Outdoor Classic postgame quotes: Stothers, Brodzinski, Sutter, LoVerde

Reign head coach Mike Stothers, on the rain and the decision to play through it:
It was coming down pretty good but once you get started you want to finish it. You don’t want to leave a job unfinished. Actually the players were great about it. They wanted to keep playing. There was a lot of water on the ice but our guys wanted to play and I talked to [Condors coach] Gerry [Fleming] and his guys wanted to play. So, why not?

Stothers, on what it was like getting dumped on while coaching from the bench:
That’s what coaching is, you stand around and have people dump on ya. Today it was the weather. Always somebody dumping on ya when you’re a coach.

Stothers, on why Bakersfield was able to forge a comeback win:
I thought we spent too much time in our end. I don’t know if we thought we were trying to protect a two-nothing lead instead of just playing the way we were playing. Any time you try to sit back and protect a lead it doesn’t work out.

Brett Sutter, on playing in the rain:
It was fun for sure. Kind one of those once in a lifetime chance things. But it was definitely difficult. There was crazy bounces and kind of had to play on your toes or the edge of your seat so to speak most of that second period. All in all I thought it was good, it was a good experience. Disappointing that it ended the way it did. Hate to talk negative after such a cool experience but disappointing in the way it ended.

Sutter, on how heavy the equipment got:
It was crazy. Skates and gloves got real bad. I was carrying my gloves up the hill after the second period there and it felt like they were about 10 pounds each.

Jonny Brodzinski, on what the atmosphere was like:
It’s kind of hard to explain. It’s kind of a once in a lifetime thing. Obviously wish we would have got the win. Playing in that second period I think both everybody on both sides was having a lot of fun. It was a downpour and puck’s sticking on the ice but it was a lot of fun.

Brodzinski, on what is was like during the rain:
You really couldn’t stickhandle the puck. You couldn’t really do anything with it. It was just as soon as you got it on your stick it was maybe one or two strides and then it was a chip at all times. We got two goals out of that period so I thought we played pretty well.

Brodzinski, on how heavy the equipment got:
It was insane. I think my skates were about 40 pounds. Any time you stopped, any time you turned, ice would get chipped up in the bottom of your skate and it was just like walking around. It was soggy. It was gross. The shoulder pads, the jersey was heavy. Especially if guys fell on the ice and got their gloves wet it was an absolute nightmare but it was fun to dig through that period.

Brodzinski, on what was done between periods to possibly help dry the gear:
Guys didn’t even take their stuff off. It was just like, let’s just get back out there. I don’t even think any of the guys wanted to get back into the locker room after the second period I think we just wanted to roll right through it. But it was definitely a fun experience though.

Vincent LoVerde, on playing in the rain:
It was different. It was a little unorthodox. It’s tough. You really have to worry about passing, worry if it’s even going to get through to whoever you’re passing to. A little bit different. I actually thought we played OK during that period give the circumstances. Had a couple goals. It was different. It was a cool atmosphere. The AHL and the Bakersfield Condors did a great job with this so it was cool. Obviously we would have liked to get two points but at the end of the day it is what it is.

LoVerde, on the challenges of playing through the rain:
Your gear was a little wet. You couldn’t really see through your visor. At the same time both teams were playing through it so we were both going through the same exact thing. But yeah it was something that I’m gonna guess none of the guys have been through ever before.