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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: SENATORS v DUCKSJune 6, 2007Randy CarlyleScott NiedermayerANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA: Game Five THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. This is the first Cup for your brother. What does that mean to you? SCOTT NIEDERMAYER: It's special. They're all different. People sometimes ask you to pick this or that or to rate - I've never done that. And I'm not going to start now. But this one is you can only dream of passing it to your brother. I never have. And to be able to do that is definitely a highlight of my career. And on top of that a handful of other guys playing a long time and see them be able to win, guys like Teemu and Pronger and Brad and Sean O'Donnell, they battled a lot, to see them get a chance to do this and it's pretty rewarding. Q. Two things, first of all, did you tell Rob you were going to handled him the trophy, did he know he was going to get it from you? SCOTT NIEDERMAYER: I'm knew to this, too. I didn't know what I was going to do. You try and concentrate on the game. I wasn't drawing up plans what I'm supposed to do right now. But I guess he's one of the assistant captains. Maybe not quite the seniority, but I figured I could use my rank as captain to make that decision. I thought it would be pretty special to be able to do that. Q. What was the plan coming into this game? Obviously you don't want to go back to Ottawa. What was the mood in the room and what was the plan? SCOTT NIEDERMAYER: You know, you don't want to go back. I've been in these situations where you've let games slip away and it's not fun. It's an emotional mental grind when that happens. And I think we're pretty focused. We knew Ottawa was going to come out and play well. Our fans were into it. They brought a ton of energy. Probably the most they have all playoffs. And I thought we played pretty well tonight. Q. You said you didn't make the plan but when did you start thinking about who it was going to and did you have any doubt you were going to hand it to Rob first? SCOTT NIEDERMAYER: I don't know. It's obviously when you have a three or four goal lead, maybe it's not safe, but you think you have a good chance and I guess maybe you start to think a little bit about what it means and different things like that and what you're going to do. But I tried not to too much. Q. Can you talk about as the final seconds were ticking away what was going through your heart, your mind and I'm sure I know the answer but does it ever get tired winning the Stanley? SCOTT NIEDERMAYER: You don't get tired. I'm tired physically but you don't get tired of this. But it's been asked a question a lot. I can't believe how fortunate that I've been just to poke my nose in the right door and end up in the spots I've been in to be able to do this. And just to see, to see the guys enjoying it. I remember what it was like when I was the first one and just how excited you are and you just, you you're not thinking about it. You're not registering what's going on and it's fun to see that. Q. You won your fourth Cup this one with your brother. MVP trophy. You've been in the Olympics, does this tonight bring your career full circle, have you done just about everything you ever thought you might have a shot at? SCOTT NIEDERMAYER: I've done more than I ever thought. Like I just said. I've been very fortunate to play with a lot of really good players, good teammates, good friends, and that's how you have success in the playoffs is by trusting each other and wanting to play hard for each other. And I've been in a lot of groups that have been like that and it's obviously very rewarding to do that. Q. There's been a lot of rumors you've been playing with a hairline fracture on your foot. Can you tell us if you have been playing with it? SCOTT NIEDERMAYER: I haven't had an x-ray on it in a few months it actually has felt fine. So I feel fine. I felt like I can say it now probably the best I felt through a playoff series in a long time. Q. Your feelings on winning the Conn Smythe, this is the first time you've won this award, you've been around other guys that have won this award? SCOTT NIEDERMAYER: You know what, I was a little surprised. We had a handful of candidates, I think. And I was out there trying to do my thing, whether it was playing good solid defense, blocking a shot, helping out in the offensive end, I was just trying to do whatever ever needed, what the team needed. And I guess to be recognized like that, I'm thankful I was out there competing as hard as I could trying to help the team and not really thinking about an award like this. But just wanted to help the team. Q. As you know, Anaheim does not have a hockey culture like Canada does. This is the first Cup for a California team. What do you hope this will do for hockey down here? SCOTT NIEDERMAYER: Well, like you said, Canada loves their hockey and from what I heard out there, we have quite a few fan who love their hockey down there too and they're going to have a lot of fun with this and that's all that matters. We have great fans. They supported us all year, and they do enjoy this as much as us. It's a lot of fun for everybody, and they're a big part of it. So they do enjoy it. Q. It's never easy, but this was easier than most of us expected. This was easier than most of us expected. Why was it so much easier than we expected and was this any sort of statement about the balance of power in this league that you had a tougher time in the western conference? SCOTT NIEDERMAYER: You know, you never how - I wouldn't say it was easy. You said easier, it's never easy. It's a strange situation when you're playing a team you haven't played all year and you don't really know how it's going to develop. How it's going to play out. We have a lot of guys in the room that were pretty hungry. When you play like Teemu has for 15 or 16 years, when you play 10, 12, 14 years and you haven't had a chance to do this, that puts something in your stomach, I think, that you can count on at this time of year. And I think our guys showed that. Q. Scott, couple big plays today in front of Giguere. Beauchemin and Marchant had plays deflected, pucks that appeared to be headed to the net with their sticks. Just comment on how important the defense is at front and Giguere? SCOTT NIEDERMAYER: It will always be important in winning probably any championship. Those are things that aren't easy to do. I guess when you're focused on the game they're fun to do, but they're not easy. They don't feel good. Sometimes they hurt when you block a shot. Maybe not with your stick. But when you're committed to win you're doing things like that, blocking shots, taking hits you're giving hits but taking hits to make plays and that's what we had our guys doing and that's why we're here. