I love competing. I love doing all these things, coming to the rink, talking to the guys, doing the routine, working out in the summer, going through that grind.
When I come to the rink each day, in my heart and my mind, I'm going to expect to win, because that's the way I think. It's going to be way different than it has in the past for me, in some ways, coming here.
Being surrounded by hockey, I got forced into it as a kid. I started skating when I was 4 and had a rink only 10 minutes from my home. In my town, we had one outdoor rink and one indoor rink, so you could skate all year long. I lived by a lake, too, so we did a lot of skating on the lake.
It is a game of chess with this city. We'll have to see how it is going to play out. The city goes back and forth trying to figure out what programs to cut and what they have funding for. What I would love to see is for the city to step up and run the rink 10 months out of the year so kids can play in the summer and we can have camps here in Glenwood.
I love to play the game, love to be around the rink, and love to joke around with my teammates and have some fun.
I have always said we are going to play well and we going to play badly. And I have not got issues when people criticise as long as we don't play well. That's part and parcel of the game. I love it and that's how it should be.
I helped put in a rink in Cadillac, Michigan, when my wife was very healthy. She helped them put it in and the rink is going full-bore the last time I was there.
I knew in advance I was coming to maybe the biggest club in the world, so I knew it wasn't going to be easy to play - otherwise I would have stayed in Bilbao. But I love the challenge; I love to have the chance to play for Manchester United.
In the K.H.L., you're even more patient at your position because the rink is so big, you cannot play that way.
There are always times when you don't want to go to the rink, or you don't want to do all the things you're supposed to do. Sometimes you're exhausted, or it's been a long week, but I always remind myself that this is my Olympic dream and the passion, because I love the sport very much.
God doesn't love me any more or less because I had some work done on my face. You know, I prayed about it a long, long, long, long, long time, because there again, I wouldn't want to do anything that I felt was going to be offensive to God.
If they want me I'd love to come back. I'm not going to play because I can, I'm going to play because I deserve it.
The atmosphere at the different arenas has been pretty crazy. It's been a lot of fun coming to the rink every night and competing at this level and intensity. It's going to continue and get better.
You get into the game and you know you're probably not going to be in there long. It's like, while I'm in here, I better not mess up. That's the completely wrong mentality to have. That works against how I play because how I play is 150 percent, going all out, going crazy.
I've always been a very harsh judge of talent because if you don't play the game on both ends of the court, and if you don't play hard every night, I'm probably not going to be in love with you as a player. I'm going to respect you because you're good, but these players are unique.
To have the luxury of passing to two goal-scorers is something I enjoy. You look forward to coming to the rink because you know you've got two finishers on your line.