Bowling Green State University Athletics
Hockey Quotes From Friday's 4-2 Win Over Northern Michigan
November 17, 2007 | Ice Hockey
Nov. 17, 2007
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BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - BGSU head coach Scott Paluch and senior forward Derek Whitmore discussed Friday's 4-2 win with the media following the game's conclusion. BG's win was their fifth-straight and puts them in position to collect their third-straight sweep of a CCHA series for the first time since the 1987-88 campaign.
Head Coach Scott Paluch
On Getting the win
"I thought it was a good game for us. I thought we came out extremely well and played hard. I thought Northern [Michigan] did a very good job in the second period to force us into taking some penalties and they earned their power play chances. They forced the play into our end of the rink for a lot of the period after I thought we had done that to them in the first and they did a great job of turning the tempo of the game around on us. Obviously, there are some similarities between this game and what happened the last time we were at home against Western [Michigan] to the fact that, they scored their two goals, but I still didn't think we played a bad third period. I thought still created some chances and created some chances as well, but we get a big power play goal there to finish it off and it's another great win for us."
How big was Nick Eno's play for you in the building your first period lead?
"Well he made two good saves right on the first shift of the game. They had a nice first shift with their with their big line and Nick held strong. He made a save and the guy was actually able to get a rebound and Nick made another save there and those are the saves a goalie needs to make to give his team a chance and that's what he did."
What's it mean for you guys to have the power play going so well right now?
"Right now this is just one of those good runs where the power play is feeling very comfortable. The goals have gone in, but I thought we needed to do a better job on our two middle power plays tonight. On the last one, we needed to do a better job of retrieving pucks, which we did. You saw Todd McIlrath make a real good play along the wall to keep the play alive and then it was just a great pass he made on the goal. There's a lot of confidence involved in the power play right now and I think it's nice having guys hoping over the boards knowing that they can go out there and score goals."
Was that the type of battle you expected out of Northern Michigan?
"Absolutely. I've said it all week long, there's no power rankings or numbers out yet, but I don't think there's a team in the country that had to open up with the first eight games they opened up with; Minnesota-Duluth, Michigan Tech and then the top three teams in our conference in Miami, Michigan and Michigan State. That's a very difficult way to open up and we knew they were going to be physical, they were strong along the wall; they're just a good CCHA team."
On the continued contributions from Derek Whitmore?
"There's an obvious contribution, the fact that he has now scored eight goals in his last three games, which is just outstanding. But I think there is a little more to what has been going on now with Whitty [Whitmore], he's just been an outstanding voice for our team, he's a very good leader, he's terrific on the bench and I think that all goes hand-in-hand. But obviously his on-ice contributions; at the end of last Saturday night's game where he scored the hat trick, he gets a big blocked shot, knocks the puck out of our end and then you saw tonight, we have a 4-2 lead and with a minute and a half left that line of his goes back out there and they do an unbelievable job of cycling pucks to keep the puck below their goal line. So his contributions are just going well beyond his scoring at the moment."
Senior Forward Derek Whitmore
On What it means to keep the winning-streak alive
"It's just an incredible feeling right now. It's definitely something fun to be apart of, but we still as a team and as a staff, we don't feel like we've proven anything yet. Obviously, it's nice that we're on a little roll here, but there's still a lot of hockey yet to be played and we can't take any nights off. We can't afford it. The CCHA is a really competitive league and we just got to keep going, but it's just incredible to be apart of this team right now and we're having a lot of fun, but at the same time, we're keeping ourselves all in check."
Is it nice to be playing with Jacob Cepis and Todd McIlrath?
"Yeah. Those guys can make nice plays, they've got good vision on the ice and I definitely wouldn't have been able to put those goals in if I wasn't getting good passes from them. They always seem to find the open guy and that's what they're good at."
What's it mean to be scoring on the power play and having that ability to change the game in your team's favor at key moments?
"It's incredible. You know we bend, but we didn't break there in the third period and we get a power play and our power play just has so much confidence going right now. We went out and the power play gets us a big goal there at the end and it kind of sealed the deal for us. That's just kind of what's been going on lately. All 10 guys on the power play on both units are just playing with a lot of confidence and we're doing the smart things, making the right plays and it's definitely been a huge part to our success this year."
How big was Nick in goal for you tonight?
"He's been fabulous. Obviously, the kid has had four starts and he is 4-0. He's just been a pleasant surprise for everybody and he's just really steady back there. He doesn't really try to do too much, he's always in solid position and it's great to have two solid goalies with Jimmy [Spratt] as well. Those two guys keep the position competitive and every night no matter who is going in, we have a chance to win with them in net."
