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Quoteables...Get Your Quoteables Here!

November 20, 2007, 10:29 AM ET [ Comments]
Julie Robenhymer
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Wild checker Stephane Veilleux is a different breed.
This is a guy who begged to play one game after having his nose turned sideways last season. So Veilleux was taken aback Sunday when asked whether he expected to be out awhile with a broken left cheekbone.
"I mean, I'm not dead," said Veilleux, whose face looks like he went 12 rounds with Derek Boogaard. "It's just a broken cheekbone. I'll be fine."
Veilleux was nailed by a deflected shot during Saturday's practice. Officially, the Wild can't provide a timetable for Veilleux until the swelling subsides. Veilleux, however, lists his status as "day-to-day."I'll be ready sooner than people think," Veilleux said. "That's how I think always. I have a tough time to accept these things. I'm strong mentally, and I know I can play through little things like this."
Minneapolis Star Tribune

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It was on a family tour of the steel mill where Ron Francis' father worked that he imparted one of the two major pieces of advice Francis still remembers today.
A catwalk runs over the spot where the steel rails slide out of the oven, still glowing hot, and a giant saw cuts them to length, and there his father halted to take in the view.
"It's noisy and it's loud and it's hot and the saw is buzzing and the rails are there," Francis said. "I remember him grabbing me on top of the bridge and stopping and he said 'You see all this?' I said, 'Yeah.' He said, 'Make sure you go to school.' "
(The other piece of advice after a day Francis spent in net, was not to play goalie.)
But Francis, 44, didn't get a chance to go to school. He was in the NHL at 18, drafted fourth overall by the Hartford Whalers off his hometown junior team.
News & Observer

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As good as Alex Burrows is feeling about his game this season, he is determined not to get complacent. Undrafted, he worked his way to the NHL the hard way, via the East Coast and American leagues, and knows that only hard work and the right attitude will keep him in the NHL.
"I don't want to be satisfied," he said. "It's only 16 games in. My coach in junior used to say satisfaction is the beginning of regression. It's like the top of the mountain. You get satisfied and after that you can only go down. I still have some things I can improve on and need to work on. I just want to keep getting better."
Vancouver Sun

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Excerpts from Rob Ray’s new book to be released soon…pretty darn funny…I know I’ll be picking one up. :)

Fit to be Tied

Beginner’s Luck

Dancing with the Stars

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Mike Richards has this way of trying to deflect attention away from the things he does on the ice.
At times, he almost appears to be blushing. He looks away, shifts on his feet, and has this kind of grin that only can be described as aw, shucks.
"I don't like the spotlight," the 22-year-old center said last night. "I just try to go about my business and just play hockey. That's what I like to do.
"I don't like being in the newspaper or anything."
Good luck with that.
Last season, Richards scored 10 goals all season, in 59 games. – 10 goals already this season
"It's like he went to scoring school or something this summer," said winger Mike Knuble. "He's changed the perception of the kind of player he is. He came into the league as a checker and was going to be a leader and stuff. It's not even just his scoring. It's the opportunities he gets every night.”
Philadelphia Inquirer

See for yourself here

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Monday, the Detroit Red Wings took a field trip.
"Yesterday was a great day for us," Henrik Zetterberg said. "We ended up going bowling and had a great time. I think we were fresh and ready to go today, and we had a good start, up 2-0, and then the game turned around."
Originally the plan called for a team-wide skeet shooting function, but overcast skies kyboshed that idea, which was probably just as well.
"The only thing about going skeet shooting is you'd hate to lose two or three players because someone shot somebody," Mike Babcock said.
Detroit Free Press
Read more about it here.

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Ilya Kovalchuk finished with three points, scoring the game-winner and assisting on the other two goals.
He has 13 points in his past six games as Hossa, Kovalchuk and White continue to click as a line. White is getting more comfortable centering the two superstars, and based on the production over the past few games, it looks as if the two stars are getting more comfortable playing together.
"We're sharing the puck. At first when we were playing, it looked like we needed two pucks, one for Hoss and one for me," Kovalchuk said. "Now we're getting better, we're passing it around, creating confusion, opening up some seams, and then 'Shoot, shoot.' "
Atlanta Journal Constitution

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Boston’s Andrew Ference, whose injury was described as an upper core strain, said, "It was just a little thing that blew up." He took advantage of being sidelined, getting the eye-in-the-sky view from the press box for a different angle on the game.
"It's good because you get to take a step back when you're sitting up top," said Ference. "Obviously, the game looks a lot easier from up there. You see all the passes, when you have more time than you think you do on the ice. It's tough at ice level to see.
"That's why older players always talk about patience. They have a more calm demeanor. Younger guys are eager to get the puck off your stick. Patience and calm demeanor are important, especially for defensemen - taking that extra heartbeat to make a flat pass and not what we call in hockey 'pulling the pin on the hand grenade.' "
Boston Globe

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The Sabres have heard the calls for an overhaul. They’ve won just once in the past six games and sit in the cellar of the Northeast Division at 6-9-1. They’ve scored three goals in the last four games and were shut out twice.
“From an outside perspective, you’re in last place, you’ve lost some close games,” goaltender Ryan Miller said. “All right, the sky is falling, everything is terrible, trade everybody. Here we go, start over again.
“But when you take the time to look, last year, what did we do? If there were really tight games, we pulled them out. This year, we haven’t pulled them out, but we were in them.
“We’ll find ways to win. We have the guys to do it.”
Buffalo News

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In between all the unusual events has been a constant theme, the future of GM John Ferguson and the debate as to whether the Leafs are on the right course.
It's no wonder Mats Sundin's blistering start to the season has barely been reported on. Who has time for hockey stories?
"I think this team should be located in L.A. with the stars, with the gossip magazines," said Wade Belak.
"I guess it's part of playing in Toronto. I think it's just getting worse every year. I've been here six and half years and probably aged 30 years. Some of the stuff is ridiculous. What they're talking about now (Tlusty), honestly, who really cares? What does it have to do with hockey?"

