Jonathan Quick was named the starting goaltender for Team USA's opening game against Team Europe at the World Cup of Hockey. The soft-spoken netminder talked about getting the starting nod and whether there's added pressure on this team to come up with a signature victory in this tournament to cement its place in USA Hockey history.
After 10 days of practice and exhibition games, are you ready for the tournament to begin?
I think everybody is. The exhibition games, not only the ones that we played but all of them, were competitive and fast paced. It looks like everyone is ready to go.
You were named the starting goalie against Team Europe. What's it going to take to keep your spot throughout the tournament?
I'm not really worried about that. I just want to help the team win. That's all it is about. You only play three games so we have to make the most of it as a team and try to win every one of them. That starts tomorrow.
Coach John Tortorella said that it's time for this group to win a tournament like this and cement its place in USA Hockey history. Do you feel that way?
At the end of the day, if we try to think about winning this tournament today we're going to forget how to play tomorrow. We're just focused on playing Europe. They're a great team with great depth. They're good on D, have good goaltenders, so it's going to be a very tough game.
How different is this team from the one that competed in Sochi? What do you have to do differently to take that next step?
I don't think we need to do anything different. We were right there. We lost a one-goal game in the semifinals so you could say we were one goal away from playing for a gold medal. I think we have 14 guys back from that team, and we're two years older and have two years more experienced, so hopefully that helps us.
What's your thoughts about playing against your Kings teammate Anze Kopitar?
Team Europe has a deep roster. They have a lot of guys who are dangerous offensively. It's tough to name one guy. Like every other team in this tournament they're very talented and very deep. They have skill on all four lines.