``I know Nick is going to do great things this year. There's a reason I worked so hard to get him this year, but it's just one of those things. I know he's going to be good in Elmira and I wish him nothing but success. A change needs to be made in our locker room. It's something I've been noticing and it needed to be addressed.
``It's something I had to address in the locker room after Saturday night. The level of urgency with our guys is not where it needs to be. That is what falls on my shoulders. It's my job leading these guys to let them know where we're at as a team. I was very clear about our two wins at home two weeks ago. We cut corners and did not play the way we needed to play to be successful. We addressed those things in three days of practice.
``I thought we played OK against Reading, but with Wheeling the urgency that we're trying to create in the way we want to be tough to play against wasn't there. For us as a group we need to start understanding the more the pressure is, the better we need to be. Anybody can have a good game when it's going easy, but who is going to be the guy who makes plays when things are going tough, who's going to shift momentum when it's a critical moment? Who wants to be on the ice in a critical moment. We need guys stepping forward and not stepping back.''
Sounds exactly like what a lot of you have been talking about.
Comments
What's being described is exactly what the team needs. The question is why did it take so long for this to be thoroughly expressed to the players? I thought that this was going to be the mantra, the expectation, from day one. Obviously it has not. After the recent blow-up, it definitely needs to be true for everyone. Either you perform and actively show that you want to be here and want to hustle and win, or expect to be released. The captain and and alternates should be exhorting the team to pick it up and play better. They should be enforcing the need to hold leads and take no prisoners. They should have a step on their throats, play-to-win killer instinct. The coach, captain and alternates should provide consistent team leadership.
There appears to be enough blame in this current fiasco to go all around. It's not just the players. Obviously the coach and management have a tremendous amount of responsibility in the current sutuation too. The important thing now is to circle the wagons, do quick triage on the wounded, and then try to get everyone headed out on the proper course again. I think that it's reasonable to expect though that there may be more dead or dying bodies left along the way.