Justin Williams wins Conn Smythe Trophy

On winning the Conn Smythe:
It’s pretty sweet.To get that award and to get the ovation that I got from my teammates was pretty special and emotional for me.

On his family joining the Stanley Cup celebration:
You win the Stanley Cup for obviously yourself and your teammates, but the thing that makes it extra special is to share the jubilation, the excitement of the pinnacle of your hockey career with the people who cheered for you since day one, the people who love you. That’s what makes it pretty emotional for me.

On winning the Stanley Cup:
What we went through this year as opposed to 2012, the Game 7s, the backs against the wall, what we went through to get to this point is unique. Obviously every Stanley Cup is special in its own way, but we really had to earn this one.

On being a Conn Smythe winner:
I can’t believe I won that. That will, I don’t think, ever, ever sink in. The guy from Cobourg who played the game he loves and got to be surrounded with a lot of great teammates throughout my years.

On whether he thought about winning the Conn Smythe during the playoffs:
No, not at all. The focus was solely on the game. That’s no BS. It certainly was. The one that matters obviously isn’t here right now. This one is just a little extra icing, a little sweeter that I got presented with that trophy. Clearly it could have gone to a lot of players on our team.

On the game:
You had to find that little extra in your tank. There’s always such reserve in there we had to dig down and find tonight. Alec Martinez scoring that goal, gee. What huge goals he scored for us. That’s just what our team was all about, everybody pitching in. But what a special player Marty is.

On whether he thought they would win the cup after going down 3-0 to San Jose:
I would have punched you in the face maybe. Things looked bleak for us. But we were able to channel our inner will. We just didn’t want to go away. The term ‘one at a time’ certainly applied to us that series. As I said, what we went through to get to this point, to win the Stanley Cup, is pretty emotional and special, and we’ll never forget it.

On Dean Lombardi acquiring him:
Dean Lombardi has given me a great opportunity here. He saw somebody, a player that not a lot of people saw. He gave me a chance, he gave me another opportunity, where my career wasn’t going the way I wanted it to. I was able to be a piece of this puzzle, the team that he built. I’m privileged to play on this team with all the great players.

On what it means to win the Conn Smythe:
Up and down our lineup, you can make a case for any line, any ‘D’ pair. That’s not just blowing smoke. That’s the God’s honest truth. To be singled out like that, have my teammates give me an applause, be genuinely excited for me, that was the most special thing.