Are the Denver Outlaws the best team in the PLL? | Freeze It Right Here, Episode 6
Are the Denver Outlaws the best team in the PLL? | Freeze It Right Here, Episode 6
Video Transcript
Leaping, leaping in front, and then this is why we love you finish the play.
Let the bodies hit the floor, and you're just like, "Ar!"
Like Happy Gilmore when he just takes the, the shot and he's like, "Ar!"
364 more days to the next hockey season.
Yeah, I get it, but when can I start rubbing it?
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 Bullard from the Lacrosse Network, and I'm joined as always by two Hall of Famers, Ryan Boyle and Brian Dougherty.
On today's episode, we're gonna start by breaking down the new number one defense in the PLL, the Denver Outlaws.
Doc, the Outlaws clamped down on Maryland to beat the Whipsnakes 13 to seven last weekend.
I'm gonna give you a chance to go on the record.
Is Denver the best team in the PLL heading into the All-Star weekend?
Kevin, I, I'm gonna say it right now, it's July 1st, 2026, I think the Denver Outlaws by far are the best team in the PLL.
And, yes, I said it.
I'm not afraid to say it.
Anybody that knows me, I'm not really scared.
So, they have the, the, the best goal not the best goalie, but they're, they're strong in every category.
They have no weaknesses.
Face-off, defense, clean save percentage, however many Tour Town winners they have.
it, it, you know, long stick, middie, close D, there, there's no weaknesses out there.
So, yes, they're, they're, they're gonna win the championship and they're the best team.
Heard it here first.
I, I don't think anyone who watches this to- show thought you were scared to say anything, Doc.
But after we're done with Denver's defense, we're gonna take a closer look at the Boston Cannons, in particular, an under the radar offensive contributor who helped them snap a three game losing streak this weekend.
Boyle, have we discovered Boston's secret weapon on offense?
I- this is a litmus test.
We're talking about Denver's defense, not the four Tour Town winners, Denver's number one defense, and then Gradin Hogg.
Yes, Gradin Hogg, who is a masterful picker and has really unlocked, I think, the key new pieces to Boston offensively, most notably, Colter Mackesy and Brian Kelly at attack.
Yep, ball knowers only this episode, but let's start.
We'll dive into Denver's defense.
The Outlaws opened the weekend on ESPN against Whipsnakes in San Diego.
All eyes were on this match up.
You had Rob Pannell chasing the points record, Joey Spalina building a potential Rookie of the Year campaign, and for the most part, the Outlaws held them in check, holding the Whips to a season low seven goals.
Outlaws' goalie Logan McNaney had his best game of the season, finishing with 15 saves, eight of them were clean.
But it was the connectedness of that Denver defense in front of him that allowed for such a performance.
Boyle, get us started with a good example of Denver's team defense.
Yeah, so Maryland, you think of them and can they win a one-on-one match up, and you knew they were gonna struggle in that area, so they needed two-man games to try to change the match ups.
And I, and I loved Denver's offen- defensive approach to the pick game.
And, you know, they had a shaky start, giving up some two goals that you had to question their decision-making, but as they got into pick play, I loved how aggressive they approached things.
So as we roll the first clip here, you know, we're gonna be seeing how aggressive they play this.
So you see Ryan Terefenko on ball, JT Giles here.
So Maryland is setting up a pass down, pick down, with a big little.
One short stick, one long pole.
So you get this pass down to Joey Spalina.
Here comes the pick.
Denver goes the dog.
They go hard hedge and they go double team.
So Joey Spalina naturally thinks, "Oh, well, obviously I'm gonna have this throwback."
He's got his whole head upfield.
His eyes are upfield.
He does not see Mike Manly.
Boom, the rotation there causes the turnover.
Logan McNaney comes out of cage.
Doc, I love how aggressive Denver played this defensively.
Yeah, so Den- Denver's doing a good job.
They, yeah, so team defense, when you play a pick, it, there's a thousand different ways to do it, right?
Not a thousand, but there's a bunch of different ways to do it.
Switching, soft hedges, hard hedges, rolls, no rolls.
But as long as seven guys, including the goalie, are all on the same page, right?
That's when you become a very good team defense.
So right now we get a blitz on the thing.
We double team, get the ball out of Joey Spalina's hands, and like you said, he's like, "Oh, I'm just gonna throw it there."
Here comes the hard, the hard roll guy with Manly, who's, you know, just, like, thinking that he's taking down a, a, a guy in the streets of New York City or whatever he does out there.
