Hockey is like a disease, you can't really shake it.
— Goaltender Ken Wregget
You find that you have peace of mind and can enjoy yourself, get more
sleep and rest when you know that it was a 100 percent effort that you gave win or lose.
— Gordie Howe, Hall of Fame Detroit Red Wings
player
I'll still run him on the ice tomorrow.
— Tie Domie, Toronto Maple Leafs Player, after New York Rangers Adam Graves, related to him by marriage, drove him to Toronto's practice in
New York State
They always try to play with our minds. But that won't work with our club. We've got 20 guys without
brains.
— Bobby Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers, in 1976 before the Russian Central Army Team played the
Flyers
Hockey would be a great game ... if played in the mud.
— Jimmy Cannon
Some nights, I'd like to shoot some of them myself.
— Neil Smith, President of New York Rangers, in response to fashion photographer Bruce Weber's request to
shoot some of the Ranger players
We've got no-trade clauses. Nobody wants us.
— Keith Jones, Philadelphia Flyers, talking about himself and his teammate Craig Berube
There is no escalator to [hockey] success only steps.
— Glen Sather, Edmonton Oilers General Manager
Call them pros, call them mercenaries — but in fact they are just grown-up
kids who have learned on the frozen creek or flooded corner lot that hockey is the greatest thrill of
all.
— Lester Patrick, hockey great in retirement
You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.
— Wayne Gretzky
You're too old to still be playing. I'll buy you a rocker you can sit
in.
— Stan Mikita, to Gordie Howe when Howe was almost 40
I know my players don't like my practises, but that's OK because I don't
like their games.
— Harry Neale, Coach
Hockey is a man's game. The team with the most real men wins.
— Brian Burke
He's skating like he's 36 again.
— Mike Keane, Dallas Stars, after his teammate Guy Carbonneau at the age of 38 played a great game
Most people have friends, but no money. I have the opposite.
I don't have a chance to talk to my real friends, the ones I've had since I was 5 years old. Sometimes I
wish I could bring Czechoslovakia to America. Then I would be the happiest guy in the world.
— Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburg Penguins
I played my age. Not bad.
— Ron Francis, after playing 39 minutes in a 2002 Stanley Cup Final Game
The kid looks good in his first game.
— Gordie Howe, Hartford Whalers, at the age of 51 referring to Bobby Hull who at 40 made his debut with the
Whalers
All my [best] friends back home fight on the
street — and all they get is arrested.
— Patrick Cote, Nashville Predators, (mostly used as fighter) about his $375,000 salary
Our system of forechecking is to shoot the puck and leave it there.
— Harry Neale
It's always good to have the building filled — even if it's with low-IQ Rangers fans.
— Mike Milbury, Coach of New York Islanders, before a home game with the New York Rangers
He's as old as some trees.
— Pat Burns, Coach of Toronto Maple Leafs, about Mike Gartner
In the playoffs will beats skill.
— Kevin Constantine, Coach of San Jose Sharks
It would have been worse if we hadn't blocked the kick after Toronto's
second touchdown.
— Alex Delvecchio, after Toronto Maple Leafs beat Detroit Red Wings 13-0 IN 1971
I remember taking a look at him and saying, "Anyone who perms his hair has got to
go." So we sent him to Fort Worth.
— Don Cherry, Coach of Colorado Rockies, about Don Saleski
Bert's wallet is like an onion. Any time he opens it, he starts crying.
— Brendan Morrison, Vancouver Canucks, about his teammate Todd Bertuzzi
We're scared of losing. That's why we win. We know what it's like to lose and we hate it. We enjoy being
champions too much.
— Bob Bourne, New York Islanders (talking about his team's four Stanley Cup wins in the 1980s just before
the Edmonton Oilers took over as the NHL powerhouse)
Oh, yes, I love sleepless nights.
— Larry Robinson, Los Angeles Kings, in response to whether he planned to coach the team the following
season
Hockey is the only place where a guy can go nowadays and watch two white guys
fight.
— Frank Deford
The three important elements of hockey are: forecheck, backcheck and
paycheck.
— Gil Perreault
I'd rather fight than score.
— Dave "The Hammer" Schultz
If hockey fights were fixed, I'd be in more of them.
— Rod Gilbert, New York Rangers
I'll never be accused of losing a step. I'm not sure I ever had one.
