SMH*
----------"It's one of 72 games," said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller, whose team has lost five of its last six. "Last night was just as important as today, we just didn't push as hard. We needed this (win) to keep the momentum. There is no one to blame but ourselves."
"We were just standing around watching," Hiller said of his team not clearing the rebounds.
"It was a busy night," Simpson said. "They guys played well in front of me. We knew we needed to get it done here; these points were huge."
"We tried to adjust things, but we weren't as sharp as we would have liked and we didn't have the traffic in front when shot the puck," Hiller said. (Herald)
"There's no excuse for that type of effort," said Ams forward Adam Hughesman, who scored his team-leading 14th goal on a second-period power play. "We're not going to blame it on anything but ourselves.
"Just because we won one game doesn't mean anything. We have to play all the way through the season. It's frustrating to go out there with no intensity, no physical play, nothing like last night."
"Last night was just one of 72 games. This one was just as important today," Hiller said. "We just didn't push as hard. We have no one to blame but ourselves. That's why it's so disappointing."
"The goals we gave up were pretty easy, weren't they?" Hiller said. "They were just standing right there. It was more mental than physical tonight. We need to play with more urgency; that's the bottom line. With the puck and without it, we need more urgency." (Examiner)
Normally, I'd be inclined to say stuff like "well it was their 3rd game in three nights" and think that would fly. They're now tied for 2nd in the US division along with Seattle and Everett, all with 26 points. The Americans have gone 3-6-0-1 in their last 10 games.
I did notice line shuffling. In Saturday's game, because of the score, coach could roll four lines. Last night, playing from behind, the kids Moser and Behbeh Messier didn't see a lot of ice time. At the same time, David Conrad (who has been playing with the kid lines off and on) played a ton so guys were being shuffled around. In a way I get that, trying to get something going. But at the same time, they all clicked together on Saturday so WTF, why not last night? Drew was totally in a groove Saturday night, but looked unsure last night. And not sure why he felt the need to come so far out to play the puck so much last night. Although in fairness to him, not sure the defence was helping a whole lot. Everett was getting all up in the Ams' kitchens and there wasn't a good response to that.
They did outshoot the Tips, so that's something. Kent Simpson was definitely on his game, as were the guys in front of him. It says a lot that I didn't get any pictures in the 3rd period because everyone was down in Everett's end the whole time. But it wasn't enough.
So the frustration continues. We KNOW they can play better, we've seen them do it. They are loaded with talent but for some reason it's just not coming together. I hope they go sledding together today, get some team bonding going. Just no injuries please. I want team chemistry and I want it now. I see too many guys trying to do it all themselves. Or some not doing enough of anything to get it done. Saturday night it looked like they were all on the same page for the first time in a long time.
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