Doughty, Williams post-game, season-ending sentiment

Drew Doughty, on whether the team is able to “exhale” after the win:
Yeah, it’s been pretty stressful. As a team, what we expected ourselves and we’re expected by everyone else to make the playoffs. When you finally play a game where you’re not making it, it sucks. There’s been a lot we’ve had to go through since the All-Star break. We had to come back and try to jump back in the standings. We did a good job of that, we just didn’t finish off the job.

Doughty, on receiving a standing ovation from the fans:
It meant a lot that they’re still supporting us. I guess that they’re still satisfied that we brought them two cups in the last three years. Even though we didn’t make the playoffs this year, they’re still here supporting us and they were great for us tonight. Next year we’re going to come back and try to get back on top.

Doughty, on whether he’s seen a change in the culture of hockey in Southern California:
Yeah, it’s been awesome. You just see more and more people coming to games, more and more kids playing hockey around the rinks and it means a lot to us. I know it means a lot to the city, but it means a lot to us that we’re able to put more attention on hockey and have more and more kids participating in it.

Doughty, on when the preparation for next season begins:
I don’t know when other people start preparing for it, but obviously you’ve got to get back in the gym. Obviously take a few weeks off. Go on vacation with your wife, girlfriend, whatever it may be. Go have some fun and just relax. I think everyone will do that. A couple months go by, you definitely have to get back in the gym. But me, myself, I won’t start thinking about hockey until I come back to LA. It’s going to be in September.

Doughty, on whether he will play in the World Championships:
I don’t know what’s going to happen with that. No one has asked me or anything yet. It’s a decision I’m going to have to make if they do ask me. I don’t know what’s going to happen there.

Doughty, on whether he knew Robyn Regehr was going to retire:
Yeah, we all kind of knew. It’s sad to see a guy like that go. He’s been a veteran player in this league. He’s played so many games, been through a lot of things and obviously won the cup with us last year. So he’s had an extremely successful career. For me, I’ve learned some things from him definitely. He’s a great leader in the room and a very good pro. Watching him around here really helped me I think. I think I’ve grown a lot by watching him and other guys like that.

Doughty, on whether playing into June for three consecutive years took a toll on them:
I don’t know. I don’t know if other guys were tired or not. In my eyes, I didn’t see anyone that was tired. I don’t think that’s an excuse we can use. I think we just didn’t all perform at the same time on the right nights and that’s why we’re sitting here and not in the playoffs.

Justin Williams, on whether he’d like to participate in the World Championships:
I’ve been to Prague before. It’s a beautiful country. It’s always fun to put your home jersey on for your country. Other than that, I don’t know. [Reporter: So it’s possible we’ll see you there?] Potentially, yeah, maybe.

Williams on whether he feels fatigued after three deep playoff runs:
No, excuses are for losers. I’m not going to use anything like that, fatigued or anything. We just got kicked on our asses. We’re going to have to get ourselves back up. It’s frustrating, embarrassing, but mostly I’m angry over that someone is going to hold the cup and not us.

Williams, on when the process for next year begins:
Well, you reflect on what went wrong this year. Try and figure that out. Try and improve yourself for next year. That’s what you do every year. Try and get yourself in the best possible shape, best possible situations to succeed in this game. It’s different every year. This is a longer summer, so we’re going to have to adjust.