Michigan State 4, Bowlong Green 0
3/2/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Ice Hockey
March 1, 2008
Michigan State Head Coach Rick Comley
On Michigan State's defensive play...
It was pretty good. Bowling Green has good speed and (Jacob) Cepis is a very dangerous player. We got the lead and that's pretty big for us. Our record is pretty startling when we score first. I thought Jeff (Lerg) looked very sharp, as he always is for us. Our group of defensemen played one of their better games as well. I wanted kind of a playoff-type game, and I think we played that kind of game.
On what the defense did well...
We didn't get outnumbered. Last night they had a lot of odd-man rushes and tonight we tightened that up. I thought we had better gap tonight and I thought we were better below the goal line as well. There was a lot to be happy about.
On the Michigan State penalty kill...
It's been pretty good since Christmas. It wasn't so good up until Christmas but it has been a lot better the second half. We try and take away time on people, and again, when you've got a player like Cepis out there you've really got to be aware of where he is.
Michigan State Senior Forward Chris Mueller
On Michigan State's defense...
That was the key tonight. Going into the playoffs, we know there are going to be a lot of one-goal games. Even though we won by four, it wasn't that kind of a game. Coach just stressed playing tight and locking up because they've got some guys that can skate pretty well. Jeff Lerg played really well, he deserved the shutout.
On the play of Jeff Lerg...
He's just so focused. That's who he is and that's why he deserves everything that he gets. Nothing easy gets past him. He's always in the right place at the right time and he does what we think he's going to do, so there's no surprises with him.
Michigan State Junior Goaltender Jeff Lergr>
On Michigan State's defensive play...
We did a really good job defensively. Last night's game was kind of sloppy with a lot of turnovers in the neutral zone, but tonight was a real solid road game. We got the lead early and played really well defensively.
On having momentum going into the playoffs...
Last year we kind of stumbled into the playoffs. I think this is a little bit better situation where we're playing well and we've got guys playing well. We know that defense wins championships so that was a good sign today.
