First Practice Quotes

Are you ready to be inundated with quotes? If not, run away. I got sick of transcribing after the conversations from the morning practice, so that's all I'll post here... for now. Quotes from the afternoon will be in my story in tomorrow's Times, and I'll post more on here later or tomorrow. Hopefully the context for these will be fairly self-explanatory.

Adam Rivet
So far, so good. We were skating last week, just out there playing a little shinny hockey with the boys, having a good time. Today, guys were going hard. The ice was a little rough, it's still early, but the guys were looking good. They're working hard, passes are going well, and we're just trying to go one step at a time right now.

Like I said, it's still early, but from what I've seen, the guys are looking good. We've got Mike Looby come in, Mohr came in from Rocky Mountain and then Hamilton from Tulsa, so those are three guys who have played pro already, and they're looking real sharp, as well as the young guys. They're maybe a little tentative at times, but they're looking pretty good right now, and if you give them some time, I think they'll come along nicely.

The first time he came in, we won the championship. He played really well; for a young guy, he was composed out there, and he his job and did a good job for us. I think he always wanted to come back and play for us in Laredo, and he's finally got back here, and I think he's real excited. Right now, I'm living with him, and I think he's real excited about that, to be back here in Laredo and play for the people here in Laredo. He enjoyed it here, and I think he's going to be a big asset to the team.

Well, replacing guys like Serge Dube and Steve Weidlich... you can't really do that. They're tremendous players and great personalities for the room. Myself, I just want to do a better job overall and play my game and let everyone else step up and do the job to the best of their ability. If everyone's playing on all cylinders, I think it'll go well for us this year.

Jeff Bes
I feel pretty good. It's exciting out there. We've got 30 guys out there, and everyone's looking really good. The guys are battling hard, and it's a lot of fun. For myself personally, it's exciting and very relieving to be on the ice again. I'm having fun with it. Today was a good day, and it just keeps getting better and better, so I look forward to what's going to happen.

Knee's good, of course. I can run marathons or ride a bike all over the world, but you're not going to get anything that you get from skating, so that's what we do. It's going to be stronger as the week goes on and as the year goes on, of course, but it's strong now. I'm pleasantly surprised and really excited to just keep working on it and have some fun with it.

I've been in good shape for the past couple years; my cardio is excellent right now. I lost a little weight, but you have to understand, too, I hadn't done anything since when that happened on Jan. 26, so I gained a little bit of weight. I enjoyed the carne asadas and all the stuff that's here with the great people of Laredo. But I feel good out there, like I said, and really excited, so I'm just trying to keep up with the young guys.

There is an abundance of skill out there, speed, big, strong guys taking the body... it's a good situation to be in, but we'll have a lot of tough decisions to make. That's the kind of situation you want to be in.

Coach Ruskowski
I really like what I say. I just think we have a nice balance. We have some kids in here who are working hard, they're playing hard; they just want to be a Buck. I'm going to have some sleepless nights because there are going to be some major decisions I have to make. My defense are very good skaters, have good size, good skates, move the puck well. My goalies seem to be doing well. My forwards, I have a lot of them up there who are good hockey players. I like what I see. The attitude is so much different from last year; they have such great attitudes. You can tell they're starting to bond as a team, which is great. Frank Garcia and his wife had a party out there to get the guys together, and it was a tremendous factor. We thank them very much for that. They're starting to get together, to bond as a team, and I like that. I like that a lot. The players just want to Bucks, which makes me feel good, but it makes my decisions a little bit more difficult down the road when it's time to make my team. I'm really counting on scrimmaging, and I'm really counting on exhibition games to see what they have. I think that will be the telling tale of who stays and who goes, obviously.

If they're here to make a team, they better show me that they want to stay here and be on the team. I like the competition. The more competition I have in training camp and scrimmages, the better off they're going to be in exhibition games and the regular season. They'll be more aware of the hits, they'll be more aware of the fast pace of hockey, and they'll be adjusted to it a lot better. I don't want anybody hurt, but I like the physical part. That's what hockey's all about, and if we can play physical and not get hurt and get prepared for the games coming up, we're going to be better off.

They're all good. They all have their helmets or masks on, so I have to get right up close to them to see which kid it is. I'm learning their names and their styles of skating; by this afternoon, I'll know exactly who's who because of their different styles. But they are some good hockey players. They just want to play hard and win and make the team. Sleepless nights are coming up for the old Roscoe.

I certainly do. No question is a dumb question for me. I answer questions, and it shows that they want to learn, want to know our system as much as they can. On Wednesday, we're obviously going to get into some skating, but we're going to go through more systems, teach them more on the board, on the ice. We're going to teach them forechecking, breakouts, neutral ice traps - our traps, how we get away from their traps . We're going to give them a lot more so they'll be more prepared going into a game. As much as they're prepared, it's going to look better on them to see how they can execute the game plan to make the team. It'll be a chance to see how astute they are, how observant they are and how inquisitive they are on how we do this. It's to our advantage, obviously, to get them to a situation where they're going to win hockey games by the end of it.

The compressor went down, so the ice wasn't as good as I hoped, but there's nothing you can do about it. Skating, timing, passing shooting, aggressiveness, how they understand the drills, how they execute the drills, looking in their eyes to see if they're eager to adapt, all little things, just getting their timing back. Wednesday, we'll do a little more in-depth practice.

One didn't pass. We don't want anybody getting hurt. One is actually waiting for later on, and one will probably be going home because of that special situation.

I'd like to know. I obviously put him on suspension today. We'll keep him on there in case he decides to... well, I think at this point, even if he decides to show his face, I don't want him. If he's not that committed, I'm not that committed to him.

It's been an up and down situation. He's not coming, he is gonna come, he's not... well, he's come in now, and he'll be here for a while and he has a chance to go up. I'm just taking it day to day as it comes along. He's here now, he's a great kid, he works hard, he's been in major league camps all summer, all fall, and he just comes down and plays with everybody else. He's not one of those guys who says, 'Oh, I played in the AHL,' he blends in. He has a great attitude. He's going to be here, he's going to work hard for us. He signed a contract with us, so he's a Buck right now and he will be a Buck until he's not a Buck. If he has a chance to go up to a higher league, then God bless him, that's what we're here for - to win and get players up to a higher league. If not, then he'll stay here in Laredo; that's where he wants to play.

Darryl Smith
Right now, as of now, I'm skating with the team, and I'm prepared to start the year. But if something does come up, which I'm really not sure if it will, it's kind of a tough situation. But as of right now, I'm playing for Laredo.

Of course (I'm glad to be back). I had a great time here last year. It looks like we have a great group of guys in the room already this year; seems like the guys are already getting along great. That's the first step in the right direction. We had a pretty good season last year, so I think with the guys and everything, we can have a pretty good run this year.

It's always something to be counted on as one of the go-to guys, especially only in your second year. I like being a go-to guy and things like that.