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Scott. COACH RANDY CARLYLE THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach. Q. This is the goal that you had all season. You did it. Can you just express how it feels you can breathe a sigh of relief and give us that million dollar smile? COACH RANDY CARLYLE: I think that we've been holding back on their emotions for the last couple of days, and it's one of those things that it's kind of surreal at this point. You can't really fathom that we've got it done. We put ourselves in a great position. Our players worked extremely hard. And tonight, with the way the game developed and I thought that the exclamation point for our team we only allowed 13 shots in a critical game. And that's a tribute to the players, because they went out and they fought to the ice and they won a lot of the battles and scored big goals at key times for us. Q. What was the defining moment this season where you felt you had the necessary ingredients to be standing in front of us winning the Stanley Cup? COACH RANDY CARLYLE: I don't know if you could say there's a defining moment. I think our group made the decision at training camp. The way our team came together right out the gate of training camp, we got together and we were a team early. And I think we had some sort of crazy record going. We were unbeaten and we hadn't lost in like 14 or something and it just seemed that that was a stepping stone. And then we ran into a little bit of a hurdle at Christmas, but we found ways to regroup. And we made adjustments as we went forward, but players are the ones that put it on the line night in night out and they deserve all the credit. Q. You went through Scott's list of accomplishments yesterday now it's four Stanley Cups it's a Conn Smythe he's now in some pretty rare company. Where does he belong? COACH RANDY CARLYLE: He belongs right at the top. He's an amazing athlete. He's an amazing individual. He's so unassuming, and just feel fortunate that you're able to coach players like that. And we've talked about no maintenance people. And he's at the top of that list. And the incident that happened the other night, he has that calming effect. He has that veteran leadership. He was able to say turn the page and we did. We moved on and worked extremely hard. It's a tribute to our players. And he's our leader and just another exclamation point, another notch on his belt for the things that he's been able to accomplish. Q. What were some of the unsung heros of this team? COACH RANDY CARLYLE: What we tried to do, we tried to have everybody's contribution no matter how many minutes it was, if it was 20 minutes, if it was two minutes, if it was 20 seconds. We needed the best 20 seconds you could give us. We needed the best 30 minutes you could give us. We took that motto and we said we would only be as good as our weakest player. And our weakest contribution. We didn't get any weak contributions. There's unsung people from the standpoint I was asked about the Conn Smythe trophy, and there was a lot of people that could have went to the forefront. Giguere. Andy McDonald. Sammy Pahlsson. Chris Pronger, Ryan Getzlaf, all those people would have been worthy of the award. And it's just that there wasn't - there didn't seem to be anybody clear-cut. We were fortunate that people stepped up to the forefront on different days, different occasions and we got the job done. Q. You've been a player, obviously, and now as a coach, the Stanley Cup champion, is this the most fun you've had in your days at the NHL level? COACH RANDY CARLYLE: It's the highest accomplishment. Obviously I played for a number of years. As I stated, I've been in the game professionally for 30 years, and this is my first Stanley Cup. And I'm going to savor this for a few days anyways. We'll allow more than the 10- minute rule that we have. Q. You mentioned the team, you had someone stepping up on different occasions, can you talk about the team depth you guys have and the type of players you have in the locker room that enable you to have that kind of contribution? COACH RANDY CARLYLE: Again it goes to the point all your players, when you get to this point in the Stanley Cup Final, there's a lot of people grown what they are into now. The development of our young players, the savvy of our veteran leadership, the emergence of some players that historically maybe hadn't performed in the playoffs, all those things came together for us. And we're fortunate in that respect. I think I'm the most fortunate coach in the world to have that type of locker room and no maintenance players. Very few no maintenance players. You ask any coach if you don't have to focus on one or two individuals you can constantly focus on the group. It makes your job that much easier. And these people have delivered. Q. What are you going to do with your day with the cup now? COACH RANDY CARLYLE: If I have my day, it will go back to [Azilda] arena where I played minor hockey in my hometown go there for a half a day and take it to my cottage center there's a community center in the Hamlet of Rockville on Manitoba Island, and I'd like it to go there. If I have that choice that's where it's going to go. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Randy. End of FastScripts |
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