John Markell Quotations

I'd like to host one someday. It's a wonderful event. I think they knew the level of support they would get from the people of Green Bay, and to be able to pull something like this off and put hockey at the forefront, for a day at least, is great.

From what I hear, the net was off. That was the difference in the game, that controversial goal. We had opportunities to score, we hit the post, we won draws, but the puck just didn't go in for us late in the game.

I thought halfway through the third we just ran out of gas. Even our energy guys were tired. We were down to three regulars on defense.

Just dress the coach warm, that's all I've got to say.

I saw us hanging together out there. We fought back. We knew how important it was, and I'm proud of our kids for doing that.

I think he's accepting of the system. You didn't hear him complaining when we weren't scoring any goals. A lot of credit goes to his character. He's built himself into that type of person, he's a team player, and that's reassuring when you're struggling to score goals up front.

I thought it was a tie game. First period was pretty even, both sides. The second period they totally dominated. I thought we had the better of the third period.

When that glass broke, we just kind of went into a little bit of a lull. It carried on through the second period.

We got better as the game went on. It looked like we finally found our legs and were able to put things together.

Well it looked like they really wanted to get two Big Ten teams together. Michigan couldn't fit it in the schedule and luckily Michigan State was willing to move our conference game to Thursday. To play in a game of this magnitude, the publicity you get on a national scale, it's just a great position to be in.

Well, they are a highly offensive team. They have been a little bit up and down like we have. They've got offensive firepower and we are going to have to play as well, if not better than we did against Miami, because they'll be well-rested and they'll be coming in here to steal points.

We're not the same team we were the first game of the year. Some guys who thought they could follow now have to lead. There are different demands on them. We need 20 leaders on the ice.

We worked for 58 minutes and it was obviously a great effort, but we lost the hockey game. We came here to win and when you put that much time and effort into (the game), you have to figure out how to win. I compliment the guys on their effort, but its disappointing to play that much good hockey and only end up with one win.

The power play could have won us the game easily. It provided us with enough opportunities. With that 5-on-3, I don't know what more we have to do. We moved the puck well and got behind the goalie of couple of times. It just didn't go in the net.

We had to depend on our goaltender until the guys found their legs tonight.

We talked about it all week. Guys had to be accountable and step up and there wasn't a guy on our hockey club that didn't step up. I'm excited for the kids because they worked hard for that victory. Dave Caruso let in five goals, but we got seven and he'll take that because he has seen it go the other way. I'm excited for the kids because they worked hard for that victory and we beat a good hockey club.

Every time he would shift over in the first period, he would knock the net off the moorings. He was pretty smart if he was doing it on purpose.

And with Anchorage beating them, I'm sure they have some question marks. We know through playing in a very competitive situation what works for us and what doesn't.

These were two evenly matched teams, both missing a player. So it probably evened out.

Right now we're focusing on us. I think we know from the past that they come at you with pressure. It's high tempo and it's an intimidating rink to play in. It's almost like the seventh man on the ice, their crowd, and they match that with their skill. They will try to bury you right away.

Quite frankly, we were lucky to get out of that period down just 2-1. We finally got a power-play goal that really kept us in it, but Michigan State certainly had the opportunities.

This is another tough weekend for us. We can't worry about anybody else or next weekend, just the first period of Friday night's game. Notre Dame is a tough team and they will grind it out, but we had success up there earlier in the season and we will attack that same reason this weekend.

They rose to the occasion. It's what we want them to do and it's what they expected to do when they came here. It's a credit to them and to their character.

They got good goaltending tonight. He made the saves, and everyone knows they can score. We talked about it at the beginning of the year that they are one player away and they got it tonight.

Dave Caruso is playing very, very well. I think he's the best goalie in the nation right now. He's giving us tremendous effort. So are other guys, but he's the guy holding us in there.

I want to recognize the character of our team, coming back and scoring two goals like that. They never say never. Was that a pretty setup goal? Either one of them? (It was) just puck on net. We tried to grease one out - that's why they call it a greasy goal.

Any time you have goaltending like that, it has a calming effect.

I think our guys are building their confidence right now. Obviously we played hard and very well in a hostile atmosphere, as hostile as anywhere you are going to play. Our fight now is to bring that game back to our home rink and transfer that effort to Michigan State.

These kids don't understand, when you're skating on the outside in cold weather, you can skate forever. But the problem is you've got to come back to the bench and the kids are freezing because they've been sitting there for two or three minutes.

The first five minutes, from the goalie on out, I just don't know what happened. We were just totally asleep and you can't do that against a team that is hot like Michigan State.