Great Hockey Quotes

Vancouver Canucks Op Ed's Thursday Quote Sheet was actually posted this Tuesday because they were busy switching from Blogger to their own domain so be sure to check them out at their new "home." Since I really don't have time for much else, here are some funny/interesting hockey quotes posted on a forum topic at Lets Go Wings including my personal favorites…

"I don't understand why I can't hit that ball. I mean it's this big, slow, ball & I just can't hit the thing. Maybe if I could run the bases with the bat in my hand I would enjoy it more. I could hit players as I go by, you know just a little cuff in the chin & maybe catch the next guy behind the ear." – Brendan Shanahan on softball

"I get up every day, and I live. Everybody says you should live to the fullest, but what is it? No one knows until you come so close that you're not worried about anything else but being alive." – Jiri Fischer

"Aww, don't worry Doc. If that happens, I can always come back as a forward!" – Harold Snepsts after being advised by a doctor to wear a helmet to avoid brain damage

"Watching a shootout is like admitting you watch Survivor or search the internet for porn." – Brendan Shanahan

"By the age of 18, the average American has witnessed 200 000 acts of violence on television, most of them occurring during Game 1 of the NHL playoff series." – Steve Rushin

"This is the only thing that has seen more parties than us." – Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) after admiring the Stanley Cup

"To be honest, I think I've talked enough in the last two months to be up here talking again. I'd like to thank the media, first of all…. That was a very good joke, wasn't it?" – After Chris Osgood won the Stanley Cup

"We should all just go outside, lie on our backs and look at the clouds. We have a better chance of figuring out the clouds then what's going on in this dressing room." – Chris Osgood confounded by the Wings and Scotty Bowman

“We know that hockey is where we live, where we can best meet and overcome pain and wrong and death. Life is just a place where we spend time between games.” – Philadelphia Flyers Coach Fred Shero

In Chicago, Bob Probert crashed his motorcycle into a car. According to police reports, his blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit and he told officers: "Just charge me with the usual."

Pavel on winning the Stanley Cup…" It is a feeling I cannot explain, like seeing the sun coming up in the morning…it's wonderful."

"You know, there's nothing better than making yourself dinner and watching Thursday night TV. Also, I just got a computer. And I'm fanatical about doing the laundry. There's nothing better than a stack of fresh, clean clothes. Except maybe a good movie. You know that creepy-looking guy you stare at two seats behind you, thinking who would come to a movie by himself? That's me." – Brendan Shanahan

Brendan Shanahan said to the Detroit fans after winning the Stanley Cup: "When I asked for a trade at the beginning of the year, I said I was looking for a home. And I found one. I'm just grateful to everyone here. Thank you for accepting me."

There's one thing you can't defend against, and that's courage. Steve Yzerman just keeps laying it out on the line every shift.

Chris Pronger tried to hit Steve Yzerman. Now we all know that Yzerman has a bum right knee. Well, Pronger tries to hit him and gets a bum right knee himself- a torn ACL. The St. Louis Blues need Pronger like humans need oxygen.

"I consider the Detroit Red Wings one of the greatest franchises in any sport. For a player to come in and play, it's so special to wear the jersey." – Steve Yzerman

"Some nights you'd see him try to climb up the stairs to get on an airplane and wonder, 'How can he be ready for a game in 24 hours?’ But that's part of the package you see every day when you are around Steve Yzerman. I always thought I knew how much it took to win a Stanley Cup, but I didn't really get it until I sat in that locker room and on that bench and watched Steve.” – Luc Robitaille

Datsyuk undresses more guys in a season than a prostitute does throughout her career.

"Brett, do you catch flak for listing crossword puzzles as a hobby?" -Dan Patrick / "What Dan? Do I catch flak because I AM SO MUCH SMARTER than everybody else?" -Brett Hull

"I usually call the new guy and let him know where I like to sit on the bus, tell him ways he can stay out of my way, make sure he knows not to touch any of my stuff," Brendan Shanahan said.

"Trade Steve Yzerman? That's like asking me if I want to trade my son Jason for the kid next door." – Jacques Demers

"The game is my chance to say good-bye to fans there, and I'm looking forward to it," Igor Larionov said. "It's been a long career, and this is my last season. I have no regrets about anything. I am not sad about retiring. I have had many glorious years, but I have had no better years than my years with Red Wings. No better."

