149 Great Hockey Quotes

Following is our list of great hockey quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about inspirational hockey.

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Famous Great Hockey Quotes

Every day is a great day for hockey. — Mario Lemeiux

A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be. — Wayne Gretzky

This fastest of all games [hockey] has become almost as much of a national svmbol as the maple leaf. — Lester B. Pearson

Canadian hockey players always find a way to get along. — Carey Price

Hockey s a funny game. You have to prove yourself every shift, every game. It's not up to anybody else. You have to take pride in yourself. — Paul Coffey

Hockey taught me to challenge myself and be the best I can be on and off the ice. — P. K. Subban

Hockey is an amazing sport and it has definitely had a positive impact on my life. But my dad always said school comes first, and if I didn't do well in school I didn't get to play hockey. — P. K. Subban

All hockey players are bilingual. They know English and profanity. - Gordie Howe

All hockey players are bilingual. They know English and profanity. — Gordie Howe

Certainly we're not satisfied with just winning games. We've been playing some pretty good hockey, but we think we can play much better. — Mario Lemieux

I've always had a passion for hockey, ... That's the key. You can't be putting in time. You have to enjoy doing what you do. — Sidney Crosby

You see a hockey player, you'd never know he's a professional athlete. But you put the skates on him, and he becomes a beast. — Junior Seau

Hockey is the only job I know where you get paid to have a nap on the day of the game. — Chico Resch

Hockey belongs to the Cartoon Network, where a person can be pancaked by an ACME anvil, then expanded - accordion-style - back to full stature, without any lasting side effect. — Steve Rushin

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. — Fred Shero

High sticking, tripping, slashing, spearing, charging, hooking, fighting, unsportsmanlike conduct, interference, roughing......everything else is just figure skating. — Scotty Bowman

Short Great Hockey Quotes

  • I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out. — Rodney Dangerfield
  • The game honors toughness — Brad Stevens
  • Arrive at the net with the puck and in ill humor. — Fred Shero
  • People would say, 'Girls don't play hockey. Girls don't skate.' I would say, 'Watch this.' — Hayley Wickenheiser
  • I love extreme sports, I like snowboarding and motorcross and rollerblading and hockey. — Jeremy London
  • It was my dream playing for the Montreal Canadiens - it was my dad's team. — Guy Lafleur
  • Hockey players wear numbers because you can't always identify the body with dental records. — Bob Plager
  • I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been. — Wayne Gretzky
  • The goal is too small and the goalies are too big. — Scotty Bowman

Great Hockey Image Quotes

Great hockey quote Silence is a source of great strength.
Silence is a source of great strength.

Good Hockey Quotes

You don't win by being good. You win with hard work and sacrifice. Without that, skill is just potential. — Bobby Orr

I tried to talk my daughter out of going with a hockey player but, he's a good kid. He asked me if he could marry Carrie before he asked her. I said: You want to what? I thought he was just going to ask for more ice time. — Phil Esposito

Everything was set for us to play a real good game. Then we left the dressing room and everything went to hell. — Curt Fraser

Great hockey quote Make today so awesome, yesterday gets jealous.
Make today so awesome, yesterday gets jealous.

My recruiting key - I looked for PEOPLE first, athletes second. I wanted people with a sound value system as you cannot buy values. You're only as good as your values. I learned early on that you do not put greatness into people...but somehow try to pull it out. — Herb Brooks

Not only is there more to life than basketball, there's a lot more to basketball than basketball. — Phil Jackson

You guys just here to blame someone. You never look yourselves in the mirror, eh? You're always good. You never make the mistakes. Your articles are always perfect. In reality, what have you done for this city? If you ask yourself, what have you done besides only criticize? Not much. — Ilya Bryzgalov

Great hockey quote Great minds discuss ideas.Average minds discuss events.Small minds discuss people.
Great minds discuss ideas.Average minds discuss events.Small minds discuss people.

My teeth weren't that good to begin with, so hopefully I can get some better ones. — Duncan Keith

Milt was one of the men who discovered Bobby Orr. He once said that if a player comes along who is better then Bobby Orr, may the Good Lord let me be alive to see him because he is going to be one hell of a player to watch. Enough said. — Milt Schmidt

I say no words... I can't speak with him. I shy. He too good. — Pavel Datsyuk

Not to mention our former tag team champions lost their titles after my good friend Christian was hit in the genitals with a hockey stick by a midgit! I mean enough is enough — Kurt Angle

Inspirational Hockey Quotes

Let me start with issuing you a challenge: Be better than you are. Set a goal that seems unattainable, and when you reach that goal, set another one even higher. — Herb Brooks

When you pull on that jersey, you represent yourself and your teammates, and the name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back. Get that through your head! — Herb Brooks

I play a position where you make mistakes. The only people that don't make them at a hockey game are the people watching. — Patrick Roy

Great hockey quote Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.
Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.

