BOYLE AND DOC'S SEMIFINAL PREVIEW | Freeze It Right Here, Episode 13
BOYLE AND DOC'S SEMIFINAL PREVIEW | Freeze It Right Here, Episode 13
Video Transcript
Boyle, bang.
How about the save from Brian Dougherty?
And Dougherty's genius continues.
Stick score, Ryan Boyle.
Ryan Dougherty has made some wonderful stops in time.
Ryan Boyle, a hat trick.
Freeze it right here.
Freeze it right here.
Freeze it right here.
Welcome back to Freeze It Right Here.
I'm Kevin Boleyd from the Lacrosse Network, and as always, I'm joined by two Hall of Famers, Ryan Boyle and Brian Dougherty.
Here we are.
The league, half the league, has been eliminated.
Only four teams are left standing heading into the PLL semifinals in Salt Lake City this weekend.
And in this episode, we're gonna show you how two of those teams got here.
First up, the Boston Cannons, who are coming off a nine to seven win over Maryland in the quarterfinals.
Boyle, for the fans who are just recently finding our show, help illustrate the transformation of Boston's defense from the beginning of the season to what we're gonna show them today.
Yeah, I mean, so we, we hit a point collectively wi- within this show where we had a rule that we couldn't show Boston's defense or, or an offense going against Boston defense, 'cause it was just, it was just that bad week in and week out.
And I, I think you gotta give, Coach Holman and his coaching staff so much credit, for the personnel changes, eh, that they, they've made.
And now you look at what they did holding kind of the, the Whipsnakes attack, which we also highlighted, you know, in terms of one of the top units across the league.
Rob Pannell, one goal, one assist.
Other than that, goose eggs across the board for, for Joey Spillina and TJ Malone.
So y- you gotta credit that unit in terms of the complete transformation and evolution over the course of the season.
Boston's defensive transformation has been drastic, but have you noticed the subtle difference in the Denver Outlaws offense as of late?
My guy Jake Taylor has been a nice addition.
The crafty crease Attackman had a hat-trick in Denver's 15 to 14 win over Carroll- California in the quarterfinals.
Doc, from a goalie's perspective, are really good crease Attackmen extra annoying because they do all their dirty work right on your doorstep?
100%, 1000%, a million percent.
I can't give it enough percentage on how annoying the really good crease Attackmen are as a goalie, but every team needs one.
So we talk about all these electrifying attacks and the three headed, the three quarterbacks and the four to art and guys, but you really just need two of those guys and then one of those crafty crease Attackmen that's been going on for years.
There's only one ball, and you need a guy that's ready to do all the dirty work, setting the picks, getting the garbage in front of the goal, really just being annoying in there.
And, yeah, Jake Taylor is at top of that list, these days.
So it's just fun to watch, and he- you gotta have him on the field.
After these breakdowns, we're gonna spin it forward to preview the PLL semifinal.
So while you're watching Boyle and Doc break down this Cannon's defense, start thinking about how that unit might look against CJ Kearse, Michael Sauers, and that Waterdogs offense in the semis.
And then same with the Jake Taylor breakdown.
The Outlaws play the Archers, who have the best defense in the league.
Could Taylor be that key that helps him crack that lock?
Stay tuned for that look ahead, because now it's time to roll the film from last weekend.
The Boston Cannons have won seven of their last eight games, and in their past four victories, they've only allowed one opponent to score more than 10 points.
Against the Whipsnakes in the quarter finals, the cannons allowed just seven points.
Former backup goalie, now starter JC Higginbotham stood tall throughout the game finishing at 63.2%.
But it feels like everyone on this Canon's roster stepped up in the defensive effort.
13 caused turnovers.
Ethan Rawle had three of them while roaming the middle of the field at LSM, but so did Mikey Weishar, a rookie offensive midfielder.
Boyle, let's get started with one of Mikey's three takeaways.
Yeah, you look at the contrast of Boston, kind of the beginning of the season to now, and, and you look at specifically how they get back in transition here.
So, you know, when offensive personnel got, got caught early year, the, the opposing team just kind of roasted them and, and feasted on them.
And what I love about this clip is a- as the, the Boston gets back in transition, you can see Matt Campbell kinda directing traffic.
Like, "Hey, I'm kind of trailing here.
Mikey, you go cover the ball.
I'll get the backside."
Okay, Weisar now is trapped on defense.
He's covering Blake Island, the short stick.
Let's get him involved in the two-man game.
You see the kind of the switch here.
Okay, now Weisar's on ball.
Keilty's like, alert, alert, alert.
I'm gonna get back on that.
Weisar drops into coverage.
You can see Rawle also crashing the crease, the interception.
Now we're kind of going the other way.
So it, it's the communication amongst those guys a- and then the commitment to actually playing defense and then the communication between the, the close defense and the midfielders getting back.
It, it's just what a difference, you know, in terms of, again, from the beginning of the season to, to where we are now.
So that's just kind of one of the subtle things that, that Let's not bury the, the, the headline here.
Let's not bury the lead.
It's about the, the, the three guys, Owen Grant, Will Donovan, and Ethan Rawle.
Those, those three guys, they were the difference makers, in, in the course of this game, really being disruptive, causing a ton of havoc.
You know, Doc, y- you credited Owen Grant.
Let's, let's kind of flip the switch now to him.
He Y- you called him a top four defenseman, right?
He was charged with covering Rob Pannell.
So as we go to this next clip, the cause turnovers by those three guys in particular, you know, here you see him covering Rob Pannell.
You know, as he drives up field, you see the Donovan help.
Then it turns to just a complete swarming crash.
Like, he's got nowhere to go here.
Yes.
E- you know, I'm, I'm a big believer if defense becomes contagious.
So when you have guys starting to ball out like that, especially those three down there, then you see, like your, to your other point, the obit; he's getting back in, talking.
Like, it just becomes contagious.
And right now they're just swarming.
You know, they're down there.
They're showing down there.
Rawle is helping out.
A- and you know, I said this last week and I say it again, like, he's even moving up.
Like, he reminds me a lot of Graham Hasek a little bit- Yes in his prime.
Just like a r- he, he can play the fast guys.
He can play the ph- the physical guys.
So I'm interested to see who he's gonna play next week, 'Cause he's their number one guy.
Do you put him on Sauers?
Do you put him on Kearse?
That's probably at, something that we'll talk about later on.
But like, when somebody that big is mean and, and also plays great position, he has a great He's Canadian, so d- Enough said, he's got a phenomenal stick, right?
He can put the ball up off the ground.
He can throw it behind his back to the goal.
He can push it up field.
You know, he's just turning into that like that lead guy, you know?
And once you have the lead guy, so defense, close defense is all about match-ups, right?
If I win the one-- one of Your best versus my best matchup and I can win the second one as well, your second best versus my second best, you know, now all of a sudden I'm winning two out of those three, maybe all three of 'em.
You know, th- you got nowhere to go, and that's where good defense k- kind of comes into play.
So, I'm a big Owen Grant fan right now, and he's hustling.
You know, he's moving around.
