Chris Pronger Quotations

Yeah, it does get old. And I'm sure it gets real old for the goalies. It just creates that much more for them, but that's the nature of the beast. Until you've proven yourself there are going to be those question marks, and hopefully this year is the year that they answer them.

We had a few different plans, actually. It just depended on where the puck was going to be. 'Pies' made a great play just to be able to bump it back, and I just took out my driver and swung at it, and fortunately the puck went between his legs.

We didn't want to put any energy in. We didn't show up tonight. We didn't work tonight.

I did a video but I don't know, did they lose it? I think they lost it.

I don't think it's become that big of an issue.

He was always very unassuming, a regular guy, but his approach to training and preparation was amazing. He was really a consummate professional, a great leader.

We can enjoy this, but we didn't work hard all year to win one playoff series. We're going to keep going and see how far we can take this.

We're professionals and we have to come to work and play the game. They had to sit through the same thing except they had to sit on the bench.

He's been great at camp. He definitely has a great set of hands and he can sniff out the net, that's for sure. Hopefully he's going to be a player who can step in and show some scoring and pick up a role on this team.

It hurts to walk but it feels pretty good to skate.

I think with the way everything went down last year and how we finished the season in the playoffs, it was definitely disappointing for everyone, not just the goalies. I think Ozzie went home with the mindset of coming back and proving himself. And I think Brent had the same idea. I think everybody here is looking for big things from both of those guys.

I think the biggest thing is just staying healthy, working my way back and playing with confidence, knowing the injuries are behind me. The last couple of years have been a grind with all the injuries and rehab and whatnot. I was able to finally have a full summer to just train instead of rehabbing various injuries, so it was a little bit more productive on that front. It was a lot more fun than rehabbing.

I think anything is a realistic option at this stage, We can't rule anything out in the future.

I think it was bound to happen. I mean, you're eventually going to lose. What's important is how we respond to the loss. That's going to be critical for us. The makings of winning teams are how they return from a loss.

I think everybody wants to end their career the way they want it to end. For people in Al's position, a high-level player who had a lot left in the tank, to have your career end that way is ... very difficult.

To let it slip like that is disappointing.

We'll go in blind and, hopefully, won't show them too much respect.

When you're taking control of a game, you lose a lot of momentum killing penalties. Granted, you can kill them off and you're good.

We were a little bit more aggressive and they weren't taking quite as many shots from outside as they did in Game 1. We were just closing a little quicker. If you don't give them that time and space, they're not going to be able to get it to the net.

We kind of got thrown under the bus after the first game. But we really stuck together. We saw our team evolve and develop into the team you saw at the end. Everybody was on the same page and playing great.

When you play six games in eight days, there's not a lot of time to practice and get that cohesiveness. If you look around at a lot of the countries, they are so familiar with each other and the ice. It's tough to make that adjustment in eight days.

When you don't win, obviously people are going to look and point fingers. Looking at the teams we had and looking at the teams Detroit had, there's a reason they were winning those Stanley Cups and we were losing to them.

The good thing about coming back and being in games right away is it kind of takes the focus off that.

You can look at a number of things with Al. Obviously the accolades -- the Conn Smythe, the Norris Trophy, the Stanley Cup, renowned as the hardest shot in the league. But the leadership in the room. The way he approached the game. The way he carried himself. That was the biggest thing.

We have a chance to take a stranglehold on the series.

We gave them a lot of momentum early. It's tough to climb out of that hole.

We knew exactly what we were coming up against. They may have lost 13 in a row, but they were in every one of those games.

What happened probably was wrong and we have to address it so it doesn't happen in the future but we can't go back and change time.

We fell behind 2-0 to those guys and played right into their hands.

Aside from our special teams, we played pretty well. That's been the story of our season so far.

The so-called splinter faction in the union that is going a different direction has been drummed up by a lot of media members and people hoping a deal gets done. I can unequivocally say everyone is on board and understands the issues better.

Al did such a great job as captain last year. I need to focus and concentrate on helping this team win hockey games. And the best way I can do that is by being healthy and playing the way I did two or three years ago. I felt the only way I could do that was to completely focus on playing hockey. Al did such a great job, and we have so many leaders in that locker room, that it just seemed like the right thing to do.

The most I ever played was 42 minutes in a three-period game. But I didn't get across the red line too much in that one.

They have enough veteran guys over there who have won Cups. They understand what's at stake, what's going on. I don't foresee them looking past anybody. But anything that's thrown our way, we'll have at least seen it once or twice given all the ups and downs we've gone through through the course of this season.

They pose a lot of problems but at the same time, we know how to play them. We need to get back to Canadian hockey and just chip pucks in, finish our checks, create our turnovers and get on the attack.

They're a team you can't fall behind on. They play that defensive system. If you fall behind early it's an uphill battle and you exert a lot of energy trying to claw your way back.

It really just depends on how the games go coming back. Once you get over the jet lag coming back and settle down it's just a matter of seeing how you're going to be able to handle the schedule.

It's a huge disappointment. We were the defending gold medal champions and you want to repeat and have that feeling again, but everybody was gunning for us.

It looked like a penalty to me. They were calling it all game.

