Sun Journal: Talk a little bit about how you got here in the first place, as a 19-year-old QMJHL rookie from the U.S.

Sean Stagles: I was playing Junior B by 17-year-old year and Mr. Bouchard, a Lewiston scout, he came to watch a tournament out there, and I talked to him. I didn’t think it would be the right fit to come that year. Last year, I talked to Ed and to Mr. Bouchard again, and I wanted to keep my options open for Division I. But Lewiston was always in the background. Last year, I was playing in the EJHL, I was in a showcase in Detroit, and Mr. Just (the Maineiacs’ principal owner) was there, and Mr. Bouchard was out scouting. Mr. Just came up to me and said he wanted me to come play for the Maineiacs. A month later, Coach Harding was at a camp in Rochester, where I live, he came over for dinner one night, and it was basically a done deal after that.

SJ: Were you ever approached by an OHL team in your bantam years, since you are from their scouting area?

SS: I played growing up in Rochester for a coach who’d played in the NHL, and he’d played in the ‘O.’ I grew up playing a lot of travel hockey in Toronto, London, all those places. I was on the radar, agents called, but basically, when you’re in the United States, your dream is to go play NCAA Division I, like in Canada your dream is to play major junior.

SJ: Did it help that the Maineiacs are in the U.S., as far as not dealing with any sort of culture shock?

SS: I’ll be honest, I don’t even know if any other teams in the league take American kids. It definitely was one of the bigger factors that played into me coming here.

SJ: What kind of defenseman do you consider yourself?

SS: I consider myself an offensive defenseman, but the first half of this year, I had to learn how to take care of my own zone a lot more. Coach Harding is real big on making sure you take care of your defensive end first, and learning all of the defensive systems before he lets you have free reign offensively. I think the last few games, I’ve been playing a bit more offensive as I get more comfortable with the league.

SJ: You saw this year how tough it was to stick with this team as a 20-year-old skater. Going forward, how do you feel like you have to perform to possibly stick around?

SS: With Coach harding, there’s always some motivation, that’s for sure. I’m trying not to look too far forward, and just take care of this year. I’d love to be here for another year, I love playing in Lewiston and being around the Q. It’s a great atmosphere.

SJ: Do you see there being a turn-around in this team? Can this team figure this thing out by the end of the season?

SS: It’s frustrating losing, there’s no doubt about that. The last three games, we lost by a total of three goals. We haven’t been giving up shots, it’s not like we’ve been outshot 45 to 15 every game or something. Lately, we’ve been competitive in every game except for two against Drummondville. There’s two types of losing, and one’s harder to deal with than the other. When we’re this close, it makes it a bit more frustrating, but we know we can play with any team in this league. We’ve proven that by beating Shawinigan twice. I definitely think we can only go up this year.