The Insider Interview - Playoff EditionDan Wildfong
Playoff bound for the second season in a row, the Brahmas head coach talks about heading into the post-season
He's done it again. But this time he's done it better. Dan Wildfong's Texas Brahmas are heading back to the playoffs; this time as winners of the Southeast Division and the Southern Conference. With improvement all around, how do you improve upon last year's playoff run, where they came within a game of making the finals? Many have said that this team has a good chance to make it this time and now it's time to prove it. The Brahmas enter the playoffs with the number one seed in the Southern Conference and a first round bye. They've won their division and have a winning record against every division in the league. They have a winning record against every team they may face in the playoffs (except Rio Grande Valley who they are tied with 2-2-0). They have the league's best home record at 26-5-1 and also have something no other playoff team has: Dan Wildfong. I spoke with Dan after Thursday night's 5-0 shutout of the Laredo Bucks. Here is our conversation.
Q: With a playoff berth already established, how important are the final few games of the season?
A: Well, we talked about going into this weekend...we have to learn to play playoff hockey right now. It's not like a switch you can turn on and off. We took this weekend to play it like playoffs. We felt like we played a great game last night (@ Laredo 03/18) and two goals went in off our sticks. Not to make any excuses but that's gonna happen sometimes. I'd rather it happen now, than in the playoffs. I thought overall, we got the puck deep, we finished checks, we came back hard. We were playing playoff hockey and if we want to make adjustments, we can make them now, and not later on when you're down one or down two.
Q: The last couple of weeks, you've had players dealing with injuries and dealing with the flu bug that's been going around. It also looked like there had been a lack of team cohesiveness at times. Do you think as a team, you are past that and have the last couple of games shown you that the players have it all together and are ready to go into the playoffs?
A: Yeah. I'm excited about this team going into the playoffs. I feel like we can crank it up a couple notches when we're down a goal or when we really need to bear down, I see a lot of guys really bear down. You know, I've been around a lot of teams and I haven't seen that ability, where guys can do that, and it's exciting with this team. We have a lot of talent and if we work hard with this talent, we will go a long way. If we don't work hard with this talent, then we'll be in a lot of trouble. It's pretty black and white to me.
Q: Chris Brooks has done a very good job with Rio Grande Valley, going from the worst team in the league last season to making the playoffs this year. How do you feel about playing against them?
A: I think Chris Brooks has done an excellent job. We're going to face Corpus or them, so it's a good test to see what kind of systems they have; what kind of systems work against them. It's kind of like a prep game for us. But we have to, like I said, we can't let off the gas pedal. We've got a lot of guys that were rested and now they're healthy and they need to play high intensity playoff hockey. I like the way we played tonight and I liked the way we finished. I don't think we had too many breakdowns and when we did, Cash made big saves and Jaegs has been making big saves all year, so it's nice to see two goalies pushing each other again.
Q: Having that one-two punch with two effective goalies is something a lot of teams don't have and going into the playoffs, that may be important...
A: Oh definitely. If you have a goalie go down or you have a goalie that's not playing well...you know, last year we switched goalies in-series and that changed the whole series. It can get into guys heads too, when they just can't beat a goalie and they try and do too many moves and we get turnovers and go the other way and score. It's important that these guys work hard in practice and it carries over to games. I think Cash is starting to learn that.
Q: The league has been putting out all their awards and the Best of the Best and all this stuff and the Coach of the Year just went to Kevin Kaminsky. Its seems like the Brahmas, although you and they have done some amazing things in the past couple of years, are being bypassed for a lot of these honors. Does that kind of thing bother you or does it not matter? Do you think that the ultimate thing to do is just go out there and win the cup?
A: Yeah, you know, I always tell young players and I'm a young coach, it's the same advice that I give to a young player. Respect is earned and I think we're taking the steps and making the building blocks to getting respect. We've got to just continue to do our things and worry about us and then once you start winning championships, and start winning on a consistent basis, year after year after year, they have to recognize you.
We're not really worried about individual awards. We're more about team here and we talk about that all the time. You find other guys on other teams who are over a point a game and they might come here and they might be a little less than a point a game just because we're a defensive-style team. It's like that with awards. It's nice to get the pat on the back the odd time, when you're deserving. At the same time, you can't worry about it. You just have to keep going and keep pushing to make this franchise the best it can be.
Q: You spoke about your excitement in taking this team to the playoffs. How are the guys feeling; what's their attitude? You're looking at it from an ex-players point of view; how do you think they are looking forward to this?
A: I think the boys are excited. They're ready for playoffs to start. I can see it in their eyes. The big thing about what we talked about tonight is we've got to go into this with a little bit of a swagger. Like we deserve to win every game; but you can't be over-confident. There's a fine line there. There's a whole big difference between being cocky and swagger. Swagger is I know what we can do and we're gonna do it. Over-cockiness is chirping and not being focused about it. I think the guys are excited and ready.
Q: Most of these guys went through it last season and made it to within a game of the finals; do you think that experience is going to be a great factor in how they look at the playoffs and how they treat each game and each situation that they're dealing with?
A: Yeah, I believe that you know, we look at last year, we had a couple of bad games right off the bat against Colorado. When you get down to Colorado, It's tough to come back. And then we played some excellent games. I think what they've taken from last year to this year is that any game, every game is important. You can't take any for granted.
Indeed, you can't take any game for granted. The Brahmas went in to their last game against the Rio Grande Valley Killer bees off the high of a strong performance against the Laredo Bucks and still lost. But like Dan said, it's best to have that happen now and not in the playoffs.
You can look at it this way, the Brahmas may not have gotten the win, but they got a fresh, first-hand look at the team that they will likely face next in the playoffs. A team that will have to fight past the Corpus Christi IceRays to get there and a team that will have to come to the NYTEX Sports Centre with little rest to face the number one seed in the Southern Conference on their home ice.
The Brahmas have all week to practice; those in injured reserve will come off, well-rested and ready to play. Coaches Wildfong and Vogel as well as the players, have two to three games to watch to prepare for their next opponent and you can bet, they'll be taking lots of notes.
It's playoff time in North Texas - The Brahmas will be ready. Are you ready?
Photo Credit: Robert Keith
He's back!
