Game Day @ Portland

“We didn’t have a players only meeting, but we had a talk after (Tuesday’s) game,” said overage forward Jesse Mychan, who also is an alternate captain. “We know we have to bring more. This is a big weekend for us — two good teams, two tough challenges. We will try to steal two points in Portland, and every game with Spokane is good. It would be nice to get four points this weekend. We will have to work for them.”

Tuesday’s loss was the third in a row for the Americans, who have been battling injuries all season. They lost forward Phil Tot (in October) and starting goalie Eric Comrie for the season, and Beau McCue (ankle) and Ryan Chynoweth (shoulder) are still out of commission.

The team has brought in affiliate players to fill in the gaps, but there is no help coming this weekend.

“We have lost guys who could help us win games,” said veteran defenseman Mitch Topping, also an alternate captain. “We have to move past that. It’s time for guys to step up. The young guys have stepped up and played more minutes than they should. The older guys, like me, have to step up and lead the way. We need 20 guys every night, not 18 or 16.”

Mychan agrees.

“Leaders are supposed to lead by example,” Mychan said. “You have that letter on your chest and it means something. The young guys see you have a bad game and not bounce back, and they think ‘why should I try.’ ”

The players also have heard the disparaging remarks from the fans, who are not happy with the team’s 13-12-0-2 record and lack of effort some nights.

“We have to play a full 60 minutes,” Mychan said. “When you win, they love you. When you lose they should still love you. They should know we feel the same (when we lose), plus more. Some nights there’s only so much you can do.” (Herald)

Well, they're saying the right things.

Tonight they face off against Portland. They can say all the right things, but the bottom line is they have to be ready to work their asses off. I try to be optimistic all the time, but honestly, I'm not feeling the optimism going into the weekend. I was contemplating not having liveblog tonight but awesome people donated money to me to keep Cover it Live liveblogs up and running and I can't let y'all down.

The game is on ROOT so tune in there and tune in here to talk hockey (and whatever else). CiL has a new interface thing, I guess tonight will be as good as any a time to try it out.