Dave Hakstol Game Quotations

Guys that have got it done in the past, they know how to elevate their game at the right time. There is a connection there. Guys have that attitude and expectation of themselves to win.

When you're playing your third game in three days, it's a heck of a lot easier playing with the lead than it is trying to play catch-up. So getting a two-goal lead was obviously a key for us.

Jordan elevated his game once again toward the second half of the year, as he's done before. He's the leader for us in the locker room and he carries that onto the ice with him. I believe our guys play a little extra hard with him in the nets. At this time of year I wouldn't trade him for anybody.

The plain fact is that some guys really have to look deep within themselves and figure out how badly they want to play. You can't come out and play rope-a-dope for two periods. On our home ice, you don't want to leave a game to a bounce of the puck in the last 20 minutes and we did. And this is what you get, a 1-0 loss.

There's been no change in philosophy as far as the way we approach the game or as far as what we're trying to teach or the attitude that our team is going to try to play with.

We got off to the start we wanted. We established our game and played physically.

We've had tight battles with virtually every time we've played them. It was a playoff-type hockey game tonight.

He made an awful lot of good saves. That's one factor you can't control in a hockey game -- how the guy wearing the pads at the other end is going to play.

All the way through, our forward units did a good job and worked extremely hard down low. Michigan Tech is tough to play against. It was an awfully tight hockey game going into the third period. But the guys continued to do the little things and eventually they were rewarded for it.

I feel pretty good about our position as far as the NCAA tournament goes. But every game is an opportunity to improve your position. Every game is an opportunity to improve your overall team play. Hopefully we haven't peaked yet.