Andrew Ference Quotes (24 Quotes)

He's not just a grind-it-out guy. He's got the offensive talent and for him to get that reward is a good shot for his confidence.

There's strong character in our dressing room. Right now, it's just a matter of execution. If everybody shows up and does their job, I think there's a ton of confidence.

It's not just because we're close in proximity. For the first time in a long time we're both battling for the playoffs in a tough division and a tough conference. When two teams, whether they're just down the highway from each other or not, are both fighting for the same spot it's going to be good, intense hockey. You should expect nothing less.

You don't want him to drop the gloves all the time because he's our star player. But when he does, nobody's too disappointed because that means he's fired up and ready to go.

To us, it's about climbing the standings. You win eight games and you're still tight with everybody. That's just the nature of the beast. It's nice to win, obviously, but you can't get too excited about it or you'll let it slide. Start patting yourself on the back too much and you're one or two games away from getting caught again. It doesn't give you a comfort zone.

Our second period was awful. We started to play too much of their style.

We just haven't had that consistency. We've thrown some good periods together, but from game to game that consistency hasn't been there. It's something we've got to look back to getting back on track (Wednesday).

You guys are asking questions I can't answer right now. I've got a Game 7 tomorrow. As players, we've got a lot of business before we can think about that.

I'm pretty far out of the loop. There's always a lot of speculation and what-have-you. I'm sure it's fun for people to watch and have fantasies of who might go where. The reality is, guys will change teams.

There are expectations to have a better playoff than last time -- there's only one way to do that. Last time, there was more of a happy-go-lucky feeling. We expected success, but we didn't demand it. Going in, it's a more mature team, a more mature outlook.

Getting Dion this year made up for losing a lot of other people. Of course he has a learning curve, but he doesn't have big holes in his game. He just has tiny details he has to work out, and the coaches love working with a guy with that much talent.

We also share in the belief we do have what it takes in this locker-room and there's no great piece of the puzzle out there we're missing.

We're having a good season. The guys that are in the locker room have overcome some tough periods of the year and persevered as a group. We've been tested a few times. Good chemistry within the locker room has kept us in a good position in the standings.

I'm disappointed with myself. I went on to the (NHLPA) website where there's the (absentee-ballot) form to download and fill out. I was all ready to do it, but I missed the (deadline). I feel for the guys playing down in the States. Down there, you get no news about Canada.

And that's 20 with guys keying on him. It didn't take the league long to figure out that . . . we like to get him shooting the puck. To put that many in the net with guys cheating out on you is very impressive.

I think we said, 'Oh, Edmonton won,' and that was about it. There are a lot of people who want us to get ahead of ourselves but, as players, it's our job to keep our focus.

They want to slow it down and stretch things out, make cross-ice passes and have a lot of open room.

It was a step back. It was a missed opportunity.

I think the NHL just decided it didn't need another dark cloud hanging over it. But I accept that he has served his suspension and paid a huge price in the game and in his private life.

Seeing people cheering for him and hugging him was almost sickening. He deserved every hardship because it was an awful thing that he did. It wasn't accidental.

I can chant to him in the back room. We have a lot of good players and it's a team game, but he's pretty amazing.

We're not the team that is on the highlights every night with the pretty goals. But we're also not on the highlights giving up the pretty goals. We didn't change much this year. With this team, the emphasis is always going to be on our end.

He leads as a good friend, not as a parental figure. He leads as an equal. He doesn't put himself on the pedestal, pump his chest and say, 'Everybody listen up because I'm the best player here.' He doesn't operate that way. I don't think it's in his nature. There's not that intimidation, that superstar aura.

I was happy, going from Pittsburgh to here. I was pumped. Coming back to Alberta, coming back to Canada, coming to a good team. But now, if it happened again, I'd be really disappointed. Everyone likes it here -- we win, good atmosphere, good town.