Chris Pronger
Chris Pronger
Christopher Robert Prongeris a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently under contract with the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League. He has not played since November 2011 due to post-concussion syndrome related to three separate hits suffered during his career; he also suffers from vision impairment due to being hit in the eyeby the blade of another player's stick. Though not officially retired, he is not expected to play again. In October 2014, Pronger signed a contract...
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth10 October 1974
CityDryden, Canada
I don't really think it has anything to do with any of us over there. It has nothing to do with me, so I don't really have anything to say about it. When you find somebody who's involved, you can talk to them.
Aside from our special teams, we played pretty well. That's been the story of our season so far.
It's a huge disappointment. We were the defending gold medal champions and you want to repeat and have that feeling again, but everybody was gunning for us.
It's tough chasing from behind when you're on the road. It's a matter of us bearing down and trying to play a more disciplined game.
I think everybody wants to end their career the way they want it to end. For people in Al's position, a high-level player who had a lot left in the tank, to have your career end that way is ... very difficult.
He was always very unassuming, a regular guy, but his approach to training and preparation was amazing. He was really a consummate professional, a great leader.
The most I ever played was 42 minutes in a three-period game. But I didn't get across the red line too much in that one.
Al did such a great job as captain last year. I need to focus and concentrate on helping this team win hockey games. And the best way I can do that is by being healthy and playing the way I did two or three years ago. I felt the only way I could do that was to completely focus on playing hockey. Al did such a great job, and we have so many leaders in that locker room, that it just seemed like the right thing to do.
We gave them a lot of momentum early. It's tough to climb out of that hole.
We have a chance to take a stranglehold on the series.
When you don't win, obviously people are going to look and point fingers. Looking at the teams we had and looking at the teams Detroit had, there's a reason they were winning those Stanley Cups and we were losing to them.
What happened probably was wrong and we have to address it so it doesn't happen in the future but we can't go back and change time.
When you play six games in eight days, there's not a lot of time to practice and get that cohesiveness. If you look around at a lot of the countries, they are so familiar with each other and the ice. It's tough to make that adjustment in eight days.
The good thing about coming back and being in games right away is it kind of takes the focus off that.