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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: BRUINS v BLACKHAWKSJune 11, 2013Stan BowmanJoel QuennevilleCHICAGO, ILLINOIS: Practice Day THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Coach, just a quick practice question. Stalberg healthy again. Is that the physical element of the game? COACH QUENNEVILLE: We'll see. I know he practiced today. There's a likelihood or probability it could happen. They played well together, that line, all year long. It could happen. Q. Joel, to practice, Patrick and Jonathan separated for starters. Are you trying to establish matchups taking into consideration the Chara factor? COACH QUENNEVILLE: It could be. It's balance and something we'll look at. Sometimes that can evolve over the course of a series. But it might be one of the reasons. Q. Coach, size up the series and this matchup. What scares you the most about the Boston Bruins? COACH QUENNEVILLE: They're playing well. They're on a big roll right now. They got a lot of options. They check well, patient team, positionally strong in all zones. They have guys that can make plays. They have some big point shooters as well. We want to make sure that we play our game to our strengths, but recognize we got to be at our best in the series. Q. Stan, you've been a big Corey supporter all along. Does this validate your trust in him? STAN BOWMAN: Corey has been fantastic all season long. We talked about it starting the year. A lot of people had questions on Corey. He's really been progressing every year. He's a guy we've had in our organization since we drafted him. We've taken our time allowing him to improve year after year. He's finally made it to the NHL, established himself as the No.1 goaltender. It's a process for goalies, I think. We've always had confidence in his ability. I think it's just nice to see now him getting the recognition that he deserves. The consistent play that we've had game in, game out, it's been that way from the beginning of the year. We know we're going to get a great performance from him every night. When your goaltender plays well, like he has, then it allows you to just play your game and not have to worry about goaltending. Q. Joel, can you talk about the difference in the room downstairs as opposed to 2010, skill‑wise, maturity‑wise? COACH QUENNEVILLE: Certainly the core group has matured to a nice level over the last four years. I think their experience is going to be beneficial for the guys who haven't been there. We've got some young guys this year who made a big impact on our team, have grown throughout the year and in the playoffs as well. It's nice having those guys to lean on at this time. I thought as a team we've got a lot more enthusiasm in our game over the last couple series. We've progressed. We're much improved from the start of the playoffs to this point today. I know we've had some pretty amazing stretches over the course of the season. We like the room right now. Everybody is excited about the challenge, the opportunity. You look back to the group in 2010, I think comparable in a lot of areas about the enthusiasm we had at this stage of the game. Maybe the makeup is a little bit different to the team, but certainly the objective, the demographics are comparable. We had a young team, we still feel we have a young team today. Q. Stan, go back about a year ago at this time. How close, if at all, were you to making some big changes? What stopped you if you were considering it? STAN BOWMAN: I think the one thing you hear a lot from the teams at this time of year is how there's such a fine line between winning and losing. I know we heard that the other night when we beat Los Angeles. A lot of their players commented it's hard to win in this league. We did a lot of good things the last couple seasons. When it comes right down to it, sometimes it's just a moment in time that changes things. You have to have confidence that you're close to having success in the playoffs. I think we knew we had a very good team. We didn't need to make sweeping changes. You make incremental improvements in certain areas. I think there's something to be said for consistency. We've had a lot of these guys together for a long time. Certainly Joel has done a great job. He understands how to coach the team. There's a lot of little nuances that the media doesn't see or the fans may not pick up on. But having that consistency, you have to have some new pieces to the puzzle, as well, which I think we have some new wrinkles. Some players expand their roles, they show growth internally in their games. When you add it all up, that's why we felt confident coming into the year that we had the group that could have success. We started off strong and we've been able to maintain that throughout the year. Q. Coach, it's been so long since you played the Bruins, almost over two years. Obviously unusual. Does that make it more difficult? COACH QUENNEVILLE: Well, I think probably a lot of unpredictability in everybody's mind how it's going to play itself out. With video, watching hockey, scouts, the people you talk to in the game, I think you got a pretty fair assessment of how they're going to play. I don't think we complicate our team game as well. It's a pretty straightforward game. We have to play to our strengths, the realization of what they're capable of. I think it's going to be a great matchup. They're playing extremely well. We're excited to be a part of it. That unpredictability in the first period maybe will sort itself out right off the bat, then we'll get more familiar right after that. We have a lot of respect for what they're capable of doing. Q. Stan, about keeping the team close to the top. Three years ago we were here. You had to make significant changes because of the salary cap. Is there a new normal now to maintaining a team near the top from a management perspective? STAN