NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: HURRICANES v RED WINGS

June 7, 2002

Arturs Irbe

ARTURS IRBE: Well, we saw the trend that they were, I guess, trying to go stick side on the first game. Last game they got three goals. They were really good shots. I am sure on a better day I would have stopped probably a couple of those. So I wish I would be a little crisper and a little better set position-wise. But that's the game and one way to look at it is just to say all right, so you got those three, but at the same game and you lost it not like you are spreading out through a lot of different games and they are going to cost you every game. That's my approach, and there's another way to look at it. I just have to stand up on my ground and stop it next time it comes my way.

ARTURS IRBE: Once again.

ARTURS IRBE: Well, I know Greensboro arena's capacity is bigger. They can seat more people. But it wasn't going to happen there, that's why we moved here. And tomorrow it's going to be wild and if people think that they saw how crazy crowds can be last night in Detroit, they may get an eye opening tomorrow night. I am absolutely and completely positive that's what is going to happen.

ARTURS IRBE: The key obviously is to score first for either one of those teams. We were capable to overcome deficit in Game 1 and eventually won in overtime which was really big because their record was 9 and 1 just as ours, with the scoring first goal until that game. And we broke the egg which was important, but last game it happened again and they got the lead in the first, which means you know, the first ten minutes are very crucial and we'll have a lot of energy, crowd is going to be very charged up and so we hopefully can feed off of that and show some momentum and some -- push them a little bit to the max and hopefully we can keep doing what we have been doing and playing our game and not to make too many mistakes and things should be fine.

ARTURS IRBE: It's interesting, I really haven't got to experience that because I got home fairly late last night and there were two people in the bed including my young son, so he took the spot while dad was absent, so I had to find a room in the bed across, so didn't want to wake him up, but since we have a king size bed there was room for all three of us so that was nice. So got my rest and then in the morning we had obviously the luxury of sleeping in because the school is over so kids don't have to get up to at 7 or 7:30, so I slept in until 11 and one of our youngsters was still sleeping when I left the house. So that just shows what kind of genes he has. But I left the house and I haven't been back, so I will see how it changed. It should be all right because everybody in the house knows what the Playoffs mean and what hockey means to family and to daddy and they know when to leave and when to kind of get quiet and it doesn't take shouting. It just takes one look.

ARTURS IRBE: It is special, definitely, to have two European goalies battling, but I don't know if I can really cherish that because Dominik is one of the best, if not the best in the League and you just wish that there will be somebody not as tough on the other end in the Finals. But on a serious note, at the end of the day, one team is going to win; one team is going to lose and you want to be on the winning end. We have gotten this far so -- and just as far as Detroit team has got and it is anybody's game, but one of the European goalies, I guess, is going to have a chance to say that he has been the goalie who got the Cup and it's going to be first, I guess, in history, and I read that we're the two European goalies with most career wins in the NHL, so maybe it is just trend setting.