February 10 postgame quotes: Mike Stothers

On the Gulls’ forecheck and what made it difficult to work around:
What was difficult about it? They laid the puck by our defensemen, made them turn and then went and forechecked. That’s why they were successful and we weren’t. We turned the puck over in the neutral zone. We didn’t make them turn and go back and get pucks. It’s tough to go back as a defensemen. [Reporter: So it’s less what they were doing and more what you were doing?] I didn’t say that. They did it. We didn’t do it. So, yeah they did it, we didn’t do it.

On it being good to see Brodzinski be able to come back in the game:
Of course it’s good to see him come back. Yeah, I guess that’s why it was only a two-minute penalty, because he was able to come back. The referee knew he was going to be able to come back. An AHL All-Star, leading goal scorer gets buried into the boards and it’s two minutes. Makes a lot of sense. [Reporter: Was that concussion protocol for him?] Well, usually when it’s a trainwreck like that you usually start from head to toe and check them all out, so it takes a little bit of time to make sure everything’s all right.

On whether this is one of the more frustrating losses of the season:
Well, it doesn’t matter who we face, a loss doesn’t sit too well and we need to be better. Stop turning pucks over. Get a pass that hits you right on the tape, you should be able to handle it. Professional hockey player.

On how Stothers mid-course corrects the team with little time before next game:
Well, the final one that you mentioned, the bag skate is right out the window. Plus, we don’t have any ice tomorrow anyway. All that does is frustrate everybody. You address it. We need to be better. Twenty minutes from now I’ll be a lot more jovial and easier to talk to. By tomorrow morning? I’ll be a riot. So, that’s what the guys have to look forward to. We’ll get on the bus, we’ll go to San Jose and we’ll start fresh. … We’ll address it Sunday morning. Cooler heads prevail. You might see some things that you liked, you might see some things that you liked more than you thought you did. You thought you were disappointed or discouraged in something. Even myself I have to tell, take a couple of deep breaths. Step away.

On what players have been stepping up to help get guys over the doldrums:
I mean, I just look at the response we had the other night. We’d lost a game in San Diego, we came back and beat Bakersfield. So, you need everybody. Right now we’ve got some guys out of the lineup that are pretty influential in the success of our team. Paul LaDue’s with the Kings. Mike Mersch is hurt. Teddy Purcell’s hurt. We’ve got a long list of guys that are hurt – Biss, Lows, I know I’m missing somebody, Linti. [Reporter: Trotman]. Trots. We need the guys who are normally here and we need the newer guys like the Ciampinis and the Shores and whatever else. They’ve got to bring some stuff, and they will. They’re good guys. If you were to look in that room right now, they’re feeling it. They don’t like losing. So from that I take that as a positive. If they’re in there carrying on and didn’t care, well, then you know you’re not going anywhere. These guys don’t like to lose. We’ll be fine.

On what he said to Paul LaDue before he left:
I don’t say much to them when they go up outside of the standard, hey, good luck, play your game, relax. They all work hard. I’d like to see every one of them get called up. That would be my dream. If every single guy got called up for a game, at least one game, that’d be awesome. It’s an exciting time for them. It’s an exciting time for all those guys. So for those guys that do go up, we just keep pushing harder for those guys that didn’t. I keep pushing for Merschy. Hard right now, can’t call up a guy that’s hurt. That’s what you do. That’s what we’re here for. It’s not so much about wins and losses here, it’s more about guys getting prepared to play in the NHL and step up and play. Now on the other side of that is I don’t like losing. It’s hard thing to do. A hard combination.

On where he’s at in his assessment of Adrian Kempe right now:
Nothing’s changed as far as I’m concerned. We still need some contributions from the offensive side of things. There’s got to be some points. And not everything is measured on points, but if you’re considered an offensive guy then you have to put up points. That’s the way things are. Not much has changed. If you’re a faceoff guy, you better win your fair share of faceoffs. If you’re a role guy, then you better win your fair share of your fights. So if you’re an offensive guy, you better put up some numbers. [Reporter: I’m sure the Calder Cup seems like a long time ago but is there any lingering frustration from the player that he was during that playoff run? You were very vocal at that point about how much of a contributor he was and really what a catalyst he was for the offense and you fast forward 18 months later, whatever it’s been. Is there any lingering frustration?] Any time you win it’s a contribution from everybody. He scored some goals, didn’t have any assists. Scored some goals, played with some pretty good players. Played with Nick Shore, he’s in the NHL. Played with Nic Dowd, he’s in the NHL. Played with Jordan Weal, he’s an All-Star, now he’s in the NHL. The list goes on and on. I might have been able to score seven. Geez. It’s a pretty good team. Brian O’Neill, MVP of the league. Jordan Weal, MVP of the playoffs. Colin Miller, he’s in the NHL. J-F Berube, he’s in the NHL. [Reporter: He did come over though and make a statement for a kid who was a teenager and didn’t have any pro experience in North America, he really shot out of there with a big burst initially]. You’ve got to do it consistently. I scored a hat trick once, OK, like I scored a hat trick in the American Hockey League. You’ve got to do it more than once. [Reporter: OK, you mentioned some of the players that he played with, obviously that was a very talented team, is there anything, with all due respect to guys like Sean Backman, is there anything to be said for who he’s playing with and he’s the type of player that needs other explosive offensive players to really bring his best out?] They all do. You can’t just wait for Merschy and Teddy to come back and think that the offense is gonna (inaudible). Hensick’s gotta produce some points. Backs has got to produce some points. So does Kempe. They’re not going to run anybody over. They’re not shutdown guys. So, they need to have each other. They all need to help each other. Your grinders and your guys that work the walls, they need to contribute. So, again, I go to it’s a team thing. Everybody’s got to do what they do, but if you are an offensive guy then you better be producing points. If you’re a faceoff guy, you better win some faceoffs. And if you’re a role guy, you better win some fights. And if you’re a goalie, you should stop the puck and Jack did a wonderful job doing that tonight. Magnificent.

On how much of a surprise Jack Campbell has been this season:
I don’t know if it’s a surprise. He’s a pretty good athlete. He comes in with a pretty good reputation. He had a tough time in Texas for whatever reason, in the Dallas organization. Maybe their style of play wasn’t conducive to a goalie. [Reporter: Any goalie.] Any goalie. Well, yeah, you’re right. The big thing is they’re having trouble up top with their goaltending inconsistency. I don’t know. That’s none of my business how they run their organization, all I know is he got another opportunity and sometimes that’s what you need and you’ve got to make the most of it. Just like a guy that comes up from Manchester, it’s an opportunity to make the most of it. Just like when Kempe came over from Europe to join us in the playoffs, then make the most of it. But it doesn’t end there. It’s got to continue.