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Letdown leads to big workload

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 8, 2001

TAMPA -- Grant Ledyard was hired for days like today.

The 18-year veteran will come to the Ice Palace for a noon practice seething about Sunday night. He will layer on his equipment, lace his skates and head for the ice.

He will go to work.

Ledyard, a member of Tampa Bay's "leadership group," was brought in to serve as a mentor for the Lightning's talented young players, to teach them how to be professionals. After Sunday's humiliating 5-0 loss to Florida, he has work to do.

"You don't get any lower than what we did tonight," said Ledyard, who was on the ice for all three of the Panthers' even-strength goals. "We didn't come to play.

"We let each other down, first and foremost. We let the emblem on our sweaters down; we let the coaches down; we let the fans down. We can't do that."

The Lightning was flat from the start, falling behind 2-0 in the first 10 minutes and showing no sign it would put up a fight. Such lackluster efforts can be expected of young teams occasionally, but in the second game of the season?

"Unacceptable," veteran center Tim Taylor said.

"The effort wasn't there, and that comes from within yourself. You have to come prepared. We'll come back to work (today) and make sure we're ready to step on the ice."

After a spirited and successful training camp -- the Lightning went 2-1-2 in the preseason -- Taylor was as surprised as anyone about Sunday's lapse.

Though Taylor would not disclose what was said or who said it, he confirmed the team had a closed-door, players-only meeting in the locker room after the game.

"We had a little talk," he said.

"I'll guarantee this: This team will not be mentally not ready for a hockey game again."

Youth was not entirely to blame. Coach John Tortorella said he was worried most about the veteran players who seemed not to want to take control.

"What bothers me is we have tried to define what it is to be a hard hockey team to play against, and we're not even close," Tortorella said. "And I don't know why, because we spent a lot of time talking about it. ... It's not me telling them what I need. It's them deciding for themselves."

Ledyard said he would love to believe Sunday's poor performance was a one-time thing, but he knows such thinking could be dangerous. He will coddle no one.

"In a perfect world you say it was an aberration, but with this team you can't do that," he said. "This team can't take huge steps backward. We're too young and there's too much history here. We have to pull each other along."

The pulling starts today.

"We'll come in here and take our lumps like men," Ledyard said. "We knew it wasn't all going to be peaches and cream and maybe it's good to get a low game out of the way. We didn't do any of the little things. We didn't chip pucks, didn't battle on the boards.

"So, we'll come to work and do whatever the coaches say."

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