Stories & Articles
1997 Pinnacle Card
Lightning Centers Its Hopes - St. Petersburg Times - January 23, 1998
Tucker Strikes Cord - Tampa Tribune - January 23, 1998
Richer, Tucker Ignite Lightning - St. Petersburg Times - March 19, 1998
Tucker Near Agreement To 4-Year Deal - St. Petersburg Times - March 31, 1998
Tucker Agrees - St. Petersburg Times - April 3, 1998
Tucker Earning His Keep, Money - St. Petersburg Times - April 5, 1998
In Your Face - Tonight On Ice - April 4, 1998
1997-98 Report Card - Tampa Tribune - April 22, 1998
Bolts' Tucker Has Game Face On - Tampa Tribune - October 25, 1998
Tucker, Wilkie Combine For a Fatherhood Tie - St. Petersburg Times - March 20, 1999
Cartoon By Dave Elston - The Hockey News - April, 1998

Quotes

"I was always a fourth-liner, but with more time and experience I think I can contribute. I never really got a chance to prove what type of player I can be." - Tucker, on learning of his trade to Tampa (1/16/98)

"Obviously I am going to be happy with the ice time, but I am not going to say that I am happy just to be here because I have a chance to play. I came from a winning situation to a situation where we want to win. That is more important to me right now." - Tucker, on playing here (January, 1998)

"I thought a guy like Darcy Tucker played great tonight. He created some havoc out there." - Cory Cross, after Tucker's first game (1/21/98)

"As the season grows, we're gonna get better. The fans can expect more and more every night. But we can't accept losing around here." Tucker, on the 1997-98 season (1/22/98)

"We may be young and inexperienced. That may be out problem for a while. But look at Edmonton, and the way they built with Gretzky and Messier and Coffey and those guys. They were young for a while." - Tucker, on all the young players on the Lightning (1/26/98)

"The hardest thing about all this losing is I don't know how to deal with it." - Tucker, on the Lightning's losing streak (2/3/98)

"Everybody in the room is really excited about what they're seeing in this hockey club." - Tucker, after beating the Capitals (3/1/98)

"We're not sitting back anymore. We're being aggressive. I think that was the problem when I first came here." - Tucker, on the Lightning's recent play (3/1/98)

"Tampa Bay's big line made the difference tonight." - Vancouver coach Mike Keenan on Jody Hull, Tucker, and Stephane Richer, who combined for 10 points (3/19/98)

"The guys in the locker room are really excited about some of the things that are happening." - Tucker, after the Vancouver game (3/19/98)

"He's not big in size, but he's big in heart." - Rob Zamuner, on The Man (3/21/98)

"He's always yapping at the other team." - Zamuner again (3/21/98)

"As far as Darcy Tucker, he's a great player and a real hard competitor and he's going to be here a long time." - Mike McBain, when asked about Tucker (3/22/98)

"We will make the playoffs." - Tucker, on next season and his contract that ensures him a bonus if the Lightning make it to the post-season (3/31/98)

"Some nights we have guys who just don't show up. Those guys need to start looking in the mirror. We're an average team that has to work hard to win and when we don't work hard, we, we lose." - Tucker, on the team after a loss (4/2/98)

"Soft, soft, soft. We're the third biggest team in the league. Teams should be scared of us." - Tucker, after the same loss (4/2/98)

"Not everybody's giving 100 percent, that's the bottom line. In the eyes of half the guys, the season's over. And I don't get it. You've got to have some pride in the way you play." - Tucker, on the team after another loss (4/3/98)

"He has to be held accountable for something like that. I mean, the guys were talking in the room, saying if a player did that he'd be gone for 20 or 30 games." - Tucker, on referee Mick McGeough grabbing him and pushing him into the penalty box (4/5/98)

"I just try to protect myself and the best way to do that is fight back. Besides, if people are going to take liberties with our guys, we're going to stand up for them. We're a close-knit team." - Tucker, on why he fights(4/9/98)

"At least we made them earn their two points." - Tucker, after playing hard and well against Ottawa (4/14/98)

"We got into a fight once." - John Cullen, on playing Tucker (5/20/98)

"You want it? Work for it." - Tucker, 1998-99 Ticket Brochure

"The only way to win in this league is to have everybody pulling for each other, and the only way to get that is to really get to know each other. I mean, I look around around our dressing room now and I don't know half these guys. But that's what we're going to be able to do on this trip. We're really going to have a chance to get to know each other, and that's so important." - Tucker, on the trip to Austria for training camp (9/9/98)

"The VCR was bigger than the TV." - Tucker, on the Montreal Canadiens training camp trip to Finland in 1997 (9/10/98)

"I know the guy's trying to win a job, but you can't be going after one of the team's best players in a practice game. If he wants to go after me, fine." - Tucker, on Mario Larocque going after him and then Stephane Richer (9/13/98)

"He's good and he will be a great player in this league. But you won't be able to tell much until we get in games where real hitting is going on. There's a big difference in playing in games where guys are looking to knock you through the boards." - Tucker, on No. 1 Pick Vincent Lecavalier (9/13/98)

"Does he speak English? Maybe then he wasn't taught so well." - Tucker, on the Feldkirch team president's not-so-nice comments about the Lightning (9/14/98)

"Maybe the goals weren't great, but you can't score if you don't shoot the puck. We shot the puck." - Tucker, after beating Pittsburgh 5-0 (10/22/98)

"It's great to see the young guys play so well. Vinnie and (Kubina) made a great play for the goal that tied it. Karel Betik played a great game. I see these young guys come up and play, and they're excited about being here. And everyone feeds off that. It reminds me of how I felt last year. They remind you what a thrill it is to play in this league. And when they go out and play like that, everyone gets excited, and everyone plays hard." - Tucker, on "the kids" (2/16/99)

"It was a bad call, and I let (referee Dave Jackson) know it." - Tucker, on getting ejected after disputing a call (2/16/99)

"Almost forgot what it was like to win a hockey game." - Tucker, after the team actually won a game (2/20/99)

"Next year, I'm telling ya ... I believe in this team and this organization. ... All the heartache we went through, all the losing, all the pain, it's going to make it that much sweeter when we turn this thing around." - Tucker (2/20/99)

"They had (eight) power plays and we had (four)? I'm not going to blame the officiating, but we were the only one committing infractions out there?" - Tucker, after a loss (4/11/99)

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