|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: OILERS v HURRICANESJune 10, 2006Peter LavioletteEDMONTON, ALBERTA: Game Three Q. In this situation the hockey cliche is always about weathering the storm in the first ten minutes. Isn't it better in your situation to be as aggressive and feed off the crowd as much as they are? COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I think it's real important that we do play our game, but that we don't give them anything either. Yeah, we want to come out and play hard and play our brand of hockey, but we want to make sure that we do the right things with the puck, that we're in good shape defensively, shifts are short. So back at you, all the simple cliches, we want to make sure what we want do. But it is important not just to come out and sit back and see what they are going to do. We have got to come out and play some hockey. I think we will. I think at this point I think buildings figure less into it, ours or theirs, I think it's more about hockey. Like I said, the big picture isn't too far away so it's about being the best that you can and playing the best that you can. Yeah, they will grab some energy and some momentum but we will try and do the same. Q. What have you learned about your team as the playoffs have gone on in terms of their game-day readiness their maturity? They seemed calm, collected in the dressing room this morning. What have you noticed how they have gotten better and adaptable in these types of circumstances? COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: Really nothing that we didn't know already, I think. I don't think we snuck into the playoffs. I think that we earned our spot here. I think that consistently throughout the year we played well and when we didn't, we responded similar to what we have done in the playoffs here. But I think that there was a belief that we were going to win hockey games and could be at this position at some point if we just kept playing the way we were capable of playing. So there hasn't been, I don't think there's been a lot of new things turned over -- new traits and new characteristics of our team turned over just because it's the playoffs. I think it's much more of the regular season and more of what we have done to get to this point. Q. It's been a couple of days since you guys played a game. You guys have been sitting around, had a couple of practices. Can you gauge your team's mental state? COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: We only had one practice. We travelled on one day. I think it's good actually to get the travel day and then one day of practice coming here. Like I said before, I'd like to think that our mental state is that we have got our eye on the ball here and that we realize this is a very important game, a big game. I know the players think that as well. And you'd like to think that that's going to translate onto the ice and ultimately you don't know until you play the game. Our frame of mind is positive right now. We know we have got our work cut out for us but we also feel like if we play our game, that we can be successful. Q. Are the Oilers more physical here than they are on the road? COACH PETER LAVIOLETTE: I don't know. (Laughs). I don't know. They were pretty physical in our building and sometimes on TV, games seem more physical watching them on TV or they seam less physical -- or they seem faster on TV than they actually might be. They were pretty physical in our building. I think that they tried to take a piece of us. I don't know if that's necessarily going to intimidate our team or work with our team, we're a whistle-to-whistle team. But they seem pretty physical on the road. I would imagine if that's their game plan they would come out and play the same way at home here.
End of FastScripts... |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|