Mike Kemp Quotations

I was really proud of the way our guys came out and took it to them in the first period.

We've been aiming for this day for a long time since the inception of the program back in 1996-97. So nine years in, we're very proud of the fact that our program has reached a level in which our team is one of the last 16 competing in the nation. For us, that's a very big step.

It's going to be a big David and Goliath match-up. You look at the tradition and history of their program. They've been in the tournament twenty-some times, and their coach (Jack Parker) has been one of the greatest coaches in college hockey since I've been able to shave.

It's getting everybody there. You know? We had to work on flights, and all the buses and everything else. But I think we got it worked out, and now it's just a case where you can focus on what's really important -- winning hockey games.

Obviously, we're taking away a lot of positives for the season. We've got a national scoring leader, conference player of the year and we're one of the top scoring teams in the nation. I think we're seeing a constant improvement in this team. The way the season ended doesn't diminish what the accomplishments were this year.

Those guys played awesome tonight. They were aggressive, they were quick - when they were on the ice they were threatening with frequency.

We get it back to 3-2, and all of a sudden they come right back off that goal and score again. It took any momentum from the goal that got us back in it. Then it snowballs to 5-2, 6-2, and our bench sagged dramatically at that point.

We came up with this necklace that we could have designed and made so each player could get one. It's one of a kind, only made for us.

This to us is a gratifying accomplishment to be here. But it's certainly not the culmination of what we feel is our season, or the culmination of what we are hoping to do as a program. This is just the start. We talked about this after the selection show. It's great to have the opportunity to compete in the national tournament and be here to play. But frankly for us, it's one step in what we hope is a longer stay in the tournament.

It's certainly not the way we wanted our first venture into the NCAA tournament to turn out, but it is what it is. My hat's off to Boston University, I thought they did an excellent job in every phase of the game.