Seth Appert Post Skate | 03.27.24
A few injury updates Stillman out longterm um lower body um brro out dayto day um he will not play tonight uh there’s a chance he could be available for the weekend um ticker um ticker’s good he practiced yesterday um and so he’s he’s good for us right
Now I think that’s it yeah couple of signings recently wber 18y fla Sweden shl what do you Walberg um you know he was high pick so he’s a high second round pick um had a really good under 18 tournament uh last year uh then has had a real good
First year in in the shl uh playing good minutes not easy to do it’s a man’s League um was playing solid minutes in top three lines most of the year uh had a really good World Juniors helped in Sweden win a silver medal um very very talented player big strong a little
Different type of prospect which is good you need diversity in that in different style of players um he was very good in practice yesterday it was exciting to get him here he’s going to go through the process today likely not play tonight but he’s going to go through
Like he’s playing uh he’s having a skate this morning uh working on with Vinnie on a few things to kind of bring him up the speed on our style of play and our team play he’ll go through the whole game day routine sit in on the meetings he’ll go through warm-ups tonight just
To be able to take it all in um see how our guys prepare see how we do things uh like I said likely not play tonight but there’s a good chance we could see him by the weekend and another just came out this morning Scott uh at what are the
Expectations for with raty it’s probably more just gaining experience um in the go tending position uh he had a really good year uh team was rebuilding because they were a a team that went to the Memorial Cup last year and so young team faced a ton of shots had really good
Numbers uh in a hard situation um so he’s had a really strong uh draft plus one uh season um extremely hard workers going to be a great experience come in for short probably a shorter period of time Walberg will will be with us the rest of the year um gain experience be
Around it see a few games work with Sheamus um and and take some things back to work on over the summer uh earlier you talk Hower will play tonight after two quality starts on the weekend I was confident in him before the two quality starts on the weekend um
I I’ve never once went into a game um with ticker or Hower and not felt good uh they give you everything they have they are great teammates they compete there’s a reason they’ve had the careers they’ve had um Houser looked very sharp he was extremely sharp in his first game
Back for Jacksonville he had a shut out and then he came up here and he had two really sharp starts where he just looked uh strong looked in control we played good team defense in front of him obviously um so he’ll start again tonight day knowing hisory talk about
That to come up and have success I know you want all your guys to have success but is it cool to see a guy that has done at every level and is here and um it’s cool because it’s him more than the story is good anyway but you
Know everybody’s different and and um Michael oer is one of the best teammates that you’ll ever coach um he’s the ultimate glue guy staff loves him the support staff loves him the players love him the young players love him the older players love him um he just makes the
Room better he makes the rink a better place to be guys feel good playing in front of himans regular season you start at any point so tight you start watch scoreboard watching at all when you pay attention after the games take Fe is in
The morning or I try not to um but but I’m a human and and and the guys are too what I’ve been preaching to the guys is for this has been for 20 games because really we’ve been playing playoff hockey with about 30 games left in the season
Because the standings were so tight um is that let’s focus on us let’s focus on what we can control which is today let’s have a great day it’s practice day let’s get better after the weit room day let’s attack the weight room um today’s a game
Day let let’s do everything we can in our mental and physical preparation to go to Syracuse and give ourselves the best chance to win that we can and I think if you take that mindset when the chips all fall you usually like where you stand um now do
You have awareness of the other things of course um but I I’m pretty good about not religiously looking at it and scrambling to the phone after a game to see um because those are things outside of my control and I think when you worry about things outside your control you stop
Controlling the things you do control I know you talk about for the last 30 games I know we talk about the dog days in the middle of the year you’re trying to keep the team focused now when spring winter things that like it’s now it really starts to feel like play hockey
Right you’re get single games knowing the stretch that’s coming is it just feel different this time of the year I talk about like anything things there are no pretty gos much more everything comes are you transitioning to that already um I think we already have yeah
I think we were already there um I think that seven and 11 that we had kind of kicked that off um for two reasons one as our division is so good that you had no choice but to start it there two it’s set up for it it was it was a it was
