a shot come March in the league.
