NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: MIGHTY DUCKS v DEVILS

June 9, 2003

Michael Rupp

MIKE RUPP: I don't know what to say. I'm caught up in everything going on. It's just been great. I two weeks ago, I never would have thought this could happen, so Coach Burns put me in this situation and showed he believed in me and I've been blessed with that situation. It worked out great.

MIKE RUPP: I had a funny feeling. You know, I by no means knew that I was going to get a goal, but I felt really good today when I woke up. For the most part, I was not thinking about the game so much. I wasn't playing it in my head, and I've done that in games past and it kind of wears you mentally. The leadership, the veterans on this team kept us very calm. Honestly, I was probably the most calm today as I've been in an NHL game this year. They just keep you laughing and all the way up to game time; it's loose. I really think that the experience rises to the top and that helped big time.

MIKE RUPP: Well, I've been in the organization. This is my third season. I've been playing in Albany for two and a half years. They gave me a call in January and I came up and I played in 26 games or so and I felt good. I kind of thought that was it until next season and I felt good about it. Like I said I never would have thought to get thrown in the Stanley Cup Finals. But we were training hard in case there were any injuries, and physically we were ready. And mentally, like I said ,the veterans help a lot.

MIKE RUPP: I think I would take my name on the Cup anyway. (Laughter). I wanted to contribute. I didn't know, maybe I would play one game. It doesn't have to be on the scoresheet, either. I didn't feel that I needed to contribute on the scoresheet. That's just a bonus. They have a great faceoff team over there and maybe it was just winning a key draw, one big draw or getting a big hit that would change the tide of the game, or anything. I just wanted to contribute any way that I possibly could, and it just worked out great.

MIKE RUPP: When you look at the team, you can name -- they have been doing it the whole playoffs. It's been someone else all the time. I don't think it's been one guy the whole time sucking it up and I think that's what makes this team so good is its a deep team. Throughout the whole playoffs, Jamie playing unbelievable, Friesen started catching fire; Madden huge; Marshall huge. I can go on and on, the guys that were just stepping up to the plate. That's what I feel when you follow hockey or any sport, that's what championship teams do.

MIKE RUPP: When Jeff scored his first one? Yeah, that was definitely huge. Even at that point, we were sweating it. They had some good chances. I was put in that position a couple of times, just getting caught up in the moment; and I wanted to keep going and keep going, maybe make a big hit and I got caught in that position which in turn kept the puck in our zone. That was scary, for sure, at times. Marty came through huge. The whole team just came through huge making the simple plays and I feel that wore them down after a while.

MIKE RUPP: I by no means filled his shoes. This guy has been talking to us before the games, and you just look at him, you can tell by the look in his eyes. For me not to give it that much more for his sake, that he would give it all, he would lay it all out on the line, he's a great leader -- I don't know, he inspired me big time. He's always there throwing in a little helping hands, always the center, always helping me; "why don't you try this, good job with this." It's huge just having his presence in the locker room. It would have been great to have him in the lineup and he deserves this more than anybody. Like I said, I by no means was trying to fill his shoes or anything.

MIKE RUPP: It was a long time. I mean, wow, you kept looking up at the clock and it seemed like it was not ticking down at all. It was going crazy on the bench, guys were punching each other, guys were yelling and screaming, just unbelievable. You just lose all control of everything. It's a great feeling to have.