I don't know if it's chemistry. Most of the time, the girls improve as time goes on. But I haven't felt comfortable with the combinations I've tried to put together. And Heaven knows I've tried just about every combination so far this preseason, and things just aren't working very well right now. We have a ways to go if things are going to get better.

It hasn't gotten any better. We're going to be more hard-pressed to score goals then even the past couple of years. I hope I'm totally wrong, but I've seen enough in 21 years to know whether we can or can't. We're going to have to stay in games long enough to have a chance to win.

Vicki and Ashley right now have been playing with the most consistency. They have done a lot of the little things right and are playing pretty well.

They're all going to see quality playing time. But we might be playing games by committee sometimes, games in which I substitute a lot. We just need more girls to play 60 minutes of consistent hockey. Two five-minute spurts isn't going to get us anywhere.

She should help us, because she's been in the position long enough to know what she's doing. But she's going to have to be steady in her position too. There area lot of 'ifs' right now. And unless we change that, this could be a long season for us.