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BRIDGESTONE NHL WINTER CLASSIC: CANADIENS v BRUINSDecember 31, 2015Claude JulienBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Q. Bill Belichick, when asked about having you at practice, he said, great, I love Claude, he's a great guy. How flattered are you by that, and what kind of admiration do you have for him? CLAUDE JULIEN: That's why I like him better than you guys, because he gives me compliments. No, it's always great, always great to catch up with Bill. I was fortunate enough to be a guest of his yesterday at his practice, and we walked through it, and it was nice to see him work with his team. I've admired him for a long time for how he handles his team, how he coaches, how prepared he is. We play different sports, but as coaches, I think there's a lot of things we can learn from each other and admire from each other. And that's the one thing I have from Bill is his preparation is second to none. Q. As you came together, what was it like? CLAUDE JULIEN: Just we were talking yesterday. We talked about how the ice was and everything else, and I hadn't had an opportunity to go on there yesterday. So I asked him if he wanted to skate, and he said he'd love to. We set him up with a pair of skates, and he's skated before. Obviously, we gave him a stiff pair of skates today that was different than he was probably used to, so it took him a little time to get more comfortable in it. But it was an enjoyable, not just an enjoyable skate, but an enjoyable moment with him. In my book, it's unique and a lot of fun. Like I said, there is a lot of admiration there for how he works. And to be able to spend some time with him on the ice on my terms where I looked a little better was nice. Q. Bill Belichick (Indiscernible)? CLAUDE JULIEN: He's played hockey before, and I told him before I went out there, I said those skates are going to be a lot stiffer than what you're used to. So it was just about getting used to it. From what I saw from him, to be honest, was the second he put his skates on to how he finished, he improved quite a bit. I wish my players could improve that quickly. Q. What's it like to be here? You had a chance to look around a little bit, and to be a part of the Boston landscape, playing the Montreal Canadiens, such a rival. What's the whole process like for you? CLAUDE JULIEN: There are a lot of things that come to mind. I think one of them is being here in the home of the Patriots. As Bill told me yesterday: Welcome to our house. Obviously embracing us to come in here and play. I think being in a building of a team that you admire and watch all the time, I will tell you that probably 90% of our players are big‑time Patriots fans. To be able to come here and be in the venue is great. Second of all, to play a rival team like the Montreal Canadiens that these two teams have so much history between each other and to be able to bring it out to an outdoor game that has meaning to it is also very special. I know that we're enjoying the moment right now from the skate yesterday with the family to the practice today to he everything that's going on. But I can assure you from my past experience that when the puck is dropped, both teams will be focused on what they have to do here. We all know how tight standings are and where we stand with each other, and that game has great meaning to it tomorrow. Q. Every game you always want to get off to a good start and start off with a goal. Is tomorrow a little more imperative with 67,000 fans? CLAUDE JULIEN: Certainly it would help. But at the same time, I think you've got to focus on making sure you're ready to play the game tomorrow in the conditions that are going to be out there. That's one thing that's a little unknown still. Is is it going to be warm? Is the ice going to be soft? Is it going to be sunny? Obviously, are we sticking with the same time depending on the outcome? There is a lot of unknown as we speak, but when the puck is dropped, you have to understand as good a job as we want to do out here, it's never going to be the same ice as inside a normal building. So we have to make sure that we, I guess, simplify our game. Don't complicate it. Try to minimize mistakes and understand that concept. We've seen a lot of outdoor games so far. We've seen different conditions, and no matter who you talk to, it's always been the same thing. You try not to get too fancy out there, but you try to be efficient. Q. How does the ice feel out there today? CLAUDE JULIEN: It's normal. The sun was out. I think underneath the ice the system's doing a great job. But on top with the sun being out there it was a little soft. But as I was going off, the clouds came in and right away you saw the ice change, so that's I guess how touchy it can be. But we were able to get a decent practice, and we're happy with what we accomplished today. Q. You guys, it's been a little bit of a challenge. You guys have been in and out a lot. What's it been like for you from the start until now to sort of get through this type of season? CLAUDE JULIEN: Well, as everybody knows, it's a well‑known factor that we've had a lot of changes. We've had to grow our team as we've come along here to this stage. We've inserted some young players. We've inserted some players via trades or free agent markets and stuff like that. But I've really enjoyed the way our group has come together. Although we had a really tough start with that 0‑3, we were able to come together and got better and better all the time. To me, I feel that this group can become even better in the second half as long as we keep our focus the same as where we've had it in the first half, and that's knowing we can be better, we can improve. But we've got to work at it. So it's been fun. I knew from the start it was going to be a challenge. We've had some stability in this organization for many years with a lot of the same players. But there comes a time where there are changes that have to be made. So I think so far the transition has been fairly smooth when you look at all the changes that were made. Q. How adamant were you that the way the team plays without the puck remains the same, and the way guys defended was something that still works? CLAUDE JULIEN: Well, I think in order to get better, you don't want to add something and subtract something else. I always told guys we need to add something to our team, we're not subtracting. The defensive part of our game for the most part over the years has been pretty sound and the guys respect it. They enjoy the system that we've put in front of them defensively that way, and what we want to improve is probably the pace of the game. The pace of the game means we look like a quicker team. Sometimes last year we looked like we might have been a bit of a slow team. People were thinking we need some quicker skaters. Sometimes it's not about quicker skaters. It's about quicker pace. That's what we tried to work on at the beginning of the year. Of course, when you work on something like that adamantly like we did in training camp, the other part of the game slipped a little bit. But I think for the most part we've recaptured it and we've got a better balance. Q. How disappointing is it to not have someone like Brad? You already don't have David, but not having Brad in a game like this? CLAUDE JULIEN: Well, like I said in French earlier, you control what you can control. Right now we've brought somebody else in. I'm going to play with the guys I have and our team needs to be a team. We need to just play the way we have through all these situations and that's all we can do right now. So as a coach, I don't bog myself down with these things and I just move forward with what I've got. And I've said that forever. I'm going to work with the players I have in front of me and try to get the most out of them. That's what I'm going to do here moving forward. Q. What does experience bring you when you come into this one now? CLAUDE JULIEN: Well, I think probably the thing is you know how to handle it better and better all the time. With the players, what are you going to tell them before the game, how are you going to prepare them? With the experience before, and we talked about the Edmonton one before as well, there were different conditions weather‑wise and all that stuff. I learned a lot through these games. And to me, I'm a lot more, I guess, focused and relaxed. Really, like all the stuff that's going out around that makes this a big event is not a worry of mine right now. I'm really all about preparing for the game tomorrow and letting the other people enjoy it. At the same time I feel I have a job to do and hopefully use that experience that I've learned. Whether it's the ice conditions, whether it's between periods, whether it's the preparation before the game, whether it's playing in front of 60‑plus thousand fans and realizing it's obviously a different concept than what we're used to, that's where I think my experience will hopefully help our team prepare for the game better. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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