Adam Foote Quotations

Obviously my first job is being ready for the Blue Jackets, and I knew if I got dinged again with the Olympics approaching it could cost me. So that's obviously in the back of your mind. You just want to take care of it and stay on top of it.

Obviously, this hurts. It?s a huge letdown. For people in Canada, if we?re not there in the final, we?re not a success.

To come home like this . . . It?s disappointing, to say the least.

Having to fight back like we did I think showed a lot of heart. We played an open game tonight and I think we had to do that after getting behind early. We just have to get back to things after the holiday and go back to work.

We're playing simple hockey, we're playing basic hockey. Early in the year we would press.

I always thought winning (two) Stanley Cups would be the highlight of my career, but the Olympics is right up there. The importance of winning gold for Canada was huge at that time. I was glad to be a part of it.

He's going to be a scary player. He's young, he's learning - and that was a big goal for us.

Having come back like we did, I think it showed a lot of heart. We played an open game. I think we had to after falling behind early.

Looking at his stats -- and what he's done in the past with the world juniors -- he's definitely having a good year.

I said early on, we were going to have our bad times and we were going to have our streaks. Right now, there are teams sliding and streaking, and we?re streaking. And there?s still a half season to go. Hey, you never know.

Last tournament (2004 World Cup), there were so many good leaders in that dressing room, guys know what's on the line. I think we have a lot of depth in the leadership department no matter what the age is.

I sure hope they won?t let something like that happen.

I think guys talk about that, let's make it one or the other. Every two years I think it's hard to get the guys together, especially with the way the NHL schedule is. Although personally, I love the old Canada Cup.

I think it's like the NHL now. Any given night, if you're not ready or you're not focused, anything can happen. So that's the approach you have to take ... respect your opponent.

Yeah, you don?t want to do that. You want to play safe and get it out. But those things happen.

We needed to get a win and get some confidence. We had a long week of practice going over some things. We did a lot of little things better than we did on the road trip and it really helped.

We should play desperate all the time -- why not? This team is so hard on itself that sometimes we put extra pressure on ourselves. Maybe we shouldn't because it costs us sometimes.

We showed a little frustration. We looked a little scrambly on power plays. We didn't play together on the power play tonight.

We showed a lot of character coming back tonight. This team really wants to win and if we can put away a few mistakes it's going to make things a lot easier.

We've been able to use these games to learn a lot. We've learned a lot about playing on the bigger ice, about playing in the offensive and defensive zones, and what we've got to do to make sure we keep improving as a team.

Everybody in that room is disappointed right now. That's just the way it is.

When you're a young team it's probably better to start from the bottom. It hurts. It hurts a lot. You don't like it. No one likes it. But you learn. Sometimes it's a hard way to learn. That's behind us now and we have to look ahead. I think guys feel pretty good about what's been going on here the past few months.

Somebody was in front and made the defenseman concentrate on someone else, ... I just whacked at it and it went in. I was a little lucky there.

They (the Wings) played a playoff game tonight. They were gritty.

There's obviously pressure for us to be there. When they got the lead tonight we were tentative, it's like it was in our nerves. We have to forget about that and regroup.

It has been tough on both guys. I feel for both of them.

I haven't thought about it too much. I'm sure I'll think about it more (today). I'll be a little bit nervous probably, but it will be fun to be back.

I haven't had a lot of time to think about coming back because I just got back. I haven't been here since last May. It's been a while. . . . It will be good to play a game back at the Pepsi Center.

They (Calgary) come out every night and bring it. If we come with that character every night we will have a chance to win every night.

It was a classy move by them. It was fun being back. I was excited, boy. I definitely had a lot of juice in me.

The guys hung in for 60 minutes, battled hard, dug deep. It was a big win. I think it showed us a lot. And I think it showed the fans a lot.

The first thing he (Callan) asked was, 'Can I bring my Zamboni bed?' I said, 'Sure, you can bring the Zamboni bed, and you can paint it whatever color you want.' He said he wasn't sure he wanted to change its colors yet. The other one just wants a cat. We're not getting a cat.

It's OK. We've got a lot of young guys. We'll grow together. We'll see what we can do.

It was closer than the score indicated and we just wanted to make sure that we didn't let anyone behind us, and we did a good job, especially in the first.

It?s good for you. It feels good. Once in a while.

I came back too early the last time so I just wanted to make sure I was ready.

All these games are kind of a finals. There is no room for errors.