And then what I really love is Manly, or is, Logan McNaney just popping out of the goal, being an athlete, right?
Just coming out there, making that next play.
Seven guys connected, right?
We get the double team.
You get Manly coming out there, slapping the cuffs on somebody right there.
Then we get McNaney scooping up the garbage, right, for a turnover right there.
That's a, that's a turnover.
One last opportunity for, for the Whips to score.
One more opportunity for the Outlaws.
A- and as we roll this ne- next clip, you could see this was a clear part of their game plan, and, and what I love about it is you see teams in these big littles enable, allow the switch, and then, like, have to react afterwards.
And Denver, instead of sitting back on their heels, they're like, "No, no, no, no.
We're gonna be the aggressor here.
We're gonna dictate the pace.
We're gonna dictate the tempo.
We're gonna dictate the physicality."
Same exact action, inside out pick.
You get the hard hedge, the double team.
At, in this case, Brandau thinks he's got the throwback, and then again, boom.
I mean, this is the stuff defensemen dream of.
This is awesome to watch.
This is Manly's dre- I mean, this is If, if you're a defenseman, this is a dream package.
It's like tee up and just lower the boom.
That's Manley again.
So like, he's obviously sitting there playing the guy at X, just sitting there kind of like, you know- Waiting waiting, waiting for the throwback.
Like, "Hmm, is he gonna do it again?"
And when, when you go to the middle right there, that's the only guy that can help.
So if you double team the ball and he pops, to the, to the wing for a shot, there's nobody that can help from the crease or even the backside, so it has to be that X defenseman.
It's a very hard concept.
and then offensively, you have to be able to catch that, see it coming, and throw it to X right away.
Then you might get some, some advantages and maybe get some numbers, but not when Mike Manley's out there.
He's sitting there, you know, counting the, counting there, sitting there, waiting there.
He throws it back, boom, he lays the hammer again.
Picks up the ground ball, another turnover.
You know, moving forward, I, I think if you're scouting Denver now, you've got to be mindful of, like, that, that rotation and, and like you said, throwing the skip through the guy to X, or you could bang it across and then let him throw the skip.
But it, the, it, it's so hard because this is, like, such a fast pace.
You got two guys on the double team.
You're getting harassed.
So like, it's really hard on, on Brandau and Spalena in those scenarios to make that decision with just, like, that, that converging double team all over you.
Yeah, so I think it's the guy that's, that's kind of fading, right?
He's fading for a shot, which he's used to getting, right?
When they double team the ball, he's trying to kind of get into about 12 yards, be ready for a shot.
If you can pop that out to, like, 15 yards, a little past the two-point line, make Manley slide a little longer, then bang the ball to X, I think you can be in business as we kind of move there.
But you, like you said, it's so fast, right?
Those, those decisions happen in milliseconds right there, and you know, it's just good, aggressive, hard defense from, from them.
Again, everybody's on the same page.
That's what team defense is.
It doesn't matter how you do it.
As long as all seven guys are on the same page, it, it's fun to watch.
Yeah, and as we go to this next clip, there's a lot for them to navigate, and there's, like, a breakdown here and there, but to your point of connectiveness, you know, I thought they were on the same page for the most part.
I love just this, this easy ball denial, right?
You just see Manley going out, denying this transfer.
Doesn't seem like a lot, but it eats up valuable seconds and now it puts Rob Pannell in a situation where he's on the crease and Malone at X.
Yes, they're interchangeable, but you know based off what they're about to run, they wish they had Malone there.
So we got a one-four-one double mambo.
Hold it for a second here.
Freeze it right here.
We've got the two wings.
They're coming in to set picks for the inside guys, who are then curling out on the perimeter.
So this is a classic one-four-one double mambo.
We've seen this since middle school.
You're gonna see on the right side, Denver stays on their match-ups.
On the left side, they switch it because Randall, or Manley inside is mindful of maybe help.
So they switch on the left side.
That gives now Maryland an advantageous match-up.
You got Rob Pannell on a short stick.
What does Denver do?
We support.
We're, we're gonna support that match-up.
We slide on the roll back, right?
Now we got stick on hands.
The throwback, how about this?
How about this effort, leaping, leaping in front.
And then this is why we love to finish the play.
Let the bodies hit the floor, right?
Doc, as a goalie- If there's a ground ball- Awesome if there's a ground ball in the crease, I want that guy murdered.