He's making all the plays that he needs to make.
He plays great position.
He's turning into an alpha right in front of our eyes.
Y- you think Owen Grant is their top guy.
F- for me, the biggest, one of the three dominoes that really kind of impacted Boston's evolution is the move from Will Donovan down to close defense, and he was charged with covering TJ Malone for the, for the bulk of this game.
And as we go to the next clip, you know, off of a turnover, right, so you see this kind of like ill-advised pass right on the sideline.
It is what it is.
We're kinda going the other way.
Now you got Donovan on TJ Malone, kind of stuck with him, and then look at Ethan Rawl.
You see the back of the helmet?
Yeah.
You go, right?
He's just going.
H- he's going.
You see the back of the helmet.
This is ultra aggressive.
So you get this on-ball double team.
Somehow, TJ Malone actually gets out of here.
You know, this is the old school he c- gets out of a phone booth, which doesn't really apply anymore because phone booths don't exist, right?
So but he gets out of the phone booth, and then he stays with it.
TJ Malone don't throw through sticks.
This is kind of like, like classic fundamentals.
Will Donovan just woop, just, just kind of throws it out there, gets a nugget, stays with it.
Now he's actually gonna then complete the play and get the ground ball.
But this is a total, right, total possession from start to finish by, by Will Donovan.
Yeah, so I wasn't Like listen, everybody was talking about the Will Donovan.
Will Don I didn't really jump on that train till the end because to me- You're on now?
You're on it now?
He's a, he's, he's, he's a pretty good player.
Like this flag right here, was, was solid from, from the recognition, from the double team to finding one, to, to beating his guy to goal line extended, to getting the nugget, to kicking it.
It's like literally everything I practiced my defenseman in high school bef- before practice, right?
It's the 20 minutes I spend every single day goosing ground balls to myself, getting deflections, turning guys at the goal line.
He did it all in one eight-second clip and But again, it just shows me like y- y- you s- you see that they're just swarming, right?
Like it, to me it was like that, that slide from Rawl, and Rawl's been all over the place.
I'm sure we're gonna get to him next.
Um- Yep but off ball he's been really good 'cause he just kind of goes.
When he sees the back of the helmet, he goes.
The other guys kind of know he goes, so they're, they're ready to help him for all that.
And you know, they're just playing fast, aggressive.
Like, they're not sitting back waiting for you to punch them in the face.
They're coming out there as the aggressors, right?
They're leading with the jab.
They're the ones out there playing offense on defense.
Yeah, I think that's- you know, kind of offensively playing defense.
I don't know if- Well- We'll probably get a new term for that.
I'm sure I'll let you think about that one, so I- Yeah I'd love to have one for you.
Yeah.
Well, I, I think to your point about Rawl, you know, during the broadcast I, I talk about offense.
I, I think we've referenced kind of Colter Mackesy being the best player o- on the field a- and then as you take a step back and, and kind of rewatch some of the tape, like Ethan Rawl was the best player on the field, right?
Like, like- He was h- hard stop, he was the best player on the field.
And, and you know, you and I in preparation for this, like this was the, this next clip was the very first clip I started with, and y- your first comment was, "Do we have this clip?"
And I was like- " it's the very first one."
So this is coming out of a time out.
This is the second to last possession, right?
So Coach Stagnitta draws up this play for Aiden Carroll.
This is exactly what you think, right?
Taylor made like, we're gonna start the ball with our best playmaker.
Ethan Rawl's just like, "I'm gonna disrupt this fro- from the get-go.
Like w- I'm not sitting back," to your point about playing offensive.
This is aggressive defense, right?
I'm not sitting back.
Immediate ball pressure.
I am gonna blow this thing up before it even starts.
So Aidan Carroll thinks he's just gonna have this kind of casual jog behind the goal to set this up.
No, no, no, no, no.
I am all over you, and then as you go to initiate like just a simple little boop, little, little poke ch-, nothing but a poke check.
I mean, this is a poke check, can opener kind of.
Like, and then the ball's on the ground a- a- and he finishes the play, come loose ball.
Yeah.
This, this was down the stretch situational lacrosse.
This was the play of the game, Doc.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, the, the Whipsnakes had just, I think, started making their run.
So if I remember correctly it was 9-5, I think.
Yeah, yeah.
At B- and then they score two goals.
They get the next possession.
They call timeout.
All the momentum is kind of going with the, with the Whipsnakes there.
They score right there.
All of a sudden now there's over two minutes with a faceoff and short 32 seconds.
You know, you probably have at least one or two more possessions to try, try to tie it up, and Ethan Rawl is just like, "No, not on my watch."
He's so active, like his motor is nonstop.
His stick is so active, whether it's checking or goosing it to himself on the ground and, you know, like you said, they did, they, everybody kind of did the right thing, right?
Like Staggs put the ball at his best player, his, his, the guy that can, I thought initiates and can beat a pole.
They put the, they're like, "Hey, I'm putting my pole right on your best player," right?
And then, you know, chasing him behind there.
He never got comfortable.
Mm-hmm.
He never let him get uncomfortable.
He started that dodge, I think, one step in front of the end line, right?
You know, like just way back there almost in the parking lot.
Like, he chased him all the way out there, and then I just don't think he was comfortable right away.
And again, all season long we've been talking about this defensively.
You just don't want guys to be comfortable on offense, right?
And vice versa.
Offensively, you wanna be comfortable.
You want somebody five yards off you so I can make the move, use the pick.
Now all of a sudden I'm, I'm getting beat, I'm getting checked.
Now all of a sudden I just try to make a move that I don't really know what I'm trying to do.
And he just flicks it right out of his stick, boom, picks it up, game over.
That was the game right there, in pro lacrosse.
So it- you know, I can't believe we're talking about how awesome- this Boston defense is right now.
Like I, I really can't believe it.
But that's, you know, stats, like their last four games, you know, numbers are numbers and it, and it's a combination.
And, and everybody's stepping up, Donovan's stepping up, Grant's stepping up, Rawl's stepping up.
Their D middies have never been a question, right?
They got a plethora of short stick D middies down there that they can use.
And now everybody's kind of believing and nobody wants to let the other guys down, right?
And that's where defense can become dangerous.
A plethora, I think that's slightly larger than a tranche, but- Doc, you mentioned that offensive mentality that they play with on defense.
I wonder if any of that's got to do with both Owen Grant and Will Donovan are converted LSMs down to close defense, and then Ethan Rawl, their LSM making all those plays down the stretch.
So the Canons shut the door on the Whipsnakes last weekend, but the Boston defenders that we just highlighted are gonna have a much tougher task in the semifinals.
Michael Sauers, the Cannons moved Will Dow- Donovan down to close defense for speed match ups, but can the rookie match feet with someone who's that quick?
And CJ Kearse, Docs has mentioned that, "Hey, Owen Grant might be the number one guy, might be a top four defender in the league."
But one on one with CJ Kearse, we'll see if he's got that in his bag.
The two defenders will be tested, so will Ethan Rawl, who has to worry about a deep but young Philly midfield unit.
