NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: STARS v DEVILS

June 7, 2000

Larry Robinson

COACH ROBINSON: No, I don't think so. I think they are different situations. I think we are talking about -- I think we are talking about both sides, if that is a question maybe for Dallas or how do they feel, are they -- do they feel that they can keep coming back, you know, maybe I could answer it. But I think we just got to keep all those distractions about what happened before and what we did before and what has to be done, just throw them out window. We have got to prepare for this like this is the 7th game of a Stanley Cup Final and not look at, well, you know, we came back from a 3-1, so Dallas is looking at that. You don't want to look at reasons for not playing well or reasons for playing well by looking back at what you did. I think the best thing that we can do is try to prepare ourselves for the first shift of the first period and go from there and play hard.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, the only reason there hasn't been any part of that is that when I retired, the first thing that I was told by a couple of veteran players is that the best thing you can do is get away from the game for a year and do something else. Basically that is what I did. So by the time that I got the call from Lemaire I have been asked the question so much whether I wanted to be a coach or not, I decided to give it a try. Really that is how I got into this. It wasn't -- when I retired it just wasn't one of my first thoughts of getting into the coaching profession. But as I said, it was asked of me so many times, I said, might as well give it a try and see if I like it. I was fortunate to come here and work with Jacques Lemaire for a couple of years and then I was given a chance to try to be head coach. And it was the same type of situation never going to know until you try it. I actually do enjoy it. And I think the thing that made me enjoy it the most was winning the Cup as an assistant and getting some tremendous satisfaction out of seeing grown men crying; being unable to go out on the ice; sees guys that have been in and near the end of their careers and being in the League for fourteen or fifteen years be as happy as they were and it is a feeling that you want to have back and so I think that is what keeps me going the most is seeing people happy when they have success and success that doesn't necessarily have to be yours, I think. I have never been a selfish person, so I get more satisfaction out of seeing other people happy than necessarily myself.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, we have had our bad days too. That is part of the coaching profession. It is a very roller-coasterly ride. You have your good days and your bad days, but I think the good days outweigh the bad in that you know, when you get this far it is such a happy feeling and such a great feeling that you don't want to let it slip away. I think that is what makes the Playoffs so special is that there is a lot of hard work and a lot of dedication and focus and everything else that goes into being successful and I think that players that work hard and are successful in sports and maybe not so much in other sports, I know in our sport, if they can go through what we are going through when they get out into life and get away from hockey I think they can hope, with everything else that goes on, because you learn how to be a winner, you learn how to cope with adversity and I think you learn a lot about yourself.

COACH ROBINSON: I think that is what it is all about. That is what coaching is. Coaching is about teaching and anybody that says that there is no teaching in the NHL hasn't been involved in coaching because in some cases the teaching starts here. You expect them to come in and know different things and know how to do different things and you find out a lot of them have never been taught the right way to play the game and that is all you got to do. It is not about changing anybody's -- the way that they play or changing their character or anything else, it is trying to mold their abilities that they have and perfecting them into making them a better person and a better player. So that is all you do. You try -- you try to have fun and make it if you know for them because this game is supposed to be fun. You try to give them little tidbits here and there that you think might improve their game and might help them to make them a better player.

COACH ROBINSON: Yes, yes and yes.

COACH ROBINSON: Yes.

COACH ROBINSON: He was fine. He was fine, a little stiff the next day, but so was I. But...

COACH ROBINSON: Yeah, right. I just had a bad bed. No, he was fine. He skated well this morning and he is fine.

COACH ROBINSON: Well, first of all, hockey is not about retribution. I think what happened, happened and if the League chooses to do something about it then, fine. If not, then the most important thing here is winning a hockey game; not getting somebody back. We have taken great strides over the last part of this year and into the Playoffs of being very disciplined in all situations and this is just another case of us having to be disciplined and more disciplined. I think we took a lot of needless penalties the other night that is going to come back to haunt us if we do it again because that is a terrific team with a great powerplay and we are not going to expect to kill all those powerplays off and we are not expecting to be able to score shorthanded goals as well. So it is going to be very, very important for us to keep our discipline and to keep our focus. As far as matchups I am not going to tell you what I am going to match anyway, so.....