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NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SABRES v HURRICANESMay 19, 2006Daniel BriereChris DruryRyan MillerRALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA: Practice Day Q. How tough is it going up against a goaltender you are not familiar with, watch film? DANIEL BRIERE: I mean, with the technology nowadays, we can go back and watch any games we want against him, so I don't think it's -- I don't think it's an issue. Yeah, we haven't seen him, we haven't personally played against him, but we have seen a lot of games. I think most of the guys are watching what is going on around us in the playoffs, so we have seen them play. He's a good goalie. If he's good, I don't think the reason is because we haven't seen him, it is just because he's a good goalie. Q. Ryan, to that end, do you think it's an advantage going up against guys who haven't seen you before? RYAN MILLER: I guess I don't have that same advantage. Q. Would you consider it? RYAN MILLER: Everybody nowadays is breaking down tape and those things and paying attention to other series. If you are going to pick up on anything, you are going to try to execute against it, and besides we're out there just playing a hockey game and things unfold, things come about that you can't predict and can't tape and can't plan for, and I don't know where it's going to fall. But I guess you guys can make the conclusions for us when we're done with the series. Q. Chris, do you find it a relief to get rid of all the days off and the practices and getting yourself prepared for the game? CHRIS DRURY: I'd think the first few days are healing. It is nice to have a little break. As the week went on it's nice to be here and yesterday we started tuning up a little bit. I am sure they are chomping at the bit, too. Q. Chris, talk about how hard it was for you two years where you weren't in the playoffs in Calgary and Buffalo, what it has been for you to get back into the post-season. How much you are looking forward to that? CHRIS DRURY: It was tough. It's why you play. It is what you give for all year and when 82 games are over and you are not moving on with a lot of other teams, it's hard to take. It's certainly great to be back, that's for sure, for anyone that I think gets in for a few years in a row and all of a sudden they are not in, it's kind of, I don't know, a wake-up call, but I guess I am learning to appreciate a little bit more. Q. Did you have anything from your experience in Colorado that you were able to bring to this team when you guys made the playoffs this year that you can share? Anything that you tried to -- CHRIS DRURY: The biggest thing is just focus. As the year goes on and each series moves on there's more and more distractions, I think it is easy to let your mind wander, especially having a week off, but I think just keeping your focus and always being ready for the next game. Q. Nobody picked you guys all year but now a lot of people are calling you the favorite. Can you live with that role? DANIEL BRIERE: Are we? Q. You used to being the underdogs all year. DANIEL BRIERE: I didn't know people were picking us. It doesn't seem to bother us what is going on outside our dressing room. If we were to listen to that right from the beginning, nobody would believe we would even make the playoffs, I think it could be said about both teams, looking around the beginning of the year, I think most of the experts were saying we would be battling for the 13th spot in the conference with the Hurricanes. So it's kind of ironic that both of us are here and playing for the Eastern Conference Final. So it hasn't bothered us all year. We're worried about what is going on in our dressing room, the way we feel, the way we approach the game, so it doesn't matter to us if we're favorites or underdogs. Q. Without any specifics on what you are going to do better maybe on the power play, what are some of the things you think you need to do to improve? DANIEL BRIERE: We have to give Ottawa a lot of credit, their defensemen were tough to play against and they are big defensemen with long reach. They gave us a hard time. We had a hard time. I think the toughest thing for us was we couldn't get in the zone and get control and set up in the zone. Tonight we're going back and we're going to look at a lot of tape and kind of break down their special teams. So I know they are very aggressive, but as of right now I can't really tell you what is -- how we're going to do it and what we're going to try to change compared to Ottawa. Q. Ryan, can you compare yourself at all to Ward technically? RYAN MILLER: I haven't seen him play enough. I have been watching highlights and what not. I think any goalie right now in the league, there's similarities with the way we play the position, but I have no idea. Q. Haven't seen him enough? RYAN MILLER: It's not that. I look around the league and I can tell like the subtle differences but we're trying to do the same things, almost every goalie, I think in the league in the butterfly is a butterfly. It's going to look a little different, but from what I have seen from Cam, he seems to have a good handle on handling these big games so far and he's just been playing his game. I have seen him challenge some guys, I like the challenge. I have seen him back off on some plays and read, which I try to blend that into my game and not always be on the attack. So I think he's done a good job making transition from the AHL to the NHL and he's doing well right now. Q. For decades in hockey goalies didn't really blossom until they were in their 30s. Any ideas as to why there are so many good young goalies all of a sudden? RYAN MILLER: I don't know. Just given the opportunity, I guess. There's a lot of youth in the league this year. I think when you have, I guess, higher numbers of players who are goaltenders specifically who are young, you are going to have the opportunity. I think a lot of us played in the AHL last year had the time to work on our game and I think that's a big reason, it's been translating this season. We had an opportunity to work on things that our teams wanted us to address and we wanted to address, and it was a highly competitive league and Ward, myself, Bryzgalov, a lot of other guys who had a lot to say this year. The NHL benefited from that. Q. Are you guys aware of sort of how many Buffalo fans are going to be here tomorrow? Have you heard? CHRIS DRURY: I wasn't aware of that. That's good to hear. We do have some great fans and we're pretty excited about what we have done so far. Hopefully we could keep going for them. Q. How much of the second half of the year did the Olympic situation be a motivating factor for you? RYAN MILLER: Didn't register. I have a commitment to the Sabres and the guys in the locker room, and the Olympics is going to be a bonus. We had a lot of guys represent their countries and did a great job. It would have been a lot of fun, but first and foremost we were concerned about building a game that was going to do well in the post-season and so far that commitment has been there from our guys and that's all I have been worrying about, being a part of that. The Olympic thing, it was disappointing for me, but when you are really get down to it, I was the least experienced guy who was coming off an injury. They had a decision to make, like maybe four days after I got my clearance to play, maybe five days, and knowing the people who make these decisions, I don't hold them in any different light than I do right now, which is, I think they are great people. I think they are, you know, good hockey people who have to make decisions and sometimes they are not going to go the way you want them to. That's that. I am pretty much done with the Olympic thing.
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