— Larry Murphy, Detroit Red Wings, at age 38
It takes brains. It's not like a forward, where you can get away with scoring and
not play defense. On defense you have to be thinking.
— Chris Chelios, Detroit Red Wings
Playing goal is like being shot at.
— Jacques Plante
I've told you guys before, goalies don't think.
— Chris Osgood
There is no such thing as painless goaltending. If they could get enough padding to
assure against every type of bruise, you'd have to be swung into position with a small derrick.
— Don Cherry
I'm not dumb enough to be a goalie.
— Brett Hull
When I look at the net I don't see a goalie.
— Pavel Bure
When I look at the net I see 2 or 3 goalies.
— Radek Dvorak
Every time I see you naked, I feel sorry for your wife.
— Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburg Penguins, to teammate Matthew Barnaby
We know he is a one-dimensional player, but it's the dimension we don't have.
— Al Coates, GM of the Calgary Flames, about Phil Housley
I had a few fights last year, but I need to take boxing lessons. I need
to, because in the NHL it's required.
— Maxim Kuznetsov, Los Angeles Kings, upon his entry into the NHL
If I get run into again, I'm taking someone with me. I lost one knee. I'll take a
head if it happens again.”
— Grant Fuhr, Edmonton Oilers
Fifty percent of the game is mental and the other 50 percent is being
mental. I've got that part down, no problem.
— Basil McRae, St. Louis Blues
He could deke a guy in a phone booth.
— Own Nolan about Teammate Viktor Kozlov, of the San Jose Sharks
75 percent of the players are overpaid.
— Brett Hull, St Louis Blues
I'd say there's 100 percent of the guys who think they're in the 25
percent.
— Doug Weight, St Louis Blues, in response to Brett Hull
I don't mind [Pavel] Bure or [Alexei] Yashin. I don't mind Markus Naslund. But if
you get Europeans who don't score, they're useless, because they don't do anything else.
— Don Cherry
Tell him he's Wayne Gretzky.
— Ted Green, Edmonton Oilers Coach, after Shaun van Allen suffered a
concussion and couldn't remember who he was.
The hockey lockout of 1994-1995 has been settled. They have stopped
bickering — and can now get down to some serious
bloodshed!
— Conan O'Brien
Some of us were meant to score, others were meant to play goal. And others were
meant to do what I do. I tick people off and I don't get danger pay.
— Trent McCleary, Montreal Canadiens
The kids just aren't the same today.
— Doug Gilmour, Montreal Canadiens, after a rookie brought only 6 cans of beer onto the team bus when
Gilmor asked the rookie to sneak in 24
Bud Light.
— Keith Tkachuk, St. Louis Blues, when asked to name his favorite sports drink
He had better get married soon, because he's getting uglier every day!
— Mark Recchi, about another hockey player
Don't feel sorry because my life is over. Be happy that it
happened.
— Pat Burns, former coach of the Leafs, Canadiens, Bruins, and Devils, a few months before his
death due to cancer
Everything was set for us to play a real good game.
Then we left the dressing room and everything went to hell.
— Curt Fraser, Coach of the Nashville Trashers
When no one else signs me.
— Chris Chelios, Detroit Red Wings, on the right time to
retire
It means that we're in the basement.
— Michel Bergeron, New York Rangers Coach, in response to what the team's 14 losses by a one-goal
margin means
He's one of those guys whose English gets worse every year. But as long as
it doesn't affect his play, we're all right.
— Wade Belak, Toronto Maple Leafs, about his teammate Czech Tomas Kaberle
They were checking us so closely, I could tell what brand of deodorant they were using.
— Gary Dornhoefer
I was young and stupid then. Now I'm not young anymore.
— Jyrki Lumme, Toronto Maple Leafs about his earlier days with Montreal Canadiens
I love to play for Pittsburgh. If they can't afford me, then I'd love to play in L.A. or New York.
— Jaramir Jagr, Pittsburgh Penguins
Lunch is on me.
— Brendan Shanahan, Detroit Red Wings, after signing a $26-Million Contract
They don't know a lick about hockey. They never leave in the third period because they think there's a
fourth one.
— Tom Fitzgerald, Nashville Predator, talking about Nashville fans
I go from locker to locker, pretending the guys are here.
