NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: DEVILS v AVALANCHE

June 4, 2001

Bob Hartley

COACH HARTLEY: When two great hockey clubs are going at it, you are going to get like switches of momentum, like quite frequently. It is all a matter of execution. It is all a matter of pressure. Turnovers are big part of our game and especially in the Stanley Cup Finals, like they can be very vital. So I think that you are going to see like how you get momentum, like with pressure, with a big body check, with a big penalty kill, with a big goal, with a TV time-out. There are so many ways to switch momentum around that you can't -- you can't worry about this, like you have to basically focus on your game and make sure that you have the right approach.

COACH HARTLEY: He looks very good to me. Like we feel very fortunate that he is ready to go. Yesterday he was on the ice, felt fine, did all practice and like he has absolutely nothing going against him. He is fine. He is looking forward to tonight's game and like he was just -- he got caught with his head down luckily for him and for us, just like got two minor cuts.

COACH HARTLEY: There's only one puck on the ice so like it seemed the team that can control the puck the better has the better chance to win. Just like I said a couple of minutes ago, it is two great hockey clubs and there is not much room and when you get a chance you better take advantage of it. That's where we are at right now. There is such a fine line between winning and losing. It is two good hockey clubs and that is why we are deadlocked at two games. It is a great Final. I think it is very exciting for our fans. It is great for the game because that's the best way to promote it.

COACH HARTLEY: We are working accordingly with our plan. Nothing is different than the plan that we established at the end of training camp. We followed the plan everyday and now we are still in the situation where we can take home-ice advantage. We worked all year to be here. We worked all year to get home-ice advantage. We used it against L.A. in the Game 7. We used it against St. Louis by winning some big games over here. And tonight is not different. It is just another game. Obviously we have to recognize the importance of the game, but we can't change our approach. I think that we would be going the wrong way.

COACH HARTLEY: I think it gave my a clear vision. (LAUGHTER) I am getting lots of phone calls, lots of faxes from people in my hometown because let's face it like it is only 10,000 population, so everyone is a big Avalanche fan and I know that they are pushing like on our side, but I think that I have said it before, like the experience that I got out of working in a factory with four, 500 partners is certainly helping me out like in dealing with people in this business.

COACH HARTLEY: We are just trying to work with his focus and it is not different than any of our young players like it is a first time to the Stanley Cup Finals and like there is pressure, there is challenge and I think that we want to make sure that they look at it in a positive way. No. 1, they have to enjoy being part of this because like there are some fine young hockey players in this hockey League that didn't make the Playoffs or got him real quick in the first round and like those guys have to use this as a good experience. They are vital parts of our hockey club. You look at the Hejduk, the Hinotes, the Nieminen, those guys contributed all way to the success of our hockey club and we want to keep them going. I think it is our job to make them feel good; to make them understand like the opportunity that those fine young men have and they just have to take advantage of it.

COACH HARTLEY: Well, I feel that both teams, like their penalty killing units has been dominant since the start. That's defense. You look at in any sport like lots of time in a tight round like defense will take over offense. We have a great powerplay. It gave us some big goals. Gave us the winning goal in Game 3 and it is not because we didn't score in Game 4 that suddenly we are going to change everything over. We have to remain very consistent. We have to keep trusting our athletes. We have a wonderful bunch of guys that are very talented and they are very simple people. It came true for us all along like the Playoffs against Vancouver we were great. Against L.A. we had our tough times at moments, but in Game 7, gave us like that big first goal and then we moved onto round 3. Against St. Louis our powerplay was very instrumental in bringing us to the Finals. Again like I said like Ray Bourque gave us a big goal in Game 3. You won't score 3, 4 times a game in Stanley Cup Finals especially not against a talented penalty killing unit like the Devils.

COACH HARTLEY: Hey, like I said, I don't see why we would change our approach in any areas. We have to be consistent. We have a plan and we have faith in our plan. That's where we have to be. We trusted those athletes all year long and that's -- they are the reason why we are here today. So there's possibilities of two games; maybe three, and the hockey season is over. Hey, we have to keep pushing those guys making them feel real good about themselves because, hey, let's face it, we worked all year to be here and now it is up to us to enjoy it. Have a good day everyone.