I just think overall a lot of it has to do with conditioning and players putting in the time and the effort in the off-season to keep themselves in condition for 12 months a year.
quote by Mark Messier
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
When you play long enough, everybody goes through spells and streaks and slumps of some nature. I think it's just one of the those things where you have to play yourself out of it.
quote by Mark Messier
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
We had built up a team in Edmonton that really knew who each other was from a personal standpoint and from a professional standpoint. Our nucleus had stayed together for a long time.
quote by Mark Messier
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
When Wayne was traded, I became captain. For me it really wasn't anything - I didn't do anything or I didn't feel I had to do anything different than what I had been doing all along.
quote by Mark Messier
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
I played with a lot of great players before. They're all the same. They take a lot of responsibility for their own play, put a lot of pressure on themselves to perform and to play well.
quote by Mark Messier
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
I never was brought into the league thinking as far as, you know, statistics, things like that. We were really brought into the league in a team concept. Everything was focused around winning.
quote by Mark Messier
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
As a captain, I think it's important that the players really know who you are and what you stand for, what your beliefs are, and to be consistent in those if things are going good or things are going bad.
quote by Mark Messier
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!
If I had to compare any of the two, I'd compare the first one in Edmonton, the first one here in New York because it had been so long in New York since we had won. Obviously, being the first time to ever win the cup in Edmonton, they were fairly similar in that regard.
quote by Mark Messier
Added by Lucian Velea
Comment! | Vote! | Copy!