Like a best of seven and we want to treat it like that treat it like a playoff series kind of start edging pushing towards that mindset physically mentally how to compete how well defensively you need to be how good in structure you need to be um and and and
It just keeps building towards that so um this time of year is really fun um it’s not it’s not the playoffs yet and you got to earn that right but this time of year is really fun when when games are are really really important and the standings are close and our division’s
Amazing and uh you have to whatever happens in our division I’ll say this the teams that get in are going to have to earn their way in uh teams aren’t going to go away this division’s too good they’re too good of teams in it and
And whoever gets in is going to have to earn their way in after Sunday’s game was stand how proud of you were the way that you handled the first period it just seemed like wasn’t great only put two shots on that but the way came back out
In the second period of the way that your team kind of L but play enough defensively sound to keep you in the game offensively play second yeah I think that this week’s games uh all three of them uh were good examples of this team is becoming more resilient by the week
Um we’re very poor in the first period which has been unusual for us against Herford um and and then we clawed back at a great second period got a lead blew a lead and went back and won it again um and then the next two games we did it
More of defense and Sunday’s game the first period was frustrating um and they were committed to to not giving us much um and that’s a game that if you get frustrated and start to cheat and they get a one or two goal lead you’re probably losing it uh because you know
It’s our third game of the week it’s their third game of the week and you’re you don’t have as much in the tank to push a comeback um and there wasn’t a lot of space out there so it was going to be a hard game to come back in and uh
So I like the fact that we didn’t chase offense and we stayed with the process and and we chipped away at it and eventually returned that in the second period wonder your thoughts are young team confidence com from experience guys like those guys going through that last
Year run how do you feel like they are handling I know we’re not in the playoffs yet we talk about this is a fun time of year tough and pretty obvious SE some of those younger guys that are older from last year handling this stretch of gam they’ve been I think that
You know in in for example and Rosie right those you’re asking about um are are handling it Excellence um they they’ve got the the the bullseye on them this year uh last year they were they were what the media talked about but at the end of the day they were still
Support players um that were starting to become really really good support players in the second half here in the playoffs this year they’re are drivers and we go as they go and if they have they get they get the hardest matchups uh they’re playing against the other team’s top two lines they’re playing
Against the other team’s top defenseman and if they have off nights we usually lose and when they play well they line Brett Murray’s a big piece of that as well right now um when they play well they give us a really good chance to win and that’s a healthy pressure uh and and
It’s intentional it’s in I by organization of not oversigning veterans and not and not allowing our young prospects if they earn it to grow into those situations as relationship gr those trying to develop them but also mentally how would you try toess some of that frustration is scoring and things
Like that say like hey still in games he still need you even when you not scoring or not on SC yes um those are constant conversations weekly conversations sometimes daily with either myself or Vinnie with the two of them and sometimes sometimes it’s with video sometimes it’s just a quick conversation
Um in the wait room or on the ice sometimes it’s on the bench in the middle of a game um and what I’ve been challenging those two and kak as well um is we need them now to be leaders and that doesn’t mean they have to get up in
The room and give a speech um they’re not wearing a letter but they’re leaders on the ice all three of them are kak is is more defensive in in nature and he plays a hard-nosed checking role and a penalty kill role but those guys are playing big minutes
As young players and they need and what I mean by being leaders is they need to play like leaders leaders are there every night leaders their are bad games are still solid um Michael merch’s bad game is still a C+ B minus you know and his great games are great and that’s why
He’s our captain because he’s always there and so that’s been something I’ve been just keep reminding those guys sometimes even right before the game on the bench we need you to be leaders tonight um and when they’re thinking about being leaders they know it’s not just about scoring it’s it’s about
Driving our identity like that consistent effort I’ve never seen kind about just don’t ship like screw yeah check you know it’s leaders are like I said are always there that in the consistency and the dependability of competitiveness and of habits are always there some games are going to go your way offensively and
Some aren’t but leaders have Team mindset have consistency of compete consistency of habits in their game every night and those three in particular are really building towards that right now anything anything Don good luck tonight thank you
