I had the opportunity to reflect on last nights 10 - 4 loss to the Skyhawks. I saw frustration on the faces of my teammates both on the ice and off.  No one person could be faulted for the loss.  We play as a team, win as a team and lose as a team.  That has always been the Cowboy philosophy.

What I think is lacking in this year's team is pride and commitment.  I believe that there is an element of complacency that has infected us all. There is a real need to re-evaluate the reasons why we play hockey and what keeps us coming back to the rink week after week.  I realized for myself that it was for the love of hockey.  It is a sanctuary of innocence lost.  A place where I could live out my childhood fantasy; to act out what I have always dreamed about as a child.There is no other place in the world like a hockey rink.  The cold stale air in the arena, the musty smell of hockey equipment, the sound of the zamboni polishing the ice surface for the next group of dreamers.  These are the
elements I grew up with.  And each time I am exposed to these elements, my mind takes me back to my childhood where it all began.  I begin to realize how lucky I am to be able to go back to that "Place" in time, where nothing else mattered except a puck and the camaraderie you had with your teammates. This is what keeps me coming back week after week.

When I stop feeling this passion for hockey, that will be the time I will decide to quit.  I think we all need to search deep within ourselves and try to understand what makes us come back to hockey week in and week out.  When we find what these reasons are, that is when hockey as we know it will come back to our team.

-by Andre "Redlight" Retel

It's time we say "Commit or get lost!".  And I mean "Get LOST!!!".

- by Andre Retel