We didn't even talk about the game afterwards. I just told them to enjoy it. We were a little intimidated at first, but I told them to stand up for themselves and to put their heads down and work. And they did.

He told me and the refs that my players were playing dirty. But I learned that afterwards he was just trying to get into our heads.

The game is to be sold, not to be told.

That's a dream start, you know. I think we worked out their game plan pretty quickly and exploited it. Everything came off.

I'm actually glad that it happened. As one player said after the game, it was refreshing to lose. It showed us that we're vulnerable and that we can be beaten when we don't play well. I think if we would have gone undefeated in league, we would have been in for a rude shock in the playoffs. This brings us back to earth and shows us we still have a lot to work on.

I told the kids that this is a four-lap race. If we would lose this game, I don't know if we'd have the energy and the gas to keep going. We have four games now to get where we're going.