"The Big Dance" lähestyy..
"This is not like October or November with teams coming
in with guys in their bikinis still working on their tans.
This is nuts-and-bolts time of year, and we need more
nuts and bolts."
-Darryl Sutter
"The games are going to mean more and there’s going to
be more on the line. Teams will start playing tighter.
Everybody is going to get excited for the playoffs.
This is not a time to sit back and relax, it’s going
to get tougher."
-Brendan Shanahan
"We’re in a fight right now. I think it will be really
easy to stay mentally focused."
-Shawn Horcoff
"Sure it’s a statement. It’s a statement that we are
not as bad as everyone thinks."
-Derian Hatcher Dallasin rökitettyä Ottawa 5-1
"The people here think it’s the Stanley Cup-finals.
It’s amazing."
-Martin Brodeur Skyreachin yleisöstä
"There were 17,000 people screaming "Go Oilers Go".
That sort of thing energizes the players. That’s one of
the reasons I chose to play here."
-Mike Comrie
Tough Guys..
"Donald Brashear is going to get it! There is not enough
mustard in the world for that hot dog."
-Don Cherry
Cherryn kommentti Brashearin sormien nostelulle Tie Domia
vastaan käytyjen tappelujen jälkeen.
"Come on Georges, this is my home town. You’ve got to
let me fight you in my home town."
-Todd Fedoruk
Philadelphia Flyersin rookien pyyntö Shorsh Laraquelle
Edmontonissa. Toddin setä "Hippie-John" Fedoruk osti
otteluun yli 60 lippua ystäville ja suvulle ja poika pelasi
hyvin.
"No problem, kid."
-Georges Laraque
Shorshin vastaus. Hieno herrasmies tuo Shorsh -
tappeli junnun kanssa, eikä satuttanut tätä pahasti.
Vaikka olisi voinut.
"He reminds me of me when I just started. I was happy
to do that favour for him."
-Georges Laraque tappelun jälkeen
"I’d hire Dave Brown as a bodyguard. He threw nothing
but bombs when he fought. He could still come back and
be the scariest guy in the league."
-Georges Laraque
(Dave Brown toimii nykyisin NY Rangersin scouttina)
"Come on George, we’ve got to go."
-Stu Grimson Laraquelle Oilersin tehtyä 2-0
Los Angelesissa
"Andy Murray put me out here to shadow you because
you’re getting too many points."
-Stu Shorshille pelin viimeisessä erässä
"I’m going to be like Pavel Bure - hang around the red
line looking for a breakaway."
-Shorshin murjaisu pitämään tulleelle Grimsonille
Tuli Sanottua
"I was the last guy to be picked in 1995 and we beat the
Swedes in the final. In downtown Stockholm there must
have been 15 000 Finnish flags. Back in Finland, they
carried on for weeks. Everybody likes to beat the
Swedes."
-Janne Niinimaa
"Because he didn’t identify us as one of his teams."
-Kevin Lowe
Lowen vastaus kysyttäessä miksei Öljy tavoitellut Eric
Lindrosia Trade Deadline-päivänä.
"Marchment does these things on purpose. He shouldn’t
be allowed to play this game."
-Martin Rucinsky
(onneksi Rucinsky teki ihmeparannuksen "season ending"-
loukkaantumisestaan ja palasi jäälle lauantaina tekemään
hienoja maaleja Zednikin kanssa)
"My teammates taught me how to speak English. Of course,
the first thing I learned was the swear words."
-Rostislav Klesla
"Rusty" jätti koulut kesken muuttaessaan Pohjois-Amerikkaan
16-vuotiaana jääkiekon vuoksi.
"Sudden death! Why is it always sudden death? Why can’t
it be sudden life? Four-and-a-half more minutes of life.."
-Robin Williams
Robin Williams kävi katsomassa Toronton ottelua ja
vieraili Hockey Night in Canada:ssa muutama viikko
sitten.
"What have I persevered through? Bad knees. That’s just
an occupational hazard. Other guys like Mario Lemieux
and John Cullen have had cancer and Tony Granato had
brain surgery."
-Ray Ferraro
Atlantan kiekkokirjoittajat valitsivat Ferraron Bill
Masterton-palkinnon ehdokkaaksi.
"That’s the old guy award, right?"
-Brett Hull valittiin Dallasin Masterton-ehdokkaaksi.
"My name always comes up. Three years ago I was going
to Ottawa. Then I almost went to New Jersey. I’ve been
to a lot of places I’ve never been to."
-Chris Tamer treidihuhuista
"Forsberg’s best play? Making Nieminen look like
Tim Kerr."