We're gonna touch on all that later on.
But first, let's talk about Jake Taylor.
The Denver Outlaws acquired Jake Taylor via waiver claim in early August after the Philadelphia Water Dogs left him unprotected for three straight games.
Taylor slid right into the lineup immediately when the Outlaws were hurting, but somewhat surprisingly, he kept his spot on the active roster even after all four of Denver's Tewaaraton winners were back in action for the quarterfinals.
It doesn't take much to get Taylor going.
He averages less than 15 touches per game.
In Denver's 15-4 win over the California Redwoods, he had a hat trick on just 11 touches.
But Taylor's game goes beyond the stats.
He makes a noticeable impact on plays where he doesn't even register a point.
Boyle, can you show us an example of that?
Yeah, absolutely.
And, you know, about Taylor, like the reason he's in the line-up is they don't need another ball carrier, right?
They need somebody that does a lot of off ball work, and obviously his chemistry with Pat Kavanagh going back to their days at Notre Dame, we'll, we'll see that kinda later on.
But it's all the dirty little stuff.
It's all the off ball tricks.
And s- and so here as we roll this first clip, it, it's off a faceoff win, so you're gonna have both faceoff guys, Luke Wierman and TD Irland on the field.
You know, Wierman gets Irland involved in this two man game.
So as Kavanagh carries across, little bit of rub there.
Kavanagh draws the double team, ac- actually triple team.
And on this throwback, you can see this rotation all set and ready to go.
Conlin, okay, I'm next in the rotation.
I gotta get out there, and Wierman.
Taylor senses this, gets in front of him, maybe a little bit of a moving pick- but he seals Conlin, seals Conlin to allow Wierman for this step down.
So it's this off ball, I'm gonna seal the rotation.
So I understand to play great offense, you, you gotta know how the defense operates and the mechanics and the, a- and the execution.
So the next rotation is Conlin.
He gets sealed off.
That allows Wierman to step down.
This is the dirty little eye, high IQ off ball work that the Taylor is really kind of known for.
He, he's so good at that.
These crease, we'll call them a crease attackman, right?
Like these crease attackmen are so good at those little things, right?
Holding the slide guy's stick, right?
Like just pushing it underneath their armpit like there so they can hold it, so you can't slide to your next guy.
Sealing guys, getting into next guys, and they put 'em on the crease, and we'll show this in the next clip.
But they put 'em on the crease, and when you slide from him, right, he just doesn't sit right there.
Everybody else is trying to go back and find him, and that's where his c- craftiness kind of comes into play.
So that was just a great seal right there.
It's more about, you know, d- like you said, they got so many guys that can take their guy one on one and do this, and do that.
They need a guy that just kind of, you know, does it, gets dirty, right?
Then- That, that, that's- I don't know if that was a seal.
That was kind of trip, but- You know, I enjoy it.
And then he's diving right on the ground knowing that he doesn't want to get into, hit the shot, so.
Well, that seal's also a throwback.
He did the same thing for Pacino's step down on the Brennan O'Neill package that we put together, what was that?
A couple weeks ago.
So you know, very reminiscent of that.
You know, as we get into this next clip, you know, to your point, Doc, the crease attackman understanding kind of pick play.
Now, now we're gonna get into a two-man game and, and we've got Terrafenko.
He's got Bolkcom trapped on, on defense.
So you've got two short sticks, so w- little bee sting pick here.
But he knows Taylor, since it's short short, they're gonna switch this, right?
So he knows based off the principles, defensive principles, again, how do you play defense?
How do I counter offensively?
They, he knows they're gonna switch, and they're gonna hedge, or they're gonna help.
So English is covering Taylor.
He understands Bolkcom sails on ball.
I've got to hedge here.
I've got to help here.
So there's a lot of action on the crease.
So instead of picking and then crashing the crease, he does a pick and pop, or pick and slip, slip to a pop.
So i- allows him to exploit that open area.
It's a gorgeous backhanded pass by Terrafenko.
That's really the highlight.
Also, Terrafenko probably stepped at the crease here.
You know, j- just for what it's worth, like this should've been a crease violation.
Ah.
Should've been challenged potentially.
Like sometimes the refs let that go if it's not a part of the play, but like th- that, that should have potentially been challenged and overturned.
But I, I digress.
This is about the Ja- Jake Taylor.
The bee sting, kind of like he gets a little bit of a rub there, but then he slips, and he slips to the open area as opposed to crash the crease.
Again, just high IQ, understanding the two-man game with the two short sticks, and kind of spatial awareness Yeah, so I- I mean you, you nailed it right there with, with all the, pick play stuff.
I'm gonna move to the shot, right?
Like, so he hides it up here, right?
And finishes it right in his five hole, right, right around the defender kinda putting there.
So when you put it all together, right, it's how to get open, that's one thing.
But then it's what do you do once you get the ball?
And he's so creative and crafty that way as well, right?
He shoots it around guys.
He shoots it between his legs.
He shoots it around his back.
He shoots You know, he's so unbelievable.
He's just like having fun in the backyard.
You know, but this shot to me was kind of where it was all at.
Starting up high, you know, bringing it high and then bringing it right down.
You see Ward is expecting a high shot, and then all of a sudden it's between his, his legs.
So, you know, you throw in great shooter on top of all that kind of stuff, and it's like, you know, he's a guy, like Kevin has mentioned many times , you have to play Jake Taylor out here, all right, no matter what team he's on.
Wonder Dogs, Outlaws, whatever.
I mean, the straight overhand bouncer might be the least expected shot from Jake Taylor, as you'll see with these next two clips.
Yeah, so as we roll to this next clip, th- this is the, the goals that you don't really account for, right, in terms of, like, the st- the stat sheet, in terms of when you're looking at your final tally.
You know, so, so you get some action here.
Bernhardt behind the cage in a two-man game with, with Anderson.
You can see Jake Taylor kind of on that high crease just kinda floating, right?
And then it's just, it's classic rebound Johnny on the spot.
But then you add in - the, the, the highlight of the weekend is this catch and then between the legs finish.
I mean, they're all grinning.
They're all having a great time.
But this is the, what Jake Taylor kinda brings to the table i- is these kind of rebound goals, these quote unquote garbage goals that are anything but.
Like, see, where he catches that, it's like what, what shot is afforded to him?
Like- he doesn't have time to turn and shoot a kind of a traditional shot.
So I m- I mean, Dylan Ward has just I- I mean both guys are kinda guessing at this point.
Like, right?
Like, it's not like- Taylor knows where this is going.
Right.
Dylan Ward has no clue where this is going, right?
But if- He's down there like a hockey goalie.
He's got his, like, glove hand up and his stick between his legs.
Yeah, listen.
So th- these guys So first of all, I, I just remembered, he re- he reminds me, wrong hand, but a little bit of Matt Gibson, right?
Like, from the, from Long Island back in the day.
Great goal scorer, so creative, in there shooting it up around his legs.
But y- you know, that's just part of his game.
When I watched him at Notre Dame, he was doing this stuff all the time.
