Fred Shero

"Win together today and we walk together forever"

"A man with a dream of pleasure can go forth and conquer a crowd and three. With a new song's measure can trample a kingdom down."

"1) Never go offside on a three on two or two on one. 2) Never go backwards in your own end except on a powerplay. 3) Never throw a puck out blindly from behind your opponent's net. 4) Never pass diagonally across ice in your own end unless 100 percent certain. 5) Wings on wings in neutral zone—unless intercepting a pass. 6) Second man goes all the way in for a rebound. 7) Defense with puck at opponents' blueline—look at each teammate before shooting. 8) Wing in front of opponents' net must face puck and lean on stick. 9) Puck carrier over center with no room and no one to pass to must shoot puck in. 10) No forward must ever turn his back on the puck. 11) No player must be more than two zones away from puck. 12) Never be outnumbered in defensive zone. 13) On delayed penalty puck carrier must look for extra man. 14) Be alert to time left on opponent's penalty."

"I swear I have never told a player to attack another player. In fact, I have told my players if they ever hear me saying something like this, they can break a stick over my skull. I ask only that they play aggressively."

"I think hockey is a game, a child's game, played by men and to play it effectively you must have fun just like children do. I've been with too many teams in sports through the years where you weren't allowed to open your mouth, you weren't allowed to laugh, you weren't allowed to question the coach or anyone in authority … You lived in fear. My players don't live in fear. They get up in the morning, they're happy and they go to bed, they're happy. And that's the type of person I am."

"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must first set yourself on fire."

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. For your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

"When you have bacon and eggs for breakfast, the chicken makes a contribution, the pig makes a commitment."

"We know that hockey is where we live, where we can best meet and overcome pain and wrong and death. Life is just a place where we spend time between games."

"To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing."

"Success requires no explanations, failure presents no alibis."

"Arrive at the net with the puck and in ill humor."

"If you keep your opposition on their ass, they don't score goals."

"I don't live in the fast lane I live on the off ramp."

"We're in a weird position. All year long people keep telling us that we're bad for hockey, bad for the NHL, bad for Canada because we're too rough. Now we're supposed to save the game for the NHL, for Canada, for everyone. Hah! For the first time we're the good guys."

"He won at every level. He was the first guy to use video, first guy to hire an assistant, first to coach an expansion team to the Stanley Cup. First guy to use a system that involved the entire team. They said it was too late for last year's selections. He'll be considered this year. He belongs. Absolutely."

"The absence of Shero, a pioneer who studied systems in the Soviet Union well before it became vogue and was the first to add an assistant coach to his staff and behind the bench, must be the result of a vendetta. There is no other way to explain it."

"Sometimes I don't think he knows Wednesday from Thursday, and then sometimes I think he's a genius who's got us all fooled"

"If you looked inside Freddie's brain, you would find a miniature hockey rink."