Hockey quotes for coaches, players, parents, and fans are a fun addition to the game.
Looking for motivation for your team? Inspirational hockey quotes can motivate athletes and energize a fan base.
Famous Hockey Quotes
1.) Sometimes you do the hard work and set the table, and somebody else eats the meal.
Brian Burke – on the Leafs successfully making the playoffs.
2.) My goal is to deny yours.
Unknown
3.) I’ll play hockey there when hell freezes over too.
Unknown
4.) Street hockey is great for kids. It’s energetic, competitive, and skillful. And best of all, it keeps them off the street.
Unknown
Discover our hockey certificate templates to recognize achievement and add fun to the season.
5.) Ice hockey players can walk on water.
Unknown
6.) Hockey players have fire in their hearts and ice in their veins.
Unknown
Check out NHL Players Weird Pregame Routines.
Funny Hockey Quotes
7.) Hockey players wear numbers because you can’t always identify the body with dental records.
Unknown
8.) Hockey is figure skating in a war zone.
Unknown
9.) Four out of five dentists surveyed recommended playing hockey.
Unknown
10.) Give blood. Play hockey.
Unknown
11.) My other car is a Zamboni.
Hockey bumper sticker
12.) I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out.
Rodney Dangerfield
13.) A fast body-contact game played by men with clubs in their hands and knives laced to their feet.
Paul Gallico
14.) My teeth weren’t that good to begin with, so hopefully, I can get some better ones.
Duncan Keith
15.) Failure is a part of success. There is no such thing as a bed of roses all your life. But failure will never stand in the way of success if you learn from it.
Hank Aaron
You might like the Teddy Bear Toss at Hockey Game.
Inspirational Hockey Quotes for Coaches
16.) High sticking, tripping, slashing, spearing, charging, hooking, fighting, unsportsmanlike conduct, interference, roughing — everything else is just figure skating.
Unknown
17.) Great moments are born from great opportunities.
Herb Brooks
18.) This is your moment. You’re meant to be here.
Herb Brooks
Check out our Hockey Terms and Definitions
Motivational Hockey Quotes
19.) A puck is a hard rubber disc that hockey players strike when they can’t hit one another.
Jimmy Cannon
20.) We take the shortest route to the puck and arrive in ill humor.
Bobby Clarke
21.) The highest compliment that you can pay me is to say that I work hard every day, that I never dog it.
Wayne Gretzky
22.) Some people skate to the puck. I skate to where the puck is going to be.
Wayne Gretzky
23.) You miss 100% of the shots you never take.
Wayne Gretzky
24.) You find that you have peace of mind and can enjoy yourself, get more sleep, rest when you know that it was a one hundred percent effort that you gave – win or lose.
Gordie Howe
25.) All hockey players are bilingual. They know English and profanity.
Gordie Howe
The quoted authors above in this section knew a thing or two about playing the game.
Check out What is icing in Hockey?
Best Hockey Quotes
26.) Every day, you guys look worse and worse. And today, you played like tomorrow.
John Mariucci, to his U.S. Hockey team
27.) Half the game is mental; the other half is being mental.
Jim McKenny
28.) Hockey is murder on ice.
Jim Murray – Check out these other Jim Murray Quotes.
29.) We get nose jobs all the time in the NHL, and we don’t even have to go to the hospital.
Brad Park
Great Hockey Quotes
30.) The toughest job for a coach today is handling the press after a game.
Toe Blake
31.) Ice hockey is a form of disorderly conduct in which the score is kept.
Doug Larson
32.) Hockey captures the essence of the 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
33.) It’s not necessarily the amount of time you spend at practice that counts; it’s what you put into the practice.
Eric Lindros
34.) How would you like a job where, every time you make a mistake, a big red light goes on, and 18,000 people boo?
Jacques Plante
Check out Hockey Slang (Canadian Style)
Inspiring Quotes
35.) 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
36.) 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 the NHL playoff series.
Steve Rushin
37.) I guarantee we’ll win tonight.
Mark Messier
38.) 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
39.) Whether talking about winning games or the amount of practices to schedule, it’s important to be realistic and remember that, while hockey is a great way to teach us life lessons, it’s not something that should define us as people.
Joel Johnson
Quotes for Hockey Fans
40.) A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.
Wayne Gretzky
41.) Every day is a great day for hockey.
Mario Lemieux
42.) Sometimes, guys need to cry. Some hockey players think they’re too tough to cry.
Brett Hull
43.) The biggest thing we get out of it is seeing the kids smile. And hopefully, we will also see that the lessons we’re teaching – not only the fundamentals of hockey but also the life values – are sinking in.
Bobby Orr
44.) I love those hockey moms. You know what they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is? Lipstick.
Sarah Palin
45.) The top three worst things I’ve seen in hockey? The invention of the trap. The invention of the morning skate. And the invention of the extremely ugly uniform.
Brett Hull
46.) You’ve always been ‘The Great One,’ but tonight you’ve become The Greatest.
Gary Bettman
47.) As long as I could remember, since I was 5 years old, I watched the Stanley Cup. I stayed up, made a point of watching it presented, watched the celebration in the locker room, and always dreamed that maybe I’d get there.
Steve Yzerman
For the Love Of The Game
48.) Yeah, I’m cocky, and I am arrogant. But that doesn’t mean I’m not a nice person.
