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
expect game hard home living team wore
I thought we got better as the game wore on. When you're killing back-to-back-to-back penalties, it's hard to get momentum. That's living dangerously. You can't expect a team at home to go 0-for-9 again.
feeling lets locker nobody stay team tremendous wants
I think there's a tremendous feeling of team in the locker room. Nobody wants to be the person that lets the other person down right now. If you stay with that feeling, you can take a long run.
built cannot emotional focus hard hoping physical playing second setting team
I think everyone is hoping physical play will be allowed. Our team is built that way. You cannot play in an emotional setting without getting physical. Over 82 (regular-season) nights, there are times it's hard to get physical. But when your focus is on playing the same team every second night, it's hard not to get physical.
beat composed composure near puck team
We got beat by a much better team tonight, a team that was much more composed with the puck than we were. We didn't have near the composure they did.
beat dealing eight eliminate fire giving level natural people players power reaction seven team
You are just dealing with an unbelievable level of fire when you're giving a team like that six, seven or eight power plays. You're not going to beat that team. You have to eliminate the reaching-in penalties. I know it's a natural reaction for most players but we've got to have the people that are doing it, not do it.
best draining feels good guys itself lose player team
Our team feels really good about itself right now. For any other team to lose their best player in pre-game warm-up, that's emotionally draining and these guys really responded.
came players playing reckless role team trying
Our role players came through. You had one team (Washington) playing reckless and the other trying to get away with playing careful.
build management misses opportunity team
Management misses an opportunity to build a team greatly.
amends city fans home responsibility series team work
Look, it's my responsibility to get the team ready, OK? This is on me. We were embarrassed for our fans and for the city of Philadelphia with the way we played. We've got to make amends when we go back home and get this series back even. We've got a lot of work to do.
discussion intense july losing response sure team time winning
The only thing I know is that we've always responded to losing in a really intense fashion. The response to winning has been our problem. I'm not sure why; that's probably a discussion for July or August. But it's been the M.O. of our team for a long time now.
battles gauge good heaviest team
When you look at a team like Ottawa, to me that's a good gauge on your team and individuals. They still have the heaviest team in battles and competitiveness.
against bears looking playing reason teams wounded
When you're playing against teams who are wounded bears or desperate, they're looking for a reason to play and when you give them a reason, they keep going.
meetings playing season team type
There are times during the season when you have to review. It was very, very productive. We don't have those type of meetings very often, but when we feel like our team isn't playing well, we do.
against gain game hear identity locker moved ottawa room starting team
We're starting to gain an identity and a lot of confidence. The game (Sunday) against Ottawa has really moved our game up a notch... You can hear things on the bench, the bantering between players, which is excellent. You can hear the locker room has a lot more life. Our team is starting to gel.