Monday, September 12, 2011

What was Barry Trotz's Defining Moment of the Predators 2010-11 Season?

I was going through old audio clips last week and found a gold mine in a quote that I never used. At the post season wrap-up in May, I asked Barry Trotz if there was a "defining moment" in the season and he gave me a story in itself.

"I don't know if there was a 'defining moment' but there was 'a moment' when I knew we were going to make the playoffs and that was in Buffalo when Blake had the really good game. We had played the night before and we didn't have a lot of juice left and we had an afternoon game against a non-conference opponent that was playing really well at the time."

"We found a way to win. We found it late in overtime. To me, that was a defining moment that we were going to make the playoffs."

Trotz continued, "To me a defining moment, just in our evolution was game one (of the season against the Ducks). We didn't flinch when Pekka Rinne went down and we made no excuses and then went 5-0-3 to start the season. (Laughs) Then we lost five in a row and came back to reality."

"This team just got stronger and stronger and never flinched. As a coach, it was good to see. When some guys go out, others go 'I don't know how we are going to win now' but that was never the case, or even uttered by the team or the coaching staff."

"It was just, 'This guys's got to fill in and we'll find a way.' That was the DNA of this team."

That is the epitome of textbook "Predator Hockey" and should give encouragement to those who are doubting that the Preds have the horses to make a deep run this season. They always "Find a way."

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

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