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Steve Shields Press conference from Oct. 21, 1999
Posted: Tuesday October 26, 1999 04:09 PM
Question: I have a couple of questions. I know you have had chance to play a lot of the division teams. I was wondering if you think the Pacific Division could be the strongest in the league this year? Steve Shields: Well, obviously I think it is probably the strongest division. I think that pretty much everybody is over .500. We played a few of the teams and I think we have lost two games already in our division and it is really tough. I think everyone has improved their team dramatically from last season. We are a much improved team. I think Phoenix is going to be better and obviously Anaheim and L.A. have made moves to make their teams better so it is going to be a tough division all year long. Question: The scoring has been up and a lot of the reasons that people are pointing to is the new rule with the crease and how it is kind of no-harm/no-foul. It was said that everybody likes it except the goaltenders. I was wondering from your perspective, do you think there is more traffic in front of you and is it making stopping the puck more difficult .... although from your stats, I guess not? Steve Shields: Actually it is. It is a lot tougher this year. It just seems like there is a lot more traffic around the front of the net, and even when I like to get out of the crease a little bit, when I do that, I tend to run into a lot of guys. Especially the last few games. I have made some saves where I haven't even seen the puck because of the amount of traffic in front of me. My only concern with that is making sure that I am still -- I think the rule states that you can't impede the goalie's ability to make a save and I just hope for the goalie's sake that the referees are watching that and not just being concerned with whether we are in the crease or not. I think we have to be given the opportunity to make the save and if we are not, then obviously I feel like it should be called. But I don't mind goal-scoring being up. I think it is good for the league. I like the challenge of having more chances against me and more shots. I think that is happening with the way the rules have changed. Question: I was wondering if you could talk about play of Brad Stuart so far this season; he is 19 years old and I know he made the bad pass last night, but he seems to be playing with a lot of poise. Steve Shields: I think it has been great for the team to have Stuart here. I think he has really played well for almost every game. I think he has been making great plays and I think the sign of a great player -- just last night, he felt he made a bad pass on one of the goals. A lot of guys 19-20 years old are going to make that pass and not be able to recover from that for the rest of the game. And he went out the next shift and scored a goal. He made up for it. He shows a lot of poise. He listens. He is playing with Gary Suter, so he has got a lot to take from Gary, and he has been listening to him and he just seems receptive to everything. He has got great skill and ability. He sees the ice and he is not afraid to jump up. He just seems to fit right in with our team right now and he looks as he's been out there forever the way he handles himself and handles the puck. He likes to take the body. When you have a guy like that, it is a great help for the team. I don't even like to think of him as being 19 or 20 years old because he plays like he is so much older. Question: You have had Dominik Hasek and Mike Vernon as teammates the last three years. Just how have they helped you along in your game? Steve Shields: They probably been two of the biggest influences on the way I have developed as a goalie. Playing with a guy like Dominik, first of all, was great for me at that time because I am not sure if I was ready to play every day; physically, In wasn't sure if my ability would have been able to help that certain team win games every night. But being able to compete against Dominik everyday in practice -- he works hard every day and tries to stop every puck and just learning to use that sort of work ethic and battling to see the puck and just working hard has been great for me. And then once -- last year I felt like I needed more chance to play and I moved to San Jose and got to play with Vernon and he has been great, too. He has really taught me about the other part of the game which is mental. And I really feel like he has really helped me with that part of the game. Just being able to watch him and how he prepares and how relaxed when he is out there. He really relies on his ability and is confident in what he does and he just goes out and plays the game. He doesn't really concern himself with the result. He just wants to make sure that he gives the team a chance to win and that he has to focus on his job. That has really helped me because before I used to be really caught up with the results. Now I am just more concerned with going out and playing well. Question: I wanted to ask also a little bit about Mike Vernon, him being a veteran and now you coming in, you have been hot and have been getting the majority of the playing time lately. How has that worked between you two guys? How has he handled that? How have you handled that? Steve Shields: Well, it is hard on both of us. Obviously he has been here for a long time and I think that every time -- when you don't get a chance to play that much, you are obviously going to be upset. But in this case I think that Mike has been around for a long time. He has nothing to prove in this league. I think he is here to help the team win and to help me develop as a player and -- not much you can say when the other goalie is playing well. I think Mike has even said he understands what has happened. I have gotten to a streak of games where I was playing well and I expect to play and he expected me to play and it doesn't mean that I play all the time. He knows that he is still Mike Vernon; he still wins a lot of hockey games for whoever he plays with. So he still knows he is going to get the chance to play. That has been probably one of the most positive things about me being here is being able to play with Mike. He has been nothing but supportive and he really enjoys when the team wins and when I am playing well because it means the team wins and that is what he is more concerned about. Question: Regarding the team and the success you guys have had many could go out of the gate, this is the first year that a lot of people pick the Sharks to really make an impact in the league to maybe finish in the top towards the top of the division and go far in the playoffs. Is that pressure or is that something you say, yeah, it is about time; we can handle this? Steve Shields: Well, I think if we are going ever be the team we think we can be then we have to learn to live with this sort of expectation. And if you don't have these expectations then you are never going to be the team that you want to be or that you think you are and I think it is just part of becoming a better team is expectations. And guys should, you know, should thrive under this and should want to be a better team. I think we have the personnel here to be a better team and, although I think some of the nights as a team, we feel like we could play better and although we have a ton of things we still need to work on and to improve on, I think we feel like we have the right mix of guys. We just have to make sure that we come to work everyday and realize that people are expecting us to be better and be more prepared to play than we were in the past because teams are going to take you a lot more seriously now. Question: I wanted to ask you about what seems to be a popular topic today, Mike Vernon. I was wondering when you were at Michigan, did you get much chance to see him play for the Red Wings and he is kind of a guy that has been -- although he has got great numbers -- hasn't quite received the recognition. As a guy who got chance to see him play in Michigan where would you put him among the contemporaries of his era? Steve Shields: Well, I think it was in the eighth grade I remember Montreal and Calgary were playing in the finals, I couldn't stand Calgary and I remember coming to school and I used to make fun of Vernon. That was a long time ago. I never thought that he would be around or that I would be at this level and actually playing with him. But I really -- I gained an enormous amount of respect for him when I came to San Jose and I got to see him play every night and just realize how much of a difference he makes on a team. I think that with regards to how he stands amongst his contemporaries, I think he is very underrated. I think that he has never got the recognition that he deserves. He has two Stanley Cups and a Conn Smythe. I think if you look around the league there are probably one or two goalies that have a similar record to his. I think he is in the top-10 for career wins in history and the only two guys that I can think of that have two Stanley Cups are Roy and Tommy Barrasso. But he really deserves a lot of credit for what he has done. He has played for a lot of years and has done that for a reason because he makes big saves and he wins big games. Question: The question I wanted to ask other than that was how are you dealing with being a celebrity instead of a No. 2 backup? Steve Shields: Really it is fine. I really don't, hold much stock in it. I don't really concern myself with it. I just, basically go about my business and the great thing about being a goalie is that you are hard to recognize when you leave the rink, especially when you wear a mask. So, it is nice to get the chance to play and you like to be recognized for what you do and I felt that sometimes I got frustrated being a backup because I felt I was better than, how I was being treated. I was just a victim of circumstance with the guys I was playing with. I think on a lot of other teams, I would have had a lot of other opportunities. Now I just feel I am getting an opportunity to prove what I can do. Any recognition that comes from that, it is great. You like to be recognized for your work. But, more importantly, I am just happy to get the chance to do it and whatever comes with that, then that is just a bonus.
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