Mark Osiecki Quotations

Tom will make a big hit when we need it, and he'll take a big hit when we need it. We need him to be on the ice for us to be successful.

With Tom, we can look to control the puck and set our forwards up more quickly. His ability to score gives the rest of our offense more open looks.

He has unbelievable hand-eye coordination. He does practice that.

He really took a lot of pressure off of Josh. He's such a calming presence on the whole defensive core.

His skill level is good at the college level and his speed is at the top end of the college level. His physical presence is great. I think he's going to have a shot to play in the NHL because of his speed and physical power. He's got a huge heart and has a willingness to play game in and game out.

Win or lose, you didn't know, but there was no doubt at all that we were going to give an effort. The guys were going to block shots for each other. They were going to take hits for each other. You could sense that right from the morning breakfast all the way through. I think that's the feeling the guys have and we've tried as a staff to continue that this week.

The reason why I came back here - obviously, I love the University of Wisconsin, I love the city, but I saw an opportunity to work with the best coach in the country. For me, I'm trying to get my master's in coaching. That's what it feels like I'm doing right now, under coach Eaves.

As brothers, you have your fights, you pick on each other. This (2006) group is more like brother-sister - real tight, but not over the edge. We were over the edge in '90. We got in a lot of fights - in the locker room between periods, at practice. But there was never any doubt how much we cared about each other.

That's how Roscoe is. Whether it's penalty kill or just the game itself, he's very in tune to the game and wanting to learn and wanting to better himself.

They are like heavyweight fighters. They lean on you and lean on you and lean on you and wear you down. It didn't affect him. I think in the third overtime he kept on getting stronger.

His ability to read (the play), and he has such a good stick makes him a great penalty-killer. His willingness to block a shot is part of it, too.