GM Ken Holland, alone in his office: "Heads, keep Curtis Joseph. Tails, trade him. … OK, make that best of three."

"With a contact sport I can go out and have everything go OK, just like it has for years, or I could get hurt again. I'm very bullheaded. Every time I try to avoid this question of, 'What if it happens again?' Well, it might happen again. But I also might walk out on a street and have a car run a red light and run me over. It is scary because the risk I'm running is higher. But you can't let that stop you from doing something. This is what I was born to do – born to play hockey." – Flyers center Jeremy Roenick on his decision to return to the ice after a serious concussion and broken jaw

"Yzerman is not the youngest, the strongest, nor the fastest, and he was never the biggest. But make no mistake, he is the maximus of gladiators, the man who fights wounded and bleeding, with a heart as large as any lion they spring on him." – Mitch Albom

"The top three worst things I've seen in hockey? The invention of the trap. The invention of the morning skate. And the invention of the extremely ugly uniform." -Brett Hull's analysis of the game

"Well, what I did was bring the octopus in a brown paper bag. I always let the people sitting around know what I was going to do. Most of them took the news quite calmly. Once, though, this woman beside me let out a scream. I had leaned over and said to her very quietly, 'Look, I think you should know. I'm the octopus-thrower.' She couldn't take it." -Pete Cusimano

"Great fans make great team. Together, they make Hockeytown." -Kozlov

"This is our canvas. Our easel. This is how we paint, on fresh sheets of ice." – Jeremy Roenick

Steve Yzerman Quote Sheet

I had promised a Behind the Jersey feature on Steve Yzerman and you will get it sometime this week. However, it's taking much longer than anticipated because of all the research needed and all. It's currently a little over 2000 words and I still have much to write. So please keep an eye out for that feature, it is coming soon. To hold you over until then, here is a collection of quotes from Steve Yzerman and others about him. Have a quote that should be on this page? Leave a comment or drop me an email!

Steve Yzerman Speaks

"As long as I could remember, since I was 5 years old, I watched the Stanley Cup. I stayed up, made a point of watching it presented, watched the celebration in the locker room, and always dreamed that maybe I'd get there."

"The only thing the doctors say for sure is that I can't hurt it any more. They would have to carry me off on a stretcher to keep me from playing at this time of the year."

"I mean, the best thing for my knee, for anyone's knee, is to never play again and retire. But I'm not going to do that."

"I consider the Detroit Red Wings one of the greatest franchises in any sport. For a player to come in and play, it's so special to wear the jersey."

"Good teams win one, outstanding teams win two, and a few truly great teams win three."

Visit Detroit [Magazine]: What would you tell a player who is considering joining the Red Wings?
Yzerman: I’d tell him the same thing I tell a new guy whenever he comes in: This is a great area to live. There are excellent schools, and it’s especially a great area to live if you have children who are into sports. The minor hockey community here is as good as anywhere. I always use the example of Chris Chelios – he and his family came here from Chicago, and his kids are very active in sports and they really enjoy it here.

Visit Detroit: What are some of your favorite moments from playing hockey?
Yzerman: I’m fortunate to have quite a few now. Winning the Stanley Cup in ’97 was fantastic, and then we won it again in ’98, and in 2002. Those three, and then being part of the Canadian Team at the Salt Lake Winter Games that won the Olympic gold medal.

Visit Detroit: How about Steve Yzerman, Red Wings general manager, then?
Yzerman: I’d like to stay in the organization and work in management in some position. I enjoy the game of hockey outside of playing it, and I’d be happy to stay in it after I retire from playing. I’ve always said I don’t want to be a coach, but these days being a general manager is a 12 – month job, so I might lean in the coaching direction just so I’d get some time off to play golf.Others' Thoughts on Yzerman

"He's proven (the media) right so often, and he's proven them wrong so often," said Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier, Yzerman's boyhood idol. "For me, it's so much fun to see a great player like Stevie do that because I had to do it, too. It's fun to do that."

