Player Spotlight

Player Spotlight highlights the finer details and elements while supplying insight to the fans on what a player's thought process may be pertaining to a certain play, game or situation. It brings the intensity, passion, and inner most thoughts of the individual player that otherwise may not be felt or heard.



03/23/02

Afew words with Calgary Roughneck's Jesse Phillips following a 17-9 loss to the Vancouver Ravens on March 23 at Calgary's Pengrowth Saddledome, the last game of the season for both teams. The Ravens won the first game of the home-and-home series 17-10 on March 16 at GM Place. Jesse talked about the loss with PLPA correspondent Ty Pilson.




Question Tonight's loss must have been even worse for you, Jesse, after playing with these guys earlier in the season. You must have really wanted to win at least one of these two?
Answer Yeah, it sucked. (Jesse smiled and laughed)


Question What went wrong out there for you guys tonight?
Answer Just the same thing as last game. We didn't play 60 minutes. We'd play five minutes and then disappear for 10. We have a problem with keeping our intensity level high. How we can get up for Toronto (14-13 OT loss to the Rock Feb. 23) and not get up for Vancouver . I mean, this our rival out here. It's frustrating - but what do you do.


Question You've played on both these teams and over the last two games, Calgary has played very poorly. Is Vancouver that much better of a team?
Answer I don't know if they're that much better. They just play 60 minutes. They have a lot of veterans there and they play like a veteran team. They don't make many mistakes like we do, because we're a young team. They just go about their business and know what they're doing out there on the floor.


Question You, personally, have had a great season and really come a long ways since the start of the year. How happy are you that you got the chance you did here and made good on it?
Answer I'm happy that I got this chance here, for sure. Personally, it was a lot better for me than Vancouver, stats wise. I got more of an opportunity to play the way that I play. In Vancouver, they play a more structured system and they have a lot of guys that run out of the D end but don't get the chance because of the way they play. But hey, they're successful with what they're doing there, so what do you say? But while it's been better here for me stats wise, I'd give up all the points for wins.


Question Looking back on the day you were traded here, could you have imagined how well things have worked out for you.
Answer From playing in the WLA (Western Lacrosse Association with the New Westminster Salmonbellies), playing against all these guys, I knew I could play at this level. My game is the transition game and defense. It was just a matter of getting more confident and getting used to the league. This is only my first year and as things went on, I started to pick my spots to run and when not to. It's all about experience.


Question As you get ready to head into the summer season in the WLA, is it frustrating for this NLL season to end just when you're starting to play some of your best ball?
Answer I look forward to the summer season. It's a little different ball. It's a little tougher ball. Guys talk a lot about the two (WLA or OLA and the NLL) being a lot different but the only real difference is this game is faster than the summer game. But, I mean, pretty much every guy in the summer league is playing in the NLL so the caliber is really high and I'm looking forward to it.


Question Do you expect you'll notice a big difference in your play this summer after how far you've come along here in the NLL?
Answer I'm looking forward to a big season for myself and the team. More the team. We had a disappointing year last year and we're getting everybody back and we're getting some players in that should really help, like (the Ravens) Ryan O'Connor, who played down east last year, and some other young guys so we're looking at contending and making a Mann Cup run.


Question Considering how a lot of the guys you play with in the summer and against played on this Ravens team, do expect any good-natured ribbing or smack talk on the floor?
Answer They'll probably be some talk but I won't chirp them about anything. They had a better team than us with a better record. There's not much I can say.


PLPA Correspondent

Ty Pilson is the Roughnecks beat writer at the Calgary Sun. As a former player and huge fan of the sport, Ty enjoys writing about lacrosse as much as he loves watching and playing it. In addition to lacrosse, Ty covers local and international motorsports for the Sun and loves CART and NASCAR almost as much as lacrosse — almost, of course. Previous to the Sun, Pilson was the Sports Editor at the Kenora Daily Miner and News in Ontario.