Wisconsin Postgame Quotes
Wisconsin vs. No. 6/9 Boston College
October 16, 2016
Kohl Center - Madison, Wis.

Head Coach Tony Granato
On if Kunin-Hughes-Besse line struggled defensively:
"I don't think that line had a good game tonight defensively, that's correct. I thought we were sloppy on some transition plays, maybe got a little bit ahead of the play and it ended up in our net. We played a good team. If you give a good team any space or you cheat a little bit offensively or you don't take your responsibilities, there's a good chance it'll end up in your net.

"I thought there were great parts of that game tonight, and we did some really good things, especially in the third period when we fell behind. We were down 6-2 and we come back and we make it a game. You feel a little bit good about yourself. But you also look at it and you realize when you play an elite team, or really if you play anybody, if you don't play 60 minutes, you put yourself in a position either where you're chasing or you don't have success. I think that was the case tonight. We didn't play a good 60 minutes. They got a goal right out of the gate, and we never really got any flow until bits and pieces of that third period."

On battling back from four-goal deficit to get within one in third period:
"I think I liked a lot of it, but I also don't like the fact that four games into the season we didn't play a good, solid 60 minutes. I thought with the day off in between and the way this series was set up, I thought we could've been better than we were on Friday night. I don't think we were that better team tonight. I think Boston College came out and was unhappy with what happened Friday and they showed us what good teams do. They get ready to compete and they battle. They did that for 60 minutes. Even though we took over parts of the game, they were still battling and competing. I do know that we have to learn from this and understand that if you don't play for 60 and you don't respect the fact that we were in a position that if we played our best game, we could've taken two games from them. We didn't play well enough."

On putting Frederic with Kunin and Besse on the same line:
"Well Cameron [Hughes] came out of the box and had about a 35-second shift. [Trent] Frederic was playing great, so I just decided to do that for a shift. Obviously we scored a big goal. You saw Cameron when we were down, he lays in front of a slapper and takes a shot. He's a competitor. He scored a beautiful goal. It was no punishment to him. There will be some discussion on what we do with lines going forward because I think some of our lines could be better. We'll discuss that and maybe make some adjustments during the week."

On play of first line: 
"If you don't respect the other team and if make mistakes or you get a little bit lazy defensively, it could end up in your own net. I think there were a couple of situations there. I think there were a couple defensive-zone turnovers that weren't really good and ended up in our net. They have to play 200 feet. There were parts of the game tonight that they didn't play well in their defensive zone. You're playing a good team. They've got some pretty good players. If you make a mistake in your defensive end, it ends up in your net. I think they learned that lesson tonight."

On Cameron Hughes' highlight-reel goal:
"I don't know that he could've scored it any other way but to do what he did. He was in tight and he had to change the angle. The only way to do it was with what he did. There were probably three highlight goals tonight. That was certainly one of them. I thought [Ryan] Wagner's was one of them. He got tripped up and scored from his knees. I thought the Frederic pass to JD Greenway, somewhat of a no-look, looking like he was going to pass to the guy behind. That was a beautiful play. There were some great goals. We did things great offensively. I don't think that will ever be a problem with this team. I think we'll play great offensively. We got really, really skilled players that make plays like that consistently. We got to figure out how to play better defensively right now. You can take positives out of the weekend. Boston College comes into your building and you win one and you drop one. I think our expectations got raised to the standpoint that we should've expected to win this game tonight. I think BC came out and refused to lose. I don't think we played our best game tonight."

On taking penalties at crucial points of the game:
"It's going to happen. I was hoping we'd get a call on Cameron's breakaway there and get a power play in the third. The official didn't have his arm up too many times in the third. That's the way they're going to be called. We have to understand that. The penalty killers did an outstanding job. Again we blocked shots, you saw Cameron's there. I wish we would've been a little bit sharper on the power play because there were a couple of key situations that could've changed the momentum of the game."

On Matt Jurusik allowing the early first period goal:
"I don't think he got in a rhythm tonight. It looked like he was fighting it. I thought about taking him out after five. Then I was going to wait until the end of the period and see how he played the last five minutes of the period, and then they got another one. He was great Friday. Tonight he wasn't as sharp."


Trent Frederic
On his assist of JD Greenway's goal:
"I saw him driving to the net, we got a nice play skating through. I kind of used Dan Labosky as a little decoy and passed it back to him (Greenway) and he put it in. It was a nice play."

On how Cameron Hughes' highlight-reel goal affected the team's energy:
"It was a huge goal and brought a lot of momentum obviously to the team. I think the next period or maybe the same period he also had a huge block, too. He was working hard and being a great leader out there."

On whether or not it is difficult to stay patient on a three-on-one:
"It's just like any other thing, I think. It was a one-on-three so I guess you have a little more time than you think. JD went right to the net and it worked out perfect."


JD Greenway
On what the defensive corps can improve on:
"I think we just need to be more consistent, always battling in the D zone and working on making good first passes out of the zone on a breakout. Our forwards really rely on us sometimes in the D zone breaking out and on odd-man rushes. We just have to clean up our game in all areas and I think it will work out."

On his goal:
"I knew (Trent Frederic) had two options, either pass it or get the shot off, so with Dan (Labosky) staying high a little bit I knew I had to go crash the net. Ultimately he gave it to me and it worked out."


Cameron Hughes
On the first line's play:
"We didn't do enough good things tonight. There's just a lot of mistakes we made. We didn't do enough good things. That's not good enough from us, as leaders of the team. We take that upon ourselves and we know we've got to be better."

On his between-the-legs goal:
"It's kind of just a lucky goal. Besse made a great play getting back, that's one of the things we worked on was reloading and he kind of starts that whole play. You just get in front and it kind of just clicks. I don't know, it was kind of lucky. But we have to do more things like that, like the reload Besse had to give ourselves chances to score. We didn't do enough of that."