I have a special treat, I was able to interview Marc Ranfranz. After the way he played to the crowd in the third period (5/1/99 Buccaneers vs. Bulls) I knew that I needed to get his viewpoint on what was going on. It was hard to gauge whether he was really having fun, or if it was more of a sarcastic way to keep himself from getting down.

Sarah: I want you to talk a little bit about why you went to Billings.

Marc Ranfranz: Actually I was traded by the Rochester Mustangs, they wanted a goal scorer they said, so I was traded. I talked to the coach in Billings and he said that they had a good chance of going to the National Tournament. Their goalies save percentage was 80-85%, real low, and in the USHL I’d had a 92% save percentage. I thought that if I had a team that could score 5 or 6 goals in front of me we shouldn’t lose a game. So I went there and have done well there.

Sarah: Have you enjoyed it?

Mark: Yeah, a lot.

Sarah: You really played the Des Moines crowd today, can you talk about that?

Mark: When I get the crowd into it it’s just a lot of fun for me. I like to play to have fun, when the crowd gets into it and cheers for me, even if it’s an away crowd it’s just a lot of fun to play with them and makes me play better.

Sarah: You can tell they enjoy that and they love it when you respond to them.

Mark: I want them to get their money’s worth, they come to watch us play and it’s a slaughter. Heck you might as well let them have fun.

Sarah: Well it’s good to see that you’re having fun too!