I want that guy crushed.
I want that.
I don't care if there's a loose ball.
Push.
I don't care if they retain.
I want that guy to next time be like, "I don't know if I want to pick this up."
Yes.
I, I was a big believer in that.
Even if it's a penalty, I don't care, right?
Like, you want to set the tone out there.
You want to make sure that people don't feel comfortable going into that area.
The next time he goes into that area, I don't know, but that whole clip was just vintage Denver a- defense right there.
You get the hard double team.
You get the guy eating the shot.
You get everybody kind of down there.
And the, you know, as far as the mambo, you know, I don't, I don't know.
First of all, I want to know who created the word mambo.
Like, why do we even say mambo?
Like, I, I, I mean, I think we all know what it is.
Yeah.
But when you run a mambo, you got to attack with a short stick up top.
Like, they were attacking a long stick out there.
There's really no reason to even slide.
You're trying to generate a slide from the whip stakes there.
So they do a good job of not having to slide because they have a pole on it.
You're not really dodging to score, you're dodging to kind of set up the mambo.
and so, but it was just good recognition.
Again, everybody on the same page.
They're dialed in.
They're eating shots.
If I'm Logan McNaney, I am hyping the boys up after that possession, just screaming, "Yeah!
Woo!"
As loud as I possibly can, just getting them all hyped up, and- It's not really McNaney's style.
Not really McNaney's style, right?
Like, he's probably, "Good job."
Or maybe he's just sitting back there going, "Great job, guys."
"Great job, guys.
Hey, good, good, good job."
Hey.
"Good job.
Good job."
Great job, guys.
"Good team win."
Way to be aggressive.
Yeah.
But it's, it's the effort here.
It's the attention to detail.
Yes.
Right?
It's the attention to detail, and it's the effort, right?
This is just a complete sellout.
This is all hustle, and then- That was like the cha- who was the chaos guy that used to do that all the time, the short stick?
Gassini.
Gassini was- Mark Gassini my favorite guy to watch.
Dude, he just, he, he needed, like, bulletproof vest when he was in there.
I felt bad for him, like he was gonna take one in the lungs, right?
Or like, the, the kidney or something.
But those guys are crazy, jumping through the shots like that.
As a goalie, I love that because now somebody else is feeling my pain, right?
Like, somebody else is willing to kind of do Like, we always say as a goalie, "Hey, you want to jump in there?"
And everybody's like, "No, no, no, I'm not crazy."
You know?
But these guys jumping in front of shots, right now they're e- they're, they're my boys, right?
They're feeling my pain out there and, you know, for me, I'm getting, I'm getting really hyped for those guys.
I do try to make an effort on the broadcast of making sure that when guys get hit and they don't rub it, to make sure that I point out that, when they don't rub it.
So I, I, I try to make sure to, to give a little nod to those guys.
So, um- But why, why, why do we say that?
Why, what's wrong with rubbing?
I thi- I think it's a point of pride.
It's a point of pride that you eat a shot and you're just like, "Ar," you know, like- When the ball goes down the field- Like, like- Like, when can I start rubbing it?
Like Ha- like Happy Gilmore when he's hitting- When, when, when do we start rubbing it?
the softball.
Like Ha- like Happy Gilmore when he just takes the s- the shot- Yeah he's like, "Ar."
That's like- 364 more days to the next hockey season.
Yeah, I get it, but when can I start rubbing it?
Like, is it a timeout?
Is it two minutes later?
Is it when the ball goes down the other end?
No.
That's what I never understood.
You gotta No.
You gotta- Or do you just never rub it?
Shower.
No.
You just gotta- I gotta go to the game you just gotta internalize it.
Yeah, yeah.
You just gotta internalize it, you know?
Okay.
So, so- So if I'm getting, if I'm taking one at like 99 in the clavicle, right?
Like, like I just can't rub that, right?
Like I can't just go- I think you're in- I think you're injured at that point.
I think you have- I think you have a broken collarbone is the, is the answer to that question.
A- as long as the broadcast cameras don't catch it.
We've got one more clip to show on the Denver defense, and you know, you mentioned the Denver offense and those two or ten, four.
Hey, they create some offense with their defense.
Let's show some transition.
Yeah, this is Outlaws a- at their best, and, and frankly, you know, not a highlight show, but I felt like we needed at least a highlight that can connect the, the connective tissue between their defense and offense.
So here you're gonna see Marilyn coming down in transition.
Maybe they don't, maybe they have numbers.
