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WORLD CUP OF HOCKEY

September 20, 2016

Mike Babcock

Toronto, Ontario

Team Canada – 4
Team USA ‑ 2

Q. Mike, maybe a little slower start than you wanted; obviously got down. How did you feel about the response?
MIKE BABCOCK: Well, I just thought we were tentative early, tight and tentative and didn't execute very good.
I thought we had a real good response. Obviously our fourth line was great, real big goal. They got heavy, line got heavy and we got the one off the backboard with the missed slide shot and that was a good play. And then pairs go in the net right away, real good set, forecheck. They turned it over and gave it to us. That gave us an opportunity to be in a pretty comfortable spot, so I thought that was good.
I liked our first ten minutes of the third. There was times tonight that I didn't think we were even close to being as good as we're capable of being. But it was an opportunity to get better today, and now we're set up to play more games in the tournament, which is real positive. And we've got to take some steps because we weren't as good as we're capable of being tonight.

Q. What are your impressions of Duchene, Thornton and O'Reilly and their chemistry so far in the first couple of games?
MIKE BABCOCK: Good. I mean, Duchene just good flat out could skate tonight. Probably should have played him more or whatever. But I thought they were real good.
We struggled for two periods, we were 29 percent after two periods in the face‑off circle, so we spent a lot of time chasing. But a guy like Duchene can really skate, and that's why we have him in. He gives us good speed, and obviously he answered the bell here tonight.

Q. Quick turnaround. You beat a team you have such an emotional investment against because of the rivalry, but now you're playing a team that's never existed before but obviously lots of respect. The quick turnaround and getting your guys there?
MIKE BABCOCK: Yeah, it is what it is. I think there's back to backs in the tournament. I think other teams had to play back to backs, but they all played the entire team if I'm not mistaken; is that right? So this is the only one that's back to back fresh. I don't know how that happened, but so here we are, we've got an opportunity tomorrow, and I look forward to it.

Q. Looking at the results between Canada and the U.S. over the last six years, is Canada just better? Are they just the better team?
MIKE BABCOCK: Well, that's up to you guys. I don't worry about that stuff. We just come to the event, we prepare for the games, we try to get better every day, and we try to win in the end. And being Canadian, you're greedy. You think it's your right to find a way to get 'er done.
Now, these teams are very, very good and very, very tight. When I look at the tournament, there's good teams in the tournament. I picked my top four already. We'll see if I'm right or if I'm wrong. But we're fortunate today to have an opportunity, it looks like that we're going to get to play more games. That's the way I look at it.

Q. Talk about the evolution of how much pressure the neutral zone and the offensive zone, just the evolution of that system and how it's come to work so well for you.
MIKE BABCOCK: Well, I just think good players, sometimes we get way too caught up talking about structure and systems and all that, and it's just the players are better. I had that same structure and we finished dead last last year. I was the worst coach in the National Hockey League, if you remember correct. So let's put things in perspective. It's called players, really good players. And when you're fortunate that they let you coach really good players, you look like a pretty good coach sometimes.
But our guys worked hard and they're detail oriented and they want to get better. And they're about winning and they know who they're playing for, and they take it seriously. And we're just excited to have more opportunity.

Q. You said you had your final four; was the U.S. in your final four? And secondly, on the early goal, did have a Vlasic shoot wide intentionally because it sure looked like he did?
MIKE BABCOCK: You'll have to ask Pickles about that. And the first question I'm not going to bother answering.

Q. Do you have your mind made up for what you're going to do in goal tomorrow?
MIKE BABCOCK: Yeah, Craw is going to start tomorrow and Holt is going to back up.

Q. (No microphone.)
MIKE BABCOCK: Yeah, I haven't decided that because I don't know medically on that yet, so we'll just wait. We'll see the therapy people in the morning, we'll discuss that and then we'll make decisions. I would expect the guys that didn't play to be in.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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