POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
DENVER
No. 1/1 Denver 3, No. 8/8 Western Michigan 1
NCHC Third Place Game
March 18, 2017 - Target Center, Minneapolis, Minn.
Denver Head Coach Jim Montgomery Opening Statement:
Good team win today, I think it illustrated the depth we have at Denver. With the players we sat out, I’ll
beat you to the punch with why we sat them out, we’re here to win a national championship now after
yesterday’s loss. I wasn’t risking any injury, and I wanted players playing with lots of enthusiasm and
energy and I think you saw that from our group today. With the group, we had a great effort today and
it ensures us the number one overall seed in the tournament.
Denver Head Coach Jim Montgomery on team’s overall one seed:
It’s a good accomplishment, you want to give yourself what on paper should be the easiest road to
the Frozen Four possible in the first round. We’ve done that and now we’ve got to get to work and
make sure that we have a better effort than we did last night when it comes to do or die.
Denver Head Coach Jim Montgomery on Liam Finlay’s play:
I thought Western was starting to take over the game, and they had momentum and we were spending a lot of time in our own end. That transition goal, that Liam Finlay scored, he was recruited to be
a dynamic offensive player, someone who could take you out of your seats and I think you saw that
every time he was on the ice tonight, he’s been a real force for us the last two and a half months.
Senior Defenseman Matt VanVoorhis on Evan Cowley’s play:
First of all, Evan is a great goaltender. A lot of teams in this country he would probably be the number
one starter, so we’re very fortunate to have the depth that we do on the back end. We’ve seen it the
past few games, the past few starts that he’s had, he had a shutout last game and then this game he
only let in one, and that goal wasn’t really his fault, he probably should have had a shutout tonight.
That’s a credit to Evan and the work he puts in everyday in practice.
Senior Forward Evan Ritt on team getting back to practice before NCAA tournament:
We’re going to need a big week of practice this week, especially after our loss yesterday. I think it’s on
us as seniors to make sure we lead and to make sure we have a good practice starting Monday. That
way we can get into the week and get hot and be ready for the weekend.
Denver Head Coach Jim Montgomery on playing in Fargo regional:
(We) don’t control that, that’s up to the committee to decide. It’s going to be us or Duluth going there,
so it’s going to be up to one of us to win there.
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
WESTERN MICHIGAN
No. 1/1 Denver 3, No. 8/8 Western Michigan 1
NCHC Third Place Game
March 18, 2017 - Target Center, Minneapolis, Minn.
WMU Head Coach Andy Murray Opening Statement
Well, certainly a disappointing game for our team. A lot was at stake for our team today and it was
not the style of hockey that allows us to be invited to the national tournament. We talked to our team
about it after the game and certainly it was not good. We’ve got a week to sort things out and to get
back to the type of game that we’ve played all year that has put us in this position where we get a
chance to win a couple hockey games and go to Chicago. I’m responsible for the team. We knew
that Denver was dressing a different lineup today and the first thing that we put on the board was
the word ‘grit’, that they were going to play hard and compete because they have a lot of pride over
there. I give them a great deal of credit and their coaches, their team played harder than our team did
tonight. Certainly this unit here, which we call our gray unit of Aaron Hadley, Mike McKee and Paul
Stoykewych, did everythink that they could and some of our other players did not step up the way that
we want and that’s my job to get them to step up. Very disappointed, but excited that our team is going to play in the national tournament, and where ever we go we expect to play the kind of game that
we need to play.
WMU Head Coach Andy Murray on preventing opponent momentum shifts:
We want to prevent it from happening. Obviously, we have this saying about digging in, it’s trench
warfare hockey, when things aren’t going right you got to dig in a little bit more. The first World War
was fought in trenches and you’d move ahead a couple feet and then they would drive you back and
then you would move ahead more, and we needed a bit more of the trench warfare mentality and we
didn’t dig in enough in certain situations. You know, Vince Lombardi once said that there’s usually four
or five key situations in a football game that decide it and its that team that’s accountable at that moment that is the one that ultimately wins it, and we weren’t accountable in certain situations. You can’t
give up goals up at the times that we gave them up this weekend.
Senior Forward Aaron Hadley on Denver’s defense:
You’ve got to give Denver a lot of credit, they came out right from the drop of the puck, and they were
determined. They played hard, they played physical, they moved the puck well as far as their defense, they skated out of the defensive zone. We just need to be better, we need to be harder on the
forecheck, we need to be more physical and that’s something we’re going to work on this week and
practice and be better at next weekend.