Rob Blake Q and A


Heading into tonight's game with the Blackhawks in Chicago, the Avalanche are one of the hottest teams in the league having won their past eight games. With a record of 27?17?3 for 57 points, they are tied for first place in the Northwest Division with Vancouver and Calgary. With a win tonight and another against rival Detroit on Saturday on NBC, Colorado will have the longest win streak of the season at ten in a row. Rob is currently tied for 7th among NHL defensemen with 33 points on seven goals and 26 assists, and in November he recorded his 600th NHL point and he is leading all Avalanche skaters in average ice time playing 24 minutes and 18 seconds per game so far this season.
On December 22nd, of this past year he was named to the Canadian Olympic team for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin Italy. It will be his third Olympic appearance having represented Canada in Nagano in 1998 and winning gold with Team Canada in 2002 at Salt Lake City.

Q. I'd like to ask you about the penalties, sorry to start with this, but just seems to be the same amount virtually of power plays virtually every game. Are the players not adjusting in your opinion, or are they just wanting more power plays in the league in your opinion?
ROB BLAKE: Well, I think the players are adjusting. I just think that the way the rules are enforced, you're going to have calls.
What you're seeing a lot now is a team that has the lead or, you know, kind of gets on the penalty track a little later in games, because I think you're playing a little more in your own zone when you start to sit back a little. But I think players are understanding the rules. But it is difficult when a small hook or a hold is called; you're going to see the penalties.

Q. That was my follow?up. Is there frustration by the players when you talk amongst one another as to what you can get away with? And just try to project the playoffs, are they going to call it in your opinion, some of those real borderline hooking calls, is that something that worries you?
ROB BLAKE: I think they have to keep the way they are calling things right now as tight as they are, they have to keep that going all the way through the playoffs. That is a demand set forth by the players at start of the year and you have to maintain it the whole way through.
I think the consistency level is what keeps the arguments down. As long as they are going to be called, understand that, both sides understand it, that is the way the game is going to be played, you can go forward with that.

Q. Are you frustrated on some nights?
ROB BLAKE: You're going to have frustrations, that's for sure. But when you do go back and you look at some of the calls and you know exactly what the calls are going to be, for the most part they are the right calls. Is it frustrating? Yeah, but I think it goes both ways and teams understand that.

Q. Can you talk a little bit, having been through this Olympic system three times now, towards the Olympics, do you get a little more worried about putting yourself at risk for injury? I know your first responsibility is to the Avalanche, but do you worry about staying healthy when you have Turin coming up in a few weeks?
ROB BLAKE: I think in the back of our minds, everybody wants to stay healthy; I think that's a fact. When you start playing the game, that worry kind of goes out.
I do think the players that are involved in the Olympics for the next month, you're going to see their play increase and they are going to be more involved and trying to get their level of play at a certain height. Because when the Olympics start and you're playing with the best players of every country, you have to be ready to go.

Q. And as somebody who has obviously blocked a lot of shots in your career, who do you see in the NHL among your peers that has No. 1 the hardest shot and the most accurate shot?
ROB BLAKE: The most accurate I would have to say Joe Sakic. Just playing along with him, the wrist shot and the snapshot, I don't think there's anybody that gets it off as quick and as accurate as he does.
As far as a hard shot, almost every team has a point guy, a guy on the power play, a guy they are going to allow to take the shots. We played Calgary early on a bunch of times and Dion Phaneuf had one ever best shots I've seen. McCabe didn't play the other night, but obviously with his stats and the goals he's scoring on the power play, five?on?four, five?on?three, his shot is right on top, too.

Q. Now it's been a month since rosters have been announced, have you taken the time or sized up the competition of who might be the biggest competition?
ROB BLAKE: Yeah, I think we all know the teams that are involved, and I think you can pick a handful, four or five of those teams that are dominant teams. I mean, if you look at the top players in the league, with the Kovalchuks, we were talking about the Sweden team and it seems like almost all of the top players in respective positions are amongst the Swedes. Obviously with Forsberg and Lidstrom, you've got probably one of the top forward and defensemen.
You know, the Czech team is going to be very, very strong. I can go on and on with all these teams. I think there are four or five that are going to be very, very competitive there.