BOWMAN: Well, obviously that's our goal. I think everyone that has success wants to sustain that over a period of time. It's a challenge to do it. Obviously there's a lot of factors that come into play in the salary cap world. I think it can be done clearly. You have to have some continuity to your team. The teams referenced have some changes, but they've had a lot of consistency. That's something we're striving for here. Obviously there's some changes from year to year. We want to keep these guys together as much as we can and to keep developing as a group. Our coaches have a done a fantastic job on top of that of enhancing the players we have, finding ways to make them better. I certainly hope it's a trend that we continue. We want to remain at this level. I think the fans in Chicago have come to love the team. They're supporting us like never before. We want to keep that going. Q. Coach, you talked yesterday about Tuukka. What kind of challenges does he present to the team as compared to Howard and Quick? COACH QUENNEVILLE: He's a big goalie. Maybe more patient in his rush off the net. He's quick, big. He never gives up. He's a battler. Something we talked about going into last year, we want to make sure it's tough on him to find pucks. If he sees it, we're going to have a hard time. Let's make sure we're willing to get to the net. Q. With Bryan Bickell, did you see this type of potential? Has he boosted his stock with what he's done in the post‑season? STAN BOWMAN: Bicks is a guy we know really well. We drafted him and developed him over the time. We've worked together to get him to this point. I've had a lot of talks with Bryan over the years going back to his days in Norfolk when he first turned pro. He was in and out of the lineup a lot, trying to understand how to become a consistent player. Then he played a lot in Rockford. He's been with us for a long time, worked his way here.  I think in a lot of ways it's nice to see him finally kind of put all the pieces together. We've known he's had the capability for a long time. Proud of him. Proud of the way he's played. He brings a nice element to our team. We're excited for that. He's sort of coming into his own. He's been a big part of the success we have had this year, and we're looking for that going forward, as well. Q. Joel, I was struck by the odd coincidence that you and Claude Julien were back‑to‑back captains of the Windsor Spitfires? Is it more than coincidence that you were Spitfire captains? COACH QUENNEVILLE: That's a long time ago (laughter). I know I was fortunate to play at home. The first year the Spitfires had a franchise in the year, it was the first year. Got to play in my hometown. I was there for the three years, as a captain two of the year. First year we took our lumps being an expansion team, then the next couple years we were pretty good. I got a chance to play with some guys, have some great memories, good friendships from those days as well. But I can't remember too much about the Spitfire days. Other than that, it was great playing at home. It was a nice to see the franchise do so well recently here. But I got a lot of respect for Claude, the job he's done, not just as a hockey player, but as a coach. Got to commend him on his whole career. We got the similar route starting in Windsor, which is a great place to be. Q. Stan, in 2010 after you took the job, you didn't have to do a whole lot with the roster, ended up winning the Cup. Now you had to dramatically alter the roster. How much more satisfying is that knowing you played such a major role in reshaping this roster? STAN BOWMAN: I get that question a lot. I try to point out that it really is sort of a team effort. It's not just one man. It wasn't one man back then. It's not one man now. I think I look at some of the success we've had personnel‑wise. You have to look at our amateur scouting staff, they've done a great job. We've had a couple young players, Andrew Shaw, Brandon Saad. They've come in at a young age, made a big contribution, Nick Leddy, part of our pro group, scouting group, in that trade. It's a team effort. Once we get the players, we turn them over to the coaches, they have to find a way to utilize them, make them better players. They've done that. It's certainly not one person that got us to this point. It's not going to be one person that continues it on. It's a team effort. For that reason, it's rewarding to see that the whole organization, we contributed to the success that we've had here. Q. Joel, can you talk about the challenges your team will be facing going up against their defensemen. COACH QUENNEVILLE: You have obviously Chara stands out as far as his presence on the ice defending against no matter what line, he's a pretty efficient guy. I think that's going to be a challenge in itself. I think their group basically recovered health‑wise over the last round or two. They're back to where they've been all year. They're mobile. They have some big point shooters. I want to make sure we manage that in our own end. Something we talk about going into every round, we want to make them play defense as best we can, spending time in their end and getting the puck behind them is going to be the challenge. Q. Patrick Sharp, he's a guy from the outside seems to be a bit in the shadow of Toews, Kane and Hossa. What else does he have to do to elevate his reputation here? COACH QUENNEVILLE: Sharpie has had a good playoff. He's been productive in the first couple rounds. He led us in all aspects offensively. I think he has some strong games both sides of the puck. That line always gets a lot of responsibility. That's what we look for. I think that consistency of his game is something we try to reinforce. Something he looks to bring you as well. Big stage here, we look forward to it. Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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