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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: OILERS v HURRICANESJune 18, 2006Kevyn AdamsCam WardRALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA: Practice Day CAM WARD: Any time you have an opportunity to win the Stanley Cup and be able to clinch, it's a lost opportunity. But the good news is we have one more. Q. With Cole coming back I expected a surge of adrenaline, emotion. Did you? CAM WARD: Yeah, I mean, I think we're definitely inspired that he's back playing. Q. Why didn't it show? CAM WARD: For whatever reason, we don't know. There's no real excuse for it. With that being said, it's over and done with. As for Erik Cole, he probably was one of our top players on the ice. We know he's only going to get better for tomorrow night. Q. Was this the flattest game you guys have played since the opener with Montreal? CAM WARD: I think fast fair to say. Like I said, for whatever reason we didn't have it and there's no excuse for that. For Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, it's disappointing, but we feel fortunate to have two bad games and still have an opportunity to win this thing with one game tomorrow night. Q. How has this team regrouped? CAM WARD: We know what we're capable of doing. We're here for a reason. It's just a matter of going out there and actually doing it. Just got to get back to playing the way that we know we're capable of playing and play with that same desperation that you saw in Edmonton yesterday. Q. You guys just get in? CAM WARD: Yeah. Q. How do you feel physically and emotionally? Got to be a let down, still have a third, but --- CAM WARD: Exactly, but, you know, we still have an opportunity with one game tomorrow and we're excited about it. This is something that you dream as a little kid, playing in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals, and we're going to do the best that we can to just leave it all on the ice, and it will be what it will be. Q. What are you seeing in front of you in terms of your team's defensive play? Is it as strong as it's been before? CAM WARD: Yeah, I mean, obviously we weren't very happy with Game 6. But the guys have stepped up throughout the entire Playoffs, and it's going to be very important that we play a strong defensive game tomorrow night. Q. They are starting to get their power play going a little bit and they are getting more physical and wearing you guys down they are saying, are you seeing that at all? CAM WARD: No, I think our guys are feeling good. They were moving the puck really well last night. I think it's going to be important that we stay disciplined and just to the give them the opportunity to get on the power play. Q. Two back-to-back 7-game series catching up a little bit? CAM WARD: You know what, I think there's no real excuse for it. Fatigue shouldn't be a factor at this time of the season. We have an opportunity to win the Stanley Cup when it comes down to one game. I don't think anybody is going to use the fatigue as an excuse. Q. How many of these did you play on the streets as a kid? CAM WARD: This is something that you, playing street hockey, dreaming of playing in the Stanley Cup Finals in Game 7. Now that it's here, it's extremely exciting. I mean, obviously it would have been nice to finish it earlier, but we feel fortunate to still have another opportunity, another crack at it. Q. Kevin, how worried are you after having this go seven games when it looked like you might have it done in 5? KEVIN ADAMS: Worried is not the word. I think we're more excited. It's the best of 7. You know, all of the Playoffs we always knew they were going to be long tough series. Obviously you get up 3-1 and you want to finish teams, but it didn't happen. Then you got to start get excited. You play all year to play at home, and here we are with a Game 7 in our building and a wonderful opportunity to go out and have our best game that's what we need to focus on. Q. Won't you have been excited to have the opportunity to try to win it in Game 5, the first game around and then -- KEVIN ADAMS: There's no question. But we didn't play well enough. There's no secret. You can't tiptoe around. We didn't play well enough to win the Stanley Cup last two games; we didn't deserve to win. But the great opportunity that we have is we get another chance, and that's where our excitement has to lie: That we can go out there and really play our best and see what happens. Q. How do you solve this goal scoring draught? Even more shots on that, have you guys figured that out after -- KEVIN ADAMS: Well, you want to get more action at the net. You want to create as much as you can in front of the goalie. They did a good job. They blocked a lot of shots. We missed a lot of shots too, wide, and you have to give them credit for that. But we have a lot of goal scoring in this room. You just look around the locker room and you know that's something we worry about, we just want to worry more about the process of what we need to do to get to the net. Q. Is there a worry about playing scared almost? KEVIN ADAMS: Well, no, that's a valid point. I think sometimes you get in a situation where you know, you are tentative or you are not playing the game that we play, and I think you give Edmonton credit. They played very loose and very hard the last two games, and maybe we weren't where we needed to be. But you know, I mean now just have to fight. You just have to go out there and enjoy it, and just say, we got one game to lay it on the line and you can't play any other way other than that. Q. Rod last night said he has got to be better. It is a time where you have to rally around and pick each -- KEVIN ADAMS: Everybody has got to pick each other up. It's not about Rod Brind'Amour. It's not about Jarret Stoll. It's about each guy in this room doing their part, and that's one of the special things about this team in here, not one guy has to be spectacular it's just that we each need to do our thing. And we can't hold back. We got to just led it rip and just go after it. I think sometimes, you know, the last two games we had times when we were going pretty good and we had a lot of teams where we were on our heals a little bit. We were watching. We need to -- we just need to go out there and just go after it now.
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