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WORLD CUP OF HOCKEY

September 21, 2016

Mike Babcock

Toronto, Ontario

Team Canada – 4
Team Europe ‑ 1

Q. Coach, this could be a trap game at times because of the back to back, and it's not a natural rival. What did you think of your team's game? Looked like a bit of a lull there in the middle.
MIKE BABCOCK: Yeah, I didn't think either team probably had the emotion they've had. Both teams knew they had advanced. You know, as much as I think our guys really tried to get the emotional level at a high level, just their ability to‑‑ we were casual with the puck. We made mistakes we don't normally make, and saying that, we had the puck a lot, could have scored lots of goals. And their goalie was good.
But it's not one of those games where you ever leave feeling real great because you don't play like you're supposed to. But big win for our team. We're set up good. Don't have to move dressing rooms. Life is good, man.

Q. You guys have put in a lot of work here the last few weeks. How do you feel now with the must‑win game approaching, where the team is at?
MIKE BABCOCK: Well, good. Let's get ready and play. You know, I think it's what it's all about. That's why you get ready. That's why you build the program, so that you think you're prepared and ready to go. Our guys know what we want them to do, now we've got to do it, though.
I think the best of the best deliver when it matters. And to me in the end, that's the measure of the coach, that's the measure of the goalie, that's the measure of the players, it's the measure of scorers, what you do in the big moments.
What I've found over time is if you just do your job, your simple job and everyone else does theirs, you have a lot of success together. That's what we're going to try and do.

Q. Can you talk about why Team Canada has dominated international hockey so much in recent years?
MIKE BABCOCK: Well, I don't know the answer to all that. I mean, we've got a good group. I watched those kids play today, too, there's lots of players in North America, there's lots of good young players around the world.
Hockey is in a real good spot. The league has got better and better and obviously more people are interested in watching, so that's positive.
You know, I'm just fortunate to be born in Canada and have the opportunity to coach Canada and be around it. It's a thrill. We've got good players, and we'll work hard at it and take a lot of pride in being the best.

Q. Jonathan Toews has been on this team, kind of been on this run here. What does he mean to this team since he's been on this run, and what does he mean to this specific team?
MIKE BABCOCK: So here's the game that the emotional level is low in most people, but you don't know that about him or Bergeron. You don't know that because it doesn't matter. It's just like clock work. They just grind and work and do it right, and they bring it when we need it.
Each game here, we had Sid's line pick us up one night, we had O'Reilly line pick us up one night. Now we had Toews line pick us one night. We gave Getzy the night off, he should be fresh. He should be next.

Q. Is there anything to this team's ability to sort of lock down a lead, and do you change the way you manage the game when you have a two‑goal lead or three‑goal lead?
MIKE BABCOCK: No, I like to play in the offensive zone. I didn't think we locked her down tonight in the same way, to be honest with you. I think we're normally better at it, spend more time in the offensive zone rolling around. To me the best way to defend is you have the puck. Pretty hard for them to score if you have the puck, so that's what we try to do. We try not to back up at all. We try to be assertive.

Q. The juxtaposition today with the early game and your game and the kids and the excitement that they bring, and then your game where, again, once you get a lead, it's just flawless execution, like in Sochi. Two different types of games, a young team that has‑‑
MIKE BABCOCK: Which would you rather watch?

Q. I want to hear from you on that, not me. But also their expectations are different than yours. How do you compare those two situations?
MIKE BABCOCK: Well, I mean, they're totally different. I like watching that team because there's tons of skill. I like winning more, though. I just want to win. That's what our players came for; they came to win. We want to continue to get better. We've got another opportunity here. We're going to have a practice day after a day off. We'll have a chance to do better. We'll be ready. I don't know who we're going to get, but we're going to be ready, and it should be fun.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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