This is a first for us, as far being in position to play our way into something that matters. We tried to emphasize to our kids the importance of this game.

His play did not surprise me. I have a lot of faith in Jesse.

We've won a lot of games before, so you don't want to get really excited about a first win. But it's hard to not be excited when your first win comes 13 games into the season, after Christmas. This is what we want to use as a springboard as we get hot and heavy into conference play.

Tonight's game helped us for when we play them again — we know we can play with them now.

Kelly really helped us in the fifth spot this fall. Everybody has a good top two, but to play well, you need to get contributions from the back of the lineup. Kelly's improvement is a tribute to her hard work.

If you can get into a team's head that they can't beat us and are going to have to play their best hockey to even be close, that's going to pay dividends in a playoff series.