Rangers defenseman Marc Staal took a shot at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby:
Q: What would you say drives you?
A: Winning that Cup. You don’t go through the playoffs and the grind of it for nothing. You go through it to win that ultimate prize and win it with your teammates. It’s what keeps you coming back.
Q: When you were a boy, did you have a dream about hoisting the Stanley Cup?
A: Absolutely. Every year as kids, we watched the Stanley Cup finals, and that game, when the Cup is presented, we were allowed to stay up and watch it. It’s something that you do dream about as a kid to be on that team throwing that Cup over top of your head. That’s something that’s extremely hard to do, and right now we’re having a lot of fun trying to chase it.
Q: Do you remember watching clips of Mark Messier holding the Cup for the Rangers in 1994?
A: For this city and the franchise at that time, there was nothing bigger. Obviously hoping to make some of those memories for our team.
Q: You were hit in the right eye with a puck vs. the Flyers on March 6, 2013. How scary was that?
A: You’re terrified, actually. You don’t know where it’s gonna go when something like that happens. For a moment, you don’t know if you’re gonna be able to play the game again.
Q: Do you remember the low point?
A: It wasn’t even a week later after it happened, they were holding out optimism that I was gonna make a full recovery, and then in the doctor’s office, told me that wasn’t gonna happen and that there was gonna be damage in the eye, and that was a pretty hard day. And from there, it was figuring out how much you’re gonna improve and how to adapt when it stops.
Q: Was time the major healing factor?
A: Time was a big thing and then getting my brain and everything adjusted to what I was seeing, and combining that all into competing on the ice again.
Q: Is your vision close to 100 percent now?
A: I don’t know how to put a percentage on it, ’cause it’s hard to explain, but I can see everything clearly.
Q: What was it like the first time you stepped on the ice after the injury?
A: I played one game in the playoffs that year. Obviously it was a little nerve-wracking, and exciting at the same time, to be back on the ice competing. I remember the crowd bring great when I stepped back on the ice, and you didn’t realize how much you missed the game until you step back on the ice again, and you start competing and realize how much fun it is. At that moment, I kinda knew I was gonna be back.
Q: When you were fearing the end of your career, did it reach the point where you had to start thinking about what else you might do with your life?
A: (Chuckle) No, that would be too scary, I think.
Q: So you consider yourself a lucky guy, I would think, right?
A: I do yeah. It’s an unlucky play on the ice, but I was lucky that maybe an inch lower, and it could have been a lot worse.
Q: What’s your scouting report on Marc Staal?
A: I hate doing these things. … Defensive defenseman. I take care of my own end … try to be great positionally and have a good stick, and make sure I’m getting out of my end quickly, not spending a lot of time there … get transition, give it to the forwards, and let them do their thing.
Q: What’s your on-ice mentality?
A: I try to keep it as level-headed as possible, and obviously there’s certain moments in every game where that can change quickly. I like to try to keep myself in a good mind frame of where I’m still competing at a high level but not crossing that line where you’re putting your team in jeopardy.
Q: Do you play with intensity, with fire?
A: When you go into the corner, I want to be the guy coming out with the puck, and I would do everything I can to try and do that, so the competitiveness, the one-on-one drive to not lose a battle on the ice and compete every shift is something that I try to take into every game.
Q: Superstitions?
A: I have routine. I’ll have a coffee the same time every day before the game. I put the right side of my equipment on first — like my right skate, then my left; my right elbow pad, then my left; right shin pad, left shin pad.
Q: Pregame meal?
A: I switched up halfway through the year — salmon and brown rice.
Q: What was it?
A: Pasta and chicken.
Q: Describe your wife Lindsay.
A: We just had our first child [daughter Anna Veralyn] in February so,
she’s been an incredible wife and mother. She’s beautifully,
incredibly supportive.
Q: How has fatherhood changed you?
A: It turns you from being incredibly selfish to incredibly unselfish. All the things that you used to just enjoy doing and doing them whenever you want change pretty quickly, and all of a sudden, you don’t really mind at all.
Q: On a scale of 1-10, how good are you as a diaper changer?
A: I can do that blindfolded now. I gotta be a 10.
Q: What is Alain Vigneault’s coaching style?
A: He’s a calming influence. He’s extremely confident in what he’s telling us as far as game plans and what to do, and tendencies of other teams. We know that he’s putting the time and effort to give us the best possible chance to win the hockey game.
