-Brad Richards, when asked what made Tampa Bay the better team in the Stanley Cup Final. (Globe and Mail, June 7)
“I got traded for a dollar, you know. And here I am sitting in Team Canada’s dressing room at the World Cup. It’s unbelievable.”
- Kris Draper contemplates his path from Winnipeg to the World Cup. The Jets sold Draper to Detroit for one dollar in 1993.
"It's not a rock 'n' roll revival where you bring up a guy who can't sing anymore. If Bruce Springsteen goes on tour and one of those guys doesn't play the guitar right, he's not in the band the next night. That's what this is about. We're playing a tune. We're trying to paint a picture and everybody's got to be on the same page in the book. Hopefully, we'll paint that picture."
- USA coach Ron Wilson mixes his metaphors to explain why Brett Hull was scratched from the roster during the World Cup.
"Practice is cancelled tomorrow. No one else left to beat."
- Sign posted in the Canadian dressing room after a 3-2 World Cup Final victory over Finland. (Sun Media, Feb. 15)
"The owners are the ones who gave away the money. If nobody's going to give you that, you're not going to sign it. They're all mad at the players, but players didn't write those contracts up."
– Detroit forward Robert Lang (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Feb. 5)
"If the owners are playing a high-stakes game of chicken, they'd be better off playing it with anybody else in the world besides hockey players. Because of all sports, we're probably the most stubborn, pig-headed players."
-Scott Walker of the Devils (Globeandmail.com, Sept. 17)
"I don't blame the players, they're just doing what they do. The union should have addressed this, though. They should have shown some direction. It's not right what they're doing. If it wasn't (for the lockout) I'd still be there playing. I know that. A lot of guys have lost jobs, a lot of guys are sitting out watching NHL guys play in their place… I can tell you that right now. If they want me to be a replacement player, I'll play."
- Lonny Bohonos, former NHL player, has no sympathy for the locked out NHL players who bumped him off his team in Switzerland. (Winnipeg Sun, Oct. 15)
"Gary Bettman has put the league in this situation. A guy who doesn't do his job shouldn't be there ... Hockey's not a national sport in the U.S., and Gary Bettman doesn't have a feel for that. That's my opinion. There's a lot of players - especially a lot of guys that come over from Europe - who are average players... It's a business, and you take chances. Nothing's guaranteed in business. Teams come and go. You saw what happened to Minnesota. You see what happened to Cleveland in football. One of the best football cities there ever was, with the history in Cleveland, and they lost their team for a couple years. So that's just the nature of the beast. If some teams have to go or you can't make it, then so be it. The players aren't going to feel it as much as the owners."
- Detroit's Chris Chelios (TSN.ca, Oct. 14)
“We never get a chance to see them in person, so it’s nice to watch what they can do. But as a whole, it’s prettier when they’re on the bench. It’s more of a team attack, with better cutting and passing. When they’re on the ice, everything revolves around them.”
- Slovak fan Jozef Letko NHLers in the Slovak Extraleague (Hockey News, Nov. 22)
“What will happen with the new system is the inflationary pressure caused by the inflation in player costs will be abated. What happens in each market will be a club-by-club decision. But I do believe the ticket situation, the pricing situation, will be improved and will be more reflective of a healthy business.”
- NHL commissioner Gary Bettman comes clean, acknowledging that a new collective agreement cannot guarantee lower NHL ticket prices. (Globe and Mail, Dec. 2)
“Well, it is the silver anniversary, so I suppose it's fitting for this to come up again now. It’s unbelievable that after more than 30 years in the game, pummeling a guy with his loafer will be my legacy. But I guess it's better than having no legacy at all.”
- Islanders’ GM Mike Milbury recalls December 23, 1979, when a brawl between the Bruins and Rangers spread into the crowd. Milbury, a Boston forward, was seen whacking a fan with his own shoe. (New York Daily News, Nov. 21)
More 2004 Hockey Quotes
Hockey Quotes: The Todd Bertuzzi Incident
