Team Canada's Babcock: "I don't like surprises"

On Friday, captain Sidney Crosby and company reflected on the history of the Canadian and Russian hockey rivalry as Team Canada prepared to go head-to-head with The Red Machine on Saturday night in the semi-final of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey in Toronto, Canada. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Babcock, Head Coach for Team Canada: (on the past history between Canadian and Russian hockey) "Things have changed a lot, hockey has gotten way better. The game today is night and day different. You can go back and talk about how great those players were in their generation, it's a different time. (Today) It's faster, it's more organised, it's harder. For me to compare them, it's different. And saying that, when Russia plays Canada I think it is a big deal and you want to have success. They want to have success and we want to have success, only one of us gets to leave tomorrow happy." SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Babcock, Head Coach for Team Canada: (on not being able to make a mistake in a critical match) "This is what I would tell you: I don't like to feed my family on 'hope', I like to feed my family on 'know'. I don't like surprises. Not on Christmas, not on my birthday. So I don't want any tomorrow, I want it under control." SOUNDBITE (English) Corey Perry, forward for Team Canada: (on playing in front of a home crowd) "I don't think you can get a better script for it. It's what everybody does on a Saturday night in Canada, is watch hockey in Canada and get ready for the game. It's going to be exciting. I think you can start to feel the atmosphere starting to pick up a little bit around. I think us in the dressing room are trying to stay calm but we know what's at stake and we just have to go out and just play hockey." SOUNDBITE (English) Sidney Crosby, captain and forward for Team Canada: (on Team Russia's imrovement during the tournament) "I think like everyone else you improve. You play in tight games, in big games. You gain confidence. I think the one thing that has not changed is how dangerous (Team Russia) are. They don't need a lot of time or space. Anytime they get over the blue line there are a lot of guys who are dangerous to score. We have to manage the puck well but like any team, you gain confidence and you get more familiar with guys and you improve as you go along." Source:pSNTV/p