NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WILD v MIGHTY DUCKS

May 13, 2003

Mike Babcock

COACH BABCOCK: It was great. My kids were -- they jumped in the bed this morning. I got in at 2:00, saw them then. It's always great to be home and see your kids. Yet, you know, if I remember correctly, this team was down 3-1 two times, and all the other team needed to do was win one game. We're a long way from that. We went to Dallas and were up 2-0 and they beat us. Suddenly you're right back in the series. We feel fortunate to be where we're at. Things have gone well for us. We won yesterday, but it's a fine line, and right now we're on the right side of it, but we're really aware how good the other team is, how well they'll prepare, and how hard they'll work.

COACH BABCOCK: Well, I don't know, I think having a little fear or respect or whatever is -- when you respect the opponent, all you're doing is showing respect for yourself. You know, I guess the way I look at it, and the opportunities, common sense would say the opportunity would warrant the approach, or vice versa. Right now the opportunity for us and them is unbelievable. So our preparation should be and our work ethic should be immeasurable.

COACH BABCOCK: It's better than being right here, I can tell you that. How would I say that? That's what I do. I mean, my family is the most important thing. There is no question about that, but this is what I've done for 16 years, and at every level, it's been the same is you really enjoy the guys, and you enjoy the better teams more, and the relationship you have with those players seems to be better, but this is a special thing. You get to do what you want to do with aggressive, talented, young people going places, and you get to be part of that. That's a pretty special thing and then, you know, Paul MacLean is a huge help to me on the bench. He's the guy that's all the time monitoring the other team's bench, who's coming and going. We have some good laughs there. It's kind of fun, and you get a pretty good read on what's going on there. The higher the stakes, the more fun. That's just the way it is.

COACH BABCOCK: He should get some credit.

COACH BABCOCK: Well, the first thing that happened when I got to the bench in Minnesota is he looked over at me and I looked at him and we gave each other a big smile and a thumbs up like it's nice to be here. The reality is it's probably not that special for Jacques's name to be mentioned with my name in the same sentence, but it's pretty special for Mike Babcock to be mentioned with his. I have been a big fan of this guy for a long time, and I feel honored to coach against him like other coaches. This time for a coach and players is when you're stretched, and it's a time to get better, and there is going to be lots of challenges, and we, as a team, have learned a lot from Jacques's team, like we did from Detroit, Colorado and Dallas this year and we're not too proud to steal some of the things they do, so that's what we've tried to do.

COACH BABCOCK: Yeah.

COACH BABCOCK: Well, we talked about that today. I don't know if it makes me comfortable. The reality is is sometimes you get close and you start getting your eye on the prize instead of keeping it on the process. Being in the process and the present is what allowed you to have success. It's human nature that sometimes those things happen. The most important thing we have to do is worry about ourself, live in the moment, get prepared and be the best we can be and have as much fun as we could possibly have. I watched the thing before yesterday's game. Emmett Smith, "They're marching towards whatever." They had a special on ESPN. All that stood out in my mind is he kept saying, "Go hard, have fun. Go hard, have fun." I don't know what better thing you could say now.

COACH BABCOCK: Well, I mean, it's like anything. When you first come someplace, it takes a while for your program to get set up. I assume we'll be better in the penalty kill next year, so it takes some time. I think we have had excellent penalty-killing all year long. Obviously, the better teams on the powerplays stretch you at times. The one thing about the regular season is when you play Detroit and they abuse you on the penalty kill and they get three on you or something like that, you don't have to play them for a while. At this time of the year, when you're playing against Minnesota, you don't get a different opponent. That's the test and the measure, but, you know, obviously, specialty teams are a big part of the playoffs, and I've said this a number of times, I look at them totally different than you people do. I look at can we win the specialty teams match-up, and I've always said, to me, penalty-killing is more important than the powerplay. One puts you one up and one puts you one down, and I think if you can do a real good job penalty-killing -- and penalty-killing is about battle level, and powerplay is often about talent. That to me, you're in a good situation when your guys battle and you have a chance to be successful in all aspects of the game.

COACH BABCOCK: This is what I look at: Detroit scored two powerplay goals in the series against us. We got two out of the box. That's even. So you would say you did a pretty good job. Then you hear about Giguere went 0 for whatever he did. If you dwell on that, that doesn't do any good. Then you play Dallas and we get four and they get three. I don't know what percent they were or we were, and right now, I know that they haven't gotten a powerplay goal, and we haven't got one. We're doing okay so far, and obviously their powerplay is elite and they had some chances.

COACH BABCOCK: Well, I think one of the things that Brian Murray talks about most is your players have to be important and everybody's got to be important, and I agree totally. If guys know what's expected -- that's the other thing I found out about athletes. If they know what's expected, most people want to please you. Athletes are no different. You've just got to give them a chance to do that. Our guys have done a really good job that way. When you're on a good team, you pick each other up. That's happened thus far. If we're going to continue to have success, that has to continue to happen obviously.

COACH BABCOCK: Well, I don't think you want the other guy to be better technically than you do. That part isn't the measure at all. You don't coach hockey; you coach people. It's all about dealing with people and making them accountable and having a relationship with them. I think at game time, you can be as demanding as you want, but the next day, it's about making them better. I think they have to trust you. You know, we talk all the time as coaches, but it's not what you say. It's what you do. You can tell a guy he's important, but unless you play him like he's important, he's not important. I think the basic of being a good hockey coach is being straightforward and letting people know where they stand. That's the measure. Everything about coaching is the test of time. You know, you come in, and I'm a first-year coach here, and a lot of coaches, you've got to leave after a short period of time because you didn't have enough relationships with guys. You could push them hard for a bit but you didn't have enough of a relationship so they understand you were trying to make them better. I think that's part of the process, too.

COACH BABCOCK: The thing I noticed so far in the playoffs is the better he plays, the bigger they get. The big thing about this league is it's pretty controlled. Giguere is a competitive guy and he's pretty good, and he's a good person. No one's allowed to cheat. I mean, there is nothing there, but the reality is, if you have people talking about it, that's great, too. Everyone needs something to talk about. I threw some things out the other day, no one picked them up.

COACH BABCOCK: No, that's okay. I said it once. That's enough.

COACH BABCOCK: It's not his coming-out party. He's been out for a while. We just didn't know about it. We take a lot of pride in him. When things go well, everybody gets credits. A lot of people are getting credit because things are going well for our team right now. Giguere gave us the opportunity the other night to allow us to feel -- well, to be in a good situation here today. I thought we played real well as a team last night. I didn't think Giguere had to carry us on his back. I thought he did in game 1. We're all happy for him, but I think we're all happy for each other, and when things didn't go well, I don't think anyone was passing on taking the blame either. We were sharing that at that time, and there is enough credit to go around right now at this time.