Instead, Clarke chose to stick with Ramsay when Neilson said he was ready to return. Maybe, as some argued, it was also a crappy thing to do to Neilson. But Ramsay's Flyers seemed to have more life than Neilson's, and surprised us all with their near-miracle disposal of the Devils. They competed hard, every night. Yesterday, uttering yet another contradiction from a previous position, Clarke seemed to discount Ramsay's achievement in producing such an effort last spring.
Players compete their hardest in the playoffs without the necessity of being pushed.
When you are in an 82-game schedule, for any coach, it's a constant battle to do it on a daily basis through hard work and confronting your problems and addressing them, and forcing your players to work their hardest and be their best on a daily basis. Certainly it's not an easy job, and it's not a job that many people have had success at. Success is in the eye of the beholder. Clarke said he told Ramsay as much on several occasions, put him on alert even. He called Snider with the news early in the morning.