Southern Conference Finals
Game 6

After the game...a few minutes with Dan Wildfong

There are a lot of places I would have rather been after the game on Thursday night instead of outside the visitor's locker room at the Ector County Coliseum. Yeah, it was a somber place to say the least. Once Dan emerged, we went into his office to talk about the game. Here is our conversation.

Q: Obviously a tough loss to take; what are your thoughts on the game?

A: We're extremely disappointed in, not everyone's effort, but some guys' effort. When you have a chance to go to the finals and you don’t perform to the best of your ability, it’s very frustrating as a coach and as players who worked their tails off to try and get there. They’re not just going to give us a game. We didn’t put enough pressure on their goalie, we didn’t shoot enough and we tried to make too many cute plays. It's about doing the little things better than everyone else and we didn't do it. We tried to do too much and we waited until we got down a goal to get going. It was embarrassing.

Q: Both teams are now facing elimination. What will it take to advance?

A: You never want to go to a game seven. We experienced it last year and it was definitely heartbreaking. I hope these guys learned from last year so we can take that into this game. Its just, there has to be desire for that 2nd, 3rd and 4th effort and tonight, I didn't see it. I saw a first effort, which even still, had a pretty good game, but that's not going to do it against a good team. It's not going to do it against a good goaltender. It's not going to do it to get to the finals. The hockey gods don't let you into the finals by just letting you in, by going through the motions and first efforts. It's about who really wants it. Who wants to dig deep to get it done.

Q: Going into game seven at NYTEX...

A: It definitely gives us an advantage, you know we played pretty well there all year. But it’s game seven. There is no tomorrow. The way our backs are against the wall just like their backs are against the wall. It’s going to be a dogfight. It's going to be like I told you before, whoever wants it more, and that's what it's going to be. Whoever wants it more. It has nothing to do with bounces or luck, you make your luck. You make your bounces, you make things happen out there.

Q: How are you feeling right now, personally?

A: It's just very frustrating. I thought we were ready to go this morning. I thought we were prepared. We come in between periods, yelling at the guys to get team going. Still, I don't think I did a good enough job of kicking them in the a@! enough. It's not right for our fans and all the hard work our ownership has put in, for us not to be ready for game six. So, it's disappointing.

Photo Credit: Robert Keith