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NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 22, 2011Jimmy HowardEd OlczykTim ThomasDAVID KEON: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm David Keon of the National Hockey League's public relations department, and I'd like to welcome you to today's call. With us today we have Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas, Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard, and NBC analyst and retired NHL star Ed Olczyk. Thanks to all three of these gentlemen for taking the time to join us today and talk with you. This coming Friday the Red Wings will travel to Boston to take on the Bruins in the 2011 Discover NHL Thanksgiving Showdown. So far this season Tim and Jimmy have very similar statistics. Tim is 9‑4‑0, second among goalies with a 1.77 goals‑against average and a .938 save percentage. Jimmy sports a 10‑5‑1 record, he's third with a 1.85 goals‑against average and has a .930 save percentage. Both are tied for the lead among goalies with three shutouts this season. The Bruins are first in the Northeast Division with 24 points while the Red Wings are third in the Central Division with 23. Jimmy has backstopped the wings to a 6‑2 record in the past eight games, while Tim has recorded shutouts in his last two starts, and Boston has an eight‑game winning streak. In two meetings last season in early February, the Red Wings defeated the Bruins 6‑1 in Boston and 4‑2 in Detroit. Thanks again to Tim and Jimmy and Ed for joining us today, and to start it off we'll turn it over to Ed for a few comments. Eddie, go ahead. ED OLCZYK: Thank you very much, Dave. Tim and Jimmy, thank you very much for being a part of this call. An historic day, a something that has been going on in Boston for a long, long time, 20 plus seasons, but the Bruins hosting a game on Black Friday obviously, the day after Thanksgiving, and for us at NBC, this will mark the earliest NHL regular season broadcast on national U.S. network television in more than 20 years, so we're very proud to be a part of that. Of course great Doc Emrick, Pierre McGuire, Liam McHugh and Mike Milbury and myself will be on hand in Boston to bring this game coast to coast at 1:00 eastern, 12:00 central, and looking forward to being a part of two original six franchises being a part of that game on Friday afternoon. It's the only regular‑season meeting between the Detroit Red Wings and the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins, and looking very much forward to spending that day after Thanksgiving in the great city of Boston. First off, I'd like to just ask Tim what this unbelievable winning streak that you guys are on, Tim, nine wins in a row, you've come off a shutout in Montreal a couple of nights, or last night, just talk about where your team is besides the wins, how you guys have come together and maybe what parts of the game that you've really been impressed with over this amazing nine‑game winning streak. TIM THOMAS: It started out, I think, you know, we just‑‑ I think we got ourselves in such a hole at the beginning of the year, and I think what started our success is we got to the point where everybody was invested in each and every game. It was really hard at the beginning of the year with all the Stanley Cup hangovers. Say what you will about it, there's something to be said about it. And it just got to the point where things started clicking, and we were invested in each and every game when it was hard to do in the beginning of the year for some reason. Probably coming off the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Stanley Cup Finals where each and every game is so important, it was hard for us to recreate that kind of feeling in the locker room at the beginning of the year. But we got ourselves in such a big hole that effectively we made each and every game very important because we couldn't afford to go any further lower. But that's what I think started it, and then I was really impressed with‑‑ for quite a few games in a row there, I was really impressed with our offense. It just took off. We started scoring goals, and the whole team was just getting the job done offensively. Recently over the past few games, it's kind of‑‑ well, I guess we scored six against the Islanders, but there's been a couple of games that we haven't scored as much but we found a way to win, so that's impressive in its own right. We're learning to win games in different manners. ED OLCZYK: If I could follow up with that, one guy that I think maybe not a lot of people maybe recognize as one of the elite defensemen in the National Hockey League is Dennis Seidenberg. Can you just talk about from your position the importance of what he brings each and every night? TIM THOMAS: Yeah, he's a horse. He's just so tough every night and does a great job. There's a lot of nights where he doesn't think he played his best game, and I'm sitting him behind on goal and telling him after the game, you played fine, you played great. We've learned to work together over the past two years where I think I can read off of him very well, and that's important to be able to read off of your defensemen, and we've had that going for him. But he blocks shots, he‑‑ he just shows up and battles every night. I know talking to him last night, he's disappointed in his point output this year, his point production, but I was