Hockey Quotations | Page 5

I saw a confidence in our players that I haven't seen before. Our players believe we have a pretty good hockey team. I was especially impressed with Paul MacDonald's effort. He was our game MVP.

I said I hope they're ready for me; I won't step back and accept mediocrity. I won't accept being the sport between field hockey and softball.

Stanley Cup hockey comes around every year, when games start to count in multiples of best-of-seven series, and the players seem to put more attention into every pass, every check, every annoying little trick.

Regardless of whether you're a fan, a hockey player, a coach, a manager, a media writer, it feels good to be talking hockey again,

Players who are going to move on in their hockey careers show up in the big games. To be a great player you have to be a great player in the playoffs.

Playing hockey is fun. Going out and hooking and holding really isn't fun.

Playing that type of hockey and that type of role, it's tough night in and night out. Jason is just a competitor in every way and works hard, plays hard and I think will be an energy asset.

Our relationship goes back a long way. Our kids played minor hockey together in Winnipeg. There are roots there.

Part of the reason that I watch hockey is to have a physical game, ... Maybe initially they'll fear a penalty, but sometimes it's worth it to get a good lick in.

Part of it is, you look at who's playing goal now. I think their problems have stemmed . . . Theodore's had a tough time. Everybody realizes he is a heck of a goalie, but he has struggled. It starts there. If you're not getting key saves or if you're not just getting the saves that allow you to win hockey games, it makes it tough on the team.

Patty's athleticism will really be an asset to our team. I feel that she has a lot of potential. I think she'll develop her hockey skills to a high level of play.

Our only focus from now on is to turn this thing around. We have to get back to playing the way we did. The way we're playing right now, it hasn't even been two weeks. Before that we were playing really good hockey and we could beat any team in the league. We have to climb back to that, and it's going to take all of us in the dressing room. We can't look at the standings right now.

Our member clubs, our officials, our players and our hockey operations people will face many challenges in the weeks and months ahead. My job is to make sure that everyone stays focused on the objective of fostering competitive NHL hockey that features flow, skill, speed, puck movement and skating.

Part of that stretch where we were a mediocre hockey team was because we were getting mediocre goaltending. They weren't getting the big saves when we needed them. Sometimes you need those heroic saves to steal a game. Bernd and Drew are now giving us that consistently.

(Paul) is a clutch player. He's been playing varsity hockey since he was in ninth grade. That's who you want to get the puck to with the game on the line.

Pavol Demitra is an established premier forward in the National Hockey League. He is an elite skilled player who competes on a consistent basis. His vast experience should be a real benefit to the younger players in our lineup.

Our No. 6 guy, Steve Benoit, is a hockey player, and he came in and sealed the victory for us. We were neck and neck with Harwood ? they were up by one stroke coming into the sixth group ? and Steve came in with a 42, which was one of the best scores of the day.

I saw them get out with full hockey bags and masks over their faces. So it was pretty obvious to me what was going on.

I think a lot of people underestimated the skill on this hockey team. I had full confidence in this team and that if they stuck with the program they'd be successful.

I think whenever anyone asked me why I wanted to be a hockey player, that's where it all started, watching the Winnipeg Jets play as a young kid.

Just from the overall day-to-day, it will be fine. In terms of things we do, in terms of how the game goes, it's still a hockey game. We didn't win the last time but we played fairly well two years ago. So hopefully that experience and the kids that have gone through it will help.

Just a few family and friends and some of my buddies and hockey parents from when I played minor hockey.

Jeff brings speed, Stanley Cup-winning experience and leadership to our locker room. We look forward to having him on our hockey club.

Jeremy brings a physical dimension to our hockey club and will fit in nicely with our team. He is a gritty player that has some valuable NHL experience, both in the regular season and the playoffs, and we are happy to have him.

Our group of defensemen played the best game of hockey they have all year long.