Great moments are born from great opportunities. — Herb Brooks

You've just got to go out there and try to control the things you can control. Deal with things and stay mentally strong. — Jonathan Toews

You win with people, not with talent. So the quality of the people is very important in building your team. I always looked for people with a solid value system. Then I recruited kids from a cross-section of different personalities, talents and styles of play. — Herb Brooks

Great hockey quote Acknowledge all of your small victories. They will eventually add up to something great.
Acknowledge all of your small victories. They will eventually add up to something great.

Sometimes people ask, 'Are hockey fights real?' I say, 'If they weren't, I'd get in more of them. — Wayne Gretzky

We get nose jobs all the time in the NHL, and we don't even have to go to the hospital. — Brad Park

What is courage? Let me tell you what I think it is. An indefinable quality that makes a man put out that extra something, when it seems there is nothing else to give. I dare you to be better than you are. I dare you to be a thoroughbred. — Herb Brooks

Half the game is mental, the other half is being mental. — Jim McKenny

Ice Hockey Quotes

It's changed throughout the years, but at one time I was a really big bubble gum ice cream fan. I'd spit the bubble gum pieces in a cup and then collect them. — Timothy Olyphant

Roller-skating and ice-skating are two different things - I found that out the hard way. — Todd Bridges

Others are keen to see if natives other than us live better than we do, without heat in pipes, ice in boxes, sunshine in bulbs, music on disks, or images gliding over a pale screen. — Ella Maillart

Great hockey quote You need a little bit of insanity to do great things.
You need a little bit of insanity to do great things.

Ice cream was my undoing, and six chocolate milk shakes in a row were nothing to me at one time. — Kate Smith

Often extinctions in the ocean occur at the same time as those on land. Then again, the ice age extinctions lost many big animals, but not many sea faring ones. — Robert T. Bakker

There are two types of forwards. Scorers and bangers. Scorers score and bangers bang. — Ken Dryden

Great hockey quote Failure is a great teacher, and, if you are open to it, every mistake has a lesson to offer.
Failure is a great teacher, and, if you are open to it, every mistake has a lesson to offer.

I believe Ronald Reagan can make this country what it once was... an Arctic region covered with ice. — Steve Martin

I was three-quarters down the list of guys I would be facing in my first game when I realized I was looking at our own roster. — Glenn Healy

It takes brains. It's not like a forward, where you can get away with scoring and not play defense. On defense you have to be thinking. — Chris Chelios

Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos. — Don Kardong

Hockey Team Quotes

You need a lot of leaders, but a hockey team needs a voice, not only in the community, but more importantly between the coaching staff and the players. There are always ups and downs in a season; the captain is the guy players look to in those situations. — Joe Sakic

This is your time. Their time is done. It's over. I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team the Soviets have. Screw 'em. This is your time. Now go out there and take it! — Herb Brooks

Canadian hockey fans... They boo me every time I go anywhere. Because I play for Team USA. — Brett Hull

Great hockey quote To a great mind, nothing is little.
To a great mind, nothing is little.

Hockey captures the essence of Canadian experience in the New World. In a land so inescapably and inhospitably cold, hockey is the chance of life, and an affirmation that despite the deathly chill of winter we are alive. — Stephen Leacock

I started as a fourth-line fighter, went to being a third-line centre, then a second-line winger and a first-line centre. I've played every role there is, and the only thing that matters is helping the team win. — Mark Messier

Hockey is a fast, body-contact game played by men with clubs in their hands and knives laced to their feet. — Paul Gallico

Great hockey quote Average people have great ideas. Legends have great execution.
Average people have great ideas. Legends have great execution.

I'm an avid hockey fan and I've been playing for about 17 years, and somebody recently told me that the first organized hockey teams in Canada were all black. Telling those stories would be cool. — Cuba Gooding, Jr.

How would you like a job where, if you made a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo? — Jacques Plante

People here want the team to win and to do well. The thing is, we know when to shoot the puck. — Steve Yzerman

Usually when you play a team, you want to focus on one line. Pittsburgh is the only team where you have to focus on one player [Mario Lemieux]. When he's coming toward you, all you see is him. — Patrick Roy

Hockey Quotes

Hockey is a sport for white men. Basketball is a sport for black men. Golf is a sport for white men dressed like black pimps. — Tiger Woods

You'll never catch me bragging about goals, but I'll talk all you want about my assists. — Wayne Gretzky

I heard Rolex makes nice watches. - Brendan Gallagher

I heard Rolex makes nice watches. — Brendan Gallagher

Great hockey quote Don't fear the failure... in great attempts it is glorious even to fail.
Don't fear the failure... in great attempts it is glorious even to fail.

