On the mentality coming into Game 7:
I was actually thinking about it by the pool before we played yesterday that we don’t want to leave here. We love it here too much. When you have that desperation feeling — we knew if we could get through today and get another game today, anything could happen. I don’t want to go back to New Hampshire. It would be cold, rainy.
On scoring first four goals:
Definitely one of our priorities was getting the first one. We’ve definitely had to play from behind in the games we’ve lost. We knew that that was key. We just have to keep rolling. When you have that feeling that you could go home, you just dig deep and make your stand.
On his two goals:
The first one, I just kind of got open in front of the net. (Andrew) Martens gave me a great pass, I just stuffed it in there. He gave me a little bit of room — the goalie just left his pad, left a little room on the post and I put in there. The second one, (Chad Starling) dumped it in the corner. I came in and just drove it to the net. Coach talks about taking pucks to the net. Anything can happen when there’s a scrum in front. I ended up getting my own rebound, finishing it. Definitely both hard-work goals.
Have you figured out how to fluster the Stockton goalie, Parker Van Buskirk?We got the first one, and that always makes him think. The goalie’s young and just came out of juniors. We know we can get into his mind a little bit. He’s not a well-seasoned veteran goalie or anything. He’s new and he’s nervous and he hasn’t been with this team very long. We know that if we can get on him and get the shots on, we’ll end up winning games.
How hard is it to maintain win-or-go-home mentality again today?
It’s not hard at all. We’re going into Game 7 this week, I don’t think there’s a person on this team that won’t be ready for tomorrow’s game. They’re going to be ready too. It’s going to be one hell of a game, just like tonight. When both teams are up against their backs up against the wall, one team’s going home tomorrow night. It’s a big, big game. Now I see that we have even more of a chance of staying, so I’ve got to be on tomorrow.
