DOUG FALCONER:
Good morning, it's time once again for the Melville Millionaires Coaches Show on GX94. This morning I'm joined by the head coach and GM of the Millionaires, Doug Johnson. Coach, you dropped Friday night's game 3-1 in Humboldt, but bounced back with a 2-1 win at home Saturday night. What did you like about the response from your team?
DOUG JOHNSON:
We're playing a very good team, and our lineup was severely depleted, so just showing up and competing was important. I thought we did a phenomenal job of eliminating as much as we could from them, and some guys played huge minutes and really stepped up. I liked pretty much everything about it.
I wish our power play was a little better, but we're working on it.
DOUG FALCONER:
You've now won two straight games on home ice. How important is it for your team to start building some consistency and making home ice a tough place to play?
DOUG JOHNSON:
It's huge. This is our home rink, and obviously we play half our games here. We should know this rink better than anybody.
But we also want to make sure we're rewarding our outstanding fans. They do a phenomenal job supporting us and giving us energy with their excitement. We need to reward them, and it's nice to see them rewarded over the last couple of games.
DOUG FALCONER:
Noah Kraus was named the SJHL MVP of the Week. What has stood out about his play lately, and what's allowed him to take his game to another level?
DOUG JOHNSON:
He's been outstanding since he's been here. Right from day one, you could tell he was going to be really good. He plays with a poise and confidence that's uncommon in a lot of goalies.
He has a little bit of swagger, but not arrogance, which is really nice. He takes pride in his craft and he competes.
He's probably not the fanciest or prettiest goalie in the world, but he competes his tail off and never gives up on anything. That's what you want out of your goalies.
DOUG FALCONER:
This weekend, you face the Yorkton Terriers in a home-and-home. What are going to be the keys to carrying this momentum into these two important games against a very familiar rival?
DOUG JOHNSON:
Yeah, we're looking forward to it. Anytime you have that home-and-home with Yorkton, it's great for both organizations. Financially, it's great for the fans because they get to really show their team spirit.
They're a good team, and we just have to make sure we play our game and slow them down. They want to play up and down the ice, get up and down the ice quickly and play offense.
We want to slow them down defensively, then make sure we put a lot of pressure on their back end and their goaltending and put as many pucks as we can to the net.
