Final Robitaille quotes

Before I head out for the ceremony in a few minutes, here are some other quotes from Luc Robitaille from today, during his Q&A scrum with the media after his ring ceremony. I’ll be checking back in after the ceremony with more, and I’ll post a transcript of his speech for those who aren’t able to watch it.

(on being a NHL longshot early in this career…)
ROBITAILLE: “Apparently there was someone that wrote that somewhere on the report. `This kid will never make it. He’s slower than the Zamboni.’ It was a really fast one. It was a turbo Zamboni. It was the only one made that way. … I do remember asking my dad, when I was younger, before I was dressing, `Dad, do I look really slow out there?’ My dad was always positive and pushing me and he said, `Son, all I know is that when there’s a loose puck, you seem to be first on it every time.’ I said, `OK.’ He said, `Don’t worry about it. Just work hard.”’

(on whether he constantly worked on skating…)
ROBITAILLE: “Definitely, my skating was something I worked hard on every day. As far back as 1982 or ’83, getting a pair of RollerBlades and practicing all summer. It was always my first three steps that I was trying to improve on. I remember being 38 years old and trying to do some pickup drills out there, just to figure out my three steps. I tried, every day, to get better.”

(on whether the criticism ever got to him…)
ROBITAILLE: “I was trying to get better every day. My philosophy for my whole career was, if someone said something good about me in the paper, I always said, `Well, I have to prove them right.’ And if they said something wrong about me, or something I didn’t like, I said, `I’ve got to prove them wrong.’ I always tried to look at things with the glass half full. That’s the way I lived my life as a player, so for me, nothing got me down. I always found a way to motivate myself, whatever was said.”

(on whether he has any regrets about his playing days…)
ROBITAILLE: “I really gave it my best every day. That’s why, when people ask me if I miss the game, I say no. Because there was nothing left to squeeze out of that lemon. When I retired, I knew I gave it my best shot. I remember, when I was 18 and I got drafted. I used to idolize guys who played junior and watch them. I remember some guys had big bellies, and they were only 23 years old. Those were guys I idolized when they were in junior. I remember seeing those guys and thinking, `Man, what happened to these guys? How come they’re not in the NHL? They were so good. ‘ Listening to them, after they would skate, they would say, `Aw man, I wish I would have worked harder. I wish I would have worked out in the summer. Did you see this guy made it and I didn’t?’ I remember sitting there thinking, `Man, I’ll never say that. I’ll never say I wish I would have done something different.’ I wasn’t good every day, but I did give it my best every day. I don’t have any regret in that way.”