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
break confidence game pressure suits ton
They were just flying. A game like this suits them well. The (Olympic) break did them a world of good. They have a ton of confidence and they put a lot of pressure on people.
competent develop everybody extra feeling gets good level opportunity players pressure proper skating skill special terrific
He's real impressive. His skill level and his skating level are incredible. I think that he's a special player, but I don't think there is much extra pressure on him right now. I think right now he's able to find his own level because we are competent back there. We have good players back there so he's going to be able to develop at the proper pace. But when you have a player who is that strong, everybody gets excited. And I think we are all feeling like this is a terrific opportunity for him and the franchise.
adding awhile came carolina effective game himself kept last pile played pressure year
He put a lot of pressure on himself last year when Carolina started making those changes. He just kept adding to the pile there and he put too much pressure on himself to try to do everything. He came here and after awhile he just played his game and was very, very effective for us.
anybody demanding hard himself honest player pressure special talk themselves
He has an honest appraisal of himself. He's hard on himself and he's demanding of himself. That's what makes special players. You talk to anybody who is a special player in the league... They put more pressure on themselves than anybody else does.
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.
absolutely controlled guys hockey played tempo wonderful
He was absolutely dominant, ... He controlled the tempo and played a wonderful hockey game. A lot of guys did.