Glen Gulutzan Quotations

We're glad it's over. We came out of here healthy and we're ready to go to the playoffs.

If we have home ice, that's great, but when you look at the history of the league, it doesn't mean anything. That's why it's not a concern for us. It's not going to determine what we do.

I didn't like playing against him. He was a competitive, hard-nosed player. He brings a lot of grit and scoring to the table and that's why we got him.

Guys are accountable. They know what our identity is; they're hard-working and defense-minded. We want to be hard to play against.

He's arguably going to be one of the most talented players in the league. He's like a wild card. He's had great playoff success and he can be a huge piece of the puzzle coming down the stretch. We need him to come in here and provide us with that extra offensive spark.

I think it's going to be a great series. I think both teams are looking forward to it a little bit. I think you'll see real good hockey.

We have to leave them with the impression, win or lose, that it's not easy to win here. We want to let Anchorage know that when they come here, they're going to have to work for it. That's the way the playoffs are going to be, and this is kind of like a mini-playoff series, and we just want to win that series.

We're trying to make sure the guys still push. When the weather gets nicer, the girls get a little better looking and sometimes the guys start laying by the pool ... we want to make sure our focus is still on hockey.

We're not playing our best hockey, that's for sure. This game will be good, hopefully, to get our game back in order and start playing well.

We were terrible tonight. We got outworked, and when they scored that first goal, mentally we got weak. We got down and I haven't really seen that from this team. It's a little adversity for us and that's good. They're a very good hockey team.

We've got a big one (tonight). We have to be prepared, because (Utah) has beaten us a few times. Utah could be a team we play in the first round of the playoffs, so we have to show we can hang with them. They're a good hockey club, a lot like Alaska.

We couldn't win a puck battle. I thought our effort was fine, but we made some glaring mistakes and lost battles.

Everyone wants to talk about that series two years ago. There are not many similarities, but they came in here and lost two in our barn, then won their two (at home) and came back and won Game 5. It's not out of the realm for us to beat that hockey club. But we need to win Game 3. We don't have to win the series in Game 3, we just have to try to win Game 3.

Sometimes you just match up well with a team. Look at Utah. They've kind of got our number.

Our thought process is to have him get back in game shape by the start of the playoffs. We wanted to bring in more of a veteran presence coming into the playoffs and a guy with the potential to score.

That one, they gave to us for free. This time, they came in here to play a three-game series for first place. They're here for business right now. They're not going to give us anything for free now.

They're well coached, they've got good character guys and they've got good talent. I see some similarities to us, but I don't know about well coached.

They've all bought into our system and they're seven hard-working guys committed to playing defense and trying to help us win. They're a huge part of this team. We're almost as good defensively as we are offensively.

They take losses pretty hard, and they want to rebound well. That's the sign of a good character team, that they don't lose back-to-back.

They really have some chemistry now. They work hard and they're confident.

It's a big deal, if you asked me six months ago. (Now), it's a formality. I think we all expected it, come Christmas time, that we should be a playoff team.

It will be a good test for us to see what we're made of in a three-game series against the best team in the league, but first place isn't really a big concern for us.

It's going to be one heck of a series against Idaho and we're going to have to be charged to go.

It's good for the guys to be a part of that, but we'd trade every one for a championship.

It's fun to come to the rink. It's a different atmosphere. The guys are more focused, and I know they're up for the challenge.

It's hard to maintain that playoff intensity for two more weeks. Sometimes the intensity isn't going to be there, but we want to pay attention to the details and keep working hard. If we do that, in most games we'll give ourselves a chance to win.

They came ready to play, but maybe their goalie wasn't quite ready, and it hurt them.

They've just been on fire. They're winning games for us. They're all skilled guys who can play in the American Hockey League and they bring a work ethic to the table.

They've got good character, a lot of skill and a lot of depth. They're a real solid hockey team, from top to bottom.

That's as much pressure as you can put on yourself.

I hope (the crowds) are big and loud and give our boys some energy, so we can try to win some hockey games. It'll be a heck of a series.

By far, he was the mascot that was talked about the most.

He's a guy who's got a lot of skill and is a great character guy for our locker room. He's a big part of our team. He's physical, he can skate and win battles, and that's what the playoffs are all about.

The guys are rolling. We played a real good team and I'm glad we rose up to the challenge. We needed to improve against the top teams in the league and tonight was a big step for us.

All we want to do now is make sure we're playing with passion the last two games and make sure we have our switch turned on come playoff time.