Like, they would throw him in there, and when you get the ball in the crease, you gotta know how to get rid of it because you're getting five guys traditionally coming in to, to literally lay the hammer down on you.
So you have about .2 seconds to, to get it off, right?
Whether it's over your shoulder or whether it's between your legs, whether it's around your back, one hand.
And, you know, he, he's, he's the, like, the best guy out there right now, and has been, you know, in college.
You could say a lot you want about Liam Enteman and the Cavanaughs.
Jake Taylor was a huge part of them winning, I know he won one, but I'm pre- he probably won two national championships out there.
Two championships.
And, and he's that kind kinda guy that, that just Y- and you notice those guys, right?
The ball always just goes to 'em.
Yep.
Right?
So it goes off the cre- off the pipe, through Dylan Ward's legs, oh, right, right into t- right into- Weird .
Jake Taylor's stick- Weird right there in the middle of the crease.
And that's why I hated those guys.
Because he didn't do any work, right?
He just catches it there and makes me look like a complete fool, right?
Complete fool, all the time.
Boom, boom, boom, boom.
Tom Marechek was like that all the time, although, you know, he probably was more of a dodger and stuff like that.
But H- Tom Marechek in the crease was just like that, you know?
Like, boom, all over the place making me look horrible.
So that's, that's why I have a little bit of a personal problem- .. With some of these crease attack men out there.
So, so what's your pathway to 15 goals, right?
So y- you kind of, like, start to look at Taylor's day, right?
He has the, the pick assist or that seal for Wierman.
Like, Wierman having a goal, right?
Then, then you look at a two-man game between him and Tarasenko.
Like, okay.
Th- then he's got the garbage goal, if you will, on the crease.
Like, all those are kind of like these sneaky little goals that kind of stack up.
This last one, this is the goal we all expected whn, when they added him, right?
This is the chemistry between him - and Pat Kavanagh.
- and I don't know if this goal happens, un- i- if anybody else is passing the ball besides Pat Kavanagh, right?
And tha- and that's because of the trust and chemistry and kind of ESP that these two guys have going back to their days together.
So a- as we set this up, you know, Outlaws kind of action on the o- two-man game, kind of throwback to, to Wisniewski's, little bobble.
And then o- on this throw to Kavanagh, watch Chris Fake.
He's gonna crash to the crease.
Taylor actually uses that momentum against him.
So as Fake recovers, Taylor cuts around that by all traditional manners, right?
He's, quote unquote, covered, right?
He, he's got a guy directly next to him.
But, but as we go to the end zone view, you're gonna see the, the, what Kavanagh sees, right?
And that is as Fake crashes this crease, Taylor cuts behind, and all he sees is a stick, right?
He flashes that stick.
That's all he needs, right?
Kavanagh's like, "I know I'm throwing this."
"I'm throwing this."
I've thrown that to him a billion times, and he's caught every single one of them.
So, like, that's like your neighbor, your boy that you grew up with, you know what I mean?
Like, you It could be 10 on 10, but I'm always looking for that one guy, you know?
Y- Like, I'm sure you had a couple guys.
Yup.
You with BJ Prager back in the day, you always knew where BJ was, right?
Because he would catch it, right?
And he would give you an assist out there.
So everything is a pair, offense, which means these two guys, all right, on the left-hand side are playing a pair.
You put, you put Jake Taylor on the crease, his guy is called the role guy.
And a lotta guys, right, they just stand there.
And it's easy for them to come back and find them.
And that's why Jake Taylor is so good, 'cause he never just stands there.
He's moving here, and like you said, after we get into it, right?
As we roll it, as we rolled a little bit, boom, the roll guy leaves him, everybody is now compacting in on him, right?
But they're scrambled, and then this is where his creativity Now, he could have easily cut to the left side crease, he could have popped out, he could have sealed somebody else, right?
But that's where he is kind of so dangerous because you put him as the roll guy.
You have to do something with the pick, right?
You have two dangerous people on the pick.
You know, all of a sudden you got Brendan O'Neill and Logan playing a two-man game over there, big little, something's gonna happen, right?
Something happens, the roll guy flies off.
Now Jake Taylor is in business because he can do so many different things, right?
And now you're scrambling to go try to find him.
So you put him on the crease, you run your two-man game, you put the other guys around there, and I don't know, I think they found something right there.
A- and oh, by the way, we haven't even talked about the behind the back shot, which was ridiculous.
I mean, he had no angle.
Right?
It was a terrible Like , like I don't feel like I would've thrown that to anybody or shot.
I, I don't know.
It just worked.
Zero angle.
Like how do you increase your angle behind the back?
But I mean, that, that angle was severe.
I mean, i- and that, that is just an incredible shot from an accuracy standpoint.
Crazy situation when you consider last year, the New York Atlas champions, Connor Shellenberger is your MVP.
If Pat Kavanagh is Connor Shellenberger, the Denver Outlaws just gave him his Xander Dixon in Jake Taylor.
Yep.
So watch out for that.
The Denver Outlaws are 0-2 though against the Utah Archers this season.
In those two games combined, Brennan O'Neill has zero goals, Pat Kavanagh has two, Jared Bernhardt andLogan Wasnousky each have three.
The Archers have history, home field advantage, and the best defense in the league working in their favor, but the Outlaws have that secret weapon in Jake Taylor.
If you appreciate high quality crease play, keep your eyes peeled for number 31 in the middle of Denver's offense when they take on Utah in the semifinals this weekend.
And now, let's look ahead to that matchup.
The Utah Archers dropped a huge update this week.
Three time MVP Tom Schreiber has been activated off injured reserve.
Schreiber is one of the best midfielders of all time, but he hasn't played in over a year.
The archers had the best scoring differential in the league without him this season.
RB, what are the pros and cons of reinserting Schreiber at this point in the lineup, and what are your overall expectations for him in the playoffs?
Yes, I, I think you've, you've gotta manage your expectations.
I, I think that's the most important thing.
Like, when you're inserting him, i- it's really like, to the Jake Taylor decision, right?
It, it's kinda like, okay, well who sits, right?
So y- you're basically looking at like, you're not sitting like one of the top guys like Trey Laclaire, right?
Or, or Steins or King.
Like, you, you're looking at basically Ryan Ambler or Leo Johnson.
I mean, tho- those are the one of the two guys that you're sitting if you insert Tom, Tom Schreiber back in.
You know, th- so it's like, well, risk versus reward.
Like, if Tom Schreiber is your fourth midfielder, is, is it worth it?
A- and to me, that is an unequivocal yes, right?
So what he is potentially able to do versus an Ambler or Leo Johnson, I, I think that risk is worth it.
And then I, I think the other part of it is, like, the, to the rest versus Russ, like, they're not on like some sort of role.
It's not like the Archers have been like winning game after game, week after week, and had this like mojo.
They haven't- Like the Cavs played in a month.
Right?
Cavs.
They haven't played in a month.
So it's like, why not?
Like, if no one's played in a month, what's the difference between a month or a year?
Let's be rusty together.
Yeah, let's all be rusty.