Q: Is it more of a relaxed atmosphere than it was under John Tortorella?
A: Yeah, you could say that. There’s still accountability. He leaves a lot of it to the leadership in the room to make sure the guys are coming in every day working hard, doing the right things. … But yeah, I would say more relaxed.
Q: Describe Henrik Lundqvist.
A: Extreme amount of competitiveness to win hockey games and to be at his best all the time. He’s not satisfied with mediocrity.
Q: Chris Kreider.
A: He’s a manchild, that’s for sure. Extremely fast, very hard to play against. Would not want to be a defenseman on the opposite side of him, that’s for sure.
Q: Martin St. Louis.
A: Great person, great personality. A huge talent on the ice. One of the hardest workers that I’ve seen since I’ve played here in New York.
Q: Ryan McDonagh.
A: He uses every one of his abilities to his advantage, and he’s pretty impressive to watch every night.
Q: How does your game differ from your brothers’ — Eric and Jordan?
A: Obviously they have a little more skill than I do offensively. But we’re similar in a lot of ways as well.
Q: Why does your brother Jordan call you the family goofball?
A: I’m not that much of a goofball, I think my youngest brother’s [Jared] probably got me on that. Our family’s obviously very close, and we like to give each other a hard time, and I like to give those guys a little harder time than they do me.
Q: What was your 2011 All-Star Game experience like?
A: It was pretty cool. When you grow up, you watch those skills competitions in the All-Star Game, watching those players in that setting play against each other and they’re all on the ice having fun with each other, I always thought that was cool, and then to be on the ice with all those great players at that time, I was honored to be there.
Q: What was it like going from Thunder Bay, Ontario, to New York City?
A: I would say definitely culture shock. I didn’t really know what to expect coming in to the city. I’d never ridden a subway before in my life and I was riding one to a hockey game, so that was a pretty big eye-opener coming in, from a small town in Canada to New York City. I love it now.
Q: Describe Thunder Bay.
A: It’s a very blue-collar town, people work hard, extremely friendly, people are great. And it’s cold, and they’re long, cold winters. So in the summertime everyone’s always out and about doing stuff, excited for it not to be winter any more (chuckle).
Q: What are your favorite NYC things?
A: The restaurants. Love the amount of restaurants, the amount of variety. Anything you want, you can have delivered very quickly.
Q: Any favorites?
A: Pick-A-Bagel right down the street, they got top-notch coffee. There’s this Thai place called Yum Yum’s.
Q: Any Italian places?
A: Scalinatella.
Q: Steak?
A: Porterhouse in Time Warner.
Q: Boyhood idol?
A: My dad.
Q: Why?
A: Growing up watching his work ethic — just the way he worked hard, never complained about it.
Q: Your memories working on the sod farm?
A: We started at a very early age — probably 7, 8 years old — every summer till I signed my first professional contract, so I definitely have a lot of memories. We would lay sod, and a lot of times when we laid sod, you’d have a lot of your friends or cousins be with you, it always made it a lot of fun. Definitely hard work and long days, but there’s a lot of fun.
Q: You and your dad were Maple Leafs fans growing up.
A: We would watch Saturday night “Hockey Night” in Canada, it was the only game we got.
Q: Describe Norwest Arena in Thunder Bay.
A: Very cold (chuckle), and probably the hardest ice I’ve ever skated on. But obviously spent a ton of time there … spent more time there on the weekends than I would at our own house.
Q: You had a pond in your backyard before the rink was ready.
A: We’d get home and have dinner and then head out on the ice, and we could skate until my mom a lot of times would just shut the lights off on us.That usually was our cue to come in.
Q: Hobbies?
A: Big fishing guy.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Gladiator.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Jim Carrey.
Q: Favorite entertainer?
A: Mumphord and Sons.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: Chinese food.
Q: Describe Rangers fans.
A: They know what’s going on with the team. They’re very diehard that way. They’re tough when you’re not going well and they’re incredibly supportive, they’ll cheer you on when things are going well.
Q: What do you like best about this Rangers team?
A: A lot of things I like about our team. The first thing is we’re finding ways to win, and there’s nothing more fun than winning, and love coming to the rink with our group and knowing that everyone in that room is gonna do whatever they can to try to win a hockey game, and that’s a good feeling to have. And that’s the feeling that we’ve had all year long, and it’s something to be proud of.