Larry Vieira Quotations

McGwire has really elevated his play. He has taken his game to a higher level and we really need that if we are going to continue winning.

I feel like I keep reading a new book, but the ending is the same every time. We play great in the first period and then at the first sign of adversity, we crumble. Adversity is the true test of character and we haven't shown it.

I give Sheehan a lot of credit. They skated hard, were disciplined and they out-skated us...especially in the third period. We had a good chance to win two in a row and keep our hopes alive for an SCC Division II championship and we didn't come ready to play. They deserved to win...that is the bottom line.

I thought we played well. We started out well and played with a sense of urgency. We played like we are supposed to play and we looked like we were having fun. It was nice to get a win and play well.

Our schedule is difficult. But if we can't beat good teams, we don't deserve to be in the state tournament. We have our work cut out for us over the next 10 games.

We were very flat in the beginning, but we made a miraculous comeback. We could have won that game. We are slowly moving in the right direction, the only piece of the puzzle that is missing is the discipline...we still take too many penalties.

We really need to play defense and be disciplined and we aren't doing either of those things right now.

We got caught too deep in the zone and they have the speed to take advantage of those mistakes. We knew they were very fast and we tried to neutralize that the entire game.

We came back from 5-2 and the momentum went our way but we came up just a little short. I thought we did a great job.

We put ourselves in a very difficult position. Now we have to dig ourselves out. On Saturday (against Cheshire) we played a very good game and felt very good about ourselves...hopefully that will continue into this week.

Totally, totally unacceptable. You can't blame anyone...the players need to take responsibility for their actions. There is no explanation for that kind of play.

East Haven is known to have a great power play. As a coach, it's probably the most embarrassing game I've been associated with in 23 years. We had 12 penalties and two were hitting from behind. We were in the box the entire night on ridiculous penalties.

Sometimes you run into a hot goalie in hockey. That is just the way this game works.

This is really Joe's second year of playing goalie. He's an excellent athlete and is really learning how to do it. Tonight they exposed his weaknesses. But they exposed us because we had someone in the penalty box all night.

They were exactly what Branford hockey is all about. They played disciplined, worked hard, and fore-checked. We need more of that.

It was the best game we've played all year. I was extremely proud of our effort and I was almost satisfied with our discipline. We played like what a Branford High School team should play like. We showed a lot of heart and desire.

That is the exact kind of hockey that I expect. We played extremely well in the game against Milford.

It was a heart-breaking loss. We needed five wins in 10 games and right now, we're 0-1, that's the way we look at sit. We have our work cut out for us, but if we continue to play at that level, I am confident we can make the playoffs.

The two games this week are very winnable. Hopefully we will have a little momentum from last week that will carry us.

I feel bad for these kids right now. We have come up short in one or two goal games seven times this year. That has been the story of our season. The hockey gods definitely haven't helped us out this year...no bounces or call in our favor late in games.

The last two games (Cheshire and Milford) are the way I expect Branford hockey to play every game. I wouldn't have minded a game like this (Amity) if we hadn't dug ourselves in such a big hole earlier in the year.