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WORLD CUP OF HOCKEY

September 29, 2016

Mike Babcock

Toronto, Ontario

Team Canada – 2
Team Europe ‑ 1

Q. Mike, I'm sure you've been watching Brad Marchand play for quite sometime now. Seeing his development from being a guy who had to stay in the league by being a pest almost and now being the guy that scored the game‑winning goal in this game, what's it like watching that evolution and what are you seeing out of his game?
MIKE BABCOCK: Well, obviously special for him and his family and the opportunity he had, but let's not kid ourselves, he's still a pest. He's going to be a pest. We play with him, I think, our home opener, and he'll be a pest. But he's a pest with elite speed and elite skill and a good penalty killer.
The only place we didn't use him was on the power play, but I thought between him, Bergy and Sid, they took over tonight in the third, absolutely dominated the third for us and got the rink tilted a little bit so we were able to come back and get a win. Big night for him.
These are things you remember forever. A Cup winner, he's won a World Championship, and he's won a World Cup. He keeps playing good, and if they keep the Olympics alive, he'll have a chance there.

Q. Describe how uncharacteristic the first 57 minutes were for your team.
MIKE BABCOCK: Well, I don't see it like that at all. I've been in tons of these, in Sochi we were better than the other teams, and they couldn't touch the puck. And the other ones I've been in, whether it was the '97 World Junior or the '04 World Championship, it was just like this.
It's a fine line. They've got a good team. You put a whole bunch of countries together, Kopitar is a good player and Josi is a good player. So the perception is that we're miles better than everyone else. I think our country is deeper, but you only get to play five guys at a time. I thought they did a real nice job. I thought they made it tight. They worked hard. They believed in what they were doing. To me that's what hockey is about.
So you start these tournaments all the time and they're always saying, okay, this team is good and that team is good. In the end, you've got to deliver, and you can say anything you want about the game tonight, but we delivered.
So we went 6‑0 in the tournament, if I'm not mistaken. We lost our first game and went 6‑0, so we got better every single day. And I don't know if we played our best at the end. In saying that, we played our best in the third and we played our best when it mattered.

Q. Sidney Crosby tonight, by getting the MVP, joined a pretty exclusive club of guys who have won the MVP in Canada in the World Cup, Conn Smythe and Hart Trophy. The other two guys are Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr. Just your thoughts on hearing that company that he joins tonight and what that means?
MIKE BABCOCK: Obviously I don't think much about that company, I just think about the serial winners, and that's what he is, he just wins. Sid is unbelievable. He's great to be around. I've been real lucky I've been three times and we win every time. He does it right. He works hard. He doesn't complain. If he gets 15 minutes, he doesn't say a word; if he gets 20 minutes, doesn't say a word; if he misses three shifts in a row, he doesn't say a word; if the penalty killers go out there and he's not playing‑‑ whatever he's got to do, and then in the biggest moments he turns it up.
So when you look at guys like him and Bergy and obviously Toewser and guys like that, they just‑‑ in the biggest moments they're better. They can't help themselves. They're addicted to winning, and they just make it happen.
You know, you're pretty fortunate when you get to hang around them.

Q. Obviously in Canada you expect to win these events, but what does it mean to you to be part now of this group that's going to go down as a team that always gets it done?
MIKE BABCOCK: Well, it's real special to be honest with you. I'm a real lucky guy in the fact that they let me coach all these teams, and someone has to do it. A lot of people on the outside just think it's easy. You've got to deliver every time, so I've been real fortunate that with the guys we have and the coaches we've had, and we've had great coaches helping great players, we've been able to deliver for our country, and that's what I said to the guys tonight is I'm proud of you, I'm proud that we're building fans but we're building hockey players to follow you; they want to be the next one.
We keep celebrating success, and the only way you get to celebrate being the best in the world is when you prove it. So we've been fortunate to do it many times.

Q. I was just curious what you thought of what they did tactically to change from Tuesday's game. They looked like they were smothering your offense, you were having little room out there for the longest time. What were they doing to make you guys ‑‑ and did you make adjustments to counteract that?
MIKE BABCOCK: I mean, we talked a lot about what they were doing. It's straightforward for us. In saying all that, just because you talk about what they're doing, it doesn't mean you're going to execute every time, and there was no room for them and there was no room for us, and it was hard to create much.
And so for you covering the game here, you're used to the rink being tilted; you think we're better than they are, they shouldn't touch the puck. It's not real. Kopitar is a real player, Josi is a real player. They've got some real players and they play hard.
The other thing about it is in all elimination games, whether it be in the Stanley Cup Finals or the Stanley Cup Playoffs or when I was coaching at college or the American Hockey League, elimination games, they don't just go away, you've got to put them away. You guys are probably happy, too, you don't have to come tomorrow. I know I am. I've got a real job. I've got to get to work.

