Raycroft, along with rookie Patrice Bergeron, will compete in the YoungStars Game tonight in St. Paul as a part of All-Star Weekend. They join teammates Joe Thornton, Nick Boynton, and Glen Murray (added yesterday as an injury replacement for Ottawa's Marian Hossa), who will skate for the Eastern Conference tomorrow in the All-Star Game.
When they return from the break, the Bruins plan to view their final 26 games as a way to gain position for the playoffs, not just make them. Gone is the tension and the soap opera atmosphere that plagued the team during 2002-03. Even though there was controversy this season when owner Jeremy Jacobs called for changes and O'Connell voiced his displeasure with the team's play, the players said that seems like a million years ago.
"One minute everyone is pressing the panic button and the next we're 2 points out of first overall in the league," said Raycroft. "That's how fast things change, and it can change back the other way, too."
Raycroft's point is that every team is faced with adversity, and the Bruins are no exception.
"New Jersey went through it, Toronto went through it, Philly is going through it," he said. "It's how you respond to it. You look at last year and it was tougher for everyone here to respond. It kept going downhill, whereas this year we've turned it around. I'm sure everyone learned from last year, too. We knew we couldn't let that happen again."
Raycroft believes no one on the team lost faith in his ability.
"Everyone knew in here that we had the team and the character," he said. "I think to a point we almost took it too lightly that we [knew we] were going to break out of it sooner or later. Maybe we carried it on for an extra week or two, but just because we knew it was going to turn around. We weren't real worried about it.
"Now things are pretty good coming to the rink again. I think our record is for real. We're right in the mix of things and I think we have the team where we can challenge for first in our division and first in the conference and get home ice. We're not really worried about playoffs right now. We want to keep climbing instead of worrying about what is going on behind us."
