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Avalanche Locker Room: High Praise for Newhook, Coach on Goalies

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Avalanche Newhook

His face swollen as can be, Alexander Newhook was the man of the hour after the Colorado Avalanche beat down the Ottawa Senators.

With two goals and one assist to show for it, Newhook received praise after the game from Mikko Rantanen, and more importantly, head coach Jared Bednar.

Check out what Newhook, Rantanen, and Bednar had to say after the much needed victory at home.

Alex Newhook on scoring goals after taking pucks to the face:

I’m not going to say that I need to get hit in the face more, because it’s not fun, but there’s something about it. I don’t know. Just try to not let it affect where I go to on the ice and still try to get to those areas.

Newhook on the dominating victory:

I think we’ve been talking about how we need to play and it’s been a lot of talk and not a lot of execution. I think tonight, we found that execution. Just knowing that we can get to that if everyone in our lineup brings our “A” game, we’re going to be a tough team to play against.

Newhook on playing with Rantanen:

He’s a pretty creative player. He has the puck coming up on a rush, and he found me with a nice drop pass there and I just tried to take it in around the net and he found a good spot to get open there.

Newhook on the injury:

It’s broken. Sucks, it’s not too bad, but a small break.

Newhook on more ice time with 11 forwards:

I think playing a bit more, with guys in different roles you’ve got to find a way to get into the game, but when you’re playing more, you seem to have a bit more of an impact and be able to get into it a bit more.

Rantanen on Newhook:

It’s been tough luck for him this year. He was probably one of our best players there today. He’s a good player, very speedy guy, and can shoot the puck, like we saw two times today.

Rantanen on the game:

Having fun, for sure, first time in a while. it was important for our club, now we just have to keep building it. Enjoy it tonight, and tomorrow reset and get after it.

Bednar on going with Francouz over Georgiev:

I thought Frankie did a pretty nice job in Chicago. He obviously missed a lot of time so he’s rested. He’s healthy. I want to get him going so he’s playing his best. And when you’re a starting goalie and you’re playing every night and things start to go bad for the team, you put a lot of pressure on yourself. So it’s a mental grind. Georgiev is feeling good physically, and obviously he wants the net, but there’s a relief to just be able to take a mental break for a few days and just know the teams success and failures isn’t on you.

Bednar on playing with the lead:

You get a little bit of breathing room and you don’t have to lean on those guys and tax them so much. The goal is to play with the lead always, but I think for us, it’s going to be important. We’re short some guys still, and some of those guys are going to be out, still, for a while so to be able to play with a lead and give those guys, even if it’s just a couple of minutes a night less than what they were getting before, it all adds up in the end.

Bednar on Rantanen:

Determined player. Really determined player. Wants to make an impact every night and has made an impact every night.

Bednar on Newhook:

I have to look back on it and everything, but that might have been the best game I’ve ever seen him play. First and foremost, skating, tenacious, hunting down pucks. Heavier in the battle. Just way more involved. Less watching, more skating. I think that’s the case for our whole team, but for him tonight its as noticeable from what he’s been doing recently. I’ve got to cut up his video and show it to him tomorrow.

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