The Insider Interview – Playoff EditionTyler Skworchinski
The Brahmas forward talks about the semi-final series against the Killer Bees and the upcoming conference final series against Odessa
I last spoke with Tyler prior to the conference semi-final series against the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. As you know, he scored seven points (6 G, 1 A) including all four game-winning goals in that series. We talked a couple of days ago about the series against the killer bees and the upcoming series against Odessa. Here is our conversation.
Q: I wanted to ask you about this - I see both yourself and Brandon Benedict as defensive forwards because in your game, you're really playing both positions. Do you agree?
A: I kind of pride myself on a two-way game. I think Benny is the same way. He’s pretty responsible defensively. I can credit that to my college years. In four years of college, I wanted initially to play a regular shift and to get some responsibilities from my coach, I needed to play on both ends of the rink and contribute on both ends. That’s how I like to play and it just carried over from then.
Q: Were you surprised that the series with Rio Grande Valley ended in another sweep?
A: Going into a series you don’t really look to see if you can sweep a team; you just go into it one game at a time. We thought that if we played well and played consistent for a full 60 minutes in every game, we’d give ourselves a good chance to win every game. That’s kind of the way we looked at it. In game two we didn’t look at the fact that we won game one. It was a new game and a new chance to win one game.
Q: You had the game-winning goal in each game in the semi-finals. Do you think that was a fluke?
A: Oh, I think so. To get four in a row is pretty rare. I know for game three I was just kind of, I just managed to get that third one out of the six and I guess that turned out to be the game-winning goal, so sometimes that’s how it happens. Definitely, after a goal is scored against us, and it comes at a time when it's a tight game, I try to work a little bit harder, and keep up the momentum. You know after you get scored on, or if you score a goal, it’s pretty important for the next few shifts coming out to keep the momentum and try to get it back on your side. Maybe that was something I did, I’m not sure but I think getting four in a row was a fluke and I don’t know if you’ll see that again.
Q: Fonger had some good things to say about you, but also about your line in general in the four games. How do you feel about the guys on your line?
A: Oh, I can’t say enough about those guys. I played with them for a little while now and we started to play a little more together as the season went along and it really came together in the playoffs. We’re not a very flashy line. I think Pete Rouleau is probably the most skilled guy on our line and Matt Quinn, he’s got pretty good speed...you know I think it just comes down to working hard and making the most of your chances. We pride ourselves on being defensively responsible and putting other teams’ lines on guard…so we’ve got to be sure and take care of our end and luckily for us, this last year, things went in on the offensive end as well so, being able to chip in on both sides for our line has been pretty rewarding.
Q: How do you feel about facing this Odessa Jackalopes team in the conference finals?
A: We may have ended up with a 4-1-1 record, but I think if you look at all of those games, they were either right down to the end of the game, a one goal game. I know two of them went to a shootout for sure. I think a couple of times, we even had a three goal lead and they managed to come back. We know that they have the ability to come back from a deficit like they did against Laredo a couple of times and going into overtime and winning. We know that we can’t just play two periods or give up a three nothing lead if that were to happen, because they have the ability to put a couple of quick ones in on you or to come back and tie a game or win one. We know we’re in for a tough test. They played us hard all year. So we need to make sure that we stay consistent for 60 minutes and not take anything for granted like the fact that we won the regular season against them. We have to just go out and earn everything we get every night.
Q: This is the Brahmas second season in a row winning 40 games or more, sweeping your opponent in the conference semi-finals and advancing to the conference finals. What do you take from the experience of last season against Colorado with you into this series against Odessa?
A: Well, I think last year carried over into this season. I think now you’ll probably see that this is the time of year where guys will look back and see where things went right and went wrong in order to try to improve upon our performance of last year. I think the biggest thing is that we can’t give away games like we did in the conference finals last year. At this point in the season, you just can’t afford to give away even one game and hope to come back from that. I think you’ll see us be a little more consistent for the full series and work hard to get every win in order to avoid giving away a game or two and not being able to come back.
Q: A major difference this year versus last year is not starting the first two games at the Budweiser Center, you’re opening the first two games at home. Do you think that’s a big advantage?
