Michigan State 3, Western Michigan 0
2/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
Feb. 15, 2008
Michigan State Head Coach Rick Comley
On tonight's game...
I thought we struggled early. Even though we had a lot of shots in the first period, I thought it was sloppy, and emotionally it seemed to be a challenge. We had to kill all of those penalties off in the second period. But getting Bryan's (Lerg) goal there at the end of the period was obviously really big. To get that two goal cushion there was big, and I thought the bench really relaxed at that point. It was a very big win for us.
On the defense play...
I thought it was one of our best games for our defense. I thought they were very solid and we needed that level of play from that group.
On tomorrow's game at Lawson...
The seniors have never won there, and it's tough. It's sold out already, and you know what it's like in that building. I think we just need to talk about how we want to play down there. We need to control the tempo and the speed of the game as best as we can.
On the message to the team after the second period...
We were still trying to get them to play. It was a struggle, and I thought it was better tonight, but if you saw us last weekend you would have shake your head. We still had trouble getting going. Sometimes you kind of hit a flat stretch, and it seems like that's what we are on. But I was happy with the emotion that was shown there in the third period.
On the team's level of play...
Well, we have to play better, that's for sure. We can play better, but it's been a tough grind for these kids. I think it's there in the locker room, we're kind of towards the end of a second year that has run together. There never seemed to be a mental break from the end of last year to the start of this year. Everything was talk, talk, talk, and I think that has worn on these guys, but I think they are good enough where they can play through it. We need to play better if we are going to compete with the top teams.
Michigan State Goalie Jeff Lerg
On getting a point on the board...
Yeah, I know. Zak is mad at me a little bit. I've got a couple more points than them so they're not very happy right now. I had a couple of assists against Western last year, it must be my offensive outburst.
On the team relying on him too much, and if there was a difference from a couple weeks ago...
Yeah, we definitely played a lot better defensively for sure. We worked on that all week - coverage and rushing the right way. That showed tonight. There are different types of teams - Western and UNO - I think you have to wait for a good opportunity to jump in. I've had trouble with them in the past, so it's good to get a shutout against them, a nice win because I usually have trouble beating them. So, it's a positive night, but tomorrow we have to do it for the seniors. We'll get down there and hopefully get a win.
On how he felt tonight...
I felt confident throughout. When my game is on, I feel confident. I felt comfortable making saves and tonight the guys did a pretty good job getting out of the way and not tipping them. It pretty much just made my job easier. It's an easy night if you do a lot of little things right and that's what happened.
On tomorrow's game...
Obviously, they are coming in looking for a split. They love playing us on their home ice. I think I read something last week that we've won twice in the past 10 years there and that has to be our worst record at any rink, I'm guessing. They've been waiting for this game all year. We were supposed to win tonight, and tomorrow is going to be a lot tougher. I think we are up for the challenge. We need to go out there and play a good road game.
Michigan State Forward Tim Kennedy
On finally scoring a goal...
I would have taken a goal that hit off my skates. I would have taken anything that they would have given me right now. It's been one of the most frustrating personal months of my life. Our team, we're playing well, we kind of had a letdown the last couple weeks. Last week against Northern, that was the best they've played all year I think. They blocked everything that we threw at them and their offense and just outplayed us. This is big for us because we need to get back on track and we don't have Michigan until next week. So we have to get one tomorrow night. I've never won there. The seniors have never won there, so it's just like Yost.
On just feeling relieved on getting a win...
With our team last year this was the same time we kind of went into a little slump. And it's just more of our team getting going, I think we just got a little too high and we got brought back down. Like I said we knew we played a good game but they're so tough to play against. They hit constantly, they work so hard and if you don't play well, they will put some in your net. So after the game we were kind of like, 'That was a good win, but we've got one more tomorrow'.
On playing at Lawson, where no current Spartan has won a game...
I don't like it at all. You wouldn't think this place is so tough to play, but the ice just shrinks out there. The ice seems to shrink but we're going to go in there and try to play the same way we played tonight, and hopefully we can get a good outcome.
On if this goal will get him going...
I'm hoping so. This kind of happened last year, I was in a slump for a bit and then I got going towards the end of the season and then I got hot through the playoffs. I'm just hoping this year the slump just ends a few weeks early.
