Postgame quotes
Wisconsin 2, Northern Michigan 0
Saturday, Nov. 5, 2016
Kohl Center

Freshman Jack Berry

On his thought process the past 24 hours

"I didn't really sleep last night much. The guys did great in front of me. They did an unreal job, so I got to give it to them."

On what he was seeing in front of him

"A lot of perimeter shots. The guys did a lot of back checking. Defense kept those guys out in front of them. I saw a lot of shots clear and that's all you can ask for really.

On his rebound control and if we can expect to see more of that from him 

"Yeah, anytime you can cover a puck up you want to. We work a lot with (goalie coach Jeff) Sanger. He does a lot with rebound control. That's a lot of things we work on in practice when we got out with Sangs."

Sophomore Luke Kunin

On how he was seeing the ice tonight

"I think they were just going for me tonight. I felt good about my game, the past few games and to get a few (goals), and to get a win makes it all the better."

On how big it was getting his goal earlier on

"I think whenever you score first it definitely gives your team a little more of a boost and Berry played great behind us. When a goalie is playing like that for you it makes it easy up front."

On how Berry's performance helped impact the team's play

"Yeah he was our best player tonight so we can't credit him enough for the job he did tonight and hopefully the whole group as well, we can keep getting wins here moving forward."

On his successful special teams tonight

"Yeah for sure. It definitely gives the power play some confidence when you put a few in. I think we were just knocking at the doorstep, it was going to come soon, and to get two tonight definitely is a good boost for our unit."

Head Coach Tony Granato  

On Jack Berry's performance tonight

"We didn't really ask him to get a shutout, but since he did, we'll pretend we did. It's hard as a guy who doesn't get a whole lot of reps to jump in like he did. He's had three relief appearances I think so far this year and to be able to now all of a sudden you got to switch gears it's like a relief pitcher (then a starting pitcher), because now you have a full day to think about it. We told him last night he was starting and you always wonder how he's going to be when he has all day to think about the game, and he was the same way he's been for us all year. He was square, with the exception of maybe one rebound in the third period, everything that came near the net he absorbed and kept tight and was able to cover up. Great performance. I think he solidified our back end. He was nice and relaxed in front of them. We played a nice, calm game defensively and we played probably a team that you would say, and coach would probably tell you played better tonight than they did last night."

On the team's start tonight

"I thought it was good. I thought 60 minutes from start to finish we were pretty solid. There might have been a little lapse there at the end of the first period when we weren't on the attack, we weren't on our toes, but for the most part I thought we got contributions from everybody. From grading out players on our team, everyone's going to get positive marks. I think the line that was really the difference maker in the game was Zirbel, Freytag and Cavallini. They were outstanding. They ran a forecheck, they drew the penalty that we ended up scoring on the power play late in the second. I mean a lot of positive energy they created throughout the game. Our bench was fired up for them and that's nice to see because we get into a situation like we were talking about with Berry one, you sit around and you watch, you watch, you watch, you're not sure in your preparation how you're going to be and your nervous and all that stuff. They were calm, they played great, they supported the puck, great defensively so it was a big effort from them tonight.

On if they played more through the middle of the ice offensively and defensively

"We did. We were much better away from the puck tonight. Offensively, we generated what we wanted to. I think their goalie again played well. He did last night. We got that one goal at the end, it was really a one nothing game, Cameron got his rebound chance there late in the game, but I thought our battle level around the net and scoring areas was really good. The Kunin goal, the front presence from Zimmer, I thought was a really good response from last night."

On if Berry and Jurusik will battle it out for the starting spot

"Yeah, I mean when a guy comes off a shutout, generally speaking, I don't know any coach that wouldn't want to start him in the next game, so we're not going to announce anything. He'll probably be in there when we get going again. We have two weeks of preparation. It's a little bit different for me. I haven't had two weeks off to practice in the middle of a season for a long, long time. So we're going to do some different things to get ready, but I think where we are at in the season is maybe a little bit ahead of schedule from where we thought we'd be at this point. We've done a lot of good things and the response tonight which is something we're looking for as coaches we got it. What we did on the road last week was outstanding. What we've done in special teams has been outstanding. Our defensive plays have improved as we've gone along, 22 shots tonight and we got 17,18 or 19 last night, so you keep teams to around 20 you're going to have a lot of success."

On an update of Grant Besse

"He probably could have played. He was sore. So I would say day-to-day. I'm sure he'll practice this week. He wanted to play. We made a decision with the doctor and training staff to make sure that there's no need to make him play banged up at this point in the season."

On if this was their best defensive game thus far in the season

"I agree. I think last week on the road, two games in Clarkson and St. Lawrence, I thought were pretty solid defensively there as well. Last night we weren't too bad either. We're trending in the right way. We're starting to become a more complete team. I'm surprised this weekend we only scored four goals with how we we're doing offensively so credit to their goalies to how they played in front of their net. But the defensive part of our game has certainly gotten better."