Head Coach Tony Granato
On the last half of the third period where it seemed like Omaha got the last momentum shift
"We did a great job of battling back to take the lead there and just when you think you have the game under control, we kind of fell apart. So, that's disappointing. I was hoping this weekend was going to be a momentum shift for us just as far as heading into the Big Ten play with a couple good games under our belt. We've talked about, from last night's game, the comeback and how we played. We felt really good about ourselves tonight. Our start wasn't great again, but we battled like crazy to get the lead and then once we took the lead, it wasn't like we sat back and gave them the chances. We just made mistakes. Offensively we gave them some rushes and that's a heck of a team when they get an outnumbered attack and were able to execute well on their line rushes, and made us pay for some mistakes."
On how the team looked offensively going through the neutral zone
"Actually, good. Really until that stretch of the game there with 10 minutes to go, after we took the lead we played well. As far as our movement and support, I don't think our play away from the puck was as good as it needs to be. I think that's where we made mistakes. They had a simple game plan. They used their speed, they flipped the puck to the neutral zone and put pressure on our defense and I thought our forwards were not as committed as they needed to be on not allowing their defense to have much time to do that. So I thought that's where we could have been better. When you play a team like that, that plays a little bit more risky on how they leave their zone, you got to be better and harder on the puck."
On if it's tough to see the two drastic sides to the team
"No. We want to see good stuff and you understand that there's going to be, I don't want to say growing pains. There's going to be things that we know we have to improve on. That stretch there was the first time this year where, there were parts of the BC game where we got on our heels a little bit, but not like this that we just had. When you take a lead in the third period, you're in control of the game, your goaltender, and I thought Berry played well, and we left him out there by himself too many times."
On how it sets the tone for the game after letting in a goal just one minute into the first period
"Yeah I thought we did a good job of forgetting that. I thought we got to our game as the first period went on. It is tough, obviously, we want better starts here. We've had better starts on the road. We've played better on the road as far as putting together more complete games. We've been a little bit more inconsistent at home, so that's been a little bit of an issue at our building. But again, it's a pretty good team over there and we gave them a chance to play well and make plays."
On how Omaha put the team on its heels
"We knew what they were going to do. We know how dangerous they are coming out of their end and their defense are good at firing it up to the forwards. Their forwards fly the zone as soon as they might get puck possession. And from a defensive perspective, our defense had to recognize it a little better, but our forwards had to track better and get above one of their forwards and allow our defense to play rushes a little more aggressively."
On how the forwards played in the offensive zone
"Good. I don't know what we had for shots, we had 50 shots on that last night, we probably had close to 40 tonight or totals tonight. We had 44. I mean 94 shots in two games, that's a lot of shot attempts, a lot of scoring chances. So offensively, we did the right things, and like I said, I think the game was lost with when there was a change of possession, I don't think we handled it as well as we needed to. So we'll have to get back to work on Monday. With the things we've done through the non-conference games, there's enough positive things to feel good about heading into the Big Ten play. I think now we just have realize this is an urgent point of our season where we're going to decide whether we want to be a good team or we just want to play 500 hockey. I think our team is capable of doing some really special things moving forward. It's more about being consistent. It's more about understanding the little details of the game for 60 minutes. You know, you see spurts where we've been outstanding and unfortunately tonight, you saw a spurt of play that we haven't seen a lot of during the exhibition part of the schedule, but we saw it tonight right before we head into Big Ten play so that's disappointing." Â
Forward Luke Kunin
On the many momentum shifts throughout the game
"We got a goal and felt good. We felt like we lost the game in two or three shifts, just like that. It starts from the beginning and I didn't think we had a good enough start again tonight. We just have to play our game and do the things we need to do to be successful. I don't think we did that tonight as a group. We let (Jack) Berry out to dry tonight. He battled hard for us tonight and he was our best player."
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On putting in two goals
"It felt good to get a couple after last night but all I care about is winning for this team. Those two goals don't really matter – mean anything now. Now we just have to focus on next week and going to Michigan and getting two wins."
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On the weekend as a whole
"We played a lot of great opponents early in Boston College and Denver. We did a lot of good things against a lot of those teams. We have to learn from that and take that in stride with going into the Big Ten play. The Big Ten is good this year, a lot of good teams. We're excited to go to Michigan. We just have to learn from what we experienced with some of those good teams and run with it."
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Forward Jason Ford
On gaining the momentum and then losing it
"I feel like we did have the momentum and there were just a couple tough shifts. That's how hockey goes sometimes – you can lose the momentum pretty quickly. We have to bring hard effort throughout the entire game. If we do that we'll be fine."
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On getting a tie on the weekend despite leading today
"It's a little frustrating. There were a couple shifts that kind of lost us the game tonight. When we play how we can play, I think everyone sees how good of team we can be. Like coach said, non-conference is over and it's Big Ten play now. We just have to regroup here and play the way we can. We're looking forward to the Big Ten Schedule coming up."