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WORLD CUP OF HOCKEY

September 22, 2016

Vinny Prospal

Toronto, Ontario

Team Czech Republic – 4
Team USA ‑ 3

Q. Just want to know where getting a win out of this game, what significance can you take out of it, and what's the positive message that you take out of it and what's it meant to your team?
VINNY PROSPAL: Well, it's a bittersweet feeling, right, because you basically play knowing that you cannot advance, but on the other hand, at the same time, you have the national team jersey on, you have your name there. We all stand there behind the bench now that we don't play anymore.
It's a matter of pride. I mean, everybody wants to go into the game and win, and all these players that we have, they have teammates at their national teams that maybe have been part of the U.S. team, and at the end of the day, there's a little bit of bragging rights.
But seriously, it's a game, and you want to win every game that you put the skates and you put the jersey on. Same thing for us. Nothing changed for us as coaches in regards to the preparation. We wanted to win, finish the tournament on a good note.
Look, we went into the tournament with all the media didn't give us any chance, and even though we did not advance, at least you have a good feeling that you put out your best effort at the end and you beat a pretty good team.

Q. You just alluded to it, but you're not just getting a win, you beat a supposed‑‑ one of the favorites in the tournament, and you talked about how people sort of wrote you off. Does that make it any sweeter and make it a little less bittersweet?
VINNY PROSPAL: Well, obviously, you look at it from the hockey perspective in the Czech Republic. It has a huge meaning, right, because you go out and you prove to people there that you can play. Even though the talent that is on the team or the talent that we have in the NHL or all over the world in the leagues is not as deep as we used to have, but you still can come out with the great effort.
I think the biggest thing that we all should take out of this is how much passion and how much‑‑ I'm not sure if I can say it, the balls and the heart that we put out tonight, and that's really what you can ask for when the motivation is not as high and you basically play‑‑ in the sense of the tournament, you play for nothing.

Q. You just mentioned the depth of this roster, and the truth of the matter is the top scorer of this team only had 16 goals in the NHL last year. Where do you think that puts team Czech Republic in perspective maybe going forward a little bit? Do you have somebody coming up that can make this better?
VINNY PROSPAL: Well, I am not sure about that. I mean, I hope that we're going to have players this year that they are going to play an important part on their hockey teams, and they will get back to being great scorers. You look at the lineup, we have been mixing some key players at key positions even prior to this tournament, but at the end of the day, you have to play with what you've got.
You know, I know Ondrej Palat, he was there. He's the one who had the 16 goals. But you know, you believe that you're putting the team together from the right people, from the right players. And look at tonight's game, you have Milan Michalek who comes out and scores two goals, and he's really had a tough offensive year last year when he didn't really score that much.
You know, you're hoping and you're believing that some of these guys, if given the opportunity and the offensive chances, they will put the puck into the net. So the emphasis of the depth scoring has to be even greater at that time.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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