-Mark Brender, Hockey Newsin toimittaja
"If I don’t do that job I’m not going to play with those
guys. They are going to criss-cross down and back and
one guy has to be in front of the net so they can run around
and once in a while pass it to me. I’m not a goal-scorer.
Most of my goals come from in front of the net."
-Ville Nieminen
(Maila jäähän - nimi lehteen!)
"I figured why not. But they’re not paying me yet. And
there’s no free ketchup yet either."
-Steve Heinze ottaessaan oudon paidan numero #57
liittyessään Buffalo Sabresiin
"It was a brutal attack from behind. It was meanness."
-Jiri Dopita
Tsekin pelaajayhdistyksen puheenjohtajan kommentti
Tsekin playoffseissa tehtyyn selästä taklaukseen, jonka
seurauksena nuori pelaaja Tomas Zelenka halvaantui.
Loukkaantumisia
"I knew it was bad when I hit the ice."
-Espen Knutsen
Viisi pistettä Calgaryssä tehneen "Shampoo":n kausi ei
ole ollut pelkkää juhlaa, Nashvillessä tuli kiekko suuhun
viisi hammasta pois, luunmurtuma.
"I wasn’t that concerned about all the rest of the injuries
I had all year. Not like the eye."
-Igor Ulanov
Öljyn kovapintainen pakki on saanut kauden aikana 47 tikkiä,
kiekkoja on tullut otsaan, kaulaan ja ylähuuleen.
Vasta silmään tullut maila vähän huolestutti miestä
itseäänkin.
Lauantaina New Jersey Devilsiä vastaan Igor blokkasi
uransa ennätyksen, kahdeksan laukausta.
Viime kaudella oli Janne Niinimaan vuoro kärsiä -
noin 70 tikkiä.
"Cut me right to the skull. I’ve been in fights and
never been hurt like that. Right down to the bone."
-Sami Helenius
Sami sai Ladislav Nagyn luistimen otsaansa - 30 tikkiä.
"I had to try to take a look ot of my eye and there
was nothing… nothing but black. It was the worst
thing you could ever go through."
-Al MacInnis
Sekalaisia
"We must educate them. There are blacks in Europe.
This is not a new phenomena."
-David Branch
Kanadan Major A-Junnuliigan Presidentin kommentti
kahden tsekkipelaajan saatua pelikieltoja mustien
pelaajien nimittelystä tällä kaudella.
"We figure Miikka Kiprusoff is ready for the NHL. From
all indications it’s not only us. I’ve had numerous calls
on that player."
-Dean Lombardi
"I got my illegitimate son back."
-Lombardin kommentti Sharksin hankittua puolustaja
Jeff Norton - jo kolmannen kerran miehen uralla.’
"For my parents, or any person for that matter in Russia,
that amount of money is tremendous. It was hard for them
to understand how we could reject that."
-Nikolai Khabibulin
"He is one of the best goaltenders in the world and the
best Russian goalie right now."
-Boris Mikhailov
"Will Sergei Fedorov play in the Olympics? Maybe he’ll
have to see if it’s all right with Anna."
-Boris Mikhailov
"I don’t give a rats ass if they don’t like me. I’m
sick of losing."
-Calgaryn uusi valmentaja Greg Gilbert
(Mike Keenanin oppilaita, heh)
"Bitterness, is not a productive emotion."
-Calgaryn poispotkittu valmentaja Don Hay
"Based on what I saw, the Sabres are back as a Stanley
Cup contender. Go to Vegas and place your bet."
-Curtis Joseph 3-0 häviön jälkeen
"I was running around with my elbows up, trying to fight
guys and I was scared to make plays."
-Doug Weight alkuajoistaan NHL:ssä
"Because that team always had a party to go to. They
always said they were there to have fun, on and off the
ice."
-John Muckler
Entiseltä Edmonton Oilersin valmentajalta kysyttiin
miksei 80-luvun Öljy koskaan voittanut enemmän kuin
kahdeksan ottelua peräkkäin.
"His teammates don’t think he’s selfish. I can tell
you Pavel hasn’t played for himself since I’ve become
a coach. A good goal-scorer can’t be defensively
responsible every second of every shift or he’s not
going to be in a position to score. You can’t put
reigns on a guy like that."
-Duane "Dog" Sutterin kommentti Pavel-jupakkaan
"We beat him up one day and he cried like a dog."
-muitten Sutter-veljesten selvitys siihen mistä lempinimi
sai alkunsa
"Only thing is, he hits like Coffey and skates like
Stevens."
-NHL-veteraani, joka kuvasi Aki Bergiä pelaajaksi,
joka omaa niin Paul Coffeyn kuin Scott Stevensinkin
ominaisuuksia.