Dallas Drake Year Quotations

I think you've got to look at teams like Carolina and the New York Rangers . A year ago nobody expected them to be where are today and all of a sudden they're Stanley Cup contenders, especially Carolina.

They're getting the chance of a lifetime. It's not going to come along like this every year for them, because next year the team might be different. This is their time to show themselves, see what they can do.

It's been tough and nobody in here's going to lie that it hasn't been a tough year for all of us, not knowing what's going to happen. But we have no part in that, everything in that is out of our control. All we do is play hockey.

Early in the year where we lost 11 or 12 in a row, there were times when I didn't want to show my face in public. It was frustrating. You feel like you're letting a lot of people down and you expect so much more out of yourself and from the organization.

We threw him to the wolves a little bit early in the year and he lost his confidence a little bit. But he went down (to Peoria), played really well, and the last couple games he's been outstanding.