You know, give them a little bit of a pep talk. It must be working, because we haven't lost a game yet.
— Tom McVie, Assistant Coach of Boston Bruins, when asked
what he was doing during the 1994-95 Lockout
I won't miss him. Maybe the West Edmonton Mall will miss him, but not
me.
— Glen Sather, General Manager of the Edmonton Oilers, after leaving highly-paid but low-results
Andrei Kovalenko exposed in the NHL Expansion Draft
It's the nuts and bolts time of the year and we don't have enough nuts and bolts.
— Darryl Sutter, Coach of San Jose Sharks, late in the season during a losing streak
Forget about style; worry about results.
— Bobby Orr, Boston Bruins
I believe Bobby Orr had the greatest impact of any player to come along in
my lifetime. He earned his place in hockey history by single handedly changing the game from the style
played in my day. In my mind there can be no greater legacy.
— Jean Beliveau, Montreal Canadiens
I don't think you ever stopped Bobby Orr. You contained Bobby Orr, but you never stopped him. When we
played the Bruins and Bobby had to give up the puck, it was a good play.
— Larry Robinson, Montreal Canadiens
If I can be half the hockey player that Bobby Orr was, I'll be happy.
— Ray Bourque, Boston Bruins
The first thing I would do when I saw Bobby coming down at me was to say a little prayer if I had time.
I'm sure I wasn't the only goalie who did that.
— Johnny Bower, Toronto Maple Leafs
That's great. I'm 100 years old and people are still interested.
— Grant Fuhr, then with St Louis Blues, in response to trade rumors involving him
One thing I hate is people screaming at me. If you want me to do something, talk to me. When someone
screams at me to hurry up, I slow down.
— Mario Lemieux, Pittsburg Penguins
Usually when you play a team, you want to focus on one line.
Pittsburgh is the only team where you have to focus on one player [Mario Lemieux]. When he's coming toward
you, all you see is him.
— Patrick Roy, Montreal Canadiens
Last season we couldn't win at home and we were losing on the road. My failure was that I couldn't think
of any place else to play.
— Harry Neale, NHL coach
All my career I've gone to teams on the decline. I went to Quebec when
they were losing the Stastny brothers. I went to Edmonton after they lost Gretzky and Messier. I went
to Anaheim when it was an expansion team. I came to Montreal after they'd won the Cup and were headed
down. I was beginning to think it was me.
— Ron Tugnutt, Ottawa Senators
Hockey is the only job I know where you get paid to have a nap on the day of the game.
— Chico Resch
I told her they must all be sold out.
— Wade Belak, Toronto Maple Leafs, about why his mother said she couldn't find his sweater for sale at the
Air Canada Centre Souvenir Shop
I was 14 when I lost them [his front teeth]. The main thing was, we won that game, so I was the
happiest. You hate to lose your teeth and the game, too.
— Bill Barber
The people who yell and scream about hockey violence are a handful of intellectuals
and newspapermen who never pay to get in to see a game. The fans, who shell out the money, have always
liked good, rough hockey.
— Don Cherry
Stop saying athletes do it for the love of the game. They do it for the
love of their 32-room mansion with the live shark tank in the living room. If pro sports paid minimum wage,
Shaquille O'Neal would be a bouncer at Scores, and Anna Kournikova would be a mail-order bride from
Minsk.
— Bill Maher
If you're built like a freight train, you can't drive around like a Volkswagen.
— Clark Gilles, Coach of New York Islanders, about Todd Bertuzzi who was underachieving at the
time
I went to a fight the other night and a hockey game broke
out.
— Rodney Dangerfield
I have 3,000 penalty minutes. I don't need people dictating to me how to do my
job.
— Tie Domie, Toronto Maple Leafs Player responding to media criticism
It's not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts;
it's what you put into the practice.
— Eric Lindros
It's not who wins the fight that's important, it's being willing to fight. If you get challenged and
renege, everyone wants to take a shot at you.
— Barclay Plager, both a player and coach in the NHL
I'm hoping for a bench clearing brawl during the warm up so I can go out and grab his stick.
— Ron Tugnutt
Our team can't afford to have 5 percent of the guys not playing 100
percent. But when we've got 95 percent not giving 100 percent, we're in real trouble.
— Bob Berry, Coach of Los Angeles Kings
I'm on the third line. I'm a crasher. I know my role. I'm just trying to help. I'm
not stupid enough to think I'm great out there.