Our hockey numbers are way down. If we had a team at Edison, we would have only six students. They would have to play the whole game and nobody could have gotten hurt or sick.

Our guys know we really needed to win this game because this was something that would bring us back up. We were not embarrassed to lose. Ramsey is a good quality program. We had to come back and show who we are versus an excellent hockey team.

My younger brother, David, plays hockey for Plum and my mom takes him from game-to-game when me and my dad are gone.

I'm hoping we can keep scoring like that. We played well except for about a 10-minute span in the third period. We're a young hockey team and we're going to learn from it.

Man or woman, Cammi Granato is one of the most impressive hockey leaders I've ever come across.

Manny was great for us again tonight and we made the most of our opportunities. We only had two scoring chances in the third period and that was two too many. I guess it's the mysteries of sports. That's a very good hockey team fighting for a playoff spot and we just seem to have their number.

(Johnson's) falling in line with all of the players that have worked hard all year long. To be rewarded, it's good. That definitely by far was his best game. He was the main reason we won the hockey game.

I think they're going to finish every check that they have on me, and that's fine. But I think they took a couple penalties on us, and that's the frustrating part. There's nothing wrong with good clean hockey and good physical hockey. But when it gets like that, I just try to keep my head up and protect myself.

I think this is an outstanding move for the league. To hold the tournament in a first-class venue like Blue Cross Arena is a big step for the league as it continues its growth in the college hockey community.

I think momentum is something you need to revisit each weekend. As it stands now, all four teams are fighting for their hockey lives.

It definitely was a difficult process for Wayne and his family. Wayne never ceases to amaze me. We're lucky to have him; not just Hockey Canada, but all of us.

It demonstrated that maybe junior hockey, properly presented, was a great entertainment sports property. It marked a renaissance and awareness of junior hockey across the country.

It depends on what the goalie is going to do. You react to him. We gave up some bad penalties and the Blues capitalized on all of their chances, and that's what hockey is all about.

I still think we can score more. We've got guys that haven't gotten hot yet. We haven't played our best hockey yet. I don't think we've reached our peak as a team by any means.

I still want to stay in the sport on the hockey side -- that's my passion and where my strengths lie.

I think for ease of viewing, the hockey events, the ice-skating events are the best.

I thought I was mentally tough before, but this made me even tougher, and pro hockey is going to be even tougher than this. Now I know that no matter how bad a season is, you have to stay strong. You have to find the positives out of anything.

I thought it was one of the best hockey games I have seen in a long time. Any one of the teams could have won.

I think they played a great road game. They did everything I'm sure they wanted to do and we didn't do the things we needed to do to win a hockey game.

I went to hockey camp at Michigan because my dad has some relatives in the Ann Arbor area. We went to visit them as kids, and you start to learn the language from being around people. At the same time, when I got to college, I thought my English was better than it really was. I learned a lot over my four years.

John has a great deal of hockey experience and success on his resume, and he will help us immensely in our evaluation of pro prospects.

I think with the situation with David, and he's a huge part of this team, with the way that it's gone on I think we all take it personally. We all need to step up. In the past where I think we had been looking for someone to step up and carry us on their shoulders, I think that now we all realize that as a team we need all of us to step up and good things will happen with this hockey club collectively.

I think when you have experience in those (new) situations, it does help you. You have a chance to create a culture. I just think you've got to have everybody on the same agenda, everyone from ticket sales to the president of the hockey team. Whenever you go into a new endeavor, everybody is new. Everybody is trying to get things done.

It is most unfortunate that one of the most esteemed coaches in major junior hockey should express his opinions in the fashion that he chose.

It is kind of ironic how when I broke into professional hockey at 17 I was told that I was too small, and too slow, and that I wouldn't make it to the NHL. And now it has flip-flopped,

I think ... we're going to put this aside for two weeks, playing hockey against the best players in the world. I think definitely the distraction is you guys bringing it up to us because we don't bring it up to each other at all.

