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Q&A with Manchester coach Mark Morris

Coming off Wednesday night’s tough 4-3 loss to the Springfield Falcons that left his team three points out of a playoff spot with just 12 games to play, Manchester Monarchs coach Mark Morris was upbeat as he assessed the team’s playoff possibilities and development of his young players.

He was refreshingly honest and candid in his appraisals of his players, and lamented on the fact that this year’s Monarchs squad is sorely lacking the veteran leadership of last season’s. He talks about the recent visit from Kings’ GM Dean Lombardi, amateur tryout agreements, what it’s like to throw a very young group of defensemen out on the blue line each night.

Coach Morris even has something nice to say about Lauri Tukonen.

Question: With 12 games remaining and playoff position on the line, every game is pretty much classified as a “must-win.” Is your approach as a coach and the team’s mentality right now that these are playoff games right now?

Morris: We’ve actually felt like we were in “playoff” games since about Christmastime when we realized we had a lot of ground to make up to really be competitive. We realize that we are an exceptionally young team – we have zero veterans playing for us and we’re allowed five. When we lost Jon Klemm and Peter Harrold on the back end it left a huge hole. Losing their steady defensive play has caused a lot of the younger defenseman to be thrown out into the fire and we’ve had moments of being very good and also a lot of inconsistent play that has really cost us.

Question: It sure seems like from a health perspective your defense has been pretty depleted and you’ve had to get creative, even using Paul Crosty on the blue line. Can you speak to how difficult that situation has been to deal with?

Morris: Joe Piskula’s been out for a considerable length of time. Patrik Hersley’s been up and down the with east coast league team. Drew Bagnall’s been in and out and so has Rich Petoit and (Jeff) Likens has spent quite a bit of time with Reading. Now P.J. Atherton has joined us from Reading and he’s actually on our first power play unit now. He’s been a positive addition to for our blue line corps and he seems to be a bit more alert than some of the other young guys. I think he played quite a bit for the Reading Royals and I had a conversation with (Reading coach) Carl Taylor and he indicated that P.J was a big part of their offense.

Question: You guys recently signed defenseman Josh Kidd to an amateur tryout agreement – have you had a chance to work him out?

Morris: I actually just met him yesterday as a matter of fact. I remembered him a little from training camp, but I think he got hurt early on. We’ll see what he can do in practice today.

Question: What happened to the kid from Brown, Paul Baier?

Morris: He was here and practiced a couple of days and we had seen him skate, but it’s a big jump (to the AHL) and it’s an important time of the year for us and it’s an opportunity to see what some of these kids can do for us, but we didn’t feel that he was ready to jump in and help us. He was coming from the college game and we really didn’t think he was an upgrade from what we were playing with.

Question: It’s been a struggle this season for the team, yet it still seems as though you are encouraged by what you see on the ice?

Morris: There has been tremendous growth on our team and to even be competitive and be in the playoff hunt says a lot about what has gone on here this year. We’re playing with two goalies who started the season in the East Coast Hockey League. Most of the guys on the blue line or at least half of them have spent most of the year in the ECHL, so from the blue line-back, that’s a big jump for these guys and now we are competitive, and we are making games close and winning the odd game here and there. But stringing a bunch of wins together without veteran leadership has been tough. It’s putting a lot of pressure on guys like Brian Boyle, Ted Purcell and Matt Moulson. We lost Gabe Gauthier – he’s out for the rest of the regular season (knee injury). A lot of these guys have been thrust into roles they are not used to. When you think about last year, you can’t really put a price tag on what it meant to have guys like Marty Murray, Noah Clarke, Jeff Guiliano and Tim Jackman – those guys shouldered a lot of the leadership and they were also steady performers night in and night out. There’s a significant experience and age level difference from last year to this year.

Question: I know Dean Lombardi was with the team this last week. How was that for the team and did he provide you with some insight into his feelings about how things are going in Manchester?

Morris: He seemed quite happy with the compete-level of the team and we managed to get seven out of eight points when he was here. He spent some time picking our brains about various things about the team, and asking questions about why we did certain things certain ways. I think he gained an appreciation for what is going on down here. I think he has a greater appreciation for the challenges that we face and he saw it on a day-to-day basis.

Question: And the fact that the team took seven out of the eight possible points during his stay probably had you begging him to stay longer?

Morris: (Laughing) We are going to make a cardboard cut-out of him and stick it up in the locker room just so the guys are reminded that he sees everything. Nothing gets by him and he’s a guy who really wants to see things go well and even little increments of improvement are noticed by him.

Question: Did some guys seem to play at a higher level knowing that Lombardi was watching?

Morris: Yes, especially Purcell, Moulson and Boyle. Those guys in particular really lit a fire when he was here and it was good for us. Sometimes is can be such a downer for guys who get sent back down after they’ve had an opportunity and had success at that (NHL) level, and they now realize that they do have some holes in their game and the main reason they were sent back here is so that they can compete in games that really mean something. Those guys responded really well.