Ben Smith
Ben Smith
everyday faces front good job keeping looking people present stand
When I stand up in that (locker room) in front of 24 athletes, there aren't a lot of reassured faces looking up. They did a good job of keeping that out of their everyday psyche, but it's got to be present in people's minds. Even some of the people that you think were locks, they didn't think of it that way.
canadian directly goals good mistakes team tough turn
This Canadian team is too good for us to make mistakes that turn directly into goals. That was a tough way to start.
aspects eyes good opens
I think it's a good thing for them to keep up. It opens your eyes to different aspects of biology.
buds good hopeful january tight warmer
Hopeful is how I'd put it. January was warmer than I would have liked. But the buds are still tight and closed, so that's a good sign.
breathing demanding early gave olympic
We had those early Olympic jitters, and their goaltender got into a zone, which made it a demanding afternoon. (Dunn's goal) gave us some breathing room.
game miles plenty sleep
There's plenty of miles to go before we sleep. It's just another game in the books.
bit exercise figured last
We figured we'd get in one last bit of exercise before being cooped up for days.
bit fit personnel practice trying week
We put in some things in practice this week that fit our personnel a little bit more than some things that I've been trying to force-feed to them recently.
ball impressed josh move powerful shake took tried
I'm impressed with our team's effort. Josh is a powerful scorer. We tried to move the ball around and shake them up and Josh took advantage.
came game moving played team time together
We came to play today. ... I think we came together as a team and played well. We just want to take it one game at a time and keep moving on.
arduous athletes best bringing chance final fire forward four gives group looking months objective tested together
We have had an arduous four months where we've been tested under fire and we're looking forward to bringing this group of 20 athletes together to make the final push. As Americans we all know what the objective is and this group of athletes gives us the best chance of accomplishing that goal.
behind great left players teams
Great players are left behind when teams are selected. This team is no different than any other team.
chance couple days glad
I am glad we had a couple of days after the semifinals. We had a chance to regroup.
canada hit nicely quite run shaping strong team
Obviously, Canada is the No. 1 team on our hit list. But our team is shaping up quite nicely for a strong run at the (gold) medal.