Stothers talks long layoff, preparation, Schultz

On the long layoff prior to the series, and how that may affect the team early:
It is a little bit longer layoff than you probably would’ve liked, but I think we were able to utilize it wisely. We had some rest and recovery days, we had some flat out work days, but you probably wouldn’t expect that at this time of the year then follow it up with recovery days. We’ve been able to fine tune and really get focused in in detailed situations. I think it’s been good. We’ve got a chance to heal up. At this time of year, everybody’s banged up, so I think it’ll be good for us. And I don’t ever want to use that as an excuse. You know what? We’ve been in stretches where we’ve played Friday-Saturday and then not played again until the following Friday, so there’s a long layoff, and then we’ve had situations in the second round, we played five games in seven days. In the American Hockey League, you’ve got to be prepared for anything, and I think all season long that’s prepared us. You know what? Our guys have been good. The focus has been real strong. They’ve stayed dialed in, they know what’s at stake and they know where they are and they’re happy to be there, but yet they know there’s one final step. So it may take a couple of shifts, maybe – for both teams, really. There’s going to be a feeling out process because I think more importantly you’ve got two teams that’ve never played each other. I think it’s a heck of a matchup. We had the most points in our conference, they had the most points in their conference. It doesn’t usually work out that way in playoff hockey, but I think you’re looking at the way it’s supposed to be, and it’s going to be two great teams playing it out.

On how to prepare for a team that the Monarchs have never faced:
You look at our first round, and the matchup we had was the team we saw the most. You play them (Portland) twice in exhibition, you play ‘em 12 times in the regular season, now you’re playing them five times in the first round. You can say you’re familiar with your opponent, and maybe there was that hate factor that kind of built up. You’re just tired of playing each other. Now this is kind of refreshing in the fact that you have an opponent that you’re not quite familiar with. But we were able to watch their series against Grand Rapids, all the games. We were able to utilize the coaching fraternity and get some information from coaches that had coached against them during the regular season. And you know what? When you’re in the finals, you don’t want to get caught thinking too much about your opposition. You want to make sure you’re doing what you need to do, and we’ve spent a lot of time just focusing in and reaffirming what we’ve done all season long that’s given us the success that we’ve had thus far, and we want to make sure that we’re detailed and we’re paying attention to what we need to do. As we play this team and as the periods go by, we’ll make adjustments if necessary. You know what? I’m sure they’re doing the same thing. They just want to make sure that they’re playing on top of their game.

On Jeff Schultz, and whether he serves as a conduit between the players and the staff:
You draw on the strengths of your group, and Schultzy’s a part of our core group. He’s a very reliable, steady defenseman. A quiet man, but he has a lot of respect in that dressing room, and I think that quiet, unassuming approach works well with our group. We’ve got some real good veteran leaders, we’ve got some real good promising young prospects that I think it’s a good blend and it’s a good mix, and you know what? We’ve stayed pretty grounded all season long. We haven’t gotten too excited about a winning streak, we haven’t gotten too disappointed after a loss. We don’t worry too much about getting scored on, we just go out and play, and I think that’s kind of the approach you need to have, especially this time of year. My feeling is you lean on guys like Schultzy – that’s why he’s here, to help these younger guys develop. He’s been through it, he knows what it’s all about. It’s all about containing and controlling your emotions.

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