"What's haunted us all year is our ability to score goals. I thought that was a game where we could have gone up by certainly at least two, maybe three."

"His ability to compete is his best talent, and his talents are good ? they're really good. He's just got a warrior mentality, and he does it every day. He's one of those really, really good players, and it doesn't matter to him whether it's practice or a game."

"Around the country, nobody knows what the juniors are going to do with this collective bargaining agreement. There could be a wave of kids leaving. We'll just have to wait and see."

"They're obviously a battle-tested team and we knew coming into here that they're a big-game program. Their experience I thought was a factor. They got the jump on us before we could settle down. This was a learning game for us and hopefully we can take it to the next level."

"I don't know what our missed games are, but we must lead the country in games missed due to injury."

"We beat the two teams ranked third and sixth in the country."

"I never thought he played out of panic or fear or worry because he always knew he could go faster (and) catch somebody. He had such great vision and good skills. He'd pass it over a stick, under a stick ? he just could do anything the situation called for."

"We're fighting for a first-round bye so that's the only thing we're kind of thinking about, talking about ? just as we've done over the last couple of months is just try to put wins on the board."

"We've been fighting hard now for a couple of years to get back nationally to a legitimate national level of a program. I'm convinced we're there."

"It's what you want from a good league and good balanced competition. It should be a whale of a hockey game."

"You always like to control your own destiny and we do that by playing teams that we need to beat."

"It's very difficult obviously, and it's hard for anybody to handle it perfect. But I have no complaints at all with how he's dealt with it."

"I've never coached a player in 34 years who prepares like he prepares. To the detail, to the consistency, to how much he stresses the importance of getting himself into his game mode."

"Any top-level team has to have an offensive catalyst on defense, and that's something we've lacked since John-Michael Liles graduated (in 2002). We recruited Tyler because wanted him to run the power play, but it took some time."

"That would have been a big one. The long delay in reviewing it certainly took the momentum away."

"We came back after Christmas and the guys worked so hard to get better. It's encouraging when different guys step in and contribute each night."

"We've got to live in the future now. As good as this (past) weekend was, you've got to let it go and get by it."

"It's a log jam and obviously every game is very important. The mindset is so important because every game is going to be tough to win."

"I know (Michigan) State hasn't scored a goal in three straight NCAA games. But this group ? they do what they need to do."

"Sometimes you like to win maybe better or prettier but, whatever, we'll take the win and go home and get ready for Saturday."

"That's what's haunted us all year, the inability to score goals."

"I thought that was a game we could have gone up by certainly at least two, maybe three (goals). But we couldn't get the puck in the net."

"Obviously we'd love to score six or seven goals but we don't do that. You're not going to beat people easy."

"I thought we could have had four or five (goals) in the first but you don't. You let them hang around and then they took the game away in the second."

"He's missed so much time. The darn injuries the last couple years have really slowed his growth down, and now he's getting games in consecutive fashion and I think he's responding very well to that."

"I thought we played really well. You don't beat a quality team like Michigan without playing very, very well."

"They've had trouble scoring and they've got some injury situations. I expect it to be a defensive game. I think we'll see some fallback and some neutral zone trapping."

"They're an older, bigger, stronger team, and those teams have given us a little bit of trouble at times because we're a younger team."

"I think the nature of Big Ten schools (is) they're not happy just to have programs. You put smiles on people's faces by winning. And the expectation is you do it the right way."

"We maybe looked a little tired tonight, but I thought our kids never panicked, and got a hard-earned win in overtime. It is so important, particularly at this point of the season, to get points on the road. We got one win, and now its time to start focusing on getting another one tomorrow."

"Getting them all the amount of work necessary is important as long as the three of them are still competing for the job. We're going to try our best to give them equal opportunity. We'll figure out a way to do it."

"Sometimes that's what happens. Used in another role, given a different opportunity - a pitcher finds his strength."

"Mulder really deserved this game today, because he's probably had the opportunity, or been in position, to win four or five games that we let get away from us after he's been out of the game. It's nice for him to get a special win, and I know this is special for him."

"Instead of getting in shape, he can refine the quality of his pitches. Has he been good? Yes. Is he capable of being better? I think so."

"It looks to me like he's trying to be too fine. He's getting behind in the count too much. When he does know he has to throw a strike, it's in the top of the strike zone. He needs to be more aggressive early in the counts - not as concerned inside and outside as he is up and down ... mostly down. He can go to the corners when he controls the counts."

"He's trying to throw too hard, trying to make it break too much, to make it better than it is. It doesn't need to be any better than it is. But when you increase your effort, you come out of your delivery and it affects your command."

"I think he's more conscious of trying to pitch to the weakness of the hitter rather than just going after everybody the same way. That's pretty much what he did when he first came over."

"I'm not forming any hard opinions one way or the other. It's way too early. . . . Gradually things clarify themselves."

"I don't trust my memory,"

"It has a lot to do with mental strength. He prepares as good as you can prepare. He doesn't let anything distract him, whether it's a bad call by an umpire, a call that he thinks is bad, an error, or whatever else might go on. He stays focused on what he wants to do and doesn't let anything distract him from that purpose."

"I still think it's excessive, but I appreciate them reconsidering and listening to what I had to say."

"I think he's still considered a power guy. I think he's just more of a blend of power and pitching."

"All of those guys competed equally. Any of them wouldn't have been a bad choice. From start to finish, Hancock was the most consistent throwing strikes."

"He was struggling with his delivery and his control. His pitches weren't sharp. But I told him it's a great sign because you're going to have 10, 12, 15 games during the season when it just isn't working. A lot of guys give in to that. But he didn't. He kept battling."

"He had a good set of eyes to watch guys in the bullpen. His biggest strength was always his consistency. He could throw a ball for a strike pretty much anytime he wanted to."

"It could be a good pitch for him if he can gain control of it to the point where he doesn't make mistakes that are hit. If his mistakes are down, OK. If he makes mistakes up ... I don't think he wants to walk off the field after getting beat on a changeup. But he can find places to use it."

"You see some things you like, and you see some things you don't like. You don't make decisions early in the spring. You've got the chance to get some things together before you start evaluating."

"It's not just winning games. It's the way he's pitched. He's been pretty dominant. I've seen guys win a lot of games before. But with the exception of Vida Blue in 1971, I've never seen a guy that has controlled the game, game after game after game, like he has."

"All the pitches they got hurt on were belt high. I don't like it, but I understand it. Next time out, we hope to be seeing guys take another step forward, making more quality pitches, get them in that mode."

"There's an aura that surrounds certain guys, whether it's truth or fiction I don't know, but it's the way they're perceived by the opposition,"