"He deserves it all," Darren McCarty said. "It's all perseverance. He's stuck through some tough times — tough times when Scotty (Bowman) first came here, trade rumors, some 20-win seasons — he's been through a lot. He's all about the team, and he proves that the way he plays and the way he carries himself. I'm proud of him as a player. Just from watching him, he's taught us younger guys about being a professional athlete, playing in the NHL and being a good role model. He's getting everything he deserves."

"It's all been said about him," Brett Hull said. "And everything you've heard is true. He's an extraordinary player. I've considered it a very big privilege to have played with him."

"If there was a trophy for courage, he would have already won it," Dave Lewis said. "I'm going to be thrilled to see him back out there. Just to be able to say, 'Yzerman, your line is up,' is going to be some of the greatest words I've ever said."

"It's easy to go out there and follow his example and play as hard as you can," said Kirk Maltby. "You see him going out and blocking shots and playing through pain, you can't help but try and do the same thing."

"The big thing with Steve is that he always goes out and leads by example," Brendan Shanahan said. "There are a lot of guys who know what needs to be done, who will say what needs to be done, but Steve goes out and does it."

"Like a fine wine, he seems to get better with age," says GM Ken Holland. "Even in the last couple of years he has looked faster and quicker. He makes us go both in practice and in the games. Steve Yzerman has accomplished so much in this league and when the younger players see how committed he is to working on his game and working on his conditioning, they'd better follow suit. Steve sets the pace for everything we do and he makes us go."

"I know now he's a very considerate athlete," Scotty Bowman says. "He tries to be a good role model. They say athletes shouldn't be role models, but I don't agree with that. He's conscious that he's a good athlete. He does a lot of things that people don't know about, and that's the way you want to keep it. People ask a lot of his time. He gives it."

"He's not the kind of guy who wants a year-long goodbye. That's not Steve Yzerman. But, when I look at this guy, I think he's been one of the best players this game has ever seen. I really believe that when Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman were in their prime, they were the top three players in their time." – Detroit GM Ken Holland

"I believe winning the Stanley Cup and the gold medal the same year was something Steve Yzerman will look back on and be proud about. He was struggling with the knee and some thought that might be the end of his career. It might have been for somebody else. He fought his way back. He wanted to compete," ESPN analyst Darren Pang [Yzerman's childhood friend] said.

"Some nights you'd see him try to climb up the stairs to get on an airplane and wonder, 'How can he be ready for a game in 24 hours?’ But that's part of the package you see every day when you are around Steve Yzerman. I always thought I knew how much it took to win a Stanley Cup, but I didn't really get it until I sat in that locker room and on that bench and watched Steve," Luc Robitaille said.

"Trade Steve Yzerman? That's like asking me if I want to trade my son Jason for the kid next door," former Wings coach Jacques Demer said.

"Yzerman is not the youngest, the strongest, nor the fastest, and he was never the biggest. But make no mistake, he is the maximus of gladiators, the man who fights wounded and bleeding, with a heart as large as any lion they spring on him," Mitch Albom said.

"Steve Yzerman is one of the greats to ever play the game. He's 38 years old, and playing on one leg. He's the second greatest Red Wings in franchise history, only behind the greatest hockey player to ever play, Gordie Howe. He's the greatest leader in all of team sports, and he's the entire team. It's his team, it's his city."

"He leads on the ice," says former teammate Mike Ramsey, now an assistant coach with the Minnesota Wild. "Steve is not a guy who rants and raves. He leads by example with his play on the ice. It's something special when your captain has such a high talent level that when he elevates his game he can make a difference in the outcome. Steve Yzerman is one of those guys."

"It begins and ends with Steve," Hull says. "People like him don't come along very often. The way he carries himself, in this town, there's almost an onus on the rest of us to be like him."

"With affection, having watched him since he was a teenager, a heartthrob with high cheekbones, they called him "Stevie" or "Stevie Y." With respect, having watched him grow into a man, a father of 3 daughters, with a scarred, striking face, they called him "The Captain." – The book, Hockey Gods

"There's one thing you can't defend against, and that is courage. Steve Yzerman just keeps laying it on the line every shift," ESPN analyst Bill Clement said in 2002.

"Chris Pronger tried to hit Steve Yzerman. Now we all know that Yzerman has a bum right knee. Well, Pronger tries to hit him and gets a bum right knee himself- a torn ACL. The St. Louis Blues need Pronger like humans need oxygen."