AJ Cebulskie (Xtreme)
1. Tough loss tonight. What do you think went wrong in the 3rd period? I think we just didn’t play hard enough in the third and let more shots go than we should’ve. 2. This is your second season on the team. What expectations do you have for this team? I am hoping we do really good cause this team has a lot of talent and potential. 3. What positives can you take from the loss? For the team to play more aggressive and play smarter but I think we did good. 4. The knights are expected to contend again this year. What was your impression of them tonight? They are a really tough team. Really fast as well they are hard to keep up with. 5. What do you hope to improve on individually from last season? Play more aggressive and get more shots and opportunities
Brian May (Spare Parts)
1. 11 to 4 win tonight. What can you say about the overall team effort? I thought everyone played well, both ends of the rink. Luzier was solid for us in net. Very pleased. 2. Did you expect the team to put up 11 goals? No. Very pleased 3. Tyler Reynolds had a big night offensively. What was your impression of him? He is fast, quick down the court, had a lot of sneaky quick shots on goalie. Good effort 4. Were you happy with how Tyler played? Luzier was solid in net, score could have been a lot closer without him 5. What does a win like this do for team confidence? Big boost, we are a young team, learning to play together. A long way to go
John Matchock (Colonials)
1. Nice win over the storm tonight. What can you say about the overall team effort? i thought we played pretty well. We kept the ball in the offensive zone a lot but also played pretty good defense for Herman. Good way to open up the season. 2. No one knew what to expect of the storm. What did you observe from them? New teams always take a few games to get used to one another. I think they will be fine once they get everything figured out. 3. What do you think Steve and Derik can bring to this team? I think both will fit in. They both are experienced and play the game smartly. Look forward to it. 4. You subbed in net for the knights. Were you happy with how you played? Heck no. I felt bad cause we would score a goal and like the Penguins, I would give one up right away. Thankfully, the boys picked me up and scored one more than I left in. 5. Tough series for the Pens. Any positives to take out of the season? I like the third jerseys.
Kurt Schindler (Knights)
1. Nice comeback win tonight. What was going thru your mind when they were ahead in the 3rd period? We were just trying to make sure we stayed focused and didn’t let their lead get to our head. We knew what we had to and kept working hard and got the result we wanted. 2. You didnt play at all in the fall or winter league. How did you feel tonight? I felt surprisingly good actually. I hadn’t played hockey since the Randy but I’ve tried to stay active and exercise so it wasn’t too bad. 3. You lost Jadon but picked up Jerred and Luke. What do a couple guys like that bring to the table? Losing someone is always tough, there’s a hole to be filled and trying to find the right guys to bring in can be difficult sometimes. However, with that said we feel like Jerred and Luke’s skill sets are very beneficial to our team and matched what we were looking for. Jerred does a great job controlling the point, always has his head up and plays both ends of the floor well. Luke is always working hard and gets to the dirty areas and wins those 50/50 battles when it matters. He’s a great veteran presence to have and does a good job communicating on and off the floor. 4. How do you think Match did filling in for Todd? Match did everything we could have asked from him. We didn’t exactly make it easy on him most of the night with our defensive play. But, he was steady in goal and made the saves we needed him to. He also bailed us out a few times with some really good saves. Overall he played a solid game. 5. What do you think was the difference in tonights win? I think the difference was our determination. We were resilient and kept working hard the whole game. I can’t say enough about our team’s work ethic and resiliency. It was a back and forth game and easily could have went either way. Fortunately for us our hard work paid off and we came out with the win.
Gus Gates (Xtreme)
1. Tough 4 to 2 loss tonight. What can you say about the overall team effort? it was definitely a tough loss. I thought the overall team effort was pretty good for the first game of the season. As a team we have a lot of skill, but got caught with too many guys attempting to play on the perimeter. With a brand new team, it’ll take a couple of games for us all to get some chemistry. 2. Only 2 goals. How discouraging was it for the team to only put up 2 goals? it was definitely discouraging with our team being loaded with offense. I think our biggest issues were too many perimeter shots and no net front traffic. Big props to Yeti as they played a terrific game on defense and limited our chances. 3. What positives can you take out of a game like this? it was only the first game of the season and we played what felt like a Championship game 7, so only losing 4-2 when we don’t have full chemistry is a positive. Once we get that chemistry we will be able to really get going on offense. 4. Did you think there was a play that turned the momentum in their favor? I think bounces were the momentum changers - I felt like we had no “puck luck” all night - I thought almost every bounce seemed to go against us. We spent a good amount of time possessing the puck but never got a bounce in our favor. 5. What can you say about the effort both Josh and Adam had in net tonight? josh and Adam were both outstanding in net. Any sub-par game from either and it would have been a blow out. Josh kept us in it the entire game. Adam made some huge saves, 3 of them on myself alone that were big, big saves (I’m still kicking myself for not scoring). I thought both goalies were fantastic tonight - both had Championship level turned on.
Zach Smith (Storm)
1. You got to play 2 games tonight. How are you feeling following 2 games of action? Very sore. Haven't played roller hockey since the last time I was here and you could tell. 2. What can you say about the overall team effort? Our goalie made some incredible saves the first game and we weren't doing him any favors with defense in front of him. I thought we had a few good shifts but it was only a few times that we sustained pressure in the other teams end. 3. This team has some new faces. What signs of encouragement did you see from some of them? I mean im sure if some of the guys work hard and put some effort into getting better and improve throughout the season, there could be some bright spots this season. The guys just need to work on playing a defense first mentality in order to be competitive because we wont outscore any team. 4. Spare parts is a new team. What was your impression of them? I think they played fine, but I think we made them look good also. Their goalie is pretty good so i wouldnt be surprised if they win a few more because he stole a couple goals from a team. 5. Colonials got the best of you in the first game. What kind of season do you see coming for them? They are going to be a very competitive team. They didn't have Day tonight so they would have probably shut us out with him there. I did get a chance to see some of the other teams tonight and I think the colonials will put up a fight with the best. I think they could be in the running for the finals if everything comes together for them, but man is the competition fierce in todays xhl. Some really skilled teams are going to be fighting them every inch of the way.
Brandon Reiter (Yeti)
1. 4 to 2 win tonight. What can you say about the overall team effort? The team effort was great. Everyone contributed and that is key. We have a few things to clean up but I think it went well for our first game together. 2. You had 2 big goals tonight. Were you surprised the game was so low scoring? Not at all. Both teams have good goaltenders and a strong defense. 3. It's only one game, but what does a win like this do for team confidence? It certainly gives us a boost of confidence. They are the defending champs and the favorites so there is no better way to start the season. It's only one win though, so we need to put this one behind us and move on, stay hungry. 4. How was this team able to hold such an offensive gifted team to 2 goals? A strong team defense and a great goaltender. Focused on limiting high quality chance and besides 2 breakdowns we succeeded. 5. Did you think there was a play that turned the game in your favor? Not really, maybe getting the first goal. I pretty much expected a close game.