Chris Pronger
Chris Pronger
Christopher Robert Prongeris a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who is currently under contract with the Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League. He has not played since November 2011 due to post-concussion syndrome related to three separate hits suffered during his career; he also suffers from vision impairment due to being hit in the eyeby the blade of another player's stick. Though not officially retired, he is not expected to play again. In October 2014, Pronger signed a contract...
ProfessionHockey Player
Date of Birth10 October 1974
CityDryden, Canada
It was pretty disappointing, obviously. To come out with two periods, in probably our most important game of the season, the way we did ... It's disappointing and disheartening to see the position we've left ourselves in. At the same time, we need to dust ourselves off and come out and play a good game against one of the best teams in the league in Detroit.
Al did such a great job as captain last year. I need to focus and concentrate on helping this team win hockey games. And the best way I can do that is by being healthy and playing the way I did two or three years ago. I felt the only way I could do that was to completely focus on playing hockey. Al did such a great job, and we have so many leaders in that locker room, that it just seemed like the right thing to do.
We fell behind 2-0 to those guys and played right into their hands.
The so-called splinter faction in the union that is going a different direction has been drummed up by a lot of media members and people hoping a deal gets done. I can unequivocally say everyone is on board and understands the issues better.
Aside from our special teams, we played pretty well. That's been the story of our season so far.
I think everybody wants to end their career the way they want it to end. For people in Al's position, a high-level player who had a lot left in the tank, to have your career end that way is ... very difficult.
To let it slip like that is disappointing.
I don't think it's become that big of an issue.
I did a video but I don't know, did they lose it? I think they lost it.
We gave them a lot of momentum early. It's tough to climb out of that hole.
We knew exactly what we were coming up against. They may have lost 13 in a row, but they were in every one of those games.
What happened probably was wrong and we have to address it so it doesn't happen in the future but we can't go back and change time.
When you play six games in eight days, there's not a lot of time to practice and get that cohesiveness. If you look around at a lot of the countries, they are so familiar with each other and the ice. It's tough to make that adjustment in eight days.
When you don't win, obviously people are going to look and point fingers. Looking at the teams we had and looking at the teams Detroit had, there's a reason they were winning those Stanley Cups and we were losing to them.