Stanley Cup Final (Off Day Quotes): Detroit Red Wings – Mike Babcock, Pavel Datsyuk, Kris Draper and Dan Cleary

Courtesy of NHL.com:

Coach Mike Babcock:

Will Hank and Pav be playing on the same line again in Game 6?
I have no idea yet. We’re going to break down the tapes right now, and we’ll go through all of that and we’ll see. We’ll just try to put ourselves in the best situation to get the kind of match?ups that are advantageous for us. The more depth you have, the better match?ups you get. If you play from behind, you never get what you want. If you play from ahead, you always get what you want. So all those things go into controlling the game.

How’s Datsyuk doing a day after returning to the lineup?
Yeah, I asked him. He said he’s feeling good. He’s in there hanging out like everyone else. No one has given me or Pete hasn’t given me any reports that there’s anything did negative.

Pavel Datsyuk:

How are you feeling today a day after playing your first game in a while? And what did you do here today at the rink?
Just come to here with my friends. And feeling good and more confident. And just like try to come back into my shape, work out, and be ready for a very important game.

Kris Draper:

You talked a little about your first Stanley Cup losing and the disappointment of it, and in 2007 you guys lost to the Ducks in the Conference Finals. How much are you driven by the sense that I don’t want to feel that way again? I don’t want to lose and watch somebody else celebrate?
Yeah, to be honest, I love watching the game of hockey. But when we’re not in the Stanley Cup Finals I never watch the end. I watch the hockey, and as soon as I realize what’s going to happen I turn the TV off or change the channel.            

Everything that we do as hockey players, all we want to do is get your name on that Stanley Cup. You know, you can never have it on enough. So when we lost in ’95 to the Devils we didn’t want to experience that kind of bitterness, and that bad taste again.            

We’ve had some success and we’ve had some disappointments, and that’s exactly what’s going to happen within a great organization. But you know, when you get here, you just want to lay everything on the line and have no regrets, you know. And I think we had that mindset last night, and we know we’re going to need it again. Everything that we do from here on in is certainly worthwhile to try to get that one more win.

Dan Cleary:

Ozzie’s overall numbers speak for themselves. Does he get the recognition that he deserves, not just from the media, but from opposing players and players in general?
I think he does from the players. I don’t think he has from the media. I think he will now. I think he’s proven himself to be a goalie you can count on and you can win with. He’s a real gamer, real competitive.