Ken Hitchcock
Ken Hitchcock
Kenneth S. Hitchcock, nicknamed "Hitch", is an NHL hockey coach and pro scout, currently coaching the St. Louis Blues. He has also served as head coach of the NHL's Dallas Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, and Columbus Blue Jackets. He coached the Stars to a Stanley Cup victory in 1999...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth17 December 1951
CityEdmonton, Canada
continuity four great healthier lines practices
It was a great start. All four lines contributed. We are getting better every day now. You can see it in the practices and you can see it in the game. We are getting healthier and we have some continuity on lines.
dallas line slow tried
That line was unstoppable. When we were with Dallas we tried so many things to slow them down and we just couldn't.
effort game hockey line penalties poor third took tremendous
The game is on the line and we took two poor penalties in the third period. You can't do those things. It's unnecessary. That's the hockey game. We had tremendous effort by people, but we took two poor penalties.
chances create four high lines playing score special teams
They have it all. They're playing well offensively and defensively, their special teams are playing well, they have four lines that can all score and all create chances and they're playing at a very high level.
almost coming continuity fourth game hockey lines onto row solid starting stay together
Our whole game was solid today. This is now the fourth game in a row where we had almost the same lineup. We haven?t been able to do that for four months. Now we are starting to have lines stay together for more than one game and some continuity is coming onto out hockey club.
bizarre
It was a really hard, really bizarre game.
category lead league nature
It's the nature of our season. We're in first place in one category. We lead the league in the unfortunate category of injuries.
plus
It's huge. He's a point-a-game guy, a big-time plus player.
pulled saw sore talking
He has a sore groin. I saw him talking to the trainers so I pulled him out.
checking checks dangerous hockey injuries player puck ready suspect type
That's a dangerous play in hockey when you're checking the player with the puck and he checks you. The checking player doesn't suspect that and he's not ready for it. I think you see a lot of injuries when that type of play happens.
bizarre hard
That was a hard, bizarre game. It was really hard and it was really, really bizarre.
dealing eight fire game giving good level penalties period rules seven team third took
It's still not good enough. We know the rules and we took two penalties in the third period that we can't take, not when the game is on the line. You're just dealing with an unbelievable level of fire when you're giving a team like that six, seven or eight penalties.
allowed biggest bit chasing difference game lead
I think the biggest difference for us was that we got the lead. We weren't chasing the game. We had the lead the whole game. It allowed us to play our game a little bit better. I think that was the biggest difference.
decision difficult easier ground hard playing proving team win
I think the proving ground is when we play this way, we have success. It's a hard way to play. It's difficult and very demanding. The decision you have to make as a team is do you want to play this way and win or do you want to find an easier way to play and take your chances? They like playing and winning.