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NHL STANLEY CUP FINALS: OILERS v HURRICANESJune 16, 2006Aaron WardCam WardEDMONTON, ALBERTA: Practice Day Q. What did Steve Staios say to you? CAM WARD: I don't even remember. That's long over with. Just had a remark after the game and that's it. It's over. Q. Nice save or something like that? CAM WARD: (Laughs). I don't know. I am not going to quote, unquote. It's something that's done an over with. Q. Coach Laviolette scored on you out there or was that just a mirage? What happened? CAM WARD: I thought we were friends (laughs). You know what, he has got a good shot. Guys were giving it to him, but he's showed he's still got it as a player. Q. Probably first goal in 20 years? CAM WARD: I don't know what that says about me though, but I told him we have got a game here tomorrow. Sometimes you got to credit the shooter. Q. Seemed like you guys, that you were getting tired, that they were wearing you down. CAM WARD: I think we feel good. We're excited. You look at the positive, we still have a 3-2 series lead and have an opportunity to close it out here in Edmonton. And I think we are extremely excited. This is the time of year where, you know, fatigue is not an excuse. You have a chance to win the Stanley Cup, fatigue is long from our minds. This is something where you rise to the occasion and feed off the adrenaline. Q. Does it add to the excitement to you being the hometown boy? CAM WARD: Well, sure. It is exciting to have an opportunity to win in your hometown in front of family and friends. But like I have been saying all along, we're going to treat it like any other road game. You look at Game 4 we played pretty well here, and we're going to use that as a positive. Q. How about the extra day off? CAM WARD: It's really good. Bumps and bruises are a part of the game, and it's nice to have a couple of days where you can relax and rest physically. But at the same time, with that being said, we're excited to get back on the ice and give ourselves a chance to redeem ourselves from Game 5. Q. Would you rather just jump on tonight instead of having that extra day? CAM WARD: Personally, myself, probably, yeah, but there's other guys that would rather have the rest. It is what it is, and either way we'll be excited for tomorrow. Q. Pisani shot? CAM WARD: He just beat me clean. He put a real good shot on me. Q. (Inaudible)? CAM WARD: I looked back and just caught the corners, perfect shot. Q. Do you watch that on tape or do you just forget it? CAM WARD: I saw it once and to look at my position and after I see that, I will put it to rest. Q. Aaron, ready and raring to go? AARON WARD: Yeah. Q. No problems? AARON WARD: No problems. Q. What is your reaction to Doug Weight not playing? AARON WARD: We're just preparing for what we have in the locker room and with what we have in the locker room, that's what we're going to go forward with. Q. (Inaudible)? AARON WARD: We'll have to see tomorrow. It's too early. Can't really tell what the team's reaction is until tomorrow. Q. What about the additional day off? AARON WARD: Rest up. That's the benefit of Edmonton playing the Western Conference, these long trips. In the Eastern Conference the maximum we encounter is a two-hour trip, so to do this it's the benefit to us for that extra day to sit around the hotel, relax get your legs going. Q. (Inaudible) you are not playing this game -- AARON WARD: Why would that be? Q. Because of your injury and -- AARON WARD: I am not injured. Had to fix something. Q. (Inaudible)? AARON WARD: I heard a little bit. I managed to get through practice no problem. Actually it was probably one of my best practices of all year out there. Q. (Inaudible)? AARON WARD: 33 years old and raring to go. Doesn't get any better than this. If I took my shirt off and you saw what I was working with here, slightly handicapped in the genetics end of it, but I am working with what I have got. Q. How frustrating was it with the game on the line -- AARON WARD: They had to go aways to get it, took a little while, right opportunity, got back in there. That was fun. We're good. Set to go. Q. What is it about this team's resilience -- AARON WARD: How do we come back from two losses? Q. Never losing two in a row. AARON WARD: I don't think we think about it. I don't think you ever want to encounter those situations again. We realized what kind of pressure we were under when we went back to Montreal. Managed to rally back together as a group and figured out which philosophy we needed to take into those games. We kind of made that transition to the rest of the series as to the mentality we need to take and that was -- again we go back to every situation when everybody asks the question in this series it's a one game at a time series. Much like Game 5 is over, we're going to Game 6, that's all we concentrate on now. It's a lot like the Playoffs where you took in the original part of the Stanley Cup Finals. Q. (Inaudible)? AARON WARD: All in one piece. Everything works as it's supposed to. Q. (Inaudible)? AARON WARD: I am good. Like I said, everything is fine. No problems. Q. Anything you can do to alleviate some of the obvious -- (inaudible) that you can gather your defense on the forecheck -- AARON WARD: If that's the situation, I think you can take two approaches how they go for the puck and protect yourself right off the bat, or you just allow them to go in at the same time and neutralize them. So I think it is up to each player, what works well for them, what philosophy works for them. I really haven't noticed that. I think at times they are getting hits because maybe, you know, something has happened during the play that's allowed a defensemen to be a little vulnerable.
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