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May 16, 2005

Interview With The Coach, “. . . they should be proud of it.”

Summary of an interview with Killer this afternoon on the TEAM 1200/Gord Wilson and Glen Kulka. [paraphrasing]

(On Saturday’s game) Saturday’s game I thought we played a pretty good first period. In the second we had too many mistakes. Then we had a comeback 4-2 in the third, but they came up ice and scored a backbreaker. In the third, 3 goals is huge to come back from. It was one of those things. I don’t think that we played as well as we have. London deserved it because they played it better.

(On London’s ability to capitalize) Yeah, they have 7 bonafide goal-scorers. You can’t cover them all, so you try to make sure your defence pairings are covering the top guys. You’re keying on Corey Perry because he’s so good, so great. But unfortunately for us they’ve got other guys that can score.

(Thoughts on the play of the guys maybe thinking too much about the Memorial Cup) We tried to impress upon them the importance of winning the league championship. One precedes the other and we were looking for the championship first.

(On the line up changes in Game 5) There were a couple fellows that I don’t think were playing as well. These other kids just worked and worked in practice. They’ve got a great attitude in the dressing room and on the ice. And we gave them the opportunity. We put them in and gave them a chance at it. We knew that we could spot them here or there. They handled themselves well. It’s good to know that going to the Memorial Cup if we have an injury they can come in and play.

(Did the London series give them confidence in playing in the Memorial Cup) They should have confidence in their ability to be there. I don’t think they’ll be overconfident. When you play a 60 minute game it matters what you did during that game.

(On one-game winner take all). We’re not going to do anything, like a trick play. All I can hope is that we’ll work extremely hard so that conditioning won’t be one of the factors that can beat us.

(On having the week off) We’ve still got a couple guys that are nursing injures. McGinn, Reid, and Beard. We’ve got a couple guys that were hurt a little. We’ll be hopeful that everyone can walk into that rink 100% or close to it. I was almost going to give them today off. But we had a few injures and some fellows needed time off. And we won’t have time on Thursday because we have to be in London and we’re busing down. So that could be the off day. You just want to push them a little to get sharp. Some of the ones that needed it got rest yesterday. Definitely Tuesday and Wednesday are days that you’ll push.

(On preparing the guys for the upcoming media exposure – 300 media requests for the Memorial Cup) Well I thought there were 300 at the games in London as it was. So I don’t think that’s going to be any bother. A matter of fact, they should be proud of it. They’re going to be interviewed by some of the great media across the country. Names of people that they they’ve read [their work]. They’re going to be meeting some of the influential people aross the country. I’m proud of them for it. I think it’s something that they’ll remember.

(On seeing the younger guys grow up) The biggest is probably McGinn. He started on the fourth line and then just kept working and working. And when you take a look at the other, Patty Ouellette. And Aaron Alphonso is another one of the kids who’s a die hard. He just goes out and works and works. Joslin is another one that came in and just plays. We’ve got some kids that are going to be great for the future.

When you see these kids come in and they’re not really ready for it – there’s a big gap from where they were – and they’re paying against kids who should be in the NHL. Its hard because they were stars where they were. Sometimes they wonder why they’re here. They put the Perry line out against them numerous times [in Game 5] and we just left them here because they were playing so well.

(Update on McGinn) We feel that Jamie will be ready and he’ll be 100%. I won’t play him if he’s not, because I don’t want him to face something that will require an operation.

(On what to expect) I don’t know anything. All I know is that last game they got 5 goals on 8 PP. It’s one of those things that you have to stay out of the penalty box. [/paraphrasing]

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