People can speculate that for sure, and why not? ... I haven't played in the NHL and only played (24) games in junior so there are going to people who speculate. There will always be people who doubt me and want to see me fail and every time I step on the ice it is my job to prove people wrong. In the cases where they like the way I play it is to prove them right. I just want to go out there every game and do my best and let people form their opinions.

I gave it my best shot, tried to have the best rookie year I could.

For me to say I could have helped, it's pretty hard to say that. I respect all the players that were there. They did their best to bring back gold. It's unfortunate that it came up short, but it's going to make everyone more hungry for 2010.

If there is an NHL with replacement players, I think for me to be involved and to say that I would play in the league is not true. If the NHL is the real NHL with the best players in the world, for sure I want to play in it, but if it's a league of replacement players, it's not the real NHL. And with all the things going on right now with players and owners, it's not right and I don't think I'd be playing in a league like that.

As of right now, go back to junior, the WHA or Europe. I guess those are the three main options, and who knows if other leagues are going to form, or what's going to happen if there is no season again... I haven't really given it a whole lot of thought. That's something that I'm going to decide after the season is over - what's best for me.

This wasn't our best at all. But, trust me, we've played a lot of good hockey games and not won.

I'd love to have the opportunity to do that, ... Obviously I'm going to be a rookie, so I'm going to try to learn as much as a I can, be open-minded. And be a student. . . . I'm going to learn from one of the best guys in Mario Lemieux. So I'm going to try and be a sponge in that way and learn as much as I can from him.

It wasn't our best game but we tried to regroup and stay with it. The big difference was Marc. He kept us in it. We'll take it.

It goes by fast. When it's your first year, a lot of times it goes by slower just because everything's new. I can't imagine it going by any faster than it has this year. It's scary, but it's been fun and I want to finish as best as possible.