NHL WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: AVALANCHE v RED WINGS

May 30, 2002

Scotty Bowman

COACH BOWMAN: It's been so difficult for both teams to score. I don't think it's because there hasn't been chances. There have been a lot of chances in every game. It's just you got to make a perfect shot or you've got to get a break. I think that's the reason that there has only been 28 goals in six games. It's 13 and 15 now. But it's tough to score now in the NHL overall. It's been tough all season and you throw in teams like this and the goaltenders like they have, and it even makes it more and more complicated to score.

COACH BOWMAN: No, I don't have a plan going in. There is a lot of players that are going to play a lot more minutes than others, we know that. Generally there is not a lot of penalties in the seventh game because the players are being more careful and I don't know if it's because the officials are not calling. People often think they don't call it in the seventh game, but I think there is much less to call. And you're going to get probably two of the most experienced referees in the game. I'm sure that's what the league usually does when we get down to these crucial games. A lot will depend on the health of the team as it goes along. You know, we lost Brett Hull last night in the second period. He tried it a couple times in the third and it was a little sore. But I would say that we had not a big luxury, but when we had the 2-0 lead, we would like to have had him out there. But I don't know what we would have done if they would have scored a goal. And he's a very good defensive player, but we gave his ice time to Tomas Holmstrom and he had a real good third period. He played our system well, and I thought that he really helped make up for the loss of Brett. Fortunately there wasn't a lot of penalties. We were shorthanded four times. We usually use three sets of penalty killers, and we didn't have Brett available for penalty killing. We doubled Fedorov with Yzerman and mostly Draper with Maltby. We were down to four.

COACH BOWMAN: Well, I think there is always a danger of that, but we don't have a real -- you know we have an experienced team. I'm sure they've experienced these situations before, not every player, and you kind of call on that, both teams have a lot of experienced players, been through a lot of tough games, and so that's always out there, but I think you've got to put it right out of your mind and play as hard as you can. That's usually the best formula, but you've got to play for sure. You've got to play smart, but you just can't sit back. I think that would be a way we wouldn't want to play.

COACH BOWMAN: I think he'll be fine. He skated today and they think after another day, it's not a major injury, so he should be able to come back.

COACH BOWMAN: It's pretty hard to remember 28 years or 30. I don't remember if I did it or not. I know in Montreal once we got caught with Dryden, Dave Dryden who works for the league, but he was in Buffalo's net, and Ken Dryden was in our net, and they measured Ken Dryden's goal pads. In those days you could somehow measure them. They called for a pad measurement between periods, and we got a penalty. They were a little bit over the line. I don't remember about a stick. So it's too many games, you know, 300 games or something, 200-something games, probably over 300. I don't know how many games I have been in the playoffs, but it's been done before. Obviously it really helped Montreal in '93, in that big second game with the Kings. I mean, it turned the whole series around, you know, so it's in the book, I mean you can use it if you choose to use it.

COACH BOWMAN: I'm not sure if they shouldn't just say even with the curved sticks. I don't know if it makes that much of a difference to let them have any kind of stick -- not height but the curve on the stick, you know, it's an oddity sort of with a goalie's stick if it was going to be illegal, probably just by a little bit, and then you get all the rest of the equipment, you know, the gloves 48 inches, and it's the same for everybody. But I guess they have to have it somewhere.

COACH BOWMAN: There is the shaft, 26 inches; there is the length of the blade, 15; at the heel you're allowed 4 1/2. The rest of the blade you're allowed 3 1/2. So there is actually no curve measurement. So there is four different measurements that you have to distinguish. It's the same way when you're measuring a regular player's stick. You have to distinguish is the blade too high. They have this gauge or is it the curve. You can't get everything. They won't measure everything about the stick. Same with the goalie stick. You've got to distinguish if it's too high. Are you saying it's too high at the 3-1/2 inch level or right at the heel where you're allowed an extra inch.

COACH BOWMAN: I read about that, but I don't think that was a factor into it. I mean, that's like --

COACH BOWMAN: I have had a lot of players come to me in the years and say, we should check his stick. Not so much on the goalie. A few times on the goalie concerned about the pad, the part that goes up the shaft. But, you know, the stick manufacturers are instructed by the league not to ever send in any equipment of any kind that isn't meeting to the league's standards. But the players are their clients too, and it's a big issue. But I don't know. They said it was -- I'm not sure the last game we played in -- I just heard what you read. It was the beginning of the season, but that's a long time ago. I mean they're going to try to hang up on something. It's in the book. If you want to measure, you can, I mean, you can't deny that fact, so some people think it's right, some people think it's wrong. It's in the book. You're allowed to measure, and there is probably a lot of equipment, even now with the goaltenders. They come in before the playoffs, they measure everything. They've got all kinds of pads in there and they check everything, you know. And the only time I remember, I think I was in Pittsburg, they were coming in and measuring the goalie's equipment. They used to measure it in the morning and they worked all afternoon to make it back to where it was. You know, I don't know how they're going to control all of that. They can't.

COACH BOWMAN: Hopefully pretty good. Usually I don't have a problem sleeping.

COACH BOWMAN: We got in late last night. I got up pretty early, but we got -- we landed at 3:00 and by the time you get to bed it was after 4:00. I don't think the two hours makes that much difference.

COACH BOWMAN: I don't know. In some rinks I think that's right. When I first started in the league, I started in St. Louis, and we had a pretty defensive team. We weren't that quick. Our rink was a bit smaller, a few feet on the width part, and Buffalo, Boston, Chicago, were smaller ice, less ice. I think those teams had a big advantage. I find it easier for us to play at Pepsi Center than McNichols. The dressing room is better. It's just sort of a general atmosphere about the rink. You know, it's getting more modern facilities. We have had a much better center at the Pepsi Center than we ever had at McNichols. It's different teams too. You know, maybe we weren't as good a team. I wouldn't say that, but I think it's a lot of rinks are the same. But I don't have another reason for it, except that the older rinks, the ones that -- I know that Boston and Chicago, when I was in Montreal and we had very strong teams, I mean, four years we won 48 games and lost 10 in the playoffs. We only lost 10 games but we still had difficulty in Boston and Chicago in those series. And that's the only reason I could say. But it's 57 percent is usually the home -- in the playoffs it's probably less than that now. A couple weeks ago it was 46.7 percent. Now it's probably -- I don't know if it's over 50 percent.

COACH BOWMAN: No, I don't. I was in two the first year with the Blues in St. Louis. We won in Philly the seventh game and we won in St. Louis in the second overtime, I know that, and lost the seventh game in Pittsburg, I knew that. Buffalo, we lost the second game in Boston in overtime. Here we won a game with Yzerman. We lost a game against San Jose. I'm not sure if there is any more. Is it 9? Okay.