April 26--Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville may wear his emotions on his sleeve on the bench -- especially when he disagrees with an official's call -- but Quenneville isn't exactly the rah-rah type when it comes to speeches before a big playoff game.
"I'm not great at giving motivational speeches," Quenneville said before Game 7 against the Blues on Monday. "We just try to get them excited whatever way we can about playing the right way."
Quenneville said the Hawks planned to go through their normal pregame routine without any alterations.
"We don't like to change too much of our schedule," Quenneville said.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, however, had his team deviate slightly from its usual home game-day routine. The team stayed in a downtown hotel before the game.
"I haven't stayed in a hotel in St. Louis in about 10 years," Blues captain David Backes said. "It will be a new experience I haven't had too often. You cancel out all the distractions, you have a great meal together as a group, get to the rink tonight as a group, we're going to do everything as a group here, when we do that, we have great success."
Hitchcock said he did not want his team too amped up emotionally before the game.
"Wasted energy is a real negative factor," Hitchcock said. "The biggest thing for me is let the event itself pump up the volume. Don't spend any energy pumping it up this morning or thinking you're going to give them this big speech that's going to work out because you can throw them over the top."
Hitchcock didn't alter his pregame routine after Monday's skate. He watched episodes of one of his favorite TV shows, "Barnwood Builders."
"I can hardly wait to get rid of you folks so I can go watch more," Hitchcock said.
Status quo: Quenneville did not alter his lineup from Game 6, keeping David Rundblad and Erik Gustafsson in as the last two defensemen and keeping Richard Panik and Dale Weise in the forward rotation. Teuvo Teravainen missed Monday's morning skate but played Monday.
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