Erik Cole Quotations

Maybe it's too late. After reading his comments ... he didn't sound all that remorseful about it. It sounded like he was more defending his position on why he hit me.

Nobody's going to replace Herb Brooks and what he did in 1980 for USA Hockey. But I think that Peter realizes this is his opportunity as a coach. He's had two opportunities as a player. He's grateful for the opportunity and he certainly respects what goes along with representing your country and just what the whole international competition is about.

I was such a late developer, that was actually a very important year for me, hockey-wise ? to develop a style I've been playing with ever since.

If they call the game the way they showed us they were going to on video, our team is going to do well. On Friday night, there's going to a lot of power-play time.

I don't know what it is, but I really enjoy playing in this arena. It's a great place to come play. There's always a great atmosphere and the fans are in it from the start. Something about this place gets the blood flowing and makes me want to go out there and perform.

I feel fortunate to not only be a part of Ronnie's career, but the ceremony here. For all the records and all the accolades that he's had through his unbelievable career, he's a great person.

From the time I have been here, I can't remember us ever winning whenever Ronnie had a milestone.

He gave a yell for it, and I knew he was coming off that back corner. I wasn't going to be able to get a shot off. You've just got to get it over there, and he'll take care of it.

He gave a yell for it, and I knew he was coming off that back corner.

Martin made a few big stops when we needed him to. He's been doing a great job, especially in penalty shots.

We haven't accomplished anything yet, really. But we're right where we want to be. The best part of the season is still coming.

To be away from the success we've been having as a team and as an organization, I think right now that's the toughest part. I'm just really hoping too have the chance to play with the fellows again this year.

We picked up the pace in the second and the third periods. We got down two goals but we battled back to tie it. Hopefully, that's a sign of good things to come.

We've had some quality acquisitions. I think, in time, everybody's going to mesh together.

To see the hit and see him only get a three-game suspension makes it hurt worse.

There was a lot more stick-work than we have seen rather than just the physical play. It wasn't the shoulder to shoulder like we saw in Philadelphia. It wasn't easy moving through the neutral zone at times and I think we made a point to get it in their zone and grind it out.

Actually, I'm not sure we're paying attention to that. I'm just paying attention to doing whatever it takes to help this team.

This is huge. If this doesn't say we're in it to win it, I don't know what will.

This is where we figure out what we've got in this room: How we're going to handle adversity, how we're going to handle losses, how we're going to handle some injuries, everything,

It's tough to hear I was lucky. You don't feel very lucky in a hospital bed with a broken neck. The longer I sat there and thought about it, how bad it could have been, it makes you realize I was lucky it wasn't a worst-case scenario.

It's not something we're focused on or talking about here in the room. We're just trying to win every game, and the points are the most important thing for us.

It's going to be pretty emotional stepping back on the ice with the guys, whenever that will be.

It's a very nice accomplishment. But it's a credit to all the guys in this room. We played well this month. We need to work in every game and get better as we head toward the Stanley Cup playoffs. That's the mentality in this room. We think we can win every night but we have to play within the system.

It's opened up quite a bit, not just they way they're calling penalties. The offensive zone is bigger and it makes it more difficult for defensemen to get a read on what your speed is. It's been benefiting me and our team. Hopefully, we can continue this in the regular season.

That's something we've become pretty accustomed to here. He's a tremendous player, and he's been doing that all year.

It's so tough to tell right now. We're doing everything we can to speed the process with the fracture healing and that's the most important thing right now, and we'll go from there.

Stiller threw the puck at the net and I was lucky enough to get a stick on it, ... I think if we can start playing 60 minutes we can be even more scary than if we play 40 or 20.

It just seems like we're constantly letting this team back into games when we get maybe an edge or a little bit of momentum. It would have been nice to continue to gain momentum and increase our lead, but that's the way it goes.

Once he got that first one, we knew all that confidence we saw in the first half of the season would come roaring back.

So far so good. I took the stick in the face, hit the wall pretty hard and got cross-checked. I'm hoping that's my three right there.

I'm going to try to rub some other guys, see if I can dish it off.

I made the move I wanted, but not the shot I wanted.

I haven't heard anything from him or Pittsburgh's organization, but I'm not looking to anyone to send any sympathy my way. It's a game, it happened, and I'm sure everyone wished it hadn't, but that's the way it goes.

I'd rather really not talk too much about it. All you can do is hope it doesn't get too many highlights and it doesn't get out there too much.

I don't think we feel like we're ever out of a game. We have the confidence and the character guys that can get things done when the game is on the line and it's been a different guy every time.

You couldn't say he was trying to break my neck. You could say it was a bad move on his part not to let up, to finish the hit the way he did. Unfortunately, the consequences from the league really are not that bad. Three games for him are like a holiday, three games without going out there and getting his lunch handed to him by the other teams in the league. Sounds like a pretty good tradeoff to me.

You certainly can't expect to have any luck with anything but your best effort against probably the best team in the league right now.

The ice was terrible. The league should start giving out fines, that's how bad the ice is. Guys are going to get hurt.