Mike Babcock
Mike Babcock
Michael "Mike" Babcock, Jr.is a Canadian professional ice hockey head coach, currently serving as head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League. He previously spent 10 seasons as head coach of the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2008 and helped to the Stanley Cup Playoffs every year during his tenure. He holds the record as winningest coach in Red Wings history, surpassing that of Jack Adams. He has also served...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth29 April 1963
battle behind came good group guys played ready short talked team
We have a good team and the guys came out and played hard. With a short group you don't want to get behind and battle back. We talked about being ready right from the start.
ask concerned crazy game might overdoing stay tried
I was very concerned about not overdoing it, and just making it another game for the guys, ... I tried to stay normal, but you would have to ask them how well I did. I might have been a crazy person.
battle everybody excited foundation great hard huge hung last locker nice opportunity people pictures playoffs quickly saying trying work year
I think everybody realizes that we had a great opportunity. But you find out quickly that last year was last year. There are now nice pictures of the playoffs hung up around the locker room, and people were saying nice things about us and patting us on the back all summer. But now we are trying to reestablish work habits, foundation and identity. I think it makes you more hungry, because we all know how hard it is to get there. It will be a huge battle for us and we are excited about the opportunity to try to get back there.
good guys supposed
I think Howard has been good and I think the two guys that are supposed to be good have been good.
again ethic far fire guys playoff playoffs race record starts telling win work
We need to reestablish our work ethic and get back the fire we need to win games. As far as I'm concerned, the playoff race starts Oct. 8 in Dallas. You can't make the playoffs in the first 20 games, but you can be out of it after 20 games. So for me, it's all about establishing that work ethic again in a hurry. I just keep telling the guys that, too -- so much that they think the record is stuck.
blue good job passion played power putting specialty team
We just did a good job on the specialty teams. They (the Blue Jackets) played with a lot of passion and urgency. (But) what do you do when your (the Blue Jackets') power play isn't putting them in, and the other team is?
evident obviously
We're all human, and sometimes when things are going good, you get a little complacent. Obviously that was evident for us.
challenge drew night smith
I thought he was fine. He drew (Chris) Pronger and (Jason) Smith most of the night and that's a challenge for him.
heck turn
We get on streaks in a heck of a hurry. So you got to turn it around quick. That's good.
excited good playoff
We have an eight-game playoff series. We're excited about it. They have a real good team. Let's get there and get going.
great
He's a great player. He's skating. It's great to see.
committed guys nice record
Getting that record is nice, but it's not what we set out to do. But it's nice to have. These guys are a committed group.
defensive five four games good nights playing team
Four games in five nights and playing a good defensive team on the road, we must be doing something right.
composure lost puck settled turned
I don't know what happened. We lost our composure and turned the puck over and just couldn't get settled down again.