Olaf Kolzig Quotations

We knew they would come hard with a lot on the line. With us playing last night, we came out a little sluggish and took too many penalties. Obviously, they were buzzing but we survived it, and got better and better. In the third period, we had a heck of a period but I gift-wrapped their second goal, then we tied it up.

Only when they (Chris Drury) banked one off my head with five seconds left. It hit my defenseman and then the side of my mask. That would have made it interesting if that went in.

If it's a long process to turn things around here then I probably would look at going somewhere else, whether it's traded at the deadline or next year as a free agent.

I think they took the wind out of our sails when they scored that goal after we dominated the first period. It gave them a little bit of confidence and we got into penalty trouble. There's not much more that you can say about that.

Just about everything they shot at the net went into the net and that was the problem.

I thought I had it jammed between my body and the glove. I didn't see it and I thought I was going to hold it long enough for the whistle and then all of a sudden I saw it trickle in. The puck didn't go my way on that play.

We were frustrating them and staying fairly disciplined. In the third period, they just threw everything at the net. I'm sure they got a little bit of yelling after the second period.

We just get ourselves in penalty trouble and it's kind of a snowball effect. It seemed like the first few kills we did a great job, then I think we got too tired and we allowed them too many easy chances. We have to eliminate the penalties sooner or later, or it's going to be a long season.

Easy night. We frustrated them all night long. It wasn't like we were just hanging on to win. I thought we dominated all night.

It was very disappointing. We had a chance to make it 2-0, but we couldn't capitalize. I was seeing everything great, and if you can see it, you can stop it.

Probably around Christmas time I had my mind made up that I definitely wanted to stay. So from there it took about six weeks to get it done. I'm glad we got it done before I went to Italy because when we get back there's only two weeks before the trade deadline. I'm relieved it's over.

Once you're at the Olympics, national pride takes over. It doesn't matter if you're making $11 million in the NHL or $30,000 in the Slovenian league. Everybody is equal; they're all representing their country.

This organization was built on defense. We tried to change it last year, and we lost the defensive edge. Well, it's time to rebuild.

I've got a lot of respect for Eddie Belfour. (But) I didn't want to see our guy, get a blocker in the face.

It will be my final Olympics and I am looking forward to it. We have a tough start with the Czech Republic and Canada, but anything is possible. You saw what Belarus did in 2002 (when it beat Sweden). Maybe we can do the same thing.

I'm not playing but I know Thomas is going to see a lot more shots. The Czechs like to pass the puck until they get a quality scoring chance while Canada is a traditional North American team that likes to get the puck on net and crash the net.

I made a joke before the game that Mathieu Biron turned our power play around a little bit yesterday and he's shooting the puck hard. He got a big goal for us tonight and he's doing some really good things out there for us.

I'm very impressed with the way Mo is progressing. He's been terrific. He's very poised with the puck and physical. Other than goaltender, defense is the toughest position. And it seems he's made the jump.

I'm very excited. This is the only team I've known, and I'm very optimistic about where the organization is going and if we could ever win a Stanley Cup here during my time.

I'm as bad as anybody for getting upset when things aren't going good. I've learned over the years that you can't beat yourself up. Or it can turn into a really long year. This season, there are going to be some growing pains with the team. You have to be patient, play your game and not try to do too much out there.

George has got a lot of respect for me and I have a lot for George, that if I wanted to go somewhere else to try and win, I would let him know before then. I don't think we're at that point yet, really.

I feel like a kid again. I also think our wives are happy we're out of the house.

The games we are going to have to win are against Italy and Switzerland in order to get to the quarterfinals.