Jeremy Roenick
49.) The playoffs separate the men from the boys, and we found out we have a lot of boys in our dressing room.
Neil Smith
50.) Hockey is a tough, physical game, and it always should be.
Mario Lemieux
51.) People don’t know how fantastic women’s ice hockey is. People don’t know how fantastic hockey is in general.
Hilary Knight
52.) 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
Short Hockey Quotes
53.) Every day is a good day for hockey.
Mario Lemieux
54.) Was Wayne Gretzky sick?
Larry Robinson, after winning Player of the Week honors in 1986.
55.) I have 3,000 penalty minutes. I don’t need people dictating to me how to do my job.
Tie Domi
56.) Only Dunlop has seen more rubber than I have.
Dominik Hasek
57.) I’m not dumb enough to be a goalie.
Brett Hull
58.) I guarantee we’ll win tonight.
Mark Messier, before the sixth game of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals. They did. Messier had a hat trick.
59.) Every day, you guys look worse and worse. And today you played like tomorrow.
John Mariucci, Hockey Coach
60.) How would you like a job where, every time you make a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?
Jacques Plante
Motivational Hockey Quotes
61.) Hockey is not a one-man show; it’s a team effort. If you don’t work as a team, even if one or two guys aren’t working, you’re not going to win. That’s the way it is.
Guy Lafleur
62.) Trust me, I’m a really nice guy.
Bob Probert
63.) Hockey is not a one-man show; it’s a team effort. If you don’t work as a team, even if one or two guys aren’t working, you’re not going to win. That’s the way it is.
Guy Lafleur
64.) Growing up in Canada, I didn’t watch football much.
Sidney Crosby
65.) I didn’t hear him because my two Stanley Cup rings were plugging my ears.
Patrick Roy
66.) A championship team wins because it already has established players, while a talented team is just beginning to establish players.
Alexander Ovechkin
67.) Risk something or forever sit with your dreams.
Herb Brooks
Memorable Hockey Quotes
68.) The three important elements in hockey are the forecheck, the backcheck, and the paycheck.
Gilbert Perreault
69.) Outdoor hockey is what it is all about.
Paul Coffey
70.) Forget about style; worry about results.
Bobby Orr
71.) There is nothing so uncertain as a sure thing.
Scotty Bowman
72.) Coaches are like ducks. Calm on top but paddling underneath. Believe me, there’s a lot of leg movement.
Ken Hitchcock
73.) I often look at the guys who can whistle before a game and shake my head. You’d think they didn’t have a care in the world. Me? I’m just plain miserable before every game.
Glenn Hall
74.) Sometimes people ask, “Are hockey fights real?” I say, “If they weren’t, I’d get in more of them.
Wayne Gretzky
75.) I will personally challenge anyone who wants to get rid of fighting to a fight.
Brain Burke
Connor McDavid Quotes
76.) I want my name to be remembered in the history books, with guys like Gretz, Mario, and Bobby.
77.) The beauty of hockey players is that they make everyone feel included and make everyone feel a part of it.
78.) I need to improve my physical play and get as big and strong as I can.
79.) If you’re putting the puck in an awkward place for someone, that’s right away, advantage: you.
80.) You have to make every day count toward your dream.
81.) I take a lot of naps.
Bobby Orr Quotes
82.) Hockey is a tough, physical game, and it always should be.
84.) You never know how a single interaction with a person might affect their life, so you must constantly try to be at your best.
83.) I was the happiest guy in the world when I was on the ice. You’re being paid to play a game! That’s pretty special.
85.) I’m really no different than anybody else; except that sometimes I get my name in the paper.
86.) There are no environments where you’re only going to win because life just isn’t like that.
87.) Developing better people should be the number one goal for any coach when dealing with kids. In trying to develop better people, we are going to develop more and better pros.
Mario Lemieux Quotations
88.) When it comes to hockey, it’s been in my blood since I was 3 or 4 years old. I love coaching the kids, especially at that level.
89.) I think we have to show some pride in the jersey that we are wearing, and can’t quit.
90.) Play without fear, and you will be successful.
91.) I didn’t speak English until I came to Pittsburgh.
92.) Hockey is a tough, physical game, and it always should be.
93.) All I can say to the young players is, enjoy every moment of it. Just enjoy every moment of it. Your career goes by very quickly.
Humorous Hockey Insights
93.) 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
94.) 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
95.) 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
96.) Here’s how much I know about hockey. Mike Royko and I were in a tiny bar one winter night, and the radio kept reporting goals by the Blackhawks. I mentioned how frequently the team was scoring. ‘You’re listening to the highlights,’ Royko observed.
Roger Ebert
97.) The playoffs separate the men from the boys, and we found out we have a lot of boys in our dressing room.
Neil Smith
98.) My dad had this thing – everyone in Canada wants to play hockey; that’s all they want to do. So when I was a kid, whenever we skated my dad would not let us on the ice without hockey sticks because of this insane fear we would become figure skaters!
Norm MacDonald
Fun Insights
99.) The only job worse is a javelin catcher at a track-and-field meet.
Gump Worsley, Hockey Goalie
100.) I’m glad I got drafted first because no one remembers number two,
Alexandre Daigle
101.) Five seconds left in the game. Do you believe in miracles? YES!
Al Michaels (Okay, not humorous, but very memorable)
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By Mike O’Halloran
Founder and Editor, Sports Feel Good Stories
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