NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: SABRES v STARS

June 19, 1999

Lindy Ruff

LINDY RUFF: We are going to try to do whatever we can.

LINDY RUFF: Did you see the replay?

LINDY RUFF: We want to protest really. I mean, that is the worse nightmare right there man in the crease, puck is definitely out of the crease, you can't explain that one to me. You can't they have tried -- you cannot explain that one to me.

LINDY RUFF: Supervisors tried to say it was a good goal.

LINDY RUFF: Do you think there is a mechanism this place? No. I don't think there is. You can protest; you can do whatever. I mean, it's got to be -- that was the worst nightmare right there. They knew that they ran the risk of overtime goal meaning a series -- Stanley Cup pandemonium sets in and they can't go back to review it. That is my opinion.

LINDY RUFF: Obviously it didn't even out. All I wanted was a review. I mean, everybody saw it. Once you have got 200 people on the ice, no, they are not going to review it.

LINDY RUFF: Brett Hull had control of it and he was -- he had it under control in the crease and he stick handled to his forehand and shot it in. Well, that wasn't the case. It went off Dominik's glove, Holzinger's skate, went outside the crease, his foot is in the crease when he scored the goal.

LINDY RUFF: Not taking anything away. I mean, if they wanted to slow down the procedure, they would have reviewed it. They would have held things up and reviewed it; somebody would have called from upstairs said, listen, this is not a goal. I mean, we have gone through the procedure throughout the year. We have gone through it in the Playoffs. I mean, the rule is in place. It is still in place. They are talking about changing it. All I want is a review. I want a review. I want it reviewed.

LINDY RUFF: I think that was the worst case scenario. Obviously an overtime game where pandemonium sets in and they just can't take it back.

LINDY RUFF: They said it was a good goal. In terms -- they said it was a good goal.

LINDY RUFF: I wanted Bettman to answer the question, why is that not reviewed. And really -- he just turned his back on me. He almost looked to me like he knew this might be a tainted goal and there was no answer for it. I just wanted an explanation, just tell me, listen, it is a good goal; not a good goal. There was no answer. No review. There was no answer.

LINDY RUFF: I said yesterday we would play our best game, best game of the series, and they gave it everything they had. I thought we outplayed them, you know, we played hard. It wasn't -- at the end it wasn't X's and O's that won or lost the game. We hit a post; we hit a cross bar. We couldn't buy the bounce, but I was extremely proud of the season and the Playoffs the players had. There is no shame and no blame. We got this far together and we lost together.

LINDY RUFF: Personally I don't think they care right now. They just think it is spilled milk right now.

LINDY RUFF: I feel as coach I have got to do everything for my team including making sure that gets reviewed, making sure that the supervisors got to review it. They got to call down. That is why I went back out on the ice because -- everybody knows it is 24 years since the last time we had been to this spot. As hard as my players battled tonight, I felt I had to do everything possible from going to supervisor to going to Bettman to just try to get an answer because there was something within reach and they just they ripped the piece of it out. It was -- I don't even want to go down there anymore.

LINDY RUFF: I think you can't explain the feeling. It is disbelief really. I thought the way the game was going that we would get the bounce, that sooner or later, you know, one would go in for us. But, you know, strange, you make one mistake or you get one bounce somewhere and it can go the other way. Obviously they got a couple of breaks. We had a post and a cross bar, could have ended earlier. There wasn't going to be a lot of chances even in the overtimes we played.

LINDY RUFF: No. I watched the overhead replay. I watched the play in regular speed just frame-by-frame and I didn't watch the whole play.

LINDY RUFF: Dominik had really a -- for battling through injury and I thought he had a fabulous Playoff for us. He was a pillar of strength a lot of times when we scrambled around. He made a lot of key saves. He would probably like to have the first goal back, but you know, that happens to even the best goaltenders. You know, his performance in the Playoffs was fabulous.

LINDY RUFF: Not really. We have got a lot of players that were hurting. Michael is -- he has got some bumps and bruises but he is not hurting. He is not hurting anymore or any worse -- I thought -- you know, as a group there are some guys probably taking needles on both sides to block pain and whatever else. As far as I know, Michael doesn't have -- nothing he was taking medication for. He played a fabulous game for us tonight. Thanks.