Dwane wants to get the guys all in one environment before we get real serious. He can kind of indoctrinate the guys into his philosophy and build a little camaraderie. That goes a long way when it comes time to start the season.

Personally, I think everyone on the Lakeshore Committee breathed a sigh of relief once this project was completed. Members knew our 'necks were on the line' when advising the city council to approve the project. And it barely passed the city council by one vote.

The problem with cold-water rescue is that most aren't successful.

There's been a lot of things that have been thrown at him this year. We haven't been as successful as we had hoped, but he's handled a lot of things well.

We've added some young athletes with size and versatility. We're trying to put the right kind of guys in front of Dwane, so he can do his thing.

Obviously Dwane's got a great comfort level with him. We felt like he really came on down the stretch of the year and into the playoffs. We kind of eyeballed him and Dwayne encouraged us to look into doing something with him.