[cbuscru77]

Blue Jackets captain Rick Nash returned to his hometown of Brampton, Ontario on Tuesday. He spent nearly a month training and playing for Team Canada in the World Championships. Nash finished as the tournament's third-leading scorer and was named to the all-tournament team. He also took a delay-of-game penalty in overtime of the gold-medal game and the Russians scored to complete a stunning 5-4 comeback win.
Nash took a few minutes Tuesday to answer some questions:
Q: How disappointing was it for Team Canada to play so well only to lose the championship game?
A: "It's tough. You spend all that time, you play so well and have a 4-2 lead going into the third period. Obviously, it was a bit tougher for me because of the penalty, but that's hockey. Last year, I scored a big goal to help us win a gold medal, but that's sports in general. It was a good learning period for all the young players."
Q: What happened to cause you to shoot the puck over the glass on a clearing play? Coach Ken Hitchcock said the puck rolled on you.
A: "Everything happened so quickly. The guy was coming to check me and I was trying to chip it off the boards at the end of a shift. It flew off the stick so fast and went into the stands. It was just surreal."
Q: Your teammates went out of the way to absolve you of blame for the loss. Your reaction?
A: "It shows the character we had on that team. For them to say that was a huge deal to me. We just came together over a couple of weeks."
Q: You had surgery to correct your tonsil problem before the tournament. How did you feel throughout the tournament?
A: "The first couple of games were rough. I certainly didn't feel as well as I did last year in Russia, but I was happy to be there and thought I did OK given the circumstances."
Q: What are your summer plans?
A: "I'm just going to relax and get away from hockey for awhile, see some family and friends and then get back to work. I will follow the same training regiment I did last year because it seemed very beneficial to me."
Q: The Jackets are expected to have an active off-season. Are you anxious to see what the Blue Jackets will look like when you return?
A: "This is the first summer since I've been around that we've some room to make some moves and do some fun start. It's not up to me to decide who we pick up, but it's no secret we're all pretty exciting to see who we get."
Q: Do you have a prediction for the Stanley Cup Finals?
A: "I really don't think there could have been a better final than these two teams. It's so hard to pick a winner, but I'll go with Detroit."

[blueandwhite]

He's just got such a great attitude, nash - he is one of my ultimate favourites. Also nice to see he is taking a break from hockey.