Canucks Coach Alain Vigneault seemed in fine form in talking to the media after his team's practice Wednesday, according to reporters from the Vancouver Province.
Vigneault was asked if it might be harder for a Canadian team to succeed in the playoffs because it's under greater scrutiny than U.S.-based teams, and he said no.
"The New York Yankees win. I think they get some scrutiny there," he said. "There's a whole bunch of pro sports where they get this every day and their athletes perform and deal with it. I would have loved it if the L.A. players would have met your bubbling personalities a little bit, but they're not here. For us, this is just a normal day."
And maybe not, since the medical reporter for the Vancouver Sun asked Vigneault an interesting question: "What does the club do to try to control preparation — how they train, how they eat, how they sleep, the sex they have?"
Said Vigneault: "We have sex every day?"
Laughter followed.
"I think for all the other things – before the sex -- we do a real good job since I've been here making sure about the conditioning, the nutrition," Vigneault said. "Since Mike [Gillis, the Canucks' general manager] got here, we've worked with a sleep individual. Everything we can control, we do control and I think that's one of the reasons this year our record in the third period has been so strong. As far as the sex goes, it's none of my business, they can do what they want."
Getting back to hockey, goaltender Roberto Luongo said he's prepared to see plenty of uninvited visitors in his crease.
"There's going to be a lot of traffic, but that's part of the whole fun of it," he said. "You've got to battle with the same guys every night in front of your face. It's kind of fun to be a part of those things. Pretty much every team's game plan. They're going to be in my face, but that's part of the game. I don't mind that stuff — it's the game within the game and I'm OK with that."
Slap Shots
Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer will provide guest commentary on the playoffs on ESPN's "SportsCenter" beginning Thursday at 10 p.m. Pacific time. He's scheduled to make several appearances during the first two rounds of the playoffs, joining hosts Neil Everett and Stan Verrett on the show from the Los Angeles-based "SportsCenter" studio.
twitter.com/helenenothelen
