“Kids don’t fight in minor hockey anymore. There’s very few fights in junior and college hockey. So growing up, all these guys are not fighting.”

Maybe it wasn’t the talent the Lord gave me-maybe it was the passion.

I don’t like my hockey sticks touching other sticks, and I don’t like them crossing one another, and I kind of have them hidden in the corner. I put baby powder on the ends. I think it’s essentially a matter of taking care of what takes care of you.

I think that from the time you start playing sports as a child you see that your responsibility to your team is to play the best that you can play as an individual. And yet, not take anything away from being part of a team.

The game is played out of instinct, but everyone on the ice has habits – good and bad. So the key to the game is to exploit the bad habits of your opponent.

It’s kind of ironic when I broke in at 17, I was told I was too small, too slow and I wouldn’t make the NHL.

I heard people say, ‘Why would he want to do this?’ My answer is ‘Why not?’ It is what I love. It’s what I know.

In one sense we are a favorite because we won a gold medal in 2002.

I grew up such a fan. It was my life. Everything I did was hockey related and everything I have is because of hockey and the NHL.

I wasn’t naturally gifted in terms of size and speed; everything I did in hockey I worked for, and that’s the way I’ll be as a coach.

By no means could I play at the level of these kids who play in the NHL now but as 50-year-olds go, I feel really good and I feel blessed that I’m still healthy.

We played in an era where you were taught to hate your opponent. But life changes. I raise my kids differently than my mom and dad raised their kids.

And people who know me would tell you that away from hockey I’m really not that competitive.

I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.

Eight days ago, we were the toast of the town. Eight days later we’re Thanksgiving turkeys.

When you’re playing an exhibition, you’re kind of letting everyone get an opportunity.

No matter who you are, we’re creatures of habit. The better your habits are, the better they will be in pressure situations.

The most inspirational man I knew only reached his potential by helping a child reach his.

In a big family the first child is kind of like the first pancake. If it’s not perfect, that’s okay, there are a lot more coming along.

I was brought up as an only child, and we were very close. But when I was 14, we got evicted. We came home to a padlock, and I looked up at my mom and she was crying, and there was nothing to do.

Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea, God Bless, keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and paid forward for the next kid who comes along.

I’m happy in Madrid, my kids are happy and my wife is happy, so everything’s good. If anyone knows about contracts they take a while to sort out.

Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.

When I was a kid, I thought my dad was a little bit harsh with me at times. Sometimes I needed an arm around me instead of my dad telling me what I did wrong, but it obviously worked.

The children right now, the young children, everybody should go to a martial arts school. Why? Because as soon as they go to a martial arts school, they learn discipline.