About Last Weekend

This is already belated enough, so I'm just going to get right to the quotes from Coach Ruskowski and several players about the incidents of last weekend.

First up, goaltender Kevin Desfosses. In case you need a reminder as to what he's talking about, you can go back to the box score for the 9-4 loss against his former team, the Corpus Christi IceRays, or watch this video again:



Here's what Desfosses had to say:

On his actions: We were playing against my former team, that was the first time I went back to that building, and things didn't go right at first, and I got pretty annoyed. I was trying my best, and I know my teammates were trying their best, too, but things just fell apart and I got caught up in it. Being a little bit impulsive, in the impulsiveness of the moment, things like that happen sometimes. I mean, it's no big deal for me. I've done it before, and it might happen again. I'm not proud of it, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do to make sure you're ready for the next game or for the next day. It was a way for me to get my frustration out.

On why he was frustrated: I was frustrated with the way I was playing, I was frustrated with the way the team was playing. Obviously, we win as a team, and we lose as a team, and that was a big thing about losing all together, so I was really upset about everything. Also, the day before, we were winning 6-1 or 6-2 or whatever, and they came back to make it 6-5, so maybe it transferred over a little bit to the next day. Sometimes, there's a glass, and there's something always dripping in it, and maybe that was the last drop that made it explode. I'm over that now, and I'm looking forward to this weekend, to be ready for the big weekend.

On how he feels about the IceRays: I got along well with a few of the guys on that team, so off the ice, I can call my former captain or my former roommate or whatever, but on the ice, I really hate those guys because I don't think they gave me the right opportunity over there. I never got to play a lot, and when I first got over here, I got to play a lot and played well, and I got welcomed in by my teammates, so I was really looking forward to beating my former team, obviously. Right now, we would face those guys in the playoffs, and I think that would be fun, but obviously our goal is to finish third to have that bye, but otherwise, we'll face them.

On how he left the IceRays/came to the Bucks: Around the fourth or fifth of January, I asked for my release, called my agent up to see what was around. At first, they didn't want to release me, but then the GM over there, Pat Dunn, really treated me well in all my time over there. He's a class guy. I really loved him, and he really liked me, too. He's a class act, and so he kind of forced the way of the coach, and they released me on a Friday. On Saturday morning, I'm standing in my apartment waiting on my agent's call, then I got a call from Maxie. Max Lincourt called me, and I'm just thinking he's got some news for me because we were really good friends, good buddies, before I came here. But no, he was calling, and he was like, 'My coach would like to sign you.' So I was really, really happy about that, fortunately, so I signed right away. That was the All-Star break, so I got to be a little bit at home and stuff and prepare my stuff and get ready. I've really enjoyed my opportunity over here, so I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season.

On how he feels heading into this weekend: I'm working hard this week. Sometimes, we say that we need to fall to go back higher, so obviously this weekend was a big fall for me, so I'm looking forward to redeeming myself this weekend. Thursday's going to be a big challenge, and I don't know what the plan is for this weekend, but I'll be ready for this weekend. Me and Pier (Pelletier) have been going back and forth, and it's fine with me, because he's a good goalie, and I'm a good goalie, so everything is fine.

Just figured I'd get his exact words on how he left the IceRays because it seems as though there has been some confusion about that. I thought everyone knew he had asked to be released so he could get a starting role somewhere (which begs a question or two about how he'd react if Jean-Philippe Levasseur did return), but if you didn't, now you do.

Moving right along, here's what Robin Richards had to say about his incident with Brett Clouthier, which was originally reported by Brian Sandalow:

On Thursday night's events: There was a little melee, and I was pretty rattled about the way I played. He said a couple things, and I said a couple things, then I kind of got mad so I said I'd meet him in the parking lot if he wanted. He was there when I was driving away, and we just talked, nothing really happened, but I guess it transferred over to Saturday's game. I respect the guy, he's a really tough guy, and you have to watch out for those big boys. But I'm not going to back down from him, I'm not going to be nervous; well, I am nervous, but I'm not scared of him. I'm not going to back down from him. Take all callers, you know.

On what happened Saturday: Both fights were pretty anticipated. The second fight, he asked me to go, and I said no, I didn't want to go, and he was like, 'Come on, we have to go,' so I got him first. That's hockey. If you give me the opportunity, I'm going to put the ball in my own court. He's a tough guy, and you really have to watch out for those guys, like I said.

On Clouthier's desire to 'knock his block off' soon: Like I told him out there, if he wants to knock my block off, he's going to have to do it twice because I'm not just going to let that happen. I'd be surprised if he does that once, let alone twice, so bring it on. I don't mean to sound overconfident or anything, but I've been doing this a lot of years. I'm sure he has, too, and for him to make a bold statement like that, he's probably not going to knock my block off, so let's not get ahead of ourselves there. I guess we'll find out come Friday.

On whether things will carry over to this weekend: We’ll see how it is. We can’t just turn this into a gong show. We’re both in the playoff hunt, so we’ll see how this goes, but I’m sure we’ll share a couple words. We have two more games between us before the end of our season, so I’m sure our paths will cross again.