Since the beginning, I always loved the game. When you grow up in Montreal, one day you want to be a professional hockey player. When I was six or seven, I knew that was what I wanted. — Mario Lemieux

Goals live on the other side of obstacles and challenges. Be relentless in pursuit of those goals, especially in the face of obstacles. Along the way, make no excuses and place no blame. — Ray Bourque

The name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back. — Herb Brooks

Talent is a gift, but you can only succeed with hard work. - Jean Beliveau

Talent is a gift, but you can only succeed with hard work. — Jean Beliveau

Canada is a country whose main exports are hockey players and cold fronts. Our main imports are baseball players and acid rain. — Pierre Trudeau

Since the beginning, I always loved the game. — Mario Lemieux

People ask if I regret not winning a Stanley Cup, but winning the series against the Soviet Union was the best. It was the greatest experience of my hockey career by far. — Marcel Dionne

Hockey Player Quotes

The excitement of the fans in Montreal, especially in the playoffs, I don't think you can get that anywhere else. For a hockey player, I kind of wish everyone could go through that and experience what it is to play there. It's very unique. — Saku Koivu

You don't have enough talent to win on talent alone. — Herb Brooks

Whether youre trying to learn in hockey or trying to learn in life, Ive always tried to be observant and tried to learn more, tried to evolve, whether its as a hockey player or as a person. With each year, I try to do that. — Sidney Crosby

Great hockey quote No one has ever made himself great by showing how small someone else is.
No one has ever made himself great by showing how small someone else is.

For as long as I can remember I wanted to be a professional hockey player. — Mario Lemeiux

There are rough players and there are dirty players. I'm rough and dirty. — Stan Mikita

There is something about Game 7 that there's a memory there for you for sure. You want to be a coach or a manager or a player or a goaltender that gets it done, because to me, that's all part of sports. That's what you dream about when you're a little kid - scoring the winning goal. — Mike Babcock

One of the key qualities that you need to be a great hockey player is fantastic anticipation and feel for the game - if you know where the puck is going before it is hit, that is half the battle. — Wayne Gretzky

There's no reason why a player is done at 33, 34. They train better, they eat better, they drink better. This isn't the old days when everybody sat around and drank beer. — Bobby Clarke

If Colleen Howe had been a hockey player, she would have been a centremen. I can see her as a centreman because you can do what you want and go wherever you want to go. — Gordie Howe

I know my players don't like my practices, but that's OK because I don't like their games. — Harry Neale

Hockey Fan Quotes

In the old days, that was my ad-lib for hecklers in the joints I worked. It stuck with me. I hardly say it now, say, to fans, even though people do send me hockey pucks. — Don Rickles

A puck is a hard rubber disk that hockey players strike when they can't hit one another. — Jimmy Cannon

Wait'll next year! is the favorite cry of baseball fans, football fans, hockey fans, and gardeners. — Robert Orben

By the age of 18, the average American has witnessed 200,000 acts of violence on television, most of them occurring during Game 1 of an NHL playoff series. — Steve Rushin

Street hockey is great for kids. It's energetic, competitive, and skilful. And best of all, it keeps them off the street. — Gus Kyle

Ice hockey is a form of disorderly conduct in which the score is kept. — Doug Larson

I always played hockey, I was always a hockey fan, but I was never bitten by the hockey bug... I never looked into playing it professionally. — Chris Jericho

Ranger fans are the rudest and they're proud of it, I'm sure. — Byron Dafoe

He brings something special. I don't know what it is, but if you ask him, you couldn't understand his answer. — Wayne Gretzky

The place was always cold, and I got the feeling that the fans would have enjoyed baseball more if it had been played with a hockey puck. — Andre Dawson

Hockey Coach Quotes

I slept like a baby. Every two hours, I woke up and cried. — Tom McVie

Nobody gives a crap about hockey down here - nobody. I coach kids' hockey down here and you can start to see the disinterest in the game here with the kids — Bobby Hull

It's not who wins the fight that's important, it's being willing to fight. If you get challenged and renege, everyone wants to take a shot at you. — Barclay Plager

The only difference between this and Custer's last stand was that Custer didn't have to look at the tape afterward. — Terry Crisp

Yeah, I'm cocky and I am arrogant. But that doesn't mean I'm not a nice person. — Jeremy Roenick

I was a multi-millionaire from playing hockey. Then I got divorced, and now I'm a millionaire. — Bobby Hull

