NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: MIGHTY DUCKS v DEVILS

June 9, 2003

Martin Brodeur

Ken Daneyko

Scott Niedermayer

KEN DANEYKO: Pat told me late last night and I actually was flabbergasted. I questioned his move on this one. I wasn't going to say no, but I had not been in there in two weeks and I just didn't screw up. I just wanted to do my little part, but it's pretty easy when you have teammates like this and guys like this controlling the game. I was grateful to get back in there. Like I said, I thought Pat might have been a little bit crazy, but, hey, it was a nice feeling to get back.

SCOTT NIEDERMAYER: I really didn't know what to say. I wish he could have been with us, carrying the trophy around. I just told him I was proud of him. He played as well and as hard as anybody on the ice out there, and it was tough, for sure.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, I think we have a lot of experience. We felt that we beat ourselves over there. We knew if we played better, we definitely had more confidence playing in our own building, and we forgot about it. It's how you handle adversity in the playoffs that's going to make you succeed and this team is great at that. I think the fact that we made it a point early in the season to be a tough team to play in our own building, I think Pat, it was the first thing when he got hired, he wanted us to be a better team at home. It really paid off. I think we felt a lot of confidence. Sure, going through that first period, 0-0, that really made us feel awesome.

SCOTT NIEDERMAYER: It definitely gets tougher as you get further in the playoffs. You're right, the Ottawa series was extremely tough. They are a great team and they played very well. Obviously, this was a seven-game series, too, so it didn't get any easier when we faced them.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, I think John was a key to our success all year. When Holik left, a lot of people were asking the question who is going to be the guy. John came in and took it to heart to be the best player out there every night and compete really hard. With guys like that, I think that you are always in good shape and it's important that he gets that recognition. He deserves it. John has been the go-to guy defensively and in a system like that, you need guys like that. Definitely, when Joe goes down like that, you need other guys to step up and he came through for us.

KEN DANEYKO: I'm going to sit down with my family and decide that. I couldn't think of a sweeter way to go out. It was a real nice touch that Pat put me out in the last minute. I was so damned nervous, I dropped my stick, I did everything. I didn't know what to do out there. I was trying to follow the puck, swim it up. I was shocked, really, like I said earlier. I really didn't expect it, and like I said, with guys like, this it was pretty easy, guys working this hard, I was just trying to do my little part.

KEN DANEYKO: Well, three cups in nine years is something special. Especially these guys next to me, we have built a solid foundation for next year. For us, we didn't care about the Rodney Dangerfield mentality. This year was probably the most difficult year of all. It was a year going into the season, I didn't really know what to expect. We were a different kind of team, and like Marty said, we lost Holik but then with the additions of Madden and Marshall, it was great. This is as great of a feeling as you're ever going to get.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, definitely when you play in the playoffs, you've got to go through injuries a little bit, from knees to groins and stuff like that. We were a little tight. But it's time for everybody to just focus. I think when the game started, I felt pretty good. I think it's in the off-days and in practices that I really took it easy. I think it made it hard, we are not used to the travel, going to the West Coast like that and coming back to the East Coast. It took a toll on me a little bit. I played a lot of games -- good thing I like to play a lot of games -- but to have to go out West and push this to seven games in the Conference Finals and the Finals, I was really happy, looking to this day to be over and definitely it is the greatest day to do it.

MARTIN BRODEUR: It is probably a little better, just the way that we did it. It was a bumpy ride. We had some great adversity to go through and we definitely came through at the right time and we had a great bunch of guys. This summer when we made the few trades and we got new guys, there were a lot of question marks. We lost Bobby Holik and we lost key guys that were big leaders in this locker room and added new guys and we grew on each other a little bit. That's why we were such a successful team.

MARTIN BRODEUR: It's well deserved for him. He's the only reason -- well, I mean, there are some good players out there, too, but he's the big reason why the Mighty Ducks made it so far, and he deserves it. He accomplished some great things out there. You know it's kind of easy when you win the Cup to be satisfied about it. I'm sure if I lost, it would have been a little harder on me. But knowing that I have the Stanley Cup, I'm not worried about the Conn Smythe. He deserves it.

KEN DANEYKO: Well, Pat as everybody knows, doesn't smile a whole lot. He just kept the pedal to the metal all season long and didn't get complacent. That was probably what was missing from the club in the past few years. It's so hard to stay on top and if you let up just an inch; you find yourselves out in the first round just like last year. He came in from day one and was a no-nonsense guy, did some things that sometimes you don't understand, but I guess that's why he coaches and we play. Like I said, I didn't understand him putting me back in the lineup, but he was just a guy that stayed focused throughout and kept our guys focused. Probably one of the tougher coaches I've played for but well worth it, I'll tell you that.

MARTIN BRODEUR: You know what, I don't know. Definitely, it's nice to win right now but we had a great opportunity in 2001 and we didn't come through. I don't think we'll forget about that. Definitely, it's nice to be able to go back in winning ways and definitely define our club and as a great organization. But it's still something that we wish we could have had. I think if you start being satisfied by losing one and winning one, definitely you want to try to win everything. We definitely are happy that we came through and knowing that the experience that we had in 2001, blowing a 3-2 lead in the series, it looked like it was going the same way this year, but we pulled it off with a great effort tonight.

MARTIN BRODEUR: Well, what I said before on that subject, I think it's important to know that it's not over for us and we are going to try to build on this. I think that we have a great bunch of guys, we have a great organization. We have a lot of young guys that are going to come up, like the one right beside me that scored a big goal for us today. We hope that we are going to continue that. Ten years, 20 years down the road, people will look back on what we have accomplished and they will say exactly if they feel that we deserve to be a dynasty or not. Right now I don't think is the time to call ourselves a dynasty. It is whenever we are going to start slumping or not making the playoffs, but right now it doesn't look like any time soon it is going to happen for us, but knock on wood, we are happy with this organization and we are looking to a lot more years here under my contract and I want to win.