The one thing you have to do is always play the game hard and people will love you. And every day, whether it was practice or on the field, he set the tone for the organization. When every young kid came up, they could see him playing hard and I think it was really an inspiration for that organization. He got them two championships. He was a great leader.

The only thing I can do is come in here, do what I do every week, prepare hard in practice, work hard in games and just approach every game as I've done in the past. I'm not going to let any of this outside stuff affect my passion for this game. I love this game, I play for the fun of it. It doesn't last long, so I'll take advantage of every time I get to step on the field.

The only thing I can guarantee to our fans is that we are going to give an effort and try to play aggressive hockey for 60 minutes. I know our team is in better shape than it has been in the past because our testing shows that. One of my primary concerns after the season was that we have to be in better shape. We want to practice and do everything at a higher tempo. We're trying to change the whole culture here as what it takes to be successful.

The players, they're responsible for the way we're playing right now. It's their attitude, their effort in practice that allows us to play like this at this point in the season. You look around and see some teams that have gone through some tough things that aren't necessarily playing as well right now.

The playoffs are very challenging and we have a long road ahead of us. We are not guaranteed that we will win anything so the girls know we have to practice and work hard if we want to advance in the playoffs.