Antero Niittymaki Quotations

We've struggled at home, so this was really good for our confidence.

Maybe when you lose the best player in the world it does affect you. I was a little surprised at the way they played after that.

I didn't really want to watch while they were celebrating. When you lose the final game, it doesn't mater what tournament; it's not fun to watch the other team celebrate. You're happy for them, they deserve that but, you know, the only thing I could think about was it could be you, too.

Burke faced more shots than I did. He stopped them.

I felt more relaxed than at Nashville. I decided to be more aggressive this time.

If its a one-goal game or a tie, you can't let in easy goals.

He was really good with Joni and still is. Me too. I mean he?s been (in the U.S.) for 10 years or something. He knows a lot of stuff and he was always willing to help us if we needed anything. It?s really good.

I was watching on TV. You hope that someday you're there.

I was kind of hoping he was going to make a move. At the last second I saw he was going low blocker. I don't know. It was a pretty good shot.

Physically and mentally I feel fine. I had no problems before the game or during the game.

It feels good, 20 wins, still some games left. I wouldn't mind a couple more. I really didn't think about it (20 wins). I didn't know how many games I was going to play. Didn't know what to expect.

I think he was running out of speed. He knew a couple of our guys were coming, and he had to shoot the puck. I read that, stayed there and held my crease. It was actually a pretty easy save.

I think he was trying to make a move and he was watching the puck. I tried something new and it worked well.

I was not nervous at the beginning of this tournament. I didn't know what to expect, but my players have been so supportive of me.

Whoever's playing has to play good, I guess. Every time I get a chance to play I have to do my best. That's the only thing I can do and worry about.

You just want to play well and rebound well after a bad game. Sometimes a team doesn't play that well and a goalie has to step up. If a player makes a mistake, the goalie has to stop (the shot). And it goes the other way around.

We have a very good defense and tonight we played very strong.

Those aren't the hardest saves. We work on breakaways every day in practice.

When you lose the final game, it's not fun to watch another team celebrate.

We spent a lot of time together and it was good. That's about the only good thing about being away for so long.

Everybody knows he's been a little sore. It happens, it's not a big deal. We've won without him before so we felt pretty confident.

Feels good to get 20 wins the first year. We still have games left, and I wouldn't mind having a few more.

There?s nothing you can really do, just work hard and stay ready.

You play so many games, it gets into a routine. You get a couple days off, you get to think about what you're doing right and what you're doing wrong. You kind of think clearly. You get to see the tapes and what really happened. So it kind of helps a lot to see what's going on.

They didn't have a whole lot of great scoring chances. It's kind of an easy game. There were a couple of good saves in the third period, but other than that, it was pretty quiet.

It's a classic rivalry, Sweden against Finland. So it's going to be a great game.

It's a classic rivalry, it's a game we may get up a little more for. I really don't know what I'm feeling right now.

It's a long way to the final and we have to play game by game. In this tournament there are a lot of good teams, so anything can happen.

It's always fun to play against Ottawa, the two best teams in the league. I think it's a good sign when you play good against good teams. Both games (this year) we played really well against them.

It's good to see where we are. Canada is the best team on paper, so it's a really important win for us. It gives a lot of confidence.

It was like I was trying to protect a soccer net.

It was 4-1 at that time, and they had a couple of shots at that time. I tried to get the momentum and I tried to go low blocker and I got a piece of it.

They went to the Stanley Cup Finals two years ago, and I think they are better now. They are very talented.

It's not all about the goalie this year. There are going to be more goals this year, more power plays. It's not all about the goalie when teams score five or six goals a game.

It's never fun to come out of a game and it's never fun to go in, to tell you the truth. I was sitting on the bench for an hour and a half, so it wasn't easy for me, either.

I have to take the blame, too. I have to be able to stop some of them.

I don't really know what I am feeling right now, but we have to play great defense. That's the key.

If I am, it's a great honor and it's going to be a fun tournament. It's going to be great and it's going to be fun to play against the best players in the world.

I don't think that way. Every time I play I just try to do my best. Just win games and see what happens.