CCF Game 1: Kevin Gravel after Monarchs 3-2 OT Win

LA Kings defensive prospect Kevin Gravel shared the following after the Manchester Monarchs opened the 2015 Calder Cup Final with a 3-2 OT victory over the visiting Utica Comets…

On playing with five defensemen after Jeff Schultz was injured in the first period:

“Schultzy is a big loss when he goes down there early in the game. Just stressing keeping it simple and keeping shifts short. You’re not going to be shorted on ice time with only five D back there so keep everything simple keep everything short and that is what we did tonight.”

On how close the game was to the game plan:

“I think overall it wasn’t a bad game for us. I think we started okay but not our best, as the game went on we got stronger. We threw a lot of pucks on net, which is good; we have kind of been stressing that throughout the stretch run here. We kept grinding away and then we had a couple guys make a play in overtime for us to get the win.”

On what he learned about the Utica Comets:

“They’re a good team. We expected that coming in. They have a lot of skilled forwards and their D is experienced. The goalie is big and he has been there before. We’ve got to keep throwing pucks at his pads and getting him to move a lot, kind of like we did tonight. We have to go out front and bang in some rebounds and get some greasy goals. That is what happened tonight for us.”

On when the feeling out period ended:

“There isn’t much time for a feeling period. From the puck drop its kind of game on. They came out hard and we came out hard, we tried to match each other. It was a good game the entire time.”

On the quick start considering the long layoff:

“I think our coaching staff has done a really good job of managing our rest and our practice plans and things like that. We have a lot of leadership in the locker room and they make sure guys are committed during practice and going hard while we are practicing or taking care of your body during the off days. We don’t really want to change much. We’ve just got to stay to our game and that’s what we tried to do tonight.”

On being a regular in the lineup throughout the playoff run:

“Oh its fun. You want to play every game and you want to play as big of a role as you can. Coming in I knew that the back end was pretty deep and it still is very deep. We still have a lot of good defensemen on our team. To be able to play and have some success during the stretch run has been really fun. It’s my first playoff run and my first year, so it has been good so far and hopefully we get a couple more wins under our belt.”

On if it is tough to play with a different defensive partner for every shift:

“Not really. We’re at game 90 or something so we’ve played enough hockey with each other in practice and games. We are pretty familiar with what everyone is going to do on the ice and we are pretty confident that whichever two go over the boards will get the job done.”

Postgame comments from Monarchs coach Mike Stothers have been posted here… and comments from goaltender JF Berube are up here.

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