When I broke into professional hockey at 17 I was told that I was too small and too slow and I wouldn't make the NHL. Now it's kind of flip-flopped and the sense is I can't be a good coach because I was a great athlete. — Wayne Gretzky

That's so when I forget how to spell my name, I can still find my (expletive) clothes. — Stu Grimson

When we've got the puck, they can't score. — Paul Coffey

People didn't know the difference between a blue line and a clothes line. — Al Michaels

People Writing About Great Hockey

Name Quotes Likes
Read quotes by Wayne Gretzky

Wayne Gretzky
quotes on teamwork, leadership and shots

107 1373
Read quotes by P. K. Subban

P. K. Subban
quotes on friendship, love and lindsey vonn

31 250
Read quotes by Fred Shero

Fred Shero
quotes on leadership, life and success

11 241
Read quotes by Scotty Bowman

Scotty Bowman

10 253
Read quotes by Lester B. Pearson

Lester B. Pearson
quotes on suez crisis

41 1103
Read quotes by Paul Coffey

Paul Coffey

9 87

More Great Hockey Quotes

When I look at the net I don't see a goalie. — Pavel Bure

Hockey is the only place where a guy can go nowadays and watch two white guys fight. — Frank DeFord

After the hockey stick, Sardara Singh scores with the broom! A great effort by him towards a Swachh Bharat. — Narendra Modi

The only way you can check Gretzky is to hit him when he is standing still singing the national anthem. — Harry Sinden

One of the great rules of hockey is: On the Stanley Cup, all germs are healthy. — George Vecsey

Cycling isn’t a game, it's a sport. Tough, hard and unpitying, and it requires great sacrifices. One plays football, or tennis, or hockey. One doesn’t play at cycling. — Jean de Gribaldy

We all know that the great memories of our childhood are the little triumphs - it doesn't really matter whether that was in writing, art, on the hockey field or on the football field. It's something that makes you feel - 'I can do this stuff'. — Michael Morpurgo

Playing goal is like being shot at. — Jacques Plante

Hockey would be a great game... if played in the mud. — Jimmy Cannon

Whether the guys are nervous or just had mental breakdowns, it happens. The game is a game of mistakes. And how you deal with them and correct them and all the things like that is what makes this game great and makes hockey the sport it is. — Chris Pronger

If you've only got one day to live, come see the Toronto Maple Leafs. It'll seem like forever. — Pat LaFontaine

Its a great day for hockey — Bob Johnson

Canadians send us great hockey players. You also send us wonderful performers, from the beginning, with Mary Pickford. — Jamie Farr

I think we've been through a lot this season and it will be nice to move on. It's one step at a time though. The focus of our hockey club was great. We really stuck to our game plan and didn't get too high or too low and we definitely didn't get over excited. — Martin Brodeur

When you take off that sweater, your jersey, after today's game, you will be the last player in the NHL to ever wear 99. You have always been and you will always be 'The Great One,' and there will never be another. — Gary Bettman

Call them pros, call them mercenaries - but in fact they are just grown - up kids who have learned on the frozen creek or flooded corner lot that hockey is the greatest thrill of all. — Lester Patrick

It's definitely an honour and a dream to be able to go out there and have all the people in the stands cheering for you it's a great feeling and I cant wait to get the Olympics started. — Meghan Agosta-Marciano

In an individual sport, yes, you have to win titles. Baseball's different. But basketball, hockey? One person can control the tempo of a game, can completely alter the momentum of a series. There's a lot of great individual talent. — Kobe Bryant

We brought him [Raffi Torres] in because he was an emotional, physical player. He's had nothing but a great attitude and a great work ethic with us all year long. He comes to play, prepares himself real well. We need him to play the way he does. You know, he's a little bit sometimes outside the box, but you've got to let him be who he is. — Alain Vigneault

It's a great feeling, its something that I've dreamt about since I was little, and it's finally come true. It couldn't be better. Well I think that we stuck to the game plan. We got shots on net, and just used our power. — Rebecca Johnston

When you were a kid, if you went to the Montreal Forum or a hockey game at Maple Leaf Gardens, which I did, there was a great feeling. The new stadiums don't have it. Why don't they have it? Building codes. — Frank Gehry

I want to reward this city. Pittsburgh is a great hockey town. — Sidney Crosby

They're happy to be Siamese twins. They feel blessed. But the rest of us have to go through the world alone. And they don't. And because they have this great attitude, they have a lot of friends. They were the kings of the prom. You know, they were in the state championship hockey team. You know, they're the goalie. And it's just they're a couple of winners who happen to be Siamese twins. — Peter Farrelly

I'm on the third line. I'm a crasher. I know my role. I'm just trying to help. I'm not stupid enough to think I'm great out there. — Darcy Tucker

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