NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: SABRES v STARS

June 8, 1999

Michael Peca

MICHAEL PECA: No, not at all. We haven't experienced the ice here in a game situation but the ice in Toronto, I can't imagine anything being as bad as or worse than the ice in Toronto. We are still able to use our speed to our advantage. It is just a case where you got to limit our mistakes now. You got to make sure you are making the smart plays and watching Dallas throughout their series. That is something that they are able to do very well.

MICHAEL PECA: I know from talking to some guys there are some nerves. It is good to have some nerves. I think you wouldn't be human if you didn't have anything going through you. It is exciting. It is still a very serious moment for us. But we are really enjoying this.

MICHAEL PECA: Well, I think each matchup is important. I think you want to try and gain an edge anywhere you can and use those matchups you feel that you can possibly get that advantage. So it is just important for each and every guy and every line to make sure they are doing their job and outplaying the guys at cross and that is really all it boils down to.

MICHAEL PECA: With Modano you just want to make sure you are going as physical as possible. I don't think he is a guy that enjoys it too much. He will give it back once in a while. But I think their line in general isn't a very physical line. I have always said he is a tough guy to play against. He is extremely fast, never stops moving and it is hard to hit a moving target. So say it's a situation where we have got to rely on everybody on the ice to do a good job picking him up to the neutral zone and finishing him every chance we get.

MICHAEL PECA: We actually got both of those. The first one, the ice conditions, I said we don't expect anything to be any worse than the rink in Toronto. The ice there was very poor throughout most of the games and we are still able to use our speed. I think it is just a case you want to keep your game simple. I don't think it affects the skating a whole lot. Maybe some of the fancy plays of the puck movement, and you just want to keep your game simple. I don't think it will affect our speed whatsoever. There are some guys that are experiencing some butterflies and some anxiety but it is all positive and guys are excited and looking forward to it.

MICHAEL PECA: I don't know. Just always been a guy that always did things first for myself; never worried about what people thought of me or said to me or always took what I can to improve or to learn and kind of disregarded everything else. But its just a thing where I have always wanted to be the best person I can and in being the best person I think it spills over into other aspects of my life including hockey.

MICHAEL PECA: I think you break down goaltenders' styles and tendencies or anything like that, but I think the game plan always remain the same: You want to get as many shots as you can. Certainly there are spots where you want to try to get the puck more often than not and you want to get traffic in front of him. I think it is the same sort of thing we have with Dominik, so I think you prepare yourself the same way. You want to fire as many shots as you can. You want guys going in there hard for rebounds and you want traffic in front of him. We have done a good job of doing that with the three goaltenders we have faced so far and have had success with it.

MICHAEL PECA: I have always said it was Mike Modano because, like I said, because he has got that tremendous speed and he never stops moving. But this will give me an opportunity to hopefully succeed and pick somebody else next year.

MICHAEL PECA: I never watched Guy Carbonneau. Part of it I just wasn't a Montreal Canadians fans so never watched any of their hockey games. It was just a case where I grew up; wanted to be my own player. I always took pride in the defensive part of the game and grew up just wanting to be a hockey player. I never felt that there was a offensive-type hockey other or defensive-type hockey player, I just wanted to be an all-around hockey player. Then I think once you get to an age where you are mature enough and smart enough to learn from watching different people then you do that, but there wasn't really one guy that I drew that part my game from.

MICHAEL PECA: You mean putting the pressure on ourselves --

MICHAEL PECA: No, we haven't. I mean, you think about how it would feel to win it. You do that in the summer; you do that in the regular season, but at this point we just want to win. We want to do whatever it takes to win. One thing this team has done as opposed to each and every game as by itself not get too far ahead of ourselves and just preparing with each game and as each shift comes along. The way it would feel, all that fun stuff that happens after is irrelevant because you set yourself up for a big disappointment and we are just preparing for each game.

MICHAEL PECA: Well, I think what it does is -- that was something that we did through a tough part of the season. We had each guy answer three very important questions, put it down on paper, and handed it into the coaching staffing. Him reading back some of the stuff that some of the guys had wrote kind of puts in perspective what it is all about. A lot of guys wrote about doing everything to win, sacrificing themselves to win a championship, ultimate goal is winning the Stanley Cup, and just the only thing you want to do is win. And doing everything it takes to win. It was good to have that come back and realize that, you know, it is not just a feeling of now because you are here, but a feeling that you have had throughout your year and throughout your career that you are in a position now where you can make a difference and we realized the situation we are in and realize what it takes to accomplish that.

MICHAEL PECA: Classified information.