A Night Without Hockey

Sorry this is so belated, but I will finally be posting my leftover quotes from my conversation with Coach Ruskowski last week.

First off, though, you can read my story that ran in Friday's Times, our first revamped edition.

Oh, and to quickly answer a question, Ruskowski never gave me a name as far as who the NCAA kid he was looking into was, but he knows I went to BU, so I think he would have given me a hint if it were someone from there.

I'll ask him about that tomorrow night, assuming I haven't been banned for accidentally getting my RSVP in late, haha.

And now, the quotes, some of which are in the story in an abbreviated fashion...

On the playoff exit:
"I was disappointed. I think back, and I lay in bed thinking about what's going on, and I think, 'We took a team that had more points than us and is supposed to be better than us, and we took them six games.' We'd like to take them to seven games and win it. But four of those games were overtime, and one was double overtime, so we hung in there with what we had. I wanted to win that series; I really, sincerely wanted to win that series, and I thought with four of the games going into overtime, we'd have a chance to win. But there were some guys who were underachievers and some guys who came up and met the challenge. I want to go out and find more guys who will do that because playoff time is do or die."

On Odessa:
"They had a lot of talent. They had a lot of guys who had been in those circumstances before, and we had a lot of rookies and a lot of guys who had never been in those circumstances before. And they were just... they were talented. Their passing, their position, the defense got the puck , they moved it very well, just rushed the puck up. The game-winning goal in overtime was a defenseman. He came up on the play to make an odd-man rush. Those little intangibles will end up winning hockey games and winning series, and I think it's going to be a great series between Odessa and Texas because they're both talented hockey teams."

On losing Jeff Bes to injury:
"It was a huge impact, there's no question. When he was out of the lineup, our power play and penalty killing went down. When he's in the lineup, just the confidence of knowing if something needed to be done, he would do it, goal scoring-wise or making a play. You look at (Darryl) Smith's record, and Bes had a lot to do with that because they played pretty well together and put up a lot of points in the short period of time that they worked together. We missed his leadership - he's a veteran guy who guys look to, and when he's not there it hurts. There's no question it hurts. You can tell by (the fact that) he was out two months or so, and there were only two guys who beat him in the scoring, so you know that's going to hurt you."

On bringing back Brent Cullaton and James Hiebert:
"I think that it was a positive mood to bring, especially Cullaton back with a lot of time left in the season. We needed that little jump start, a shot in the arm, and I think they helped. Of course, Hiebert, I had more time to work with him, to get him back in better shape before he played, but unfortunately we were restricted with time."

On the overabundance of vets:
"Well, that's what the exit meetings are, to see if they want to keep on going, if they want to retire, if they want to go somewhere else, whatever. This is what I'm trying to find out from the guys so I can prepare myself because I owe players to Oklahoma City and to the Rage for the trades that we made this renter. So I have to put up guys for trade, so this will tell me which guys want to come back."

On first-year standouts:
"Obviously Smith was a huge asset for us. I don't know what other kind of accolades he can get other than a championship and being MVP of the playoffs. A great asset for us; he really proved himself and came into his own. (Jason) Dixon, he may not have put a whole lot of numbers up goal-scoring-wise, but he sure put the effort in. It goes to show you that it's not the size of the body, it's the size of the heart that makes a player, and he he certainly has a huge heart. Jaye Judd started off slow and came on real strong, and that really hurt is in the playoffs, not having him back there because he moves the puck really well. I thought (Devin) Featherstone played really well as a rookie coming in. I thought our rookies did a really good job when we finally got the guys we wanted in here."

On his offseason priorities:
"I really want to work on our defense. I look at every team that's successful, and obviously goaltending is a big factor, but defense is a huge factor. Guys that are really good, mobile, quick, move the puck up on the play - that's the kind of defenseman I'm looking for. I want to be more physical. This wasn't the team that I usually put on the ice because I like a physical hockey team. Every time you touch the puck (against us), you're going to get hit. That's the type of team I'm going to try to put forth in the upcoming season."

On the goalie situation:
"It's more up to them than up to me. Obviously, I'd like to have them because I thought they were the best combination in the league, one-two punch. I'd like to find out what they're thinking and see if I can get them back or if they even want to come back."

On what he wants next season:
"We want to be more aggressive, we want to have talented guys, we want to have guys that are goal scorers... I think this year we left it on the shoulders on two or three guys, maybe four guys at the most, to do all the scoring. We have to have a well-balanced team, we have to be more physical and we have to play with that edge, and that's what I want. I want a team that plays with an edge and hates to lose and comes out every game and grinds it out."

On the biggest bright spot from this season:
"I think the adversity that we went through, with the injuries and the things that we had to go through, we came up and met the challenge. Some guys, as I said, came up and met the challenge, and some guys were just there."

I'll let you decide who falls into the latter party for fear of them running me down tomorrow night if they see their names on here. Just kidding. But let me know if you have any questions you would legitimately like me to ask anyone tomorrow by about 4 p.m. (I have a track and field feature to attend to at 4:30 and won't be coming back to the office until later).

Meanwhile, for those of you who happen to be NHL fans (Wednesday can't come soon enough!), Greg Rajan is doing a playoff pool that my intense superstition will not allow me to go near personally, but I think those things are fun for people who don't freak out as easily as I do.

Similarly, one of my favorite blogs is doing something called "Rinkotology," which is pretty neat (in a non-Joy-friendly way) and helping raise money for a good cause (much more Joy friendly).

Speaking of raising money for good causes, this is the coolest thing ever. I am enlisting a male friend to grow a beard for me to sponsor, haha. Not sure he can compete with any of these guys, though.

No CHL games tonight, but my lovely boys in pinstripes got whooped 15-5 by the defending A.L. champs. It's always comforting to get a text from Major League Baseball telling you, "Nick Swisher hits a solo HR (3) off Scott Kazmir in the Top of the 4th. Rays lead the Yankees, 10-1." Especially when Chien-Ming Wang was starting. Nice ERA, ack. But Swisher struck out Gabe Kapler later in the game (not a typo), so I can fall asleep tonight laughing at that.