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Shift after shift, Coyotes defenseman Nick Boynton was doing a slow burn. When he finally caught up with the Sharks' Steve Bernier in the third period, the two tangled until Boynton flung him to the ice.
Boynton got the better of Bernier, who earlier in the game slammed into defenseman Ed Jovanovski, but since officials ruled he instigated a fight in the final five minutes, he drew a one-game suspension. The hit came with 4:10 remaining. Boynton will serve the suspension Thursday night against San Jose while Bernier is on the ice.
“He should get more for the hit than I should, but it's the rules, and that's the way it is,” he said. “He hit Jovanovski in the first period, and it was pretty dirty, I thought. … It doesn't really matter if I like it (the five-minute rule), that's the rule, unfortunately.
“I think it's a little stupid. If I had gotten to him (earlier), I wouldn't be suspended, so it seems kind of a little stupid to me, especially when a guy like that deserves what he gets. But what are you gonna do?”
Arizona Republic

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The Oilers also managed to neutralize the Oil Barons, as the Sedin twins have been dubbed because they've been nothing but double-trouble for Edmonton during the last couple of seasons.
Daniel and Henrik Sedin went into Wednesday's game having scored 31 points in the past 10 games with the Oilers, including seven points in a pair of Vancouver victories earlier this season.
"I know they're twins but they're like triplets the way that they cycle the puck and support each other," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish had said before the game. "The challenge is to eliminate that without taking a bunch of penalties."
The Oilers successfully met that challenge, too, as they neutralized the Sedins for the entire game.
Edmonton Journal

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"Chicago's had our number all year," said Wings forward Kris Draper. "That's a big game. ... Those guys have kind of said, 'We're here. We're for real.' They have some great young players, and it's something that we realize. We respect them. It's fun. You want to have rivalries within your division. Certainly when a team beats you three for three, you have a little fire and you want to make a statement of your own."
Detroit Free Press

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The last time the Blackhawks defeated the Red Wings four straight games, five members of the team hadn't been born.
The Hawks accomplished the feat Saturday night for the first time since the 1985-86 season with a 5-3 victory before a crowd of 20,006 at Joe Louis Arena.
Chicago Tribune – Chris Kuc

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"There are bad games and there are awful games," Colorado coach Joel Quinneville said. "This one might have been worse than both of those. We had no energy. We got dominated in every aspect of the game."
Dallas Morning News

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The Dallas Stars' billboard marketing campaign, which drew about 2,000 entries from fans, is over. Kelly Silander of Allen and David Michel of Dallas won four tickets on the glass to an upcoming game. They submitted the same slogan: "Guaranteed free checking." The billboard will be up in early December. Some other finalists: "Hip checks, not just for the elderly"; "Bring your 'eh' game"; "Our players walk on water."
Dallas Morning News

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After Friday's loss to Vancouver in which Mattias Ohlund laid a two-handed slash on Mikko Koivu knocking the Wild center out for at least one week, possibly more.
Wild enforcer Derek Boogaard talked about Wednesday's rematch. "Their so-called agitators were taking liberties," said Boogaard, who missed Saturday's practice having a laceration on his elbow tended to. "As soon as I stepped on the ice [all game], they just sort of spread out and scatter in their holes almost. They don't want to come near me and talk to me. But they think they can slash and stick and punch our skill guys. I'm not going to stand for it."
Minneapolis Star Tribune

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Scott Stevens was asked whether he regretted some of the hits, particularly the one that injured Eric Lindros.
"Always, I guess," Stevens said. "To an extent, I don't want to see anyone hurt. But that's the game and that's the beauty of the game. That's what is so intriguing and the reason I played such a physical game. I think that's one reason why we love this game. There's physical contact and scoring and fighting. That's what the whole game was about."
Philadelphia Inqiuirer

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"I've made no secret about it, I love being a Ranger. I love playing on this team. To be honest with you, I don't know who wouldn't want to play here." - Jason Strudwick
NY Daily News

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Al MacInnis was a beloved figure in St. Louis, where he spent the final 10 seasons of his career. A life-size bronze statue of MacInnis will soon join that of Bernie Federko outside the Scottrade Center.
Chris Pronger, who was paired with MacInnis for most of his nine years in St. Louis, tells this story:
"Playoffs in 1998, Game 2," Pronger told The Dispatch in 1999. "I got hit by a puck, collapsed on the ice and was out cold. I didn't know where I was, who I was … anything. When I came to, I was laying flat on my back, and my eyes flickered open. I saw these really bright lights, from the roof of the arena, and I saw Al MacInnis' face.
"Bright lights, Al's face. I said to myself: 'These fans in St. Louis are right … Al MacInnis is God.' "

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"It's kind of scary when you carry a mallet around as one of your hands." – Aaron Ward talking about teammate Joey Kocur
Boston Globe

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Boston’s Zedno Chara, who was pestered into three minors earlier in the game by Montreal checker Steve Begin, was slapped with 19 minutes in penalties with only 5:34 left to play after elbowing Kovalev's head into the glass, then instigating a fight with Guillaume Latendresse.
The linesmen intervened before the towering Chara could do any serious damage to Latendresse.
"He was probably looking for me, but he got the wrong Frenchman," Begin joked about the incident.
CBC Sports

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Talk soon! :)

Jules

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