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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: BLACKHAWKS v LIGHTNINGJune 14, 2015Johnny OduyaBrent SeabrookCHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Practice Day Q. Brent, Niklas Hjalmarsson talked about the opportunity you have here tomorrow night. He said it's hard not to daydream, be human, but at the same time temper that emotion. How do you do that? Does the experience of this team, you're able to do that naturally? BRENT SEABROOK: I think he's right. It's obviously tough not to think about some of those things, but you want to try to put that out of your head as much as you can. We're playing a good team tomorrow. We got to be prepared and ready to play our game, be ready to go right from the start. Q. Brent, what do you think about the journey you've been on as the playoffs began? Has time flown or has it felt like a long, hard grind? BRENT SEABROOK: A little bit of both. I think the series have flown by quick, then you get a break. We had 10 days after Minnesota. Felt like a lifetime. It was a long break. Even in the Finals, having two days off between games, especially in Tampa Bay, felt like we were there for a month. It's sort of both ways. Q. Brent, when Kimmo came in, he was replacing a younger guy. What is the difference having him on the bench and in game, if he's helping maybe more than some of the younger guys? BRENT SEABROOK: Kimmo has been huge for our team coming in. He's a great guy. Heard a lot of good things before he came about him. When he came to our group, it was awesome to have him. He's funny. He keeps things light. He's obviously got a lot of experience. Anytime you can add a guy like that to your team, it's huge. He's been great for us. Q. Johnny, Jonathan Toews was up here saying that you guys feel as the series goes on you get better. The record proves that. Why do you think that is? What things do you do as the series goes on that allows you to improve? JOHNNY ODUYA: Yeah, I think we've seen it in pretty much every round here in playoffs. I don't know what it is. I think we have some guys that like certain situations. They like being in the spot when the pressure is on. They're not afraid to make those mistakes. They take a lot of responsibility. I think that shows maybe later on in the series. The first couple games in any series, I think there's a lot of excitement, a lot of ‑ how do you say ‑ error for mistakes, there's more go, go, go mentality, whereas later on you tend to be a little bit more self cautious. I think the experience, what type of player and personality you have plays into that. I think in playoffs you're not just playing the opposition, you play against yourself, too, as a team. You got to be able to go through these patches where things are not going your way, it's up and down, and still be able as a group to come out and get some results. I think that's obviously a strength of our team. Q. Johnny, I know you've been asked about 350 times about you guys playing so much. What is it about the group of four of you that you seem to get better as the playoffs has gone on? You've managed to stay strong and play well. JOHNNY ODUYA: Well, I answered that question before. I think the experience helps a lot. I think Dunks, with the most minutes, used to more minutes. The other ones, too, are used to a lot of minutes, have been in situations where they needed to play more. They've been in situations, you know, in playoffs, a lot of games. I think that helps. Sometimes, too, you kind of take it as a challenge. I think Hammer said that, too, where there's been a lot of talk about it. Now it's almost you want to prove that it's not an issue. Sometimes you feel, even if you're a little sluggish at the beginning of games, you can feel better when you get more time to get out there. Even if you make a mistake, you know there's going to be time for you to make it up. I think sometimes maybe it's tougher to play the lower minutes where you're sitting around and waiting, not really getting into the flow of the game. I don't know. There's probably a bunch of reasons for why. But I think, like I said, the experience there has a lot to do with that. Q. Brent, you guys have obviously done this twice before. When there is the Cup in the building, you know what's at stake later on that evening. Is there a different feeling in the room that day, or is it truly just another game? BRENT SEABROOK: It's not just another game, but that's the way we got to try to approach it. It's a huge game. Tomorrow there's going to be a lot of things going on throughout the day, morning, afternoon and night. Lots of things going on throughout the game, too, different battles and things like that. We've got to be prepared for the game, the task at hand. We got to come out tomorrow morning and be prepared for the day, be excited to play. It's just another game, a hockey game. We got to go out there and remember that, try to be at our best. Q. Brent, has playing for Joel as long as you have helped you develop as a defenseman? If so, how, in what ways? BRENT SEABROOK: Yeah, I think Q being a defenseman has definitely helped us out. Little things he harps on day in and day out, it helps the D focus on those kind of things. It helps our forwards, as well. I think having that mentality of a defenseman behind the bench, you know, definitely helps us out, helps us focus on the little things that it takes to become a good defenseman. He's been around a long time. That's one thing that he's definitely passed on to us. Q. Brent, the salary cap was put in to make it more of a level playing field, parity. It's supposed to make it so it's not conducive for a team in six years to be on the verge of its third Stanley Cup. How has this franchise been able to buck the odds in a system that's supposed to create an even playing field? BRENT SEABROOK: I don't know. We got a great team. We got a lot of great players on our team. I think the management and the coaches have done a good job of identifying the players that they've put in the lineup. We have two of the best forwards in the league that have proven that they show up in big games. Throughout the playoffs, there's a lot of big games, right from the first round to the last. I think we've got a team that enjoys playing in those games, that's able to step up in those big games, play big parts. I think the league has changed. I think there's a lot of parity in the league. You look at it this year, I think I heard a stat before the playoffs started, it was 15 points that separated first and 16th place in the league. I don't know. When Detroit won it a couple years ago, it was 40‑something points between first and 16th. I think, you know, there's a lot of parity in the league. Any given year, any team can win. We've been lucky enough to be put in good situations and been able to win a couple. So it's been nice. Q. Johnny, when you guys are out there and you see Joel is on the bench, do you draw confidence as a team just having him as your leader, considering all the stuff he's done in his career? JOHNNY ODUYA: I think we feel as confident with him as I hope he does with us. Of course, you know, for me coming here, I knew what's set in place. Like I said, a good team, good coaching. Yeah, like anything else, we trust the system. We know what we can do. Everything is pretty much set in place. It's just a matter of execution. So, yeah, I find as much trust in him as I do teammates or training staff or anybody around the team, so... THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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