Blackhawks says team chemistry is paramount to team success
"In 2010 one of the biggest reasons why we won was because of chemistry. We wanted to win it for each other. There's no doubt we had good individual players, but team chemistry was huge for that team. We knew that it wasn't going to last and we wanted to win together. It's a huge part of it."
- Duncan Keith
"I would say it's like a marriage. You've got to work at it. … I don't look at it that way as if it's you've got it or you don't. It's something you've got to cultivate, you've got to work at and be conscious of. Everyone's got to make an effort."
- Jonathan Toews
"There's no doubt it has a big impact on your team. How you guys get along off the ice, definitely has a huge impact on how you guys are going to play on the ice. The closer of groups we've had, the more success we've had - and vice versa."
- Patrick Kane
"If I go back to the group in 2010, that season, even the prior year, we had a real young group of guys. A lot of them played in the minors together and a lot of them might have known each other before they got to this organization. (They were all in their) early 20s, single guys in Chicago enjoying the team, enjoying how fortunate they are to be playing here. That group was special in that regard. They grew up together learning the game and learning what it meant to help one another and play together."
- Joel Quenneville
"We weren't supposed to win, but we were a close group. We enjoyed each other. We had fun. … When you woke up, you were excited to get to the rink. That was something that a majority of the guys on the team felt. We had adversity throughout the year and when you can talk through things and you can go to dinner with 10 to 12 guys, it's a little bit more of a special feeling to get that group together and achieve something."
- Chris Kunitz, on Pittsburgh's 2016, 2017 Stanley Cup-winning teams
"It was one of the closest teams I've ever been on. It showed on the ice. We gelled together, we were having fun and not thinking too much. Just going out and knowing how good we can be when we play our best. We brought it every night."
- Nick Schmaltz, on his NCAA title-winning team at North Dakota in 2016