Friday, February 4, 2011

Leino earning ice time

Ville Leino is happy with the way his line has kept playing.

"We’ve played well most of the time and you don’t want to fix something that isn’t broken. The coach seems to trust us a lot and that’s a good thing. Our line has been kept together and things have gone well overall."

Leino laughs when he tells that even their team mates haven’t been able to name their line.

"I haven’t heard any suggestions. It’s been a pretty tough job to find a name for us. I haven’t even heard anyone [on the team] making fun of us, and usually they don’t go that easy on you."

"Everyone on the team has been happy with the way our line has worked."

Leino says the competition for roster spots in the lineup is enjoyable, but tough.

"It does motivate you, but it isn’t always that easy either. I’d gladly play more."

"Of course winning is nice, but you have to earn your ice time. It’s not easy to get into the lineup."

At the same time, Leino says it’s not easy to be the coach on a stacked team like the Flyers. He thinks Peter Laviolette has done a good job at it.

"It’s not easy for the coach to play his players when you have lots of good players. Laviolette has been fair with the way he hands out ice time. Nothing comes free and I’m sure it’s the only way to play a good team. It’s hard to keep everybody happy when there are many good players, but I think he’s done a good job at it."

After losing in the Stanley Cup finals twice in a row, it’s no surprise if winning the Cup is the main goal for Leino this season.

"It is the ultimate goal. I know how hard it is to win it. It’s the main goal for this season."

To reach that goal, the Flyers must have success in the playoffs and for that to happen, the team must keep working hard right now. There is no room to loosen up.

"When you’re playing this time of the season and it looks like you’re clearly in the playoffs, you have to remember to keep working hard. If you let things go a bit and lose focus, you can get stuck with that mindset in the playoffs."

"Everything is possible, but I don’t see huge problems for us as long as we keep working at 100%."


Source: Yle