telling him, who cares, we're winning. You're playing good; don't worry about it. But I mean, I really love playing behind him. He made‑‑ when he came to our team, he made our whole team's defense better. ED OLCZYK: Jimmy, you guys are on a nice little run here. You've won a couple of games in a row, but in your last ten games you guys are 6‑3‑1. After getting out of the gates, you were a perfect five for five to start the season. Can you talk about your team coming off the West Coast and what you see to this point with the Detroit Red Wings? JIMMY HOWARD: Yeah, it was a huge two victories for us over the course of the weekend back to back in LA and Anaheim. Sunday's game was just a gutsy effort, got off to a 3‑0 lead and Anaheim found a way to crawl back, but we stuck to it. The season has been a little bit of a roller coaster for us so far this year. We started out of the gates great 5‑0 and then the next thing you know we had a little hiccup and couldn't score. We ran into some great goaltending and just couldn't find the back of the net. It wasn't because we weren't working hard or weren't doing anything like that out of the ordinary, it was just we weren't finding ways to win. So you know, we've just got to concentrate on going out there, and mistakes are going to happen, but just continue to play. The game is 60 minutes for a reason, and hockey is a game of mistakes, and when one happens, just don't get down on ourselves and just continue to go out there and battle. ED OLCZYK: On your team, Jimmy, you get a chance to watch them and face them every day in practice just like Timmy does in Boston, but one guy I'd like to ask you about, another defenseman that I don't think maybe gets enough of the ink, people know he's a tremendous hitter, but Niklas Kronwall really seems to in the last couple years have taken his game to another level. Can you just comment about him and obviously the importance of what he brings each and every night to your team? JIMMY HOWARD: Kronner is great. Kronner is a true professional, everything he does, on and off the ice. He's got everything down to repeat, what he's having to eat at certain times of the day and everything like that. I mean, he's a true specimen. But he's really taken off. He's playing a lot of minutes for us, which is great. It allows Nick not to be out there as much, and he's taken on more of a role this year with being assistant captain, too, which is a great sign for years to come for the Red Wings. He's just a hard worker. I mean, he's constantly demanding more out of himself, and you can see it in practice. Every single day he comes to the rink ready to work and ready to learn and get better. ED OLCZYK: I'd like to ask both of you guys before we turn it over to the media joining the conference call, I'm lucky enough to have played in a couple of original six cities myself, but can you just talk about the importance of that and maybe when you are taking on another original six team, is there that little extra special feeling, especially on a holiday weekend? Timmy, I'll start with you. TIM THOMAS: Yeah, every time we play an original six team, there's an extra energy to the game. You know, before I experienced playing against other original six teams, I didn't think‑‑ I heard the talk about it before, but I didn't think there was anything to it. But over the years, it's true, there's an extra energy to the game, and it just makes the game more important. For me to play against Detroit is always a big deal for me because I'm from Michigan, so it's something like‑‑ I don't really look too far ahead on the schedule ever, hardly ever. I just try to keep it small, keep it focused, but I always know when the Red Wings game is because my family makes me aware of it basically. And I'm happy to be playing in Boston this time because it was a lot cheaper than playing in Detroit. ED OLCZYK: Jimmy, how about you? JIMMY HOWARD: Yeah, you can always tell when you're playing an original six team, especially like when you're pulling into the rink two hours before and there's people, there's crowds of people already outside the arena. I'll give you an instance: We played Toronto in the preseason this year in Detroit, and it was like a playoff game atmosphere in the stands. It was crazy, between "Go, Leafs, Go" and the "Go, Red Wing, Go" chants, it was awesome. Whenever we play an original six team, you can definitely feel the energy that the crowd is giving off, and it hypes you up. Q. As proud red‑blooded Americans I wanted to ask you what you thought about the NHL trying to get a foothold on Thanksgiving holiday to try to make this an annual thing for people to kind of make this part of their schedule like the NFL on Thanksgiving, and then a second part to the question, your favorite Thanksgiving food item? JIMMY HOWARD: I think it's great. Growing up, Thanksgiving, not only was it always about getting together with family and enjoying time with family members and grandparents and aunts and uncles and everything like that, it was also about getting around the TV and watching football. So for us to be joining the festivities the day after Thanksgiving I think is‑‑ I think it's great for the sport, and I always like playing the NBC games because I always feel like it's our Monday Night Football game. I have a lot of fun in that aspect. But I'd have to go with my favorite Thanksgiving food would have to be