It looked like a penalty to me. They'd been calling that all game and I don't know why they picked that instance not to call it.

It was nice to get it off the back. We played a very solid game from start to finish.

It was pretty disappointing, obviously. To come out with two periods, in probably our most important game of the season, the way we did ... It's disappointing and disheartening to see the position we've left ourselves in. At the same time, we need to dust ourselves off and come out and play a good game against one of the best teams in the league in Detroit.

It's tough chasing from behind when you're on the road. It's a matter of us bearing down and trying to play a more disciplined game.

The last few games against them, we've played a lot better and have been able to match their intensity. It's up to us to answer the bell for 60 minutes.

I'm sure he's looking. He's got a lot of cap room. I don't think there's too many teams who have as much as we do, but it's a tough market out there to find anybody right now. There's not a lot of teams who are going to give up anything.

If you look at the last couple compared to today, there's a tremendous amount of improvement on a lot of different fronts. Our tracking back through the neutral zone, and just trying to get the pucks in deep and trying to play smart Canadian hockey, getting in and being physical, we did it to a tee in the first period.

I don't really think it has anything to do with any of us over there. It has nothing to do with me, so I don't really have anything to say about it. When you find somebody who's involved, you can talk to them.

I've got to live my life. Bad things happen. I can't be sitting here worrying about it.

I'm not involved in any Philadelphia-related game or situation. When people claim I'm going to have a "vendetta" against every other Eastern Conference team I don't understand the logic: I'm not the one doling out the punishment.

Mistakes happen. Not every one of my suspensions was purposeful or intentional. A lot of that stuff happens spur of the moment in the middle of a game. I think I can bring that to the table. Sometimes emotions get the best of you. Things happen.

I think playing the way I played, and knowing the game the way I know it, I think I'm going to have a better idea as to what the mindset of each player was.

[In management] you're getting an opportunity to meet and speak with the GMs, assistant GMs, owners, governors - all the way up the line. It's a great opportunity to understand the league a little better and the challenges it faces.

I wanted to stay in the game. I wanted to learn more about the league, what goes on behind the scenes. As a player, you don't really think about that, nor do you really care: you're worried about your job.

As you've progress further in the Playoffs, the ice usually gets a little softer. It's tough to keep it that cold. We could make it hard, but it would be about 4 degrees in the building. I'm sure the fans wouldn't appreciate that very much, wearing parkas in June.

You have to close quickly, you have to eliminate time and space and you have to try to deny them the puck. When you're playing with it, it forces them out of their rhythm and forces them to play defense, which they obviously don't want to do.

You do what you can to help your team win, whether it's playing that many minutes or 24 or whatever is asked of you, you do. You prepare yourself to play as much as you're asked to play.

Whether the guys are nervous or just had mental breakdowns, it happens. The game is a game of mistakes. And how you deal with them and correct them and all the things like that is what makes this game great and makes hockey the sport it is.

I wouldn't change anything that happened.That's the way the game was played when I was coming up. The game is different now. It's just a by-product of the era.

In the '90s, when I started, it was still a rough-and-tumble, physical league. You take the hook and holding and a little bit of the physicality out of the game, and the speed ratcheted up two-fold. Now you have a split second to make a hit, or decide to pull up. When there's indecision, you're going to make a mistake.

Every day, I'll get sent clips via email. I watch them and see if there's something of substance or significance.Some nights are super busy; some nights are quiet.

My doctors say the more I continue to push, the more I can continue to raise that bar, the better I can get.

I used to have very good sixth sense - knowing exactly where someone was without seeing them.

I don't like having noise swirling around me. Loud noises bother me, so I try to stick to the outside of a room.

I was sitting at a friend's place in Michigan on vacation, having a beer on the patio. I was a little hefty. I said to myself: "Okay, I'm going to finish this weekend off strong, then after that I'm going to shut her down. I'm going to start taking better care of myself."

I just didn't feel very good. One day I woke up and I was like: "All right. I'm going to start eating right. I'm going to start working out." I figured it might help me feel a little bit better - even if I was still sick, it might help me move forward with my struggles. I just kind of turned a corner.

When I got hit I went from having 37-year-old eyes to having 65-year-old eyes. That's why I've got the glasses on - so my eye isn't constantly trying to focus and giving me headaches. But they also help me see better: my right eye is blurry.

You get a pretty good read by watching the play, and knowing what you would have done - having done most of the things that these guys are accused of doing. I put myself in their shoes: Would I have been wanting to send a message? Is it a hockey play that went a little sideways?

I have played in the West for 14 years. I played against Dustin Byfuglien a lot. So it's not like I've been out East for my whole career and never played against the guy. That may have been blown out of proportion, I think.

I was still very invested in the team, very invested in how we were doing. I realized I needed to take a step back and start focusing on myself, my head and my eye, try to get my health back.

It's not like you can start pounding drinks when you're wheeling your kids all over. They gave me something to shoot for, a goal to get back to.

I don't want to get into a 'he said, she said' with the refs...I'm the he.

You could kind of see after that first game how important he was. Taking the focus off of us and putting it on him, he awakened the team and let us go about our job. It'll be great having him there from a leadership perspective.