Q. A bunch of guys are going through, well, we'll worry about the Olympics when we get there and can't let our minds wander, but with so many guys in your room that are going, is there a lot of talk in there?
ROB BLAKE: Yeah, everyone ?? they all talk about the Olympics. I'd be lying if we said that we were not going to talk about it or try to avoid it until it comes.
It's exciting. Everybody that's involved, we have 11 players going on our team and a lot of different countries being represented, so there's a lot of talk going on. I do think that you think about the Olympics and you prepare for it ahead of time.

Q. Do you feel like there's going to be less pressure on you guys now that the 50?year drought is snapped with Salt Lake going into Turin, because certainly Joe and Adam felt there might be even more pressure to win again?
ROB BLAKE: I think the pressure to win again is there. The way that hockey is played in Canada and the way it's respected, the game there, they expect to win the gold medal and that pressure is there.
Obviously winning it for the first time in 50 years takes off some of the losing streak or, you know, the winless streak of the gold medal. But the pressure to win again and again is always going to be there with Canada.

Q. As a follow?up, with Joe out right now with a groin, I don't know if you had time to notice, and Bryan McCabe also, (Adam) Footer came back last night, but any concerns of a banged up Olympic blue line?
ROB BLAKE: There is. We had that problem during obviously the World Cup last year with a few injuries there, or a couple years ago.
As far as these injuries, hopefully I think there's still 10, 11 games left, and it's great to see Adam Foote back in and hopefully being able to play the next 10, 11 games here and get his feet going for the Olympics.

But you do hope that these guys with injuries, obviously Bryan McCabe, Ed Jovanovski, that they can heal, get in some games and get ready for the Olympics.

Q. It looks like this is the tenth time you've represented Canada: Five World Championships, three World Cups, and this is your third Olympics. In 1998, you were voted the most outstanding defensemen of the Olympic tournament. Can you fold into your answer your pride representing your country, maybe even feelings of obligation, and talk a little bit about that 1998 award?
ROB BLAKE: That was a special thing obviously. I got to be involved the first time I played alongside Ray Bourque at that Olympics, and to understand the value and how great of a player he was, was amazing.
As far as representing your country and things, I grew up in Canada, I loved it there. For most of my hockey clear career, obviously being in college in the U.S. and then playing in L.A. and Colorado, I've never really been involved in the Canadian hockey thing.

So to be able to go and represent your country, the first world championships I think my second year in the league, it was exciting for me. I was involved in the Olympics and everything, but I think any time you can put the jersey of your home country and go and play, it's an honor, and I'll jump at that opportunity every time.

Q. You have one goal in '98 and one goal in 2002. I was wondering, could you recall those scoring plays for us?
ROB BLAKE: You know, the '98 one, I'm not sure actually. I can't remember, I know the past ones in Salt Lake I think was against Sweden. Unfortunately we didn't score too many against them so, that one I do remember.

Q. There are a lot of question marks going in with the loss of Peter (Forsberg) and unsure about your goaltending situation, how it will shape out. Do you think it's more surprising the slow start that you guys have had or now that you're on this big run?
ROB BLAKE: I think maybe a little more surprising is the slow start. I think we thought we could jump in and continue at a pace that this organization has played at for a long time, and unfortunately we h ad the start that we all didn't want.
I think we've rebounded well. I think David Aebischer has been great for us the past eight, ten games. That's been a key to our turnaround is shutting the goals down and our defensive play in front of him has improved. Goal scoring has been there all year, led by Joe Sakic, Turgeon, Tanguay, Milan Hejduk has jumped in there and showed that he can score at that level also.

Q. There was so much talk going in and facing Peter last week for the first time, is it good to get on with that and continue with your run?
ROB BLAKE: It's nice we only see him once a year during the regular season. He's a great player and he's done tremendous things for the Colorado Avalanche franchise over the years. We were excited about going in and seeing him. He's a big part of the Avalanche history and always will be.

Q. Given your international experience, if you can talk about possible lessons that some of the veteran players can sort of bring on board to the younger guys in Turin, especially from Nagano and Salt Lake, we all know how Salt Lake started with the loss to Sweden and the whole country panicked, but what are some of the lessons there in terms of not losing your composure?
ROB BLAKE: I think the lesson is that over the amount of games that you play, you just have to be better near the end. Obviously you're going to go it's a new bunch of guys getting together. The last time we played Sweden we were tied one after one and all of the said everything fell apart and felt like we were done.
As the tournament goes, the last three games are basically the ones that are sudden death games. You cannot lose those; you have to win those. So your team has to improve over that stretch and be playing the best possible hockey near the end of that tournament.