Quoteables
"To really let a bone heal 100 percent, you'd have to give it a couple months. I won't be the only player in the league, especially a defenseman, that's playing with a sore foot. I'll be fine."
- Blues dman Jay McKee on his return to the lineup. McKee has helped develop protective pads made out of bulletproof kevlar material that fit over the top of his skates to provide extra protection.
--> Yes, Jay, you will be fine and playing while hurt is what makes you a hockey player and a damn good one at that.
"Until my stats are good, I don't look at them. I might not look at them all year. Who knows? When they put the goalie matchup on the (arena video) screen, I put my head down."
-Martin Brodeur on his not so stellar start to the season.
--> He was joking in the article, but there’s a lot of truth to the fact that he might not look at them for awhile.
“There was a lot of calls and … I mean, I can’t talk about that. You just get fined if you talk about it, so … I thought we battled back..”
-Detroit’s head coach Mike Babcock on the 13 pentalties his team took during their 6-3 loss to Anaheim.
-->Way to keep your mouth shut while getting your point across.
“There were lots of bad penalties. I was being cross-checked and hooked and tripped, and right away when I do something, I got called. That’s how I see it. I went to the box every time I did something. This game it seems everything we did they called us, and they could have taken their guys a lot of times, too. We got the calls against us a lot today. It was a bad loss for us.”
- Detroit’s Tomas Holmstrom on the same game.
--> I hate bad officiating almost as much as I hate complaining about bad officiating and blaming it for your loss – No excuses!
Not a quote but an interesting tid-bit…The New York Rangers head coach, Tom Renney has mixed and matched his forwards looking for the perfect combination to produce some offensive power. Along the way he assembled Chris Drury flanked by Petr Prucha and Ryan Callahan…affectionately named the Six Feet Under line for their smaller stature.
--> Seriously?? You couldn’t come up with a better name? Talk about the kiss of death!! Especially for a team that’s trying to find it’s way out of the NHL basement.
"We had no business winning that game. We were terrible for two periods. We weren't even that great in the third. It's an ugly win, but we'll take it."
– Florida’s Mike Van Ryn on the Panther’s snatching a win away from the Canadiens as Nathan Horton scored on the PP with 10 seconds left in regulation sending the game to OT and an eventual SO.
-->You’re right Mike…you had no business winning that game, but kudos to you guys for finding a way to win. Those are the games you didn’t win last year and it cost you a spot in the playoffs.
Earlier this week, The Detroit News ran a Red Wings Extra that told about the players pre-game rituals. It was a rather interesting read . Here’s the link - http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071017/SPORTS0103/710170324/1128/SPORTS0103 – and here are some memorable quotes from it.
"I'll take a nap and get up to a freak show. I have three kids -- 6, 4 and 2. They're all running around, screaming and fighting. It's an interesting way to get ready for a game."
- Tomas Holmstrom
--> I want to hear what your wife thinks about that! ;)
"I'm kind of boring. I'll go to the same restaurant after the morning skate and eat the same meal -- pasta with chicken mixed in and a Caesar salad. I'll go home and take a nap for an hour or two, then get up and play with my 2-year-old son. I'll then eat a snack, bread and oatmeal, at 4.”
- Mikael Samuelsson
--> Yup, that’s boring alright…but whatever works!
"It wasn't pretty, but I still had my hands and legs. I didn't think about sitting out."
- Florida Panther Olie Jokinen talking about the last time he almost missed a game as he prepared for his 301st consecutive NHL game (Thursday night against Toronto)… It was the morning of a game against Boston in Mike Keenan's first season as Panthers coach. During a skating drill, assistant coach George Kingston turned around and accidentally jammed his hockey stick into Jokinen's mouth. He lost four or five teeth, broke a bone above his upper lip and needed nearly 100 stitches and four hours in the dentist's office to fix the damage. He arrived at the arena about 5:30 p.m. and played. The only thing that might have kept him out of the game was if they hadn't finished his dental work in time for the faceoff.
That was the closest the Panthers center has come to missing a game since he last sat out Dec. 23, 2002 vs. Nashville, when the flu sidelined him.
--> Yup…He’s a hockey player!
"They didn't fall through the giant crevice between pre-season and regular season which can suck up a lot of guys."
-Edmonton Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish, on the strong play of rookies Gagner and Cogliano at the start of this season…
--> What is this…an episode of Lost???
To be fair…here is the rest of his quote… "You can get very enthusiastic about players and then you get to the regular season and they can't contribute at that level. They've proved to me they're good players."
--> Atta boys! ;)
"Danny just laid it out there for me and I just closed my eyes and shot," Richards understated. "Everyone [the defense] just gets attracted to him, and he just laid it out there for me."
- Flyers center Mike Richards on his game winning power play goal in the second period of last night’s game against the Devils.
--> Really? You close your eyes? That’s interesting…shouldn’t they be open??
That’s all for now…
Join Ek and I for today’s talkcast. We'll be chatting with Dan Spiegel, our Florida Panthers writer.
To listen just click on the green box on the right of the main page. To join in on the conversation call 724-444-7444 and enter Talkcast ID# 49244.
I’m still taking nominations for Mucker & Grinder of the Week…
Talk soon!
Jules
[email protected] 
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