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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: BLACKHAWKS v LIGHTNINGJune 8, 2015Ben BishopJon CooperCHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Game Three THE MODERATOR: Questions for coach. Q. Jon, who is your backup goalie tonight? COACH COOPER: Really awkward. What was the question (laughter)? So, as you well know, everybody's still on the ice, so... I haven't been out there. That's why I go media first and walk into the trainer's room after. So I don't know. Q. What do we learn from the fact that Ben is in the starter's net for the morning skate? COACH COOPER: Is there a starter's net? I think each goalie has the net they like to go to. I didn't know there was a starter's net. I was never a goalie, so I don't know how they think. Q. What will determine it, how they skate or... COACH COOPER: How many more ways are we going to ask this? I don't know who is starting. I will find out after this media session. We have two capable goalies that we have 100% confident in who is going to play. One of them is playing. It's Vasi or Bish. That will be determined tonight. Q. These two teams seem to have a comfort level of playing without the lead or behind. What does it take to succeed when you're trailing in the playoffs? What do you see from these two teams when they're behind? COACH COOPER: The one thing you have to have, you have to have confidence in yourself. I'm sure Chicago's had it the last few years, that's why they're the team they are. We have a confidence in ourselves. We just have to prove you could do it. I think until you get over that hump and win games when you're behind. I think probably a huge building block for us was Game4 in Detroit when we came back in the last five minutes and won that game. Those are building blocks. Once you do it once, all of a sudden you have confidence to do it a second time. All of a sudden it's in your psyche there's never a game you think you're out of. You have to be able to think that way, or what's the point, you're just going to end up losing these games. We did in the regular season, as well, but to be able to do it in the playoffs, you have to have a quiet calm about yourself. You never get too high, never get too low, all those clichés. But ultimately your guys have to believe they can come back, think in any situation against any team you can do it. Once we started doing it in the Detroit series, it kind of snowballed from there. Q. (No microphone.) COACH COOPER: Well, I don't know. We've come back in series, so now we know we can do it. We never really sit back and say, We're out of this series. It's a little different being down three games to two versus three games to zero. It's obviously different. The boys in there have a confidence about themselves. Believe me, we don't want to fall behind in games. But we know if we do, we have the ability to come back. Q. Seeing the way Hedman is playing, it's hard to imagine he wouldn't be part of the Norris Trophy discussion had he not been injured. Would you agree with that? COACH COOPER: Absolutely. I was crushed for him when he got hurt. Really happy for him because when you're chosen that high in the draft, he was second overall, I think the expectations are so high for you. For me, this is his coming out party. He's played this well for us for a long time.  We just haven't had this for everybody to watch. I'm really happy for him. He's a phenomenal kid. He works his tail off. He deserves this. I've said this before. You know, Stammer is our leader up front, Hedy is our leader on the back end. A lot of how he goes, we go. It's great to watch him play the way he is and actually get the recognition he deserves. He's a top‑tier defenseman in this league. It's why we're here. Q. What is your plan with Jonathan Drouin? Did he play well enough to receive another chance tonight? COACH COOPER: You guys are going to hate my answers. This is what happens when you're day 55 of the playoffs, whatever it is. We put the 20 guys in that day we think is going to give us the best chance of winning the game. Jonathan Drouin is a big part of us. I thought the other night everything we asked him to do, he did. Is Jonathan Drouin going to play tonight? He might, he might not. The one great thing about our team, we believe in everybody, we believe in what's going on, we believe in the lineup going on. Has Jonathan proved he can play in more games in this series? Yes, he has. Q. Other than matchup adjustments and changes, do you have a feeling of how this game is going to go or supposed to go? COACH COOPER: I know how it's supposed to go, we're supposed to win. That's the way I would like it to go. Q's a heck of a coach. I'm sure he has in his head what his matchups are going to be. I can't sit here and pick his brain. I know some things are for certain. Duncan Keith is going to play 30 minutes. I'm fairly certain that is going to happen. Seabrook's going to be right behind him. Hjalmarsson will be right behind him. Oduya will be right behind him. I'm pretty certain that's what he's going to do. Toews and Kane are going to get their 20. It will just go down the list. None of that is going to change. It's our job to defend them. Are we going to get our perfect matchups out there every time? No, we are not. That's where the challenge comes in for other players. The Hedmans, Stralmans, the Garrys, Coburns, all these guys, they're going to have to defend. They're going to have to maybe come out of their comfort zone and maybe defend guys they haven't defended before. If lines are caught out there, we've done this all year, I've said it before, we have four lines, I'm not that worried when another line is out there. We're going to do our best to get our matches right. But ultimately our belief has always been we're not really worried about the other team, we're worried about ourself. If we're playing well, to our structure, we're competing, the game usually takes care of itself. Q. Whatever happens with your decision with the goaltenders, will you say you feel better in this situation than in the first round last year against Montréal? What are the similarities? COACH COOPER: It's two different teams, two different experiences. I think, regardless of who was playing goal last year, I truly believe if we had Ben Bishop in goal last year, I'm still not sure we win that series. We were a little wet behind the ears. It was our first taste of the playoffs for us last year. I've watched all four of those games countless times this summer. They were a better team than we were. They played better. I shouldn't say they were a better team. They played better than we did. It was a phenomenal experience for us. It was a stinging experience. I don't know if we are here today without having that experience. I will never sit here and say last year we lost because of our goaltending. We lost as a team. Fast forward to this year. Ben Bishop is a better goalie this year than he was last year. We have the luxury of having Andrei Vasilevskiy as a 1A. He's going to be a star in this league one day. I would have to sit here and say we're a little bit more prepared, we're a little bit more savvy, and we've got a little bit more depth. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. COACH COOPER: Thank you. THE MODERATOR: Questions for Ben Bishop. Q. Without going into specifics, can you tell us if it was an injury or illness in Game2? BEN BISHOP: Not going to be much help to you guys right now. I'm not going to comment on that. Q. Do you feel well enough to play tonight? BEN BISHOP: We'll see. Q. Ben, when you're a goalie trying to play through whatever, it's a little bit different than a player maybe, you're the last line of defense. Talk about the decision you have to make about making sure you're good enough given how important the position is. BEN BISHOP: Yeah, that's important. Yeah, it is. Q. The fact is, you got to prepare yourself mentally with this thing. When do you start preparing mentally if you're not sure? BEN BISHOP: I mean, you start preparing the whole time. You don't really stop preparing. Even on days off, you're still prepared. It's one of those things you'll be ready no matter what. I feel like Marshawn Lynch right now (laughter). Q. Do you have a timetable? Will you know by a certain time today whether or not you're going to be able to go? BEN BISHOP: Yeah. Q. Do you know now whether or not you're going to go? BEN BISHOP: No comment. Sorry, guys. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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