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I'm very proud of our NHL players. I think they all handle themselves extremely well and they all work really hard.
Only one thing is ever guaranteed, that is that you will definitely not achieve the goal if you don't take the shot.
It's just amazing how many companies suddenly want you to hold up their products after you've held up the Stanley Cup.
No matter who you are, we're creatures of habit. The better your habits are, the better they will be in pressure situations.
I grew up such a fan. It was my life. Everything I did was hockey related and everything I have is because of hockey and the NHL.
I'm probably the only guy in hockey who can win a scoring title and everybody is saying I had a bad year. I don't worry about it.
Nothing can replace the Olympics. I love the Olympics. I was so proud when I played in '98 and I was so proud when we won in 2002.
When I was 5 and playing against 11-year-olds, who were bigger, stronger, faster, I just had to figure out a way to play with them.
It really doesn't matter or concern me what people are saying or who thinks who is the favorite. The bottom line is you have to play.
I wasn't naturally gifted in terms of size and speed; everything I did in hockey I worked for, and that's the way I'll be as a coach.
I can't remember the last time I went to a game and there was a fight. I think they fight more in baseball now than they do in hockey.
Competitive spirit is still at a premium. The more you win, the better you play, the more money you make, so they all have that in mind.
Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull and Jean Béliveau probably looked at us in the '80s and said, "These guys are soft. We used to take the train."
Hockey is a unique sport in the sense that you need each and every guy helping each other and pulling in the same direction to be successful.
Kids don't fight in minor hockey anymore. There's very few fights in junior and college hockey. So growing up, all these guys are not fighting.
The day I stop giving is the day I stop receiving. The day I stop learning is the day I stop growing. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
When emotions are high, things are said, things are done. Ultimately, these players want to play. I know too many of them love the game too much.
I think the Americans are ready to play, they want to beat us. I think that players like Chris Chelios and his leadership over there goes a long way.
We played in an era where you were taught to hate your opponent. But life changes. I raise my kids differently than my mom and dad raised their kids.
It doesn't matter what I think. It doesn't matter what other people think. You have to get on the ice and participate and play and the best team wins.
The game is played out of instinct, but everyone on the ice has habits - good and bad. So the key to the game is to exploit the bad habits of your opponent.
I couldn't beat people with my strength; I don't have a hard shot; I'm not the quickest skater in the league. My eyes and my mind have to do most of the work.
By no means could I play at the level of these kids who play in the NHL now but as 50-year-olds go, I feel really good and I feel blessed that I'm still healthy.
We're in a tough situation because of teenage children, and then we have a 2-year-old and a 5-year-old, so my family and my responsibilities is sort of a juggle.
There's no perfect coach in the world. Coaches are human, too. Mistakes are made. But, fundamentally, if you're sound, you eliminate as many mistakes as possible.
I just like to keep my money in the bank; I'm not a big risk-taker. I don't know anything about the stock market... I stay away from things I don't know anything about.
The Power of WHO provides great lessons about how to succeed in business and in life. If you surround yourself with quality people and great friends, the sky's the limit.
That's the hardest part of this whole process. The best part is picking the players and the worst part is telling basically five players they are not going to play tonight.
I think a lot of parents live their lives through the kids. Because they didn't make it [achieve something], they want their kids to make it. It puts a lot of undue pressure on the kids.
One of the key qualities that you need to be a great hockey player is fantastic anticipation and feel for the game - if you know where the puck is going before it is hit, that is half the battle.
Listen, everything I have in my life is because of the NHL and because of hockey, and I love the game and I loved every minute of being a player, I loved coaching, I loved being involved in the NHL.
We feel fortunate [with Canada hockey team]. We have got a lot of guys who love to play, but they also love to win even more. We are pretty happy. Although we are young, we like our group of players.
My answer is, why not? ... It's what I love, it's what I know. Glen Sather was the best coach that I had and what made him good was his confidence in what he did. I believe that I'm going to be a good coach.
I think sports for kids is the greatest thing in the world because it teaches you how to share, about winning and losing and pressure. But I don't think you should force your kid to become a professional athlete.
I really wanted to write a book [99: Stories of the Game] on the tradition and history of the league, where kids can pick it up and read it and learn things and say, "Geez, I didn't know that. That's pretty cool."
I knew at a young age, whether I was playing baseball or hockey or lacrosse, that my teammates were counting on me, whether it be to strike the last batter out in a baseball game or score a big goal in a hockey game.
When I broke into professional hockey at 17 I was told that I was too small and too slow and I wouldn't make the NHL. Now it's kind of flip-flopped and the sense is I can't be a good coach because I was a great athlete.
Canadian players have started to put more of an importance on the World Championships in the sense that as soon as they lose, they are called, they want to go play and they don't go only on the basis of if they are injured.
I played everything. I played lacrosse, baseball, hockey, soccer, track and field. I was a big believer that you played hockey in the winter and when the season was over you hung up your skates and you played something else.
I think that from the time you start playing sports as a child you see that your responsibility to your team is to play the best that you can play as an individual... and yet, not take anything away from being part of a team.
I wasn't a great skater and I needed my skates to be perfect - really tight around the ankles. But I couldn't break in new ones because my feet would hurt so much. I wore a size 9 shoe and a 6.5 skate - my foot was really crunched.
My best friend had a hockey scholarship at Ohio State, so I would get a couple of pairs at the beginning of the season and send them down to him. They practised two hours a day. He'd skate in them for three weeks then ship them back.
Thankfully, in my youth I had the best financial advisor a son could ask for: my dad Walter. When I got that first signing bonus in 1978, Dad took my cheque, announced, 'This is what we're going to do,' and bought an annuity with it.
When I played in a 21-team league, there were six or seven goalies who were just average, and the equipment and pads were smaller. I came in the right era. I played for the right team. It was all speed, and creativity and imagination.
Lifting the Stanley Cup for the first time. There's nothing like it. It's the greatest story. In my era, they used to say you couldn't be a superstar without winning one. I remember thinking when I lifted it: "Now they can't say that about me."
When people come up to me and say, "I was at your Game 7 in the playoffs in Toronto," or, "I saw your first goal in the NHL," that triggers memories. But I don't sit around my kitchen table and tell my kids, "You know, one year I got 92 goals."
What you want to do with your best players is, it doesn't matter how many goals and assists they get, but when they get goals and assists. The best players get them at the most important times, and that's when we need those guys to come through.
I don't like my hockey sticks touching other sticks, and I don't like them crossing one another, and I kind of have them hidden in the corner. I put baby powder on the ends. I think it's essentially a matter of taking care of what takes care of you.
As a player, you have one responsibility, to focus yourself and be ready for the game. As a coach, your responsibility is to get 20 guys ready and have them all on the same page. If you can't get every guy ready every night, you're going to struggle.
People talk about skating, puck handling and shooting, but the whole sport is angles and caroms, forgetting the straight direction the puck is going, calculating where it will be directed, factoring in all the interruptions. Basically, my whole game is angles.