Let's be rusty together.
A- and then I think the other thing to consider is like, a- and again, there's a little bit of like a Matt Campbell/Tom Schreiber kinda corollary here, but like, if you're Tom Schreiber and you get, you get put in, does he draw the pole?
Like, i- if you're Denver, do you put the poll on him?
Because if, if you're like, "Out of respect, we kinda have to start there," well, now you're looking at Trey Laclaire getting a short stick, right?
There's a trickle-down effect when it comes to the match-ups.
So I, I think if Tom Schreiber's healthy, the risk reward proposition, y- you kinda ha- have to, to go with it based off of all the factors that we just kinda laid out.
So yeah.
So listen, if it's To- Tom, you gotta play Tom Schreiber, number one.
He's, you know, my opinion, probably the second or third best middie of all time.
Gary Gates number one.
To me, that's just a no-brainer for all those out there that wanna know the goalie's opinion on who's this and who's that.
But all of a sudden, Tom Schreiber, right?
He kind of comes out there and he has to play.
He takes the ball.
And if, and if it's going to be a decision between Ambler and Leo Johnson, I'm s- I, like, I've known Chris Bates and the whole Princeton thing, and it's gonna be Leo Johnson not playing, right?
Like Ambler and, and, um- Yeah and Schreiber and Coach Bates have a great, great correlation with each other.
So it's, it, and then it's the whole trickledown effect.
Like you said, like, I think you gotta pole Schreiber.
He's a righty, right?
To me, that's the key to all of, all of Utah's offense, right, is their righties.
And then, like nobody--To your point, nobody's played for a month, right?
They've been practicing a little bit.
Let's, let's get them in there.
There hasn't been this, it, th- there's no problem of like a collapse.
Yup.
It's a no-brainer that he plays.
Leo Johnson, sorry, you're out.
And we'll see what happens.
But there will be a little bit of rust I think of, of And, and maybe it's not like rust, it's just like a quarter- Yeah .
Of, hey, we haven't played in a while, we got this new guy, Tom Schreiber, on our team.
You know, how does he fit in with the whole thing?
So maybe just like a quick quarter of what are we doing here, and then I, I feel like they'll probably pick it up after that a little bit.
A- and then I think on top of that, you look at kind of A- Ambler and Johnson, right?
Like, like you're looking at them at maybe a point or two k- kind of per game, right, in terms of your expectations.
So can Schreiber match, match that?
That, I mean, that's, in terms of managing expectations, like- The, it's not for him to come in and be Superman and be that number one midfielder.
Like, he's really replacing your fourth guy.
So can he get you In terms of kinda apples to apples, all he really needs to do from a production standpoint is have a point or two- One, one point or two One, one point or two, like, and then is he capable beyond that?
And, and I, that's where I think this decision just screams kind of y- yes, full throttle, like of course, like, let's go forward with this.
And the turnovers too, you know, like that's a little bit, when you haven't played for that long, right, you start forcing some passes.
Tom Schreiber is the best passing midfielder of all time.
I don't think that's even a question.
But he hasn't played in two years, so maybe do you start forcing some of those things, and you know, so I think he'd be more of a passer- Yeah coming out there, so I can see him having one or two assists.
I just hope he doesn't have four turnovers.
Yeah, it's- You know what I mean?
Trying, trying to get those two assists.
Doc, one quick follow-up on the rest versus rust situation 'cause you said last week that you believe momentum is real heading into the playoffs, and then we saw that play out with the Whipsnakes and the Boston Cannons.
Now flipping it to Denver versus Utah, we mentioned Utah, a month off.
Their last game against the Carolina Chaos, August 7th.
They'll be playing again on September 7th.
Do you have more faith in the Denver Outlaws considering they've been playing and they've kind of found their rhythm?
Like, what's your feeling going into the game between the two teams?
Yes.
Okay.
Yes, absolutely.
So I, I, it's weird for me because I never was been i- we, we were never in this situation, right?
I don't know what it's like to not play for a month.
Like, they've practiced a couple times, I've seen some stuff up here in Philly where they've been practicing.
But you, you really don't know, and, and like, it's like watching like the baseball playoffs, right?
Like c- you find that team that's, that has that four days off so they can rest, then they get their number one pitcher, but all of a sudden they, they're playing this team that has to win three games- in a row, right?
And they just scrap it out and they find ways to win, and all of a sudden, like they come in versus the rested team versus the team that's kinda figured out.
Now I, I haven't, I'm not totally confident that Denver has figured everything out, right?
That they're coming in there on complete momentum.
I th- I still think their defense is, is gonna have a hard time matching up with, with their offense.
But offensively man, they, they can put up, you know, a 14 bagger, but at the same time, what defense would you expect them not to do that against?
And it's Utah, you know what I mean?
So I don't know.
It's a tough question, but yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm not super excited to be playing, you know, Denver right now if I'm Utah or definitely not.
Well, back, back in, back in week 10, Denver put up 11, and, and that's a generous 11.
Pat Cavanaugh hit a two pointer with like 20 seconds till left to go, right?
So it's really like in essence they scored ni- they score, they scored nine, right?
So I, I, I think for, for me looking at Denver, it's more of offensively going against this vaunted Archers 'Cause I'm not worried about the Archers defense not playing, right?
It's more of the offensive chemistry kinda being in sync.
So I, I think Denver, and, and you look at kind of the, the war of attrition that they had, you know, i- in Minneapolis dealing with that humidity and heat, I, I would like to see them against Utah.
A- and Doc, you might think I'm crazy here.
I, I, I wanna start to tinker with my lineup pretty significantly.
I, and what I mean by that is I don't want to trot out kind of O'Neill, Wisniewski, and Cavanagh, and Bernhard at midfield and just expect for the outcome to be any different than it was back in week 10.
I, I think you need to be a little bit more creative.
I, I would like to see them play O'Neill more out of the box.
I, I wanna get him off of that Brendan Lavelle match up.
I, I, I, I think you look at Tony Resch as defensive coordinator with Utah, and like he, Doc, we know this, he likes to play his close guys close, and he likes to play his LSM and his short sticks up top and trust the system.
And so wha- I, I wanna throw them a curve ball.
I, I wanna challenge that as much as I possibly can.
So I would actually put Wisniewski at attack, I'd put Taylor at attack, right, two off-ball guys.
And then- Run Bernhardt and O'Neill at midfield?
Correct.
Wow.
Yes.
And I, I wanna play Bernhardt and O'Neill at midfield, an- and in essence, one of them is gonna get a short stick, and I'll pull that thread even f- even further.
I w- I would tinker, I would potentially also look at running Cavanagh outta the box and putting Dalton Young at attack. . An- That's wild.
I love it.
I love it, dude.
And I wou- I love it and it, okay, you wanna play your close at close and you wanna play your rope unit up top, fine.
How would you like to match up with O'Neill, Bernhardt, and Cavanagh all coming out of the box?
Because the interchangeability, we've seen Dalton Young fill in for Pat Cavanagh on attack, right?