And @Denver does a good job of working inside out here.
So you're gonna see Pacino kind of work inside out.
Check that crease guy.
You can see the short stick split in two up top, that defender from the right side kind of getting in.
So they match up, they find body.
So e- right now we're five on five, and it's just like, we get a challenge.
Sure, let the rookie take a two pointer.
That's the easiest save McNaney's had in a while.
I love the effort here by Terefenko.
Look at that head down, sprint ahead, right?
They've got a four on two.
This is pitch and catch.
I mean, this is one of the easiest goals Pat Kavanagh's had in his, in his pro career.
But the effort by Terefenko to sprint up field, and, and actually Marilyn was subbing on this play, so it was a really ill-advised shot.
And then you've got to respect Pacino.
We've showed that obviously on this show.
And, and Kavanagh just a nice little kind of backdoor cut behind his defender.
I mean, that's This is Denver, right?
To Doc's point of why they're the best team right now, this is, this is the, the, the kind of nightmare scenario if you're the, if you're their opponent.
So I have, I have two things on that point.
First of all, great job matching up.
This is a tough match up, right?
You don't know exactly where it is.
Is it a five on four?
It's a five on five.
It's clearly five on, on five at, at, you know, as we're looking at it on the breakdown.
The top two guys do a good job.
A lot of times both of them would go to the ball.
See how they almost went both to the ball, right?
Which would have left up a wide open two, but they recognize it, clean, safe.
But here's what I don't know.
Like what is the right play here?
So- I don't kn- like I love Terefenko's hustle there, but I think what I'm teaching in the high school, I want that guy out of the play.
Like do I want a four on two, or do Like I, I really just want a three on two.
Like I'm to- like I think the fourth guy messes it up.
I, I don't think that he knew that there was only two defenders.
Right.
So I, I, I think in his head- With him running so hard, right, it sucks everybody in, cutting the crease like that.
Kind of like that old indoor philosophy where if you just cut the crease, right, you cr- create some contact, and that, that kind of frees up Kavanagh on the wing just, just to get like a little bit more space.
As that lead man, you're trained to crash the crease, right?
Right.
You're trained to crash the crease because then it sucks in the defense and opens up the perimeter, or if no one covers you, you're wide open.
So I think he was just basically sticking to that principle.
He probably was like, "Wait, where is everybody?"
Like, "Where, where, where are all the Maryland defenders?"
Like, "Where did they go?"
and that's why that shot was so ill-advised on the other end by Dwan, is because they were actually still in their sub game.
It was ambitious, let's say.
Yeah.
ambitious, and like, I mean, the, like McNaney was just like, "Okay, thank you."
Yeah.
Like, like it was- Nice go Dwan.
You gotta, you gotta do better than that.
That is a muffin.
That is a muffin ball- Lollipop- straight to Terefenko popcorn.
Like, yeah.
Ah, whatever you wanna call it.
I don't know h- I hope your stick got checked or something right at the end there, because we gotta do a better job of that.
But yeah, so you just That shows their whole thing, right?
Clean save, transition, Terefenko, best D midi in the league.
You, boom, you throw it up to the three two Ortons in tr- in transition.
I mean, that shows, that clip right there shows why I think on July 1st that they are the best team and they're gonna win the PLL championship.
Sprint- sprinting down, with a full barrel of steam is you got the, the reigning LSM of the year, reigning short stick defensive mid for the year, and then two Twerton winners.
Like, good luck.
Like, you might as well just put it up on the scoreboard.
Once McNaney made that save, it's like just- Yeah you know, it's just, just doop All season long up to this point, the Utah Archers had the top-ranked defense in the PLL, but by holding the Whipsnakes to seven this past week, and the Outlaws now leap the Archers and take the number one ranking with an average of 9.4 scores allowed per game heading into All-Star Weekend.
With that defense, a Twarton, winners on offense, plus the added motivation of coming so close last year but ultimately falling in the championship, I think the Outlaws are gonna be a tough team to contend with in the second half of the season.
But the Boston Cannons, on the other hand, are a completely different situation.
At two and four and last place in the current PLL standings, who knows if they'll even be relevant in the second half of the season?
But this week their backs were up against the wall, and they ended up winning a game, pulling out a 15 to 12 win over the Redwoods in San Diego.
Coulter Mackesy, who's tied for the league lead with 20 points, led the way with six against the Woods.
Brian Kelly was right behind him with five points, and while we're about to break down