Nick Vitucci
Nick Vitucci
Nick Vitucciis a former professional ice hockey goaltender. He was the head coach of the ECHL's Toledo Walleye from 2009-2014. In 2008, Vitucci was inducted into the ECHL Hall of Fame...
effort goal handful hard instead leave mindset nice rink slide squeeze stick team victory
Sometimes when you're pressing, you squeeze the stick too hard and instead of a goal you have a handful of sawdust. A big team effort and victory erases all of that. It's nice to get off this little slide we were on. Our mindset will be so much different. They know how hard things have been and it's nice to see them leave the rink with a well-deserved smile.
emotions expect game harder hurt overcome periods reality setbacks start strong team trek upbeat win
We've made this trek a little harder on us. But you can't expect to win every game and it may not hurt to get back to reality a little bit. We've overcome setbacks before and I'm upbeat about how our team will rebound. We have to have a strong game from start to finish. We can't take periods off and we'll have to keep our emotions in check.
guys hard points step tonight tough
When times are tough and points are hard to come by, we need individuals to step up to be heroes. Tonight we had a lot of guys who were heroes.
advantage certainly dictate division games hard next nice ourselves three whether win worked
We've certainly worked hard to put ourselves in that position. The next three games will dictate whether we have home-ice advantage or win a division title. It's nice to be in that position.
couple games good happy hard kept points tough
It was real big and hard earned. That was a tough couple of games that we had to play here. I am happy with my team. We kept working hard. It was a good two points for us tonight.
dangerous hard playing playoffs teams though
They play hard even though they aren't in the playoffs because they're playing for pride. Those are dangerous teams to play.
against chance gave good handful hard saves shots stopped three
He was solid. When you only have three shots against you in one period, it can be hard on you mentally. I thought he gave us a chance to win. He stopped everything he should have stopped and he made a handful of good saves to keep us in the game.
became best interests players point safety tried
We tried to let things go as long as we could, but it got to the point where the safety of the players became a concern. You've got to think of the players' best interests and not put them in harm's way.
along confidence front playing solid
We just need to keep playing the way we've been playing. We are solid up front and along the back and in goal. We just have to keep our confidence going and not make mistakes.
desperate happy maybe players visibly
We weren't happy going down 4-2, the players were visibly upset. Maybe we need to play desperate more often because they really responded.
against game great match teams
Another great game. Two great teams that match up well against each other, and we were just on the other end of it tonight.
best good period third
The third period has always been our best period. But I don't think it's ever been this good to us.
knows team
I've never been around a team that everyone knows they're going to come back every time. They have that never-say-die attitude.
consistency good hockey minutes played problem tonight
Consistency has been a problem for us, especially on the road. But we played 50 minutes of good hockey tonight and that's not always enough, but it was tonight.