NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: WILD v MIGHTY DUCKS

May 9, 2003

Mike Babcock

Bryan Murray

BRIAN MURRAY: They have been good reasons why we're in. You can acquire players and hope that they play well, but they have played well, they fit into our system. They fit into what Mike wanted to get done. They're veteran guys that have been in playoffs before, that know how to help the younger players, and I think every one of our additions have really been outstanding, and that's been the player and the coaching staff being able to fit them in and do what they had to do to make them successful.

MIKE BABCOCK: Kurt's, obviously, been just fantastic for us. He was a bit of a surprise at training camp. I don't think any one of us expected him to play right away. He's been the same since I've know him. He's 35 years of age, mentally and he's got a great body and he does simple things that allow him to be successful. As the game gets to a higher level, obviously, the simpler you play and the better decisions you make, the better player you are. He has a great mind and he's going to be a good pro for a long period of time.

MIKE BABCOCK: I don't know about that. As a coach it gives you confidence. You know how to communicate with the kid; he knows what you're about. Maybe it allows him to be more confident early. The other thing is, maybe you give him an opportunity he might not have gotten. Yet, I think he earned the opportunity he's been given. Brian did a great job stepping up and signing him last summer, and, you know, he's just earned his opportunity since that time.

MIKE BABCOCK: The gentleman to my right here, he's stepped up and made Anaheim a people's-first organization and showed people he cared, trusted people, hired people, let them do their job. He acquired players and set an expectation and standard. The big thing anymore is there is an expectation of success, work hard, prepare hard, after a period of time, you start expecting to have success, and, you know, I think our guys have done a great job with that. We have a good core group and good leadership, and with the additions he's made over the year, he's added to that core group that's drives our bus.

MIKE BABCOCK: They're flat-out scary, as far as I'm concerned. They can fly. They're the quickest team we will have faced to this point. They're well prepared. I think they play a lot like us. I listened to the broadcast the last few nights in the games and they're always talking about, oh, they get a good first period on their goaltender. They actually play smart and patient. When you make a mistake, they make you pay. They got some guys that have really stepped up here in the real season here, and they're really scoring for them. Their powerplay has been fantastic. They present a lot of challenges.

MIKE BABCOCK: Well, they're the sixth seed, we're the seventh seed. No team at this point, in my opinion, is an underdog. You all believe you've got the right to be here. And we would all like to be No. One. We all think we're resilient. We all think we find a way. We believe in one another, and we're all having fun, and we believe in the guy next to us. When you look at it that way, we're all similar that way. Someone will find a way to come out on top.

MIKE BABCOCK: I know I'm glad to be here; I know our players are. It's an opportunity for us to play against a real good team, real quick team, well-coached. I know that's a challenge for us and myself, and I really look forward to that. We want to be successful, and as much as it's all fun at the start, as you play more and more, and you saw in every series, you dislike each other more and more, so I imagine that learning curve will be real quick.

MIKE BABCOCK: You know, I don't know that for sure. I know we had, I thought, a pretty good run going into Christmas, and then the wheels came off for us right after Christmas, and then, you know, I don't know in Colorado, we got a great big win that maybe we shouldn't have got, as far as the way the schedule had been set up, and things turned from there, and, like I said, Brian's had a great deal to do with the success of our team. That day was no different. The guys have done a great job, obviously.

MIKE BABCOCK: Well, I think there is lots of similarities. There is probably a lot of differences, too. I think we play a lot the same. I know we've learned a lot from them this year watching them play and playing against them, and, you know, I guess the big thing is we're both quick, both can skate, both move the puck, both don't beat yourself very often, but we're going to see over the next little while.

MIKE BABCOCK: I don't think they're doing a whole bunch different. The one thing about the Western Conference is everybody is real close. You know, you think you make some big steps, and then the year ends and suddenly you're fighting to be in the playoffs. Once you're in, anything can happen. Both our teams have real good goal tending. Both of our teams play, I think, real professional without the puck, and those are the things I think will win at this time of year. Both teams are also real disciplined, don't take a lot of penalties, don't beat yourself.

BRIAN MURRAY: I think the coaching of both teams is outstanding. I think you look at two groups that are teams you watch, some of the other teams play, and they have better individuals, maybe bigger and stronger in some cases, but both teams have allowed their players to have confidence in their coach and what the plan is each and every night, and I really think going into the playoffs you can see that in almost every game I watched Minnesota play and the way we played.

MIKE BABCOCK: No, that's going to be just fine. You know, the good thing about it, if they're rotating, we're doing okay.

MIKE BABCOCK: He's been excellent. He's a steady guy who's sound technically, who is in the right place at the right time, isn't diving all over the net, making, you know, stacked-pad saves or diving across the net. He's just there. He's a real competitive fellow. He demands a lot out of himself. As doing so, you do the same to your teammates so I think he really leads in that way, and he's having the time of his life, and I think that's -- when I read about either team, that, to me, seems to be a common theme is these guys are letting it all hang out. No one is being cautious. You're trying to be the best you possibly can be. I think so many people in life put a cap on their potential. Giguere is not one of those guys.

MIKE BABCOCK: He picked up his game when he arrived in Anaheim. He's been phenomenal for us. It's his attitude and 19 years in the league. He's been to this step four times, never past this point. A guy like that telling the other guys, these chances come very seldom in your career, in your lifetime. You better make good on them. The other thing is when you see a 39-year-old guy as fired up as he is, it makes it tough not for the young guys to be pumped up.

BRIAN MURRAY: Obviously, as Mike suggested, it's very difficult to get into the playoff. We had 95 points; Minnesota had 95 points, not that far behind the big name teams that annually appear in the Final Four, but again, as I suggested, I think both teams are very well prepared, they're excellent teams. We don't have maybe the high-profile player that some of them have. As a group, they play as sound and disciplined as any team in the league, and it just says that if you do that, what Mike is suggesting, all the time, if you allow yourself to be good, you will be good, and these people have found a way to be awfully good, and their teams are here and will have a chance. One of us will have a chance to play in the finals.

BRIAN MURRAY: '90 to '94.

BRIAN MURRAY: Don't get down like we did, so it was good, it was a good feeling. The goal had to be reviewed, if I remember correctly. Federov scored, you people screamed like crazy, I hope you have to do it again.

BRIAN MURRAY: As Mike said, you wait a long time in your career for good things to happen. In '96 in Florida we went to the finals and didn't win a Cup, and its taken seven years to get back, it's a long time in a career. I haven't been here very often. Obviously it's very exciting for me, being an old guy, being around these young people that are competing as hard as they are every night. It was fun back then when I was coaching and being behind the bench and had a little more hands-on type of job, but this has been terrific, and as I say, watching the coaches prepare and being a little bit a part of it, and watching the players play so hard every night, and the excitement in our building, as I'm sure we'll see here, has been outstanding.