“I am bent on this one, yeah,” Cole, 34, said Wednesday evening, so angry that for the first minute or two of our conversation he spoke in phrases and half-sentences, stopping to reconstruct his thoughts.
“This (Hamrlik) is one guy out of 700-plus guys (in the NHLPA), this is the one guy who’s actually tried to have conversations with some of the guys we’ve skated with (during the lockout) and they’ve all just been, ‘Hammer, seriously, wake up.’
“For him to come out and say this, it’s the most selfish thing I’ve heard during the lockout. Without a doubt. It’s just disappointing. You’d think the veteran guys are the guys who’d take more pride in what other veteran guys sacrificed in the last lockout, how we all benefited from that as a group. Some guys never played again.
“That’s … I don’t know, for me, and I’m not over 35 or anything, but being an older player, (expletive), I feel grateful to the guys who gave me the opportunity to earn what I’ve earned in this game. Out of that I feel a responsibility, not entitlement. Maybe that’s just the difference between Hamrlik and me.”
Cole wouldn’t hear of Hamrlik’s comments, as reported in English, being the product of dicey translation or remarks that were taken out of context.
“If he (says) that then I wouldn’t believe him,” he said of Hamrlik, “because of the things he’s said previously to the guys who have been in the (barnstorming charity) Tournée des joueurs.
“Because of his conversations with Josh (Habs NHLPA rep Josh Gorges), some of the things he’s said to him in private conversations and Josh has been just like, ‘Is this guy serious?’ We couldn’t believe what his stance was on certain things.
“If he were sitting in a dressing room across from me tonight…” Cole said, the rest of that sentence off the record. “I’d be all over him on the ice. I’m pissed at him. If that’s his opinion, then he should just stay over there (in the Czech Republic).
“As a veteran guy, especially him, he’s been around awhile… other veteran players have sacrificed their careers for the last CBA, missed out on a year, 240 guys never played another game,” Cole continued.
“For me, I don’t look at this lockout and see what I’m not earning as the entitlement to, ‘Let’s get a deal done and let’s get playing.’ I see it as an opportunity to repay an opportunity that was given to me.
“That’s what this is supposed to be about, that’s what makes hockey players different. You sacrifice something for the people coming behind you. That’s where the respect factor comes in. Whoever’s kid is the best kid on your son’s hockey team, you want that kid to have the same opportunity that you’ve had. That’s what it’s about. Hamrlik is unbelievable.”
