‘We’ll all be better’: Ladd

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This article was published 23/04/2015 (3847 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Jets captain Andrew Ladd didn’t like the way Wednesday turned out one bit, but he included the bigger picture when he spoke to reporters after his team was swept out of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Anaheim Ducks.

The Ducks won Wednesday’s Game 4 5-2 at the MTS Centre.

“There’s a fine line between winning and losing in the playoffs,” Ladd said. “They’re a team that went through those ups and downs last year and probably learned from that. So I think we take the experience we got this time and learn from it and next time we’re in the situation, we’ll handle it better.

“So for us I think we set a standard of how we need to work and how we need to play, and show up every day and now it’s up to us to keep that standard and get back here next year.”

Ladd had nothing bad to say about the finish, even though his team didn’t win a game in the playoffs.

“You have to be proud of the way a lot of guys played,” Ladd said. “Our two young centremen played big minutes for us and have bright futures in this game. Guys like that, they’ll learn from this and we’ll all be better next year.

“I think it (losing) is probably the best way of learning a lesson, to go through it and feel how you feel right now. It’s an empty feeling. You don’t know what to do. You learn from it. I guess you wish it wasn’t part of the process but you wish it was a little easier. No one said winning the Stanley Cup and the playoffs was an easy thing to do. We put our best foot forward.”

Jets coach Paul Maurice revealed after the game that Ladd has been playing injured, and for more than two months.

“We probably have eight significant injuries, four of those we brought into the series,” Maurice said. “We had a number of guys that couldn’t do parts of the games as well.

“It’s a good learning experience for your room. It sets a level of willingness. We think we know what it is (with Ladd). I haven’t checked with him (about revealing the injury) because it’s a personal medical thing. He made a decision to go in and have it looked at and it’s going to cost you two months possible. You just grind your teeth and play through it.

“From the day he stopped practising, he’s been dealing with that. You need that from your captain. You need that guy in the room doing whatever he can to stay in and he did.”

Maurice was asked about those who have questioned his captain’s play.

“I’m never, ever — and I’ve had some good ones, guys in the Hall of Fame — going to question his willingness, grit, determination,” the coach said. “He could have very easily come out of that lineup two and a half months ago and nobody would have said a word to him.”

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After the game, Ladd made a point to salute the Jets’ fans, who delivered two pretty impressive whiteouts and stayed after the series was over to cheer their team even more.

“Incredible,” the captain said. “We have to take our hats off to each and every one of those fans. They’ve been great the entire year but it was a whole new level for these last few games. What they did at the end, staying and giving us a big ovation, we appreciate that in here.

“We understand that they put their heart and soul into this hockey team, and their hard-earned money to come watch us play and invest a lot of time in watching us and show us a lot of support. So it’s definitely appreciated in here and they deserve a lot of credit.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca