Notebook Quotes

For those of you who aren't LMT subscribers, here are the quotes I used for my notebook that is in today's paper, with a few others I won't need for my preview thrown in:

Coach Ruskowski on preparation: The only thing I didn’t get too much involved with the video is if they change things up, then boom, all of a sudden we’re caught saying, ‘What’s going on here?’ We watched some of their tendencies, what they showed us in not just one game, but two or three games, and we put that in perspective and we tried to get to where we can neutralize their powers and jump on their weaknesses. I didn’t go one basic play. I watched tape, so I wanted to go after if they do it three or four times, then we kind of focused on that. We’re focused on that, we changed our practice up a little bit to go against their strengths, so I’m hoping that helps .The only thing is we have a tendency to, when we have a long rest time, we don’t have a tendency to come out sharp. We have to come out strong and hard and sharp right off the bat because we can’t let them come at us, we have to go after them.

Adam Rivet on getting this week to prepare: It’s obviously important to get the third spot and not play that extra series. I don’t think anybody in the league wants to play the extra series. It’s pretty demanding; you get a day off on Sunday, and then you’re right back at it, so it’s pretty important and the guys are pretty happy with where we are right now.

Jeff Bes on the week: It was a huge benefit, just to prepare and get set to play Allen, which is a very talented and strong team. We’ve taken advantage of that, and we’re in the right frame of mind.

Ruskowski on having 10 healthy forwards: That’ll be an ‘If you work hard, you stay in the lineup, if you don’t work hard, you’re out of the lineup’ kind of deal. It gets their attention a little bit more, the guys who aren’t playing very well, they’re saying, ‘Geez, I better pick up my game if I want to be playing next game,’ so it helps in that aspect. When Cullaton gets here, I think it will really move things around. If he plays the way I think he’s capable of playing, that I know he’s capable of playing, then I know he’s going to be a huge asset for us.

Ruskowski on his amateur search: There’s probably an amateur that I want to bring in here the next three or four days. Right now, I’m looking for a defenseman, a right-handed shot defenseman. We only have one on the team; if I can get another one, that would be a huge asset. I’m trying to go for that right now. I think I have one on the line, but we’ll see how his playoff performance goes as they’re playing up in Canada right now.

Ruskowski on the goalie situation: I’ll start with (Pier-Olivier) Pelletier because he’s wielding a hot hand right now, and we’ll just ride him until he gets cold. After every game, we’ll talk to him and before practice, we’ll talk to him; we’ll just keep in close contact with him and (Kevin) Desfosses, and we’ll decide the day before who’s going to play.

Ruskowski on the team's confidence in Pelletier: I think they’re very confident, and I think they’re confident with both guys. It’s just that Pelletier handles the puck a little bit better behind the net and sometimes ices the puck for us and passes the puck so we don’t have to work for it. So he’s good in that aspect, but I think they’re comfortable with both goalies, but Pelletier right now will hopefully continue to wield a hot hand for us.

Rivet on the goalies: I think the guys are feeling really good. He’s really settled in and kind of taken over the reigns there. He plays the puck really well, and the boys are playing for him, so that’s a big thing right now. Kevin’s working hard behind him, as well, so I think he’s ready for the challenge, too. We have two really good young goalies who are working hard and battling, trying to give us an opportunity to win.

I'll post more of their quotes tomorrow after my preview for the game/series comes out in the paper, and I'll be back later today if there is any news to report.