Morris previews Manchester-Norfolk, talks prospects

The Manchester Monarchs (48-19-3-6) open their Calder Cup campaign against the Norfolk Admirals (40-26-3-7) at Verizon Wireless Arena tonight in a one-versus-eight match-up that is a bit trickier than it appears.

That’s because the Monarchs don’t have home ice advantage, as silly as that sounds. The best-of-five series contains a two-three scheduling format due to travel considerations, and because of an AHL rule that stipulates the higher seed has the option of which games they’d like to play at home – while also taking into account travel costs and building availability – Manchester will open with two games on the road before traveling to coastal Virginia for Game 3 (and hanging around for Games 4 and 5, if necessary).

“It certainly minimizes our regular season finish,” Monarchs coach Mark Morris said. “When you’re faced with three on the road after you finished first in your division and first in the conference, I think it’s going to be a big challenge. When you’re on the road, anything can happen.”

He’ll rely on a team that works at a high rate of speed and has benefited from strong depth scoring. Eight players currently on the roster reached double digits in goals, a group that doesn’t include leading goal scorer Brian O’Neill, who found the back of the net 26 times but is out indefinitely with a broken leg.

Manchester’s plus-56 goal differential led the Eastern Conference.

“It’s been a good group to coach,” Morris said of the team that never lost more than two consecutive games all season. “It seems to be a group that’s very young, but willing to do different things and they seem to be able to follow direction quite well. When you look at our leadership group of Andrew Campbell and a guy like Brian O’Neill, Sean Backman, Jeff Schultz, Andrew Bodnarchuk – those guys have a steadying influence. I think they’ve been able to follow direction and rise to the challenges. They’re a group that seems to like one another. When you look at a couple of guys who’ve come up through the ECHL, we’ve had good success along with a guy like Vinny LoVerde who has been one of our steadier defensemen throughout the season. We’ve gotten good mileage out of Hunter Bishop, who is playing a depth role for us but brings a lot of energy. You’ve got another guy like Zach O’Brien, who has been a nice compliment to Nick Shore. All of those personalities somehow blend and I thing Freddy (Meyer) and I have come to trust them and when we’ve challenged them, they have stepped up.”

They’ll face a stiff challenge in the truncated best-of-five format. Their reward for topping the conference and hanging an Atlantic Division banner? A date with Anaheim’s AHL affiliate, a group that will be bolstered by the returns of goaltender John Gibson and defenseman Sami Vatanen. Emerson Etem, Devante Smith-Pelly and Rickard Rakell, the Admirals’ second, third and fifth leading scorers, were called up to the Ducks and won’t be a part of the series at the outset.

“This matchup, when I look at it on paper, holy smokes,” Morris said. “They’ve got a guy like Yonkman that’s like eight-feet tall out there. He seems so big. I remember he went toe-to-toe with Nic Deslauriers, who is not here any longer, and Nic had to pretty much jump up to swing at him.”

“Zack Stortini is a pretty tough customer,” Morris said of the 6-foot-4 forward who led the league with 299 penalty minutes. “We don’t have anybody that fits that mold. (Garnet) Exelby is a veteran guy. I was just looking at the videotape today and that’s why I kind of said ‘Look, we need to play our game.’ We can’t pull a Detroit and try to play to the Bruins and try to play their game. We have to play our game.”

Mark Morris, on some of the standouts on the Manchester roster:
I think Brayden McNabb has established himself as a guy that has the capabilities to defend well and to be a guy that can play in all situations. He’s a strong player with a good feel for the nuances of the game. I think being paired up with Jeff Schultz made them a big, physical presence for us. And the other guys, I really have to say that Michael Mersch looks very comfortable. He’s a big strong body that has very good hands and a good feel around the net. Although he hasn’t scored a ton, it’s evident that he’s had good coaching, that he looks strong out there. I would expect that we’re going to see more good things out of Nic Dowd. He doesn’t look totally comfortable yet, but it’s a different game than he’s accustomed to. In a lesser role, I’m sure it’s a little awkward for him when he’s used to being the guy at St. Cloud. He’s obviously got a lot of skill and he’s a very coachable guy, but I think he’s still feeling out the American Hockey League right now.

Morris, on Brayden McNabb’s intangibles:
He shows a steadiness. He’s not a real vocal guy. He seems very humble, but also comfortable when he’s on the ice. He’s been able to throw his weight around from time to time and has an ability to step up on people. I’ve been happy with what I’ve seen and that if he continues to work on his quickness and skating, he’s got a bright future ahead of him.

Game 1 – Friday, Apr. 25 – Norfolk at Manchester, 7:00 p.m.
Game 2 – Saturday, Apr. 26 – Norfolk at Manchester, 7:00 p.m.
Game 3 – Wednesday, April 30 – Manchester at Norfolk, 7:15 p.m.
*Game 4 – Friday, May 2 – Manchester at Norfolk, 7:30 p.m.
*Game 5 – Saturday, May 3 – Manchester at Norfolk, 7:15 p.m.
*if necessary

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