We've seen Jake Taylor play attack and midfield, Wisniewski play attack and midfield.
Play- The only problem though- Please the only problem I see is, is the, the substitution- Transition is the transition.
The- Agreed Denver will get absolutely killed in transition, right?
Fair.
Tr- all three of those guys, you gotta practice that stuff.
You know, if I'm gonna run all these guys outta here, how are we getting them off the field?
And then that- So I, I- is kind of what Utah is known for, right?
I have two counters.
Their drafting Go, hit me.
I've t- I have two counters.
Number one, m- my legendary offensive coordinator Dave Metzbauer always used to said, "You don't have to worry about transition if the ball's in the back of the net."
So that's one, okay?
That's one.
Two is don't they have the exact same issue if they've got Dalton Young up top?
Yeah, and you saw what happened to them in the fourth quarter.
How many, how many substitution fouls did Denver have last week?
Or like offsides, trying to get back.
I think they had three in the fourth quarter.
Fair.
Right?
'Cause that's when they were running around out there.
They had Taylor playing middie, they had this guy, all due to cramps, right?
Not because of Just because you run Bernhardt, Cavanaugh and O'Neill out of the box versus Dalton, Young, right, Wiznauskas or Taylor, like you're dealing, y- y- you're dealing with the exact same issues in terms of getting back in transition and the sub game.
Like I, I, I, I don't know if one necessarily affords you like a cleaner sub or better transition defense than the other.
Like is Jake Taylor, if he gets trapped on defense, is he that much better than Brendan O'Neill if he gets trapped on defense?
No, not at all.
It's just more like clicking.
Like, like Pat Cavanagh has never had When's the last time he's had to think about going over to midfield?
You know what I mean?
Same thing with Brendan O'Neill, right?
They, the ball gets turned over and there's that two second gap where they're like, "Oh boy, I gotta ride now as an attack man."
"Let me just put my stick up.
Oh, oh God, I'm a middie," you know?
And - Yeah like all of a sudden they're running, running down there.
It's more about g- getting the guys on one side of the box, right?
Whoever's over there, all three of you get off.
We're conceding the ride, right?
And it doesn't matter, we just count the other three guys that are in the middle or away from the box.
So there's ways to do it for sure.
These are prefess- professional lacrosse players.
They've probably been in all those situations.
And I don't hate doing some things.
But then what are you saying to Brendan O'Neill?
Are you saying that you can't Like, don't you want to be like Brendan O'Neill?
This guy has owned you the last two times.
Why don't you come up there and be the generational dude that you are and just go stick it to Kevin.
Put a seven bagger up on Kevin, on this Lavelle guy, you know?
So I, y- there's two types of thoughts, you know?
I could s- I know, it's totally, it's a sales pitch.
It's basically like, and I'm not saying that necessarily do you have to do this strategy the whole game- Right .
But I'm just saying at, at times it's like, hey, we're gonna throw you outta the box and throw a wrinkle at them, you know, to, to, to basically see if they kinda, kinda react accordingly or just give you an advantageous matchup such that you can still be Brendan O'Neill and you can have your six bagger or seven bagger, whatever.
Just something's gonna be against Brennan Lavelle- I w- and something's gonna be against a short stick.
I would, I would play a, a, a tailored attack for sure, because then you put Tony Rash in the situation to where, do I bump somebody up and double pole up there and shore it down there?
He's not going to.
Right.
I don't think he will.
No.
So now you got, now you're freeing somebody up by putting a, a pole on Taylor and, you know, I think that's the move, right?
And I, I don't agree with maybe all three of them, like you said, but I think him for sure, I would put him on attack and free somebody up.
Last week Boyle was bloodthirsty vacationer.
This week he's mad scientist- offensive coordinator.
I don't wanna- You wanted, you wanted, you woke up choosing violence.
Yeah.
I got one last question, on this one, and it's been a question that we've bumped, every week we, we keep talking about this, but, it's Logan McNaney.
He's been in and out of the lineup since July.
We know what Brett Dobson's gonna bring in this game.
He's a lock to win goal of the year.
He's got a case for MVP, and he's already one of the most accomplished playoff goalies of all time.
But did m- did McNaney do enough to show you in the quarterfinals to give you faith that he's, he can go toe-to-toe with Dobson in this game?
Yes.
He looked pretty good, Doc.
He looked pretty good.
Yeah, yeah.
He looked fine.
And then again, so I would, I'm not privy to what was happening.
Something was wrong with him all year- Yep whether it was hurt, I don't know.
I don't know if it was upper body, lower body.
But you know, last week he was 52%, something like that, 53%.
Yeah.
So he was one save over, the amount of goals that he gi- he gave up.
But, you know, he looked good.
He, he was catching the ball.
He was starting some transition.
And now you get into the big game where he's got a little bit of confidence back.
So yeah, it, like he did enough for me that he can jump in there.
I'm just worried about his defense a little bit.
I'm worried about- Yeah the Manly JT G- JT and who's the other one?
Ben Randall.
Yeah.
I'm, I'm, I'm worried about those guys a little bit more than I am McNaney right now.
You know, that 52%, Doc, just to kind of build on that, you know, 73% of his saves were clean, which is cr- just a crazy, crazy- And he's just back to, back to himself a little bit.
My, my biggest issue was sometimes his decision-making outside of the cage.
He only had two turnovers, and both were, like, pretty big turnovers.
Those weren't kind of like ho-hum turnovers.
So I think that's the area that just in jus- decision making he needs, he needs to cleanup.
But yeah, I mean, you look at the back half of the regular season, if we're gonna kind of toss out week 13 where they're playing their backups, and, and please can I, can I throw out the Atlas game as well?
Defensively they were giving up over 15 scores.
Now this is when McNaney was struggling, you know, a- a- you know, so is it just a matter of having better goalie play, you know?
But they still gave up 14 to Redwoods.
I mean, thank- that's the kind of alarming part is you get this solid game from McNaney and you still give up 14 to, to California, who's been kind of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde offensively.
Now, a big part of that was Dylan Malloy going nuclear, in particular on the power play, but I, I think McNaney showed enough in the quarters that, that he's back to kind of his old self, if you will.
I'm excited for that goalie match up.
Let's flip it to the East.
When the Philadelphia Water Dogs take the field against the Boston Cannons, all eyes will be on number 22 and number 15.
Sowers and Kirst have been the most dynamic duo in the league this season by a pretty wide margin, and as a result, they're the two leading candidates for MVP.
Stopping one of these guys is hard enough, but Boyle, if you're the Cannons, and Doc, what's your defensive game plan for stopping or at least slowing these two guys?
In terms of matchups, I, I, I would go Donovan on, on Sowers, and I would take a little page out of the Adler playbook and I would try to, to, to deny him the ball, just to kind of limit his overall touches.
A- and then I would put Grant on, on Kirst, just in terms of, like, big physical Canadian, has the size to kind of match up.
I think the speed and f- and, and, and foot speed and footwork is a little bit of a question.
You know, off ball, Grant still gives me a little bit of hesitation, but does have that box background, so can kind of match Kirst in terms of understanding where to play, kind of being on more of his stick.
