BLOG: Esprit de corps

LOS ANGELES, CA - Head Coach Jay Woodcroft used a unique term after Friday's Game 3 when asked about the mood on the Oilers bench in the midst of their 8-2 blowout victory.
"I feel a real esprit de corps amongst our group," the bench boss said from Crypto.com Arena. "People that are working hard for each other and it's a fun group to stand behind."
Woodcroft was asked about his take on the term on Saturday, which by definition means a feeling of pride, fellowship, and common loyalty shared by the members of a particular group.
"Team spirit," he beamed. "Camaraderie, belief in one another, an enjoyment in everbody's company. I see our team coming together and doing the necessary things required to have success. I think it's contagious, I think it's a loop, a virtuous loop. When you start doing things the right away and you see the rewards of it, more and more people want to get involved in it. That, to me, is a real sense of team spirit."

Goaltender Mike Smith and forward Zach Hyman also spoke with the media on Saturday and admitted they hadn't heard of the term before but couldn't agree more with the sentiment.
"No idea, no clue," Smith laughed when asked for the translation.
"It is now," Hyman chuckled when asked if it was part of his vocabulary.
The 40-year-old puck-stopper, who turned aside 44 shots in the lopsided Game 3 victory, elaborated on the sense of team spirit the Oilers are feeding off right now.
"We have a great group of guys and everyone is fun to be around," Smith said. "Everyone is working for each other. We feel like we're a cohesive group. We've learned a lot about our team in the last couple months and battled through some adversity mid-season. That could only help our team and I think it has. We've really gained some confidence from it and we feel like we're going out there and proving it."

"Woody said it best -- team camaraderie is everything," echoed Hyman, who scored twice and added an assist on Friday. "When you enjoy playing with guys and you enjoy being around them, you want to win and play as long as you can. Everybody is pulling on the same rope, we're all going for the same goal, and it makes it that much better when everybody enjoys being around each other."
The Oilers will look to continue to showcase theiresprit de corpson Sunday with Game 4 as they have a chance to take a 3-1 series lead back to Edmonton for Tuesday's Game 5.