It is a tremendous honor and a great responsibility to follow in Tim Taylor's footsteps as head hockey coach at Yale. His impact on Yale, Yale Hockey, and me personally has been profound. I enthusiastically embrace the challenge of building upon his legacy while taking the Yale Hockey program to the next level.

I think they (the team) have confidence coming off the sweep. I think they're excited to be home. And hopefully a lot of the people in the area will come and support us and we can play the hockey we want to play here in our building.

I think they've had to work a little bit hard because college hockey is a little bit better.

I think there's no doubt that if Cincinnati can get their attendance up ... then it all makes good sense and hockey will be here for a long time.

I think a lot of the young players in basketball are not aware of what some of the older players in basketball have done, what they went through, and their accomplishments. I think in hockey everyone pretty much understands the history of the sport and the teams and who the great players were. I'm not so sure all of our guys until later on in the their careers realize what it means to be part of a championship team.

Right now, what we need to do as a team is focus on the task at hand, which is winning hockey games.

Our Achilles' heel has been killing penalties at home. They get a power play goal and it's a 2-1 hockey game. You get the number of points they have as a team by hard work, and we knew they weren't going to quit by any means.

Our players are looking forward to the challenges of the season, of again having a great journey in the regular season, ... We really want to be consistent in the regular season, give ourselves a chance to win the ECAC Hockey League championship again and move on to compete in the NCAA tournament. Our goals haven't changed at all from previous seasons.

Our power play was clicking a little bit better. This time of year, that's what's going to win hockey games.

Over the years, thousands of great NHL moments were presented to our fans through the lenses of ESPN cameras. ESPN was a supportive partner, and both the National Hockey League and ESPN enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship. We wish ESPN continued success.

Our whole game was solid today. This is now the fourth game in a row where we had almost the same lineup. We haven?t been able to do that for four months. Now we are starting to have lines stay together for more than one game and some continuity is coming onto out hockey club.

Our team played good hockey from the drop of the puck. It was a back and forth game, and the final minute was a reflection of that.

Our biggest thing is, as a team, we have to regroup in regards to our attitude and how we're going to play. I thought defensively we did not punish people in our own end. You can't play hockey in your own end without punishing people.

Our big goal is the NCAA championship, and if we're playing our best hockey at the end of the year, we can definitely do that. Everybody on our team knows that we can. We know we can be the best team in the nation if we play like it.

Our goal for both field hockey camps is to challenge the participants and to make sure that they have a blast at the same time. We are excited to offer an Elite Week for the first time. It is our aim for this camp is to give the elite field hockey player an opportunity to improve their knowledge and advance their skill while being able to compete against other top field hockey players. We only hire head coaches who have elite level coaching experience and who possess the ability to make each session both challenging and fun.

I think he played great. He was the difference in the hockey game. Especially early on when he made some big saves.

I think I'm just starting hockey again, I'm so nervous. It's a nerve-wracking position, really, to be honored in such a manner.

I think one of the things that is going to be difficult to replace is the leadership, knowing what the level of expectations in field hockey is and wanting to make a mark as a team. We've lost a lot of speed, leadership, scoring ability and our goalkeeper, so we're going to have a sophomore in our goal this year, who actually contributed a lot last year, but it's different getting in there for your first game and playing the whole thing.

I think I'd never heard of him before camp this year, really, because there wasn't any (NHL) hockey last year.

I think if you look deep down inside you know you're overmatched against the United States, especially when we were younger. We had a bunch of hockey players going out there.

I was thinking about it today over breakfast. We won a hockey game while going 0 for 9 on the power play.

I think part of what people are responding to with Lambeau Field is that it's a solid culture. There's so much committed to what hockey means and that's how we feel about football. It's just a great connection between the culture of football and the culture of hockey.

I think our team put forth a hell of an effort. I thought we dominated the hockey game.

I think (hockey's popularity is) only going to get better when high school hockey begins being played in the market.