A: It should be a big advantage for us. You know, if we can’t get up for playing the conference finals at home where our crowd has been unbelievable, not just this year but even last year. It’s very easy to play in front of those guys and be successful because they’re always cheering you on if things are going well or even if they’re not going well. They’re loud and they make it difficult for the other teams. I think having the home ice should play in our favor but in order for us to take advantage of that, we also have to play our game and we know that they’re not just going to come in and hand us a couple of wins because we’re at home and it’s a tough building to play in.
Q: Were you surprised that the series with Rio Grande Valley ended in another sweep?
A: Going into a series you don’t really look to see if you can sweep a team; you just go into it one game at a time. We thought that if we played well and played consistent for a full 60 minutes in every game, we’d give ourselves a good chance to win every game. That’s kind of the way we looked at it. In game two we didn’t look at the fact that we won game one. It was a new game and a new chance to win one game.
Q: You had the game-winning goal in each game in the semi-finals. Do you think that was a fluke?
A: Oh, I think so. To get four in a row is pretty rare. I know for game three I was just kind of, I just managed to get that third one out of the six and I guess that turned out to be the game-winning goal, so sometimes that’s how it happens. Definitely, after a goal is scored against us, and it comes at a time when it's a tight game, I try to work a little bit harder, and keep up the momentum. You know after you get scored on, or if you score a goal, it’s pretty important for the next few shifts coming out to keep the momentum and try to get it back on your side. Maybe that was something I did, I’m not sure but I think getting four in a row was a fluke and I don’t know if you’ll see that again.
Q: Fonger had some good things to say about you, but also about your line in general in the four games. How do you feel about the guys on your line?
A: Oh, I can’t say enough about those guys. I played with them for a little while now and we started to play a little more together as the season went along and it really came together in the playoffs. We’re not a very flashy line. I think Pete Rouleau is probably the most skilled guy on our line and Matt Quinn, he’s got pretty good speed...you know I think it just comes down to working hard and making the most of your chances. We pride ourselves on being defensively responsible and putting other teams’ lines on guard…so we’ve got to be sure and take care of our end and luckily for us, this last year, things went in on the offensive end as well so, being able to chip in on both sides for our line has been pretty rewarding.
Q: How do you feel about facing this Odessa Jackalopes team in the conference finals?
A: We may have ended up with a 4-1-1 record, but I think if you look at all of those games, they were either right down to the end of the game, a one goal game. I know two of them went to a shootout for sure. I think a couple of times, we even had a three goal lead and they managed to come back. We know that they have the ability to come back from a deficit like they did against Laredo a couple of times and going into overtime and winning. We know that we can’t just play two periods or give up a three nothing lead if that were to happen, because they have the ability to put a couple of quick ones in on you or to come back and tie a game or win one. We know we’re in for a tough test. They played us hard all year. So we need to make sure that we stay consistent for 60 minutes and not take anything for granted like the fact that we won the regular season against them. We have to just go out and earn everything we get every night.
Q: This is the Brahmas second season in a row winning 40 games or more, sweeping your opponent in the conference semi-finals and advancing to the conference finals. What do you take from the experience of last season against Colorado with you into this series against Odessa?
A: Well, I think last year carried over into this season. I think now you’ll probably see that this is the time of year where guys will look back and see where things went right and went wrong in order to try to improve upon our performance of last year. I think the biggest thing is that we can’t give away games like we did in the conference finals last year. At this point in the season, you just can’t afford to give away even one game and hope to come back from that. I think you’ll see us be a little more consistent for the full series and work hard to get every win in order to avoid giving away a game or two and not being able to come back.
Q: A major difference this year versus last year is not starting the first two games at the Budweiser Center, you’re opening the first two games at home. Do you think that’s a big advantage?
A: It should be a big advantage for us. You know, if we can’t get up for playing the conference finals at home where our crowd has been unbelievable, not just this year but even last year. It’s very easy to play in front of those guys and be successful because they’re always cheering you on if things are going well or even if they’re not going well. They’re loud and they make it difficult for the other teams. I think having the home ice should play in our favor but in order for us to take advantage of that, we also have to play our game and we know that they’re not just going to come in and hand us a couple of wins because we’re at home and it’s a tough building to play in.
Photo Credit: Robert Keith
No comments:
Post a Comment