This morning and afternoon was the Capitals annual season-opening media luncheon. The day kicked off with the team photo, in which it was revealed that Mike Knuble was given the assistant captain's A left vacated by Sergei Fedorov, followed by a practice and then the actual free food.
One of the cool things about the lunch period, and the real reason the press was there, was that the players came out, had lunch too, and chatted with the media. There were some group interviews with Bruce Boudreau, George McPhee, Ted Leonsis, and a couple of the players, but for the most part it was one-on-one talks between players and media.
Image: clydeorama(Flickr)
I had the chance toward the end of the session to grab defenseman Brian Pothier for a few questions. A bit of this interview is into an article I'm working on at the moment for DC Sports Box, but I thought I'd post the entire transcript here because there's some good stuff that wasn't relevant for my story.
Q: This year the team is carrying 8 defensemen to start the regular season. Have the coaches told you what the plan is regarding players moving in and out?
POTHIER: No, honestly I have no idea what the plans are. I’m not even sure who’s going to play in Boston. We’re all capable players, even if you look at the guys who have been sent down, we have three or four guys that are in Hershey that could step in and play, jump in as seamless as having one of us in there. We are deep in that position, we have a lot of guys we can insert. It’s going to be difficult decisions for the coaches, but overall we have the bodies to get it done.
You had a great preseason, statistically and otherwise (note: In four games Pothier's stat line was: 1 G (OT GWG), 3 A, +3, 4 PIM, 19:13 ATOI). Is that heartening going into the regular season?
Yeah. I mean every time I step on the ice I want to be successful, I want to play a good game and put in a good effort, it felt like…I played what, four games in the preseason, I felt like I got a little bit better each game, a little more consistent each game, and that’s the goal. Every time I go on the ice I want to be successful and I want to contribute, and I want to make good plays. It’s always nice to have good results like that in the preseason.
Are you looking forward to going back to Boston?
Yeah that’s my hometown, that’s where I grew up, I always have a lot a friends and family floating around there. Every time I go back there it’s a special treat for me, to see the old Bruins jerseys in warm-ups in always kind of surreal and weird, but it’s pretty cool.
Plus they’re the top dogs in the East, and you guys have a very tough schedule to start the season.
That’s a big litmus test for us, the first month. We have some big challenges, those first three games are against good teams, home openers, and you know there’s going to be a lot of emotion and exciting environments, and it will be a great test for us to start the season.
No comments:
Post a Comment