So i- in terms of those two, two key decisions, th- that's how I would kind start things defensively.
The, the only thing that worries me, and I, I agree, I would do the same thing.
I would You know, you have to have a game plan for Michael Sallows, and shading him, which means any time the ball kind of is looking like it's coming behind the goal towards him, I would press out, and then I would come back when the ball's up top.
So kind of making his touches really hard Y- you know, the whole lefty on lefty thing is a thing, right?
Yeah.
So Owen Grant's left-handed, so is Donovan.
One of those guys has to play Kirst who's gonna be coming left-hand, which is gonna force him to kind get a stick over here and play good position.
I think, just size wise, you have to put Owen Grant, on, on, the c- on Kirst and then- Yep you know, take your chances with Donovan.
You know, shading him, getting less touches, playing in the pick game.
I think Donovan might be a little bit, you know, of a smarter, more tactical defenseman, so he, he's gonna be able to get under and play in the pick game a little bit better.
You know, there's no right answer there.
Y- you just gotta stay doing what you've been doing, the Cannons, right?
They've been doing j- just anytime somebody turns their head, we're all go.
Yep.
You know what I mean?
Like, let's push the ball up here.
Let's play.
Let's get back on defense.
I don't think you gotta try to like reinvent the wheel.
It's like, oh, we got these two guys and we'll never be able to guard 'em one on one, so let's try to do this and do that.
Again, you know, like just come out there and do what you've been doing.
You're the hottest team in the league.
You've won seven out of your last eight games, so you're A- and then a bunch of the, like four of your last games, you've been under 11 scores.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
You know?
Like things are going well.
Let's just do our thing, but let's have a little game plan for Michael Sauers.
Are you more worried about one than other?
I'm worried about both.
Uh- I'm worried about both.
No, they're both- They're both, they're both problems.
They're problems.
Like, you know, w- when you, a- as a player, right, we talked about this in terms of who you'd wanna see last week, right?
You're not worried about a guy that's gonna go one and one, one and two, right?
You're, you're Like those guys, you're like, okay.
You're worried about the guys that are gonna be like, "Oh, so and so had six."
Yeah.
Right?
Like, "Oh, so and so had eight," right?
That's Sauers and Kirst.
Like both of them are capable of, of explosions.
Those are the guys that you have to game plan against.
Those are the guys th- that kinda keep you up, make you worried.
Those are the guys that as we, Doc and I call, they're problems, right?
Both of them are problems.
And they're so different, you know?
And they complement each other.
Like Sauers' speed and two handedness is just unlike anybody I've seen, you know?
Like he is just so fast.
He can go this way, he can go that way.
He's, I think we did some stats where he's at this many goals, 10 goals this hand, 10 goals with his left hand, and then you have Kirst who's kind of like the bulldog, you know?
Like he can just kind of get it.
He can run through you.
He can swim around you, push some He's like the c- Incredible Hulk down there just running around, like pushing people off of him.
So, you know, they're, they're so different.
You know?
Like one's so fast, two-handed.
The other one's kind of just all left-handed, but he, you know, he can go from the wing, he can go up top, he can play in picks, he can playoff ball.
It's just, yeah, they're just a tough combination there.
Yeah.
I, I wonder if Kirst is gonna be more of a dodger in this game or feast off ball.
But the Waterdogs finished with the best record in the league, and they may be the favorites to win it all, but last year they had Sauers and Kirst, and they still came up short.
This year the roster got a little bit of a facelift on offense.
They brought in a lot of young talent in the midfield.
RB, how confident are you in the complementary pieces around Philly's two MVP candidates?
Are they ready to step up in a winner go home setting?
I don't know.
Is the- I don't know either is the, I don't know.
But I, I'll tell you why they got 'em, a- and that's because if you flash back to, to last year in, in the playoffs, they had basically zero production from the midfield.
So y- you look at, you know, last year in the quarters, they, they beat the Whipsnakes truly zero.
Like z-, like they had one assist out of the midfield, right?
The, the attack shot 14 for 30, 47%.
Everybody else zero on 11 shots.
Then y- yo- you, then you get to the semifinal, which they lost to the Atlas.
They put up 11.
You know, the attack combined for seven points.
They had a bunch of two pointers from their poles.
The offensive midfield, one goal, one assist.
That one goal was from Zach Currier.
He's the only guy leftover from last year.
That's it.
So a- all, everything else is just a bunch of rookies.
So Lewis, Yago, Collison, Richmond obviously will ho- platoon, you know, between a, a, a, a midfielder and attack with Kieran McArdle.
So t- that to me is, do you get any complimentary scoring?
I, I think, you know, Yago has been the guy that I think in, in terms of has impressed me the most in terms of his ability to win a one on one matchup.
You know, they like to l- invert Lewis.
You know, we'll see what we get there.
Collison kind of your stretch shooter.
But like this is where I, I, I think the rookies, can they step up in this moment?
I, I'm looking at, at Yago a- and then what does McArdle give them out of the box?
A- and then what does Currier in kind of his do it all kind of like He can't get lost on offense, right?
They, they're dressed in three short sticks.
I, I, I need to see the veteran presence Zach Currier a little bit tilted more towards offense this, this game in terms of having that veteran presence.
But like a lot of rookies, Doc.
It's a lot of rookies.
Huh.
Ah.
It's a lot of rookies.
It could go either way.
So look, I can, I could see these guys just going out there playing with their just, that youthfulness, right, where you just go out there and you don't give a rat's ass, as the kids say these days.
Yes.
But- I don't know if, I don't know if the kids say that anymore, but g- This, listen, I, my kid said it yesterday.
Yeah.
I tried, I tried to clean it, I tried to clean it up a little bit.
I tried to clean it up.
But I, I, I also can see them completely laying a dud too.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
Where the moment's just, just pretty big, and you know, they freeze, right?
Like you just freeze out there and everybody kind of just throws it to Sauers and Kirst and they, they watch them do everything, you know?
And that's where it could i- So I could see it going either way.
That's why I told you guys before the show, in, in my history of the, young history of the PLL, these are the two most interesting match ups in the semifinals I've, we've ever seen in my opinion.
There's so many styles and so many things that can go on, such a hot cannons team.
All of a sudden their hot- on defense versus the Whip snakes, and they got all these proven guys on attack.
But who's, their midmies are all so young, like they're all rookies.
You know, they're just four rookie middies that have never played in a semifinal game before.
They could go and totally have three and three or, or they can just go oh-and-oh and, and, and turn the ball over.
So you never know, in these And then it's, you know, they say boxing styles make fights, you know what I mean?
And these styles are so interesting in my opinion.
And just to kind of double down on Doc's point, I mean, look at what the rookies did in the quarterfinals, and, and maybe we can pop something, you know, across the board.
But like just off the top of my head, like Spalena goes goose eggs, right?
Y- you look at Weisser, he had one and one, right?
Regnery had that one goal.
Like, kinda quiet.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like, like just k- like kinda q- kinda quiet.
