April 6, 2000

OPENING COMMENTS:

"I would like to congratulate the other coaches on making it to the Frozen Four. This is the first time in four years we have not won the WCHA Championship and I think it made us a better team heading into the Frozen Four. Since losing a pair to Wisconsin around Christmas, it made us refocus and get better. I think we improved the last few weeks of the season and got better in a lot of areas.

We lost seven players from last year's squad, six of which were forwards, and 60 percent of our scoring. This year Lee Goren led the country in goals with 32 and Jeff Panzer led the WCHA in scoring. Karl Goehring holds the school records for goaltenders in shutouts, wins and saves percentage, and is only a junior. After Goehring went down with a concussion, sophomore Andy Kollar, who is 20-4 in his brief two-year career, stepped in and got us here. I will not reveal to Shawn who I am starting, because I know he has something up his sleeve. Whichever goaltender will start, I am sure he will do well.

We are excited to play Maine, they are an exciting team. Last time we were here and were the eventual National Champs, we only had eight losses, which is exactly the same number we have now.

We have had a lot of success the last four years and we are excited to be here."

ON OLYMPIC ICE SURFACES:

"We are building a new arena at North Dakota which will we 200 x 85 (NHL size) and also a 200 x 100 size right next door. Other schools in the WCHA have Olympic size rinks. It is a more of a puck possession game with less forchecking, which makes the game less entertaining."