Q. Corey Perry now joins Scott Niedermayer for World Juniors, Olympics, World Championships, Memorial Cup, Stanley Cup, Hart Trophy, he's won everything. But after originally not making this roster, what did you think of his performance throughout the tournament, and then also since you've been able to coach him, what have you thought of him as a part of Hockey Canada?
MIKE BABCOCK: Well, I mean, I was in Anaheim when we drafted Perris. Tim Murray traded up to get him. He said he was going to be unbelievable, won the Hart Trophy, he's won a Stanley Cup and done all the things. He's an ultra‑competitive guy. He had a big summer training. Mark Hunter was shilling for him big time because he's in London and watching him closely, and whether it be Coutch or him or O'Rei, they all came in and did a real nice job.
You know, I mean, obviously Duncan Keith is a real hockey player, Bender is a real hockey player and Carter is a real hockey player, but you win with the guys they give you and you find a way to get it done, and our guys dug in and got it done, so good for Perris.

Q. Every tournament is different, but the results have been the same, 16 straight, three straight. What's the common threads that have carried through? What makes this group special in that way?
MIKE BABCOCK: Well, a drive train. Wanting to be great. Special, special players. We're blessed in Canada, too, we have good coaches. We've got a whole bunch of them. You know, I mean, you look at the other team, they've got three NHL coaches coaching that team, too, so when you coach in the league, that gives you a leg up on everybody else for sure. If you look at Team North America and you look at those teams, the two teams tonight, that's an advantage for them in that department. But I would just say to you, the management team that we have, the coaching staff we have, the players we have expect success, and our country expects success, and our country doesn't mind and you guys don't mind putting the heat on us to make sure we deliver.

Q. Drew Doughty takes that high sticking penalty, you think what?
MIKE BABCOCK: Kill the penalty. You know, Pricey made a hell of a save, obviously. Guys were yelling on the bench, it's coming back, it's coming back. It's unbelievable, but he just does what he does.
You know what, I don't know, did we give up a power play goal in the tournament? I don't think we did. We just thought we'd kill it.
It's interesting, we talked a lot about that as a coaching staff in between the second and third, change the line, don't change the line, we don't want anyone to think we're panicking, steady on rudder, and then we just flipped the wingers on two lines for the third, and then as soon as we scored we went right back to the wingers, and then we shorthanded‑‑ like to me it's a belief in the process, you know you're going to get it done. Sometimes it doesn't happen as quick or as pretty as you want, and you just keep on grinding. Our guys believe they're going to win, and I thought we really turned it up. I don't know what you guys thought. I thought we turned it up to a level that we ended up winning.

Q. Mike, Ralph Krueger talked this week about your relationship and so on. How much was he able to challenge you in this final series?
MIKE BABCOCK: Oh, good. I mean, I've been real fortunate, I've been around a lot of really good coaches, but Ralph hung out with us for a month, and I was able to tell our guys what they were doing because I know Ralph and he's doing what we're doing, so that's why there was no room. But he's a good man.
Ralph to me is a real smart guy, treats people right, treats players right, the players wanted to play hard. He was the same way when he was in Switzerland. He's doing the same thing with his soccer program he's running. He's a good man, and we talk lots. I've got a lot of time for him. If he wants to coach in the NHL again‑‑ I don't know, his job is probably better than an NHL coach right now, but if he wants to, I'm sure there's a team out there that would love to have him because he's smart.

Q. You talked about in the end turning it up. What's that like for you behind the bench when you can see that and feel that the last few minutes?
MIKE BABCOCK: Well, you just believe it's going to come. I've been fortunate in my life that I've coached lots of really good teams that just seem to have the ability to dig in and dig in and dig in, whether that be in Detroit or at the University of Lethbridge or in Spokane or wherever I've coached, we've had a lot of good teams, and when you have really good players with elite drive train, they can dig in, and they don't take no for an answer very often. That doesn't guarantee success, but it sure gives you a chance.
You know, I've got to tell you, I'm thrilled. I'm thrilled to be here in Toronto, to win this in Toronto. This is just a sign of what's going to happen here in Toronto, just so you know. But this is a special thing to do for Canada, and now we've got to do it in Toronto.
See you guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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