stuffing. TIM THOMAS: Yeah, I had similar experience to Jim except for unfortunately growing up in Michigan I always had to watch the Lions play, although I'm very happy with the success they're having now, but I can't remember ever watching them win one game. I'm not sure if they ever won one of those. But yeah, I think it's a good thing to try to make an annual tradition out of the Thanksgiving time period there, and as a hockey fan, I would have enjoyed having an afternoon game the day after Thanksgiving as a kid, something to look forward to. It would have made the Thanksgiving vacation even more special. My favorite Thanksgiving food is ham. I know it's not a traditional food, but I really like ham and my mom always made me a ham on Thanksgiving and still does. So that's my food. Q. Assuming you get it from Honey Baked there in Michigan, huh, Tim? TIM THOMAS: Yeah. ED OLCZYK: I'd like to say just from the aspect of the NBC side, the television side, it is, I think it's something that Sam Flood and our NBC people are looking at as the whole pre‑graphic day and just a lot like the Winter Classic, people being able to tune in the day after Thanksgiving, the long holiday weekend, and be able to see some of the greatest athletes in all of sports and two of the better goaltenders in the entire National Hockey League in Tim Thomas and Jimmy Howard be able to play for their respective teams. So I think from our side of it, we're thrilled to be a part of it, and hopefully this will be something that we continue to do to build up the game, build up the individuals and continue to sell our great game. Q. I wanted to ask both of you what kind of memories you have from playing‑‑ obviously lots of guys play football on Thanksgiving weekend, but what do you have hockey memories of? I know that's kind of a time for travel tournaments and things like that whenever you're a kid. What was it like playing hockey around Thanksgiving and trying to‑‑ whether it was trying to get in a family meal around traveling or whatever it was? JIMMY HOWARD: I enjoyed it because growing up we always played in a Thanksgiving tournament in Oswego, New York, which is just north of Syracuse, and that's where all my family is from, like my parents grew up, and aunts and uncles and cousins, they all live in Oswego, New York. So we would go down for Thanksgiving and we'd have a tournament Friday, Saturday, Sunday, so it was easy travel for us. We'd already be there, and we were still able to have the normal Thanksgiving atmosphere at both grandparents' house and then got to play some hockey on top of that, so that's what I remember growing up. TIM THOMAS: I don't remember playing any Thanksgiving tournaments. I'm sure I did, but I'm 37, and that was so long ago I don't remember. Q. I guess I should ask you, Tim, since this is kind of a Bruins' tradition to play this Black Friday game, what has it been like and what have your experiences been like? Do guys worry about eating too much the day before, or just what is it like playing in this Friday matinee game? TIM THOMAS: Yeah, they do. I've already heard talk about it this year from some of the guys on the team, about you can't eat turkey. I think that's an old wives' tale. I think any of the tryptophan or anything that's in turkey I think would be wore off by the next day. I've played in a few of these games the day after Thanksgiving, and I've never felt slowed down by the Thanksgiving meal. Personally I don't put too much thought into it. I'm going to try to enjoy it Thursday, eat as much as I like or don't like and just get ready to play the game. But it'll be‑‑ it's a bigger deal this year being on NBC, and we happen to be playing against the Detroit Red Wings, another team that's had success in recent years, and with our success last year it should be set up for a real good game. Q. I guess lastly, I guess one of the referees is going to be mic'd up for this game, and I just want to know what it's like to be‑‑ what kind of conversations do you have with the referee during the game, and if you know the guy is mic'd up does that change things or not? JIMMY HOWARD: I don't think it'll change much. Usually when I'm talking to referees, it might involve some foul language once in a while. But no, for the most part I find when I'm talking to the referees it's just usually about stuff that's going on around the crease and making sure that they're aware of it so that the goaltenders can do our jobs, because the way Tim and I play, we're both aggressive, want to be at the top of the crease, and we don't want to be getting interfered with. We want to be allowed to do our job. TIM THOMAS: Yeah, I don't think it'll change the way that I talk to the ref. I don't talk to the refs that much. I'm just too busy doing my own job for the most part. There are times when I'll have short conversations. If I had a question on whether he saw something, or sometimes I just have questions about the rules and I just want to learn, so I'm asking questions about that. But I don't think it'll change anything, but having said that, from past experience, whenever you know a guy has got a mic on, you're less likely to talk to him for whatever reason. DAVID KEON: Thanks very much, Tim and Jimmy and Ed. Have a great Thanksgiving and a great game on Friday. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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