Lots of Quotes

Rather than waiting until after my preview is published in tomorrow's Times, I'm going to share my leftover quotes from Coach Ruskowski and rookie forward Jason Dixon, who I spoke to after practice today, right now.

Just to give a few things some context, I'll remind you that the Bucks (20-10-4, 44 points) are on the road for big Southeast Division games against the Corpus Christi IceRays (13-17-4, 30 pts.) and Texas Brahmas (22-10-3, 47 pts.) this weekend.

The last time the Bucks won on the road was over a month ago, with the Brahmas serving as their victim in a 2-1 shootout game at the NYTEX Centre in North Richland Hills on Dec. 6, in which Dixon scored the winning shootout goal. However, when they hosted the Brahmas at the LEC on Jan. 3, they suffered a 4-1 loss.

The opposite is true for the IceRays, who beat the Bucks 2-1 in a shootout on Dec. 11 to start the Bucks' current 0-4-3 road skid but then fell 4-1 at the LEC this past Saturday.

These quotes kind of jump around, but with your memory jogged, they should make enough sense.

Ruskowski on whether or not he still wants to make personnel changes:

"If you’re not looking to improve your team, then you’re not doing your job. That’s my feeling. If I can improve my team somehow, then I have to do what I have to do. It’s an ongoing process. It’s just that I’m not going to trade somebody that I think’s a pretty good hockey player for someone who’s not a very good hockey player. I want to change different things. I want to get a good player in here, and obviously you have to give up something good to get something good back, but maybe just a change of scenery would help different players play better. Or maybe that player just suits my needs more than the other team’s. So, I’m still looking."

On whether having two days off followed by three full practices will benefit the team this weekend:

"I sure hope so. Today was a real…we went over some things that we needed to go over, mind you, but there just wasn’t any energy in the practice at all. I could feel that they were tired or their minds were somewhere else. It was one of those hour and 15 minutes or an hour and a half, then just get out of there. Hopefully they can rejuvenate themselves and come back tomorrow with a more exuberant practice and be more conscientous of what they’re doing. We went over things we had to go over, but it just seemed like it wasn’t very lively. I sensed that they were tired. I skated them really hard yesterday, so maybe they just need some time to recuperate and hopefully tomorrow we’ll bounce back and bring some of that exuberance and excitement back."

On what they need to do to win this weekend:

"It’s like I told them today, if we play our system the way it’s supposed to be played, we’ll have an opportunity to win. If we execute properly, we’ll have an opportunity to win. We can’t take unnecessary penalties, and everybody has to play their role and play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. And if they do the system that we’re taught and not just play pond hockey, we’ll have a chance to win."

On the common denominator in their wins over the teams they play this weekend:

"That’s a good question. I think that they need to realize if we play hard, good things will happen. It shouldn’t matter who we play against, if we follow our game plan the way it’s supposed to be, we’ll have a chance to win. If our goalies play well, and the defense stand up and do their jobs, maybe it is an opportunity for us to win."

On whether Saturday's win helped boost his players' confidence:

"I sure hope so. It was a nice way to go into the All-Star break, on a positive note, and I’m just hoping they can carry that positive note further, especially this weekend against Corpus and Texas. We’re going to have to play hard and do whatever we have to do to be successful. Sacrifice your body to do what you have to do."

On Darryl Smith's performance in the All-Star Game:

"It goes with my philosophy that I’ve talked about for the past seven years I’ve been here. If you work hard, good things will happen for you. He’s a prime example of having talent, obviously, but working hard. He works hard in practice, he works hard in games, and now he’s getting rewarded. He gets called up to the American League, he’s the MVP of the All-Star team, and it goes to show you if you work hard good things will happen. Hopefully that’s an infection that everyone can touch and do and realize that if you do that, good things will happen to you.
I didn’t see the game."

On this year's All-Star format:

"Everyone was grumbling about it, but you know what, I think I like it. I didn’t see the game, mind you, but it’s a situation where it was a little bit different and a little more meaningful and maybe the All-Stars will catch on and go, ‘Whoa, we can’t let this one team beat all these guys’ talents put together,’ and start playing to where it’s a good. I mean, those All-Star Games before between South and North, it’s just go out there and just skate and play and don’t hit and don’t play defense; it’s all offense, and don’t try. People pay money to come watch you play; you should put an effort into the game to make sure they come out at the end satisfied that they paid good money to watch you play and say it was worth it."

On Vincent Zaore-Vanie, who is back to limping around the LEC rather than skating in practices:

"I think he came back too soon. They kind of gave him the okay, and he was just so anxious to get back that he had a little setback. We’re hoping in a couple weeks he’ll get back to where he should be and get in the lineup. I’m kind of curious to see what he can do; it’s been so long, I’ve forgotten how he plays."

On goalies for this weekend:

"I’ll probably pay Gibb at Corpus Christi and Sea Bass, Sebastien, against Texas."

Dixon on the keys to winning this weekend:

"I think our biggest things are just working hard and passing and sticking to the game plan. That makes things a lot easier, and usually when we do that, we play well and we have good chances and we come out on top."

On the difference between the win at Texas and the loss to the Brahmas at home:

"There we executed our game plan, we worked hard, we got pucks in deep, we were physical and I think here we kind of got away from that once we got down a couple goals. If that’s the case there, we just have to keep working hard and keep going right to the end of the third period. I think if we just work hard and do the little things well and be physical and be disciplined, that helps with our chances."

On his shootout goal in the win and how he approaches shootouts:

"I’d never really been in a situation like that, especially playing pro hockey. We have been working on it a little more, but I think going in you just have to be calm and you have to block out the fans, especially away. I think just going in being calm and being confident with your move and hopefully it goes in."

Hopefully that tells you how the team is approaching this weekend, which would get them back on top of the division if they win both games in regulation and the Brahmas lose to the Arizona Sundogs tomorrow night. "If" being the operative word.

Meanwhile, as Sebastien Centomo has been out of town for the All-Star Game, equipment manager Matt Brayfield has been dressing as a goalie and taking shots in the team's practices for the past few days. He actually stopped a couple guys during shootout drills today, but I won't embarrass them by telling you who. It's not quite as neat as the Washington Capitals' Web editor's story, but still entertaining.

And while we're on this topic, happy birthday (!) to Matt, who turned 24 today.