“Only one thing is ever guaranteed, that is that you will definitely not achieve the goal if you don’t take the shot.”

Lifting the Stanley Cup for the first time. There’s nothing like it. It’s the greatest story. In my era, they used to say you couldn’t be a superstar without winning one. I remember thinking when I lifted it: “Now they can’t say that about me.”

I can’t remember the last time I went to a game and there was a fight. I think they fight more in baseball now than they do in hockey.

You’ll never catch me bragging about goals, but I’ll talk all you want about my assists.

My best friend had a hockey scholarship at Ohio State, so I would get a couple of pairs at the beginning of the season and send them down to him. They practised two hours a day. He’d skate in them for three weeks then ship them back.

I miss all the shots I don’t take.

I think a lot of parents live their lives through the kids. Because they didn’t make it [achieve something], they want their kids to make it. It puts a lot of undue pressure on the kids.

We feel fortunate [with Canada hockey team]. We have got a lot of guys who love to play, but they also love to win even more. We are pretty happy. Although we are young, we like our group of players.

The greatest thing about playing obviously is winning, and you can’t replace that experience with anything.

As a player, you have one responsibility, to focus yourself and be ready for the game. As a coach, your responsibility is to get 20 guys ready and have them all on the same page. If you can’t get every guy ready every night, you’re going to struggle.

Most players go where the puck is. I go where the puck will be.

That’s the hardest part of this whole process. The best part is picking the players and the worst part is telling basically five players they are not going to play tonight.

Nothing can replace the Olympics. I love the Olympics. I was so proud when I played in ’98 and I was so proud when we won in 2002.

Competitive spirit is still at a premium. The more you win, the better you play, the more money you make, so they all have that in mind.

Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.

Sometimes people ask, ‘Are hockey fights real?’ I say, ‘If they weren’t, I’d get in more of them.

The day I stop giving is the day I stop receiving. The day I stop learning is the day I stop growing. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

Most people know how to set goals; few know how to achieve them.

Money is not the goal. Money has no value. The value comes from the dreams money helps achieve.

You don’t achieve success by “taking it easy” or “working on it later.” You achieve it through persistence and hard work.

We have either to progress or to degenerate. Our ancestors did great things in the past, but we have to grow into a fuller life and march beyond even their great achievements.

Make a wish with all your heart and chase every dream you have. Only you can reach your goals. No one else can achieve them for you.

Doubters do not achieve; skeptics do not contribute; cynics do not create.

While transparency reduces corruption, good governance goes beyond transparency in achieving openness. Openness means involving the stakeholders in decision-making process. Transparency is the right to information while openness is the right to participation.

Just when you think you’ve achieved something, you realize you’ve achieved nothing. And still you have to go forward just the same – toward a dream so distant that your road has neither beginning nor end.