— Darcy Tucker, Toronto Maple Leafs
Hockey is not a sport — it's a disease.
— Chico Resch
You can always get someone to do your thinking for you.
— Gordie Howe, Detroit Red Wings (in reply to why hockey players always wore a protective cup but rarely a
helmet in the 70s)
Man is that guy ripped. I mean, I've got the washboard stomach, too. It's just that
mine has about two months of laundry on top of it.
— Shawn Burr, San Jose Sharks, about Eric Lindros
My brother Dash hit me on the head with five textbooks in a gym
bag.
— Tie Domi, Toronto Maple Leafs, about the hardest hit he ever received
Ah, my sister used to hit me harder.
— Shawn Burr, Detroit Red Wings, after being checked by Mike Modano of the Dallas
Stars
He was mild-mannered and I don't know how he ever got into the tough-role business. He was not a rough kid.
The rough stuff must have come from his mother's side of the family.
— Wayne Langdon, speaking about his son Darren Langdon, a Vancouver Canucks enforcer
How's the game changed in my 15 years in the league? Well, we used to be
called hard-working players. Now we're overpaid crybabies.
— Brett Hull, Detroit Red Wings
It's like the animal kingdom. Adapt or go extinct.
— Brett Hull, Detroit Red Wings, why he had to adjust his style to continue scoring goals
I am 10 times smarter than everyone else in this game. Beyond a shadow of
a doubt.
— Brett Hull, Detroit Red Wings
Hullie's a lot like a garbage can. You step on the pedal with your foot and the top
opens up.
— Wayne Gretzky, St. Louis Blues about teammate Brett Hull and
his sensational quotes
I remember my first year, I hit him with three good punches and couldn't
believe he was still standing. He hit me with one and cracked my helmet. My head hurt for a week.
— Georges Laraque, Edmonton Oilers, about Stu Grimson
I see you finally got a number to match your IQ.
— Bob M., Edmonton Assistant Coach, to Marty McSorley, who had the sweater with the number 5
Potential is synonymous with getting your ass kicked.
— Kevin Constantine, Pittsburg Penguins Coach, in reply to whether his team had potential
It's not about what you did yesterday, it's what you do tomorrow. If you
rely too much on yesterday, tomorrow is going to jump up and bite you in the pants.
— John Vanbiesbrouck, Philadelphia Flyers, after being benched the previous night
The only pressure I'm under is the pressure I've put on myself.
— Mark Messier, New York Rangers
I started as a fourth-line fighter, went to being a third-line centre, then a
second-line winger and a first-line centre. I've played every role there is, and the only thing that
matters is helping the team win.
— Mark Messier, New York Rangers
When he gets mad, it's like he's in another world. He'll look at you with those big
eyes and they'll be going around in circles."
— Barry Beck, New York Rangers, about Mark Messier
His face is so calm, He shows no sign of stress or anything. Its as if he's saying,
"No problem. Relax. I'm just going to beat you now. It's not going to hurt a bit."
— Doninic Roussel, Philadelphia Flyers goalie, about Mario Lemiex of Pittsburg Penguins
Just use the same quotes. It's the same story.
— Bryan Murray, Mighty Ducks, after eight winless games
Rocket had that mean look on, every game we played. He
was 100 percent hockey. He could hate with the best of them.
— Gordie
Howe, Detroit Red Wings about Maurice Richard of the Montreal
Canadiens
Our first priority was staying alive. Our second was stopping the puck.
— Glenn Hall, Chicago Black Hawks goalie
Basically, I don't like anybody.
— Brantt Myhres, Philadelphia Flyers, when asked if there was anyone in the NHL whom he
disliked
It seems like we're doing just enough to lose by a little.
— Darryl Sutter, Coach, Sharks, about a losing streak at the end of a season
I don't know who it is. I don't see these guys naked often enough to
know.
— Tim Hunter, Assistant Coach of Washington Capitals, when asked to identify which hockey player was
showering while another Capital was being interviewed after a game
A complacent player is a lazy player, and a lazy player is a loser.
— Darryl Sutter, Coach, Chicago Blackhawks
He brings something special. I don't know what it is, but if you ask him, you
couldn't understand his answer.
— Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers about teammate Esa Tikkanen
