On the readiness of tonight’s opener:
Yeah, I think guys are anxious. We’ve been talking about it for a few guys. We’re ready to go.
On the message to the team in an effort to defend the Stanley Cup:
Well, it’s tough to defend it if you don’t make the playoffs. You can’t get caught up in all the glamour part of it. Hey, it’s not just winning it, it’s getting there, getting to the position of being a playoff team, and then that’s another year, again. We’ve got a long ways to go before we start thinking about that. And if you’re on top of the game, you know that our division has got a hell of a lot tougher.
On what he remembers about the pre-game ceremony “last year”:
Well, last year we didn’t have a pre-game ceremony. We got beat in the conference finals. [Reporter: Two years ago, my bad]. You know what? It’s not that. I don’t think the ceremony had anything to do with it. I think it was [that] we hadn’t played hockey for [a long time]. We had lots of guys who had had surgery. It was a January-February deal. This is kind of ancient stuff already. That’s a long time ago, and we had come off winning a championship, and we had a lot of guys who thank goodness it was February because they weren’t ready in September because we were banged up, and we got banged up in that game, if you remember that. We lost Matt Greene who played 12 minutes against a team that was a Stanley Cup champion also. Really, it has no bearing on tonight at all, quite honest.
On the players being on the ice for a shorter amount of time tonight:
Yep. I think that was one thing that they did ask Luc about, was that last time I think the ring presentation was on the ice, and it did play it out, it did put time onto it, and the players asked if we not do that. [Reporter: It sounds like it worked really well, splitting it up, and the players were really moved by the event the other night and having the rings then.] Yeah, you know what? It was nice for them to be able to spend personal time with Mr. Anschutz. He is the owner, and he does present the rings, and it’s nice to have him there, and he doesn’t like that – the big social setting, which would be a ceremony. So a nice quiet way, that was special, for sure. [Reporter: Wolfgang Puck was there, too?] I’m not sure he got a ring. [Reporter: He didn’t get a ring? His name’s ‘Puck’.] He made us dinner, so I have to assume that he’s there.
On the ring:
It’s a beautiful ring. It’s different than the last one. I think that everybody was really happy with it, as they should be.
On whether the players will skate with the Stanley Cup during the ceremony:
Everybody keeps asking me about the ceremony. I mean, I know how long the ceremony’s going to be. You have as much info. They’re going to raise the banner. That’s what the players wanted. That’s what we wanted. Raise the banner. Everything else, you’ll have to be there to see it. [Reporter: Be there for the song, right?] Yeah. I mean, it’s the second game of the doubleheader, so they have to tie that in. They have to have to tie the ceremony in. The ceremony’s not the important part of tonight’s game. It’s going to be nice to see, but it’s not the most important part.
-I was at a team function and left the morning skate early. Audio provided by Rich Hammond.
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