Like- Rookies tend to defer in these games to the, to the older guys.
But, you know, and they can't, they can't expect Kirst and, and them to do so much.
The ball's gotta go up top and behind.
It can't just stay behind with those guys.
It's gotta go all around the field and, and sharing the ball.
Denver traded two picks to trade up for Evan Plunkett and get him fourth overall.
Guess who didn't play?
The rookie.
And h- and, Right.
A- and like, a- and meanwhile, the guy that they picked up w- w- late in the regular season- Mm-hmm Taylor, did dress.
Mm-hmm.
So, like y- you know, it just It's gonna be interesting, man.
It's gonna be interesting.
I mean, who had the best quarter finals out of all the rookies?
Finn Thompson?
Might have.
Right?
U- undrafted, right?
I m- I mean, offensively, Will Donovan- Right, right, yeah, yeah .
If we're counting the rooki-, defenders, but- Yeah, yeah.
Just offense let's talk Cannons offense really quickly, 'cause kind of like Schreiber coming back for the Archers in the playoffs, the Cannons welcome back Matt Campbell last weekend.
Campbell's the reigning midfielder of the year and a true difference maker when healthy.
But in that first game back against the Whips, he went O for five shooting, zero points, two turnovers.
Can the cannons win this game with Campbell being anything less than the All-Pro level we've come to expect from him?
I don't think he needs to be, like, four and three, right?
But he needs to be better.
He needs, he needs to be productive.
He needs to have, three points, four points.
All right?
Howe- however, however it happens, which is, you know, I don't think he needs eight points.
But i- everything is pointing to a shootout in this game.
An- you know, it's going to be a high scoring game.
Again, who knows what's gonna happen, but that's, that's what, that's what people are kind of predicting.
So I'm just not sure the Cannons can kind of get to that number without having, Matt Campbell be a significant guy in that.
No, they, they need him.
To, to your point, Doc, I, I, I think if you're Cannons, you want this to be a shootout because I think it's gonna b- Ph- Philly's gonna I mean, a- granted, they scored 11 against Maryland in the last week of the regular season, but y- you look at their last kind of five games played, they're averaging 14 scores per game, right?
They, they, their last loss was to the archers 18 to eight, but I don't think Cannons are kind of built that way.
I, I think you need to win a shootout, and, and kind of the recipe for that is, you know, number one is McMeeken, right?
First in faceoff percentage at 63%, end points at 9%.
He did not have a great game, you know, in the quarters, 47% and, a- and no points, so credit Maryland for taking that away.
But he needs to have a big one, right?
The other thing is two pointers, right?
Burns gave up five, in terms of, like, averaged about, like, .7 per game.
I mean, it was, he had, because he was in and out of the lineup.
That'd be third most among starters.
Cannon's obviously one of the tops ar- a- around the league in terms of 13, i- in the f- in the, in the, in the regular season.
And then the turnovers, you know, whip snakes, or excuse me, water dogs, you know, right around 16, tied for second fewest.
Boston caused eight turnovers per game, which was first.
They had 13 against the whips in the quarter.
Like, they need to, they need to get this up and down.
I think you wanna turn this into a track meet, kind of getting up and down.
Hopefully lean on McMeekin.
Can he have success against Stathakis, and can you get, generate things off of th- that?
And, and then bald denial on Sours, right?
Press out there.
Y- you wanna try to create a absolute mess of a game here.
Yeah, so e- I'll finish with this.
So in these types of game, even though it's may be a shootout, right?
We're gonna have the Sean Byrne versus Higginbotham game.
Okay?
Who would have thought that?
And it's gonna be with whoever, you know, I think whoever's goalie has a higher save percentage is gonna win.
Right?
So if somebody's 58% and somebody's 52%, God forbid, if somebody's under 50%, right, they're, they're gonna lose, so, I think it's gonna be- So you're saying the MV- the MV- the, the, the Hall of Fame MVP goalie thinks the game's gonna come down to goalie plays?
Weird.
Weird how that works, right?
It's weird.
Also, Doc, I'm surprised.
I, I thought you were on a first name basis with JC.
Uh- No, it's, I found it more fun to say Higginbotham.
Yes.
Right?
It just rolls right off the tongue.
Real last question, real last question here.
Gavin Adler, one of the best shutdown denial defenders.
Who are you trying to take out of the game with Gavin Adler?
Ooh.
Ah, it's a good question, 'cause, you know, he doesn't typically play kind of off-ball guys in terms of Holman.
Mm-hmm.
You know, I, you know, and then you got the lefty on lefty with, with, with Colter Mackesy, which isn't kind of ideal.
And then so that naturally you kind of look at, like, okay, Brian Kelly, but, like, that's not where I would start things, right?
Do c- That's, that's who the Cannons want them to try to take away.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So last week, you could look at it what happened last week, right?
Ajax and Gavin Adler are similar players, right?
Like they, they're kind of like press out one-on-one guys, win their matchups.
He covered Kelly both times against them.
I, I tell you what, I think they run around Colt Mackesy, so, I would try to take Adler and, and take him out of the game, and I feel like- Yep if I could take him outta the game, and I can get rid of that lefty kind of two-man game that they run over there and kind of do that and But then, you know, those guys playing the wing, he's used to playing guys behind the goal, and that's where Kelly sits.
So it's gonna be interesting to see what they do.
I would put him on Mackesy.
Yeah, I think you go Adler on Colter Mackesy.
N- I know Colton- With an I, sorry Colton.
I think I might have actually called him Colton in the breakdown booth.
I think when Tur- Colter.
I, I was having marbles in my mouth at that point.
Yeah.
But yeah, I think you go Adler on Macke- I know kids have just, just like Ry- What happened to Ryan, Joe- Nice and Brian- Nothing and Kevin?
You know?
Like it's- Or, or Brendan.
I'm looking forward to Kevin Lavelle's comeback in this game, by the way, but.
You go Adler, Adler on Mackesy.
Ugh, Brendan Lavelle.
Geez, we could ha- we could go overnight.
B- A- And then you go Brauer, Brauer on Kelly, and then I think you do an air traffic controller, and they rotate Staub, Hudgins, and, and Freehill.
You probably look at either Staub or Freehill on, on, on Holman.
All right.
Well, we are so close to another PLL championship.
After this weekend, we'll know the championship matchup.
Both semi-final games from Zions Bank Stadium in Salt Lake City are on Monday, Labor Day, September 7th.
The Denver Outlaws and Utah Archers play first at 3:00 PM Eastern.
That game will be televised on ESPN2.
The Boston Cannons and Philadelphia Water Dogs will follow that game at 5:30 on ESPN+.
Both games will be available to stream inside the ESPN app.
We'll be watching.
You better be too.
For the hall of famers, Ryan Boyle and Bryan Docherty, our producers Jake Gould and Nate Allen, and the rest of the PLL production team that helps make this show happen, I'm Kevin Boiler from the Lacrosse Network saying thank you for watching this episode of Freeze It Right Here.
Freeze it right here.
Freeze it right here.
Freeze it right here.
