Below is a transcript from Denver Outlaws Head Coach Jim Stagnitta’s Week 12 MLL Media Conference Call on Wednesday, July 24. .
Q: Are you now thinking that a perfect season is a possibility?
A: You can’t help but think that. We are sitting here at 11-0, and you talk to the players about limiting some of their playing time, or rotating and I get the same answer back. Coach we want to compete, we want to win. So it’s a fine line and a happy medium between keeping guys fresh and keeping them game ready. You can’t help but think about going undefeated. It’s not about going undefeated, honestly, we really have approached every game one week at a time, and you’ll hear the players say it because it’s been something that we felt is important. Regardless of what we are going to be doing with the approach of our line up, our goal is to win that game. Is it our ultimate goal, like I’ve said over and over again, no. It’s not as important at this time if we win the next game; it’s about winning the last game. If we are able to maintain this momentum, that’d be great.
Q: Regarding the Bayhawk's Casey Powell- are you going to prepare your defensemen differently, are you going to put someone on him? How are you preparing for someone with that much experience?
A: We play against guys like that every week. They added Casey to their line up and it certainly makes it in some ways more potent, but again one guy doesn’t make up a team, it’s not going to change the way we approach it. We may try to do some different things anyway just because we have three games left, and it’s someone we may very well see at the end of the year. We don’t look at it and say we need to do something special to stop Casey. We look at it as a talented team that has won a lot of games with or without Casey Powell. Obviously he’s a talented player and he’s someone that you have to pay attention to, but at this point in the season you can’t alter everything you do for one player. One of the things we’ve been able to do as games progress is make adjustments that are necessary match up wise, based on guys have better days than other guys. So we will be prepared and ready to make adjustments as necessary.
Q: Are you going to use these last three games to maybe take a look at someone that you haven’t had the chance to look at yet, maybe give someone on the practice squad a chance to make the team next year?
A: I wouldn’t read into it too far because things happen. We’ve had three guys this year that had weddings to go to that they were the best man in. That’s going to happen and it’s going to happen to us down the stretch. If we bring someone else in, it’s mostly to fill a spot. There’s also an opportunity because you get to dress an extra at the finals. We need to figure out if that’s going to be a face-off guy or if it’s going to be a midfielder. We may do a little bit of that down the stretch but we have guys that have personal and prior engagements they have to attend that allows us to do that. We have a couple decisions to make for that last spot. Everybody asks this question, I’ve never gone into a game at any level and prepared not to win, nor have any of these guys. It’s a difficult task, and concept for any of us to walk into a game and say this doesn’t really matter, and we are just going to go and we are going to go through the motions or we aren’t going to play our guys. It’s hard to leave guys at home when they get a check for doing this. They want to be there, they want to be at the game, they want to be with their teammates, they have a great thing going.We are going to walk a fine line here and try to make the decisions that are in the best interest of the players, and program, and best interest of having an opportunity to win a championship.
Q: How is Mundorf’s sports hernia affecting his play? Are you going to give him a little extra rest before tournament time?
A: We get two weeks off before the tournament and it’s not an injury that is going to get worse. It certainly has some impact, it doesn’t seem to impact him on game day, but I understand that it hurts on Sunday and Monday. I thought he played his best game of the year last game, honestly. We aren’t a college team, who are riding and chasing people all over the place. If you guys need Brendan, he’s not a guy to rest. It’s not like you say hey Brendan we are going to give you a couple weeks off. That’s not going to happen. We may find ways to keep him from getting banged up, we may move him around a little bit, he may not play 4 quarters every game. We are going to be creative Brendan, but Brendan’s going to be there, he’s going to be with us. It’s awfully difficult to keep him home for a number of different reasons. If you did see the game last weekend, it was a great effort from our veterans who were able to respond to the adversity of traveling and everything else, and Brendan had a great game, as I said maybe his best all around game of the year, in my opinion.
Q: Is there any concern at all about trying to pursue the number one seed for any reason other than playing well, or does having a number one seed not matter that much when it comes down to the 4 teams in 2 days?
A: I don’t think it matters and I honestly mean that. I don’t know if any of those next 3 teams, if you line up next to them, they’re all good, they’re all talented. It maybe gives you an extra two hours rest, which didn’t do a lot for us last year anyway. It’s not going to overcome injuries, or playing banged up just plain being tired. I don’t think it matters but I can tell you we are going to go out and try to win the game on Saturday.