#Hockey Quotes

“When I played in a 21-team league, there were six or seven goalies who were just average, and the equipment and pads were smaller. I came in the right era. I played for the right team. It was all speed, and creativity and imagination.”

“Canadian players have started to put more of an importance on the World Championships in the sense that as soon as they lose, they are called, they want to go play and they don't go only on the basis of if they are injured.”

“We feel fortunate [with Canada hockey team]. We have got a lot of guys who love to play, but they also love to win even more. We are pretty happy. Although we are young, we like our group of players.”

“But in my mind, I don't think there's any question Sidney Crosby is the best all-around player in the game. His hockey sense is so strong and so solid, combined with his God-gifted talent of being able to see the ice, see the entire picture in front of him. And, most importantly, I don't care how good you are, if you don't have a work ethic, it doesn't matter. There's no question that each and every game, he's one of the hardest-working guys on the ice. In my mind, he's the best player in the game today.”

“You'll never catch me bragging about goals, but I'll talk all you want about my assists.”

“I love everything about hockey.”

“What you want to do with your best players is, it doesn't matter how many goals and assists they get, but when they get goals and assists. The best players get them at the most important times, and that's when we need those guys to come through.”

“I can't remember the last time I went to a game and there was a fight. I think they fight more in baseball now than they do in hockey.”

“A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”

“The game is played out of instinct, but everyone on the ice has habits - good and bad. So the key to the game is to exploit the bad habits of your opponent.”

“Hockey is my life. I love every minute of it.”

“One of the key qualities that you need to be a great hockey player is fantastic anticipation and feel for the game - if you know where the puck is going before it is hit, that is half the battle.”

“I couldn't beat people with my strength; I don't have a hard shot; I'm not the quickest skater in the league. My eyes and my mind have to do most of the work.”

“Most players go where the puck is. I go where the puck will be.”

“My best friend had a hockey scholarship at Ohio State, so I would get a couple of pairs at the beginning of the season and send them down to him. They practised two hours a day. He'd skate in them for three weeks then ship them back.”

“Good players skate to the puck. Great players skate to where the puck is going to be.”

“I think the Americans are ready to play, they want to beat us. I think that players like Chris Chelios and his leadership over there goes a long way.”

“A lot of times, I can turn and pass without even looking.”

“I have recall. I don't know why or how. I had a guy once who said he played against me in novice [league, for kids under nine], for the Detroit Lasers. And I said, "Oh yeah, we beat you in the tournament, 8-1 and I think I scored seven goals, and the goalie was left-handed." And he was, "Oh my God. I was the goalie!" .”

“Hockey is a unique sport in the sense that you need each and every guy helping each other and pulling in the same direction to be successful.”

“And people who know me would tell you that away from hockey I'm really not that competitive.”

“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.”

“I can remember hockey. It was my life, my passion. It's what I love the most.”

“I have absolutely no complaints about my life. But people think I got handed everything, all this kind of fell in my lap, that I was just God-gifted with all this talent. I wanted people to realize it's a lot tougher than just waking up one day and you're in the NHL.”

“It's an honour and a thrill and a privilege just to play in the NHL.”

“I get a feeling about where a teammate is going to be. A lot of times, I can turn and pass without even looking.”

“The best players in the game want the responsibility of being the best player. The reality is the game has changed from now back to '87. It's a lot tighter checking. The players are better today. So, that makes it harder for him just in that fact. We can't rely solely on Mario [Lemieux] to carry this team. We're not relying on that.”

“The last year I was playing, I asked the stick boy to get me a Diet Coke and he said, "Really?" But I always had one on the bench because that's what I did in 1979 when there wasn't Gatorade. If you needed energy you went and got a Snickers or a Kit Kat. Nobody knew any better.”

“I really wanted to write a book [99: Stories of the Game] on the tradition and history of the league, where kids can pick it up and read it and learn things and say, "Geez, I didn't know that. That's pretty cool."”

“When people come up to me and say, "I was at your Game 7 in the playoffs in Toronto," or, "I saw your first goal in the NHL," that triggers memories. But I don't sit around my kitchen table and tell my kids, "You know, one year I got 92 goals."”

“Everything I did in hockey, I worked for.”

“I'm probably the only guy in hockey who can win a scoring title and everybody is saying I had a bad year. I don't worry about it.”

“It's really hard. And it's harder today because of the salary cap. It starts in September at training camp - getting every guy on the same page, being as mentally and physically as focused as you can be. Then in April and May, you basically spend eight weeks practising, watching video and playing games. That's your life.”