S.W.S.C: The preseason challenge games give you an opportunity to see how the team are playing together and to make any changes necessary before the regular season starts. Now that you have seen them play together competitively, what are your thoughts on the team?
Ryan: Even after the first one we had lots to work on. They had only skated 3 or 4 times together. Against Bracknell, we started slow. The other night (vs MK lightning) we started fast and got slow in the third. Bracknell was the other way around, we got better as the game went on. I think we are going to be deadly on the attack there is no doubt about that! Bracknell's goalie; I think he made some massive saves and that went in their favour. I am very positive right now.
S.W.S.C: Are there any other 'lessons learned' to take forward to the new season?
Ryan: Not get involved in intimidation 'crap'! Lets stay away from that. It's not the kind of team we are.
S.W.S.C: The home game against Bracknell was very feisty. We saw a different side of Aaron Nell. Is this something we can expect for the coming season?
Ryan: I don't think so, but obviously he is going to play very differently with Tomasz. Tomasz plays plays a very different game than Jonas does. So Aaron's going to have to adapt his game as well. It's a learning process for the pair of them but I think he was getting stuck in as the guy had obviously speared Tomas on the play. I think it was good for Aaron to stand up for his line mate.
S.W.S.C: So looking forward. We start off the regular season with a visit from NIHL1 side, the Chelmsford Chieftains. This will be Swindon's first game in the new cup format. How do you plan to approach it?
Ryan: Obviously with the cup games where we are playing the lower level guys we can have only two imports. We will address them game by game I think. I want Jan (Kostal) on the bench. There, he can communicate in a different way. You know, we just have to play our normal game with those kind of teams. We will have some younger guys playing up. We need to come out hard and fast!
S.W.S.C: Will you also use this as an opportunity to give Michael Crisp some more ice time? It is fair to say he did not get a lot of ice last season.
Ryan: No, no, absolutely. You know when you have a goalie like Stevie you are wanting your minutes out of him. But, Crispy deserves more ice-time, there is no doubt about that. I obviously like it when he goes in and he's played well when he has been in. It's just picking those times and slots for him to play and I'm sure he'll get some ice-time through-out those games.
S.W.S.C: With Floyd Taylor injured in the first game we saw his brother step in as injury cover. Loris has played well, can we expect to see him back?
Ryan: Yeah, he did play well. We'll see. Time will tell. There would need to be decisions from both parties on that.
S.W.S.C: Thank you for your time. Best of luck for the weekend. We will catch up again soon.
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Look out for our next interview after this weekends games!
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