I think he fit in with our hockey club. Tonight we weren't good enough.

I think he has the potential of playing junior hockey somewhere. If he has a strong playoff performance, he can open some eyes.

I think he's a good, strong two-way player. He has the ability to play good positional hockey and takes care of the details that a defensive-type player does, but he has good skill with the puck.

I think he's a great choice, and we all congratulate him. I think he's got a great future in the game. You can call him a rookie, but he played NCAA Division I hockey at a high level, and that matters.

I think he'll make an excellent pro once he learns how to catch buses on time, be at the airport and discipline himself. He has to learn hockey is the most important thing in his life right now and make the sacrifices.

I think he'll make it for sure. I don't think there's any question he'll have his day in the National Hockey League. He has the complete package.

It does not appear to us that there has been betting on hockey games at all. I think it's all about hockey; it's all about our sport right now and nothing else. ... This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be on a world stage and playing hockey, and I don't think anything will overshadow the Olympics.

It does nothing to change the fact that the use of steroids is not a pervasive problem facing the National Hockey League.

Just to have hockey in our building is going to be terrific for all of us. The game's back, it's better than it was and we're all looking forward to a full year of hockey.

I think the guys here love basketball as much as they love anything else. The deal is there's a lot of diversity up here. There's a lot of interests pulling at you. There are other sports that tug at different athletes. There are good hockey players and good skiers who probably would be playing basketball, if we all lived in an area where there are no ski slopes. But that's the way it is.

I think it's sad for girls' hockey when you have refs that take away the kids' hard work and don't let them play.

I think it's the greatest upset in the history of women's hockey. It is a bit bittersweet. We've been geared toward the U.S. all year, and we prepare for them with everything we do. We were anticipating playing them, but it's great for Swedish hockey and for the game's health.

I think it's the greatest upset in women's hockey. They were talking about taking women's hockey out of the Olympics. I think after tonight you can't talk about that any more.

I think it was our best comeback this year. We beat a really, really good hockey team.

I think it was big of us to come out and not pout and whine and put our heads down. We skated and competed and played exactly the kind of hockey we've played all year. That's encouraging.

It happened pretty quickly. We're sitting up here for a hockey game and they're going through a hurricane. If we'd known ahead of time it was going to be that bad we'd have tried to get everybody out of there.

I think we have to watch hockey closely. We don't want to fall into that. The PR is so bad. If hockey gets real ugly from the PR aspect, I think basketball will get lumped in with it. Both sides have to be real careful.

I think we did a lot of good for hockey and for women in general. I guess in a way, there's really nowhere to go but down, but I've enjoyed every year I've been able to play on this team. I wouldn't change anything.

I think we've talked about that a lot, about the opportunity and how it's knocking at our door. There's a lot of players who played minor-league hockey for 10-15 years that never made it past the first round.

I think we were overwhelmed the first 10 minutes. That's my responsibility. We were embarrassed, embarrassed by the way we performed and embarrassed by the way we finished the hockey game.

I thought our effort was sound today. It was an even hockey game. We had a game plan going in and we wanted to execute and bring that necessary energy and focus to give ourselves a chance to win. I thought we did that tonight. I can't fault the effort and intensity of our players.

I thought Everett did a lot of the things we expected them to do. They're a very structured hockey club. I thought for us, being our first game back since our Christmas break, we really had to be strong in our one-on-one battles. It got better as the game went on, but to start with we weren't as strong as I felt we should have been.

It came at the right time for our hockey club with all the injuries and things that were going on. We needed that time to just relax and regroup. The first day back was a little tough, but I'm sure it'll get better.

I thought we played a pretty good hockey game tonight. I thought we were the better team. We were outplaying them halfway through the game, and you look up at the scoreboard and it's 3-0 (for New York).

I thought we played hard, competed and our focus was where it needed to be and that was the hockey game we hoped for.