On whether or not all this is a distraction: It’s part of my game, and I know it’s part of my role. But if he wants to go and jump me, I’ll let him take a penalty. You have to play within the means of the game, you can't just go out there being an idiot because I can be an idiot, too, and just say no and get the power play and go out there and score a goal. Because, to tell you to the truth, I like scoring goals probably just as much as I like fights, so I can do a little bit of both.

On taking on more than just the enforcer role: I'm not as good with the puck as some guys, so I'm sure they could just throw anybody out there (on the power play), but I hope Terry believes in me. I'm trying my best out there and learning new stuff every day, and basically my job is just to get my big body in front and hopefully pucks bounce in off me from wherever it is, whether it be my teeth, my elbows, anything.

On staying focused this weekend: We just have to come out and play to our level and not let any distractions get the better of us, be it with these fights or the playoff spots or skates. We just have to come out hard. We have a big road game against a guy in our conference, so it's pretty big, then Rio, which is obviously a huge game because they're always tough to play against, so it's a big 3-in-3, and hopefully we can get six points.

In case you need a reminder, here's what Clouthier said about Richards in Sandalow's aforementioned story:

“Out here today we went a couple times and he jumped me. That’s unacceptable between two tough guys. I haven’t jumped another tough guy in a long, long time unless he runs someone from behind,” Clouthier said. “If that’s how he’s going to do it, try to get the upper hand… next time hopefully we square up and I’ll knock his block off.”

Now here's what Coach Ruskowski had to say, about these incidents and some other things last weekend:

On whether he's worried about distractions: They're professionals, and they have to know that our No. 1 issue is to win hockey games, to play as hard as we can to win hockey games. So no, I'm not worried about that.

On Desfosses' actions last Friday: I understand where he was coming from. Actually, he did what I was wanting to do. If a guy doesn't care, that bothers me more than a guy who does care - about his goals-against, about whatever. That shows he cares. He doesn't want to get beat, he doesn't want those goals scored against him. I like that attitude. He took frustrations out like I wanted to do.

On the Richards-Clouthier incident: I don't know a whole lot about what happened, to I can't really comment, but I think that's just lying dogs and we should just leave lying dogs lie. Let's talk about what's on the ice, not after it. They almost had a little altercation before the game in warmups... that's hockey.

On what went wrong in Friday's loss: Right from the start - we took two penalties, and they scored, and it was just downhill after that - it was Murphy's Law. Anything that could go wrong did go wrong. Our defense wasn't quick enough, they weren't making good plays, good passes. I thought we had a chance to come in after the second period we scored bang, bang, two goals, but then they came right back and scored. So for just a short period of time we had momentum, and when they came back and scored, they took the momentum right back away from us. That's discouraging. It happened again in the third period - we scored, and they came right back to score again against us. That's very discouraging for any player, any player, any goalie how that situation happens. It's frustrating, very frustrating, but we just have to be more committed to being a better team and a more disciplined team. We can't take penalties against good teams and expect to win hockey games.

On whether four of six points each weekend is enough: We always shoot four three of three, but if we can take two out of three, I'm happy with that. I'm happy with that. But we need to get points, we have to continue to get points, so obviously three of three is the best scenario we could be faced with, but if we take two out of three each weekend, that's pretty good numbers. I'll take that effort every week.

And finally, captain Adam Rivet, on everything previously discussed and the turn play takes toward the end of the season, considering he got in fights in two consecutive games over the weekend:

On whether he's worried about distractions for the team: No matter what, you always want to keep your focus on what's going on on the ice as far as playing with the team and stuff, so you just kind of look forward and keep going and practicing and going up for the games.

On tensions boiling over: Teams are competing for playoffs, and so are we. It's definitely not my job, but there were a couple hits, and you just have to make sure they're not crossing the line. You want to protect the guys and just say that's not right. Whether they're good fights or bad fights, whatever, sometimes it's just part of the game, and coincidentally I had two fights last weekend. I don't go into this weekend expecting the same thing to happen, but we are battling for a playoff spot, trying to get third position and keep winning. We want to go into the playoffs on a roll, and we have to keep working hard and battling, so that's the mentality.

On what the team needs to do every weekend: I definitely think all six (points) is better. It seems to be that maybe we’ll start off with a pretty good win, then we'll kind of get lackadaisical, then we'll get ourselves back and up and get a win in our Saturday or Sunday game. Guys know that right now, we want to get all six points. We know Allen’s going to be a big challenge, and Rio’s battling, trying to keep their playoff hopes alive, as well against Texas. It’s going to be a tough weekend, but it’s an exciting challenge. I know the guys feel the same way as I do, that we want to get all six points. It's one game at a time. Every point is valuable right now, so we don’t want to let them slide away.

On whether last week's struggles were a wake-up call: You hope so. I think we did let it slide on Thursday, then Friday we came out a little slow, then we came back and made it a 5-4 game, then they scored the next shift. You can't let that happen. When that happens, that takes the momentum away. A lot of people don't realize that the next shift after a goal is a big one, and we didn't capitalize on maybe taking advantage of them being a little bit down after a goal, and they took it to us and were able to score. I think those were goals for them that maybe changed the momentum of the game. Though we started off slow and finished slow, we had our opportunities to come back in the game, and we just can't let those opportunities slide. Hopefully the guys realize from the Thursday and Friday game that our Saturday game was a 60-minute performance, and that's what we need from every game.

Hopefully that about covers everything for now.