I'm always extremely honored to be applauded the way I am when I get back here and have any kind of liaison with the fans. I'm humbled by it.

I also thought I'd get a call [when former teammate Bryan Trottier was hired as New York Rangers coach in 2002]. The reason was, I remember having umpteen conversations with Bryan, having roomed with him for 10 years, that went, 'One of these days, Mike, we're going to take a team and do it our way.' I've found out since from Bryan [who was fired in his first season] that he wasn't going to be given that chance.

They pitched extremely well; at least three of them did. When we got to them, it was because they lost control.

I was really pleased that my team applauded when Utah State got in because they deserve to be in. They're an excellent team, a very class act and a team that will represent our conference well.

Yeah, when we came in at halftime, the defensive players were extremely animated and upset, ... They said, 'This is the season. We're not going to let this thing slip away.' And they didn't. They came out in the second half and took care of it.

He brought the team back when it was kind of grim. When you see a quarterback do that, it always tells me something about the player.