Ranford interview

Q: You've had a couple NHL games to look at Bernier. What have you seen, what is he doing well and what does he need to work on?

RANFORD: I think the biggest thing is just the composure that he's shown in the games. It's been very impressive, but I don't think it has really surprised anyone. Even though he's young, he shows a lot of maturity for a young guy. As far as his game goes, there's not a lot wrong with his game. It's just gaining experience and playing time, and he's only going to get better.

Q: As a coaching staff, you have a little more time to decide whether or not it's better to keep him here. What are the factors that will go into that decision?

RANFORD: I think our team has to play better as a team and we just need to be playing more consistent hockey. It's tough to say, only four games into the season, but to find our consistency as a team is going to make it an easier job for our goalies. That ties in, I guess, with him. If we get into a situation where we run into injuries and we start struggling as a team and he's facing a lot of situations that we don't want to put him into, that's what I think the biggest fear is. You don't want to rush him along. There's that delicate inner confidence that you don't want to shatter, that a young guy has. So we have to watch that closely.

Q: You broke into the NHL when you were 19. Can you kind of relate to what he's going through?

RANFORD: I think it's different. The players are much, much more prepared now. They deal with a lot more experiences where they're put under the gun. There's a lot more media coverage from a very early age. He's gone through Under-17 (teams), competing for the world junior team, the Memorial Cup... you know, he's been scrutinized for a number of years already. That's something, for the players 10 or 15 years ago, you weren't put into those situations very often. So he's had the ability to deal with that at an earlier age and it probably doesn't affect him, whereas myself breaking in, I was basically probably playing on sheer emotion for the first year I played.

Q: It seems, from talking to him, that he really wants to be here. If you do decide to send him back, to you have to talk to him and let him know that this isn't a setback, things like that?

RANFORD: Yeah. If you look at the history of players who have gone back (to junior hockey from the NHL), they've usually struggled going back. So that would be the big thing, if we were put in that situation, is trying to keep his game at a high level. It's a lot easier to move up a level than down a level a lot of times. For him, it's important for him to look at the big picture. He is young. But right now he has earned a spot here. You can't take that away from him. He's earned it, but every day he has to prove himself, that he should be here.

Q: You've got goalies everywhere right now. What is it like to juggle all these guys and try to keep track of them?

RANFORD: The funny thing is, we talked about how it was supposed to be easier this year. We're still trying to find our way, but it goes with the job. For me, I don't mind it. I'll work with whoever they give me. But we realize that we have some important guys in the organization. They've now become our guys. We're trying to make sure that (Dan Cloutier) gets an opportunity to play and find his game, because I was really impressed with his traing camp. But the reality of it was that he just needs playing time. Ersberg is an unproven NHL guy but he gives us some more security when you do run into injuries. And then there's the importance of a Jonathan Quick, as far as his development. We've got three young guys: Quick, Bernier here right now, and (Jeff) Zatkoff. One or two, to be future goalies for us, is crucial. In a perfect world, two, but if we can get one, that's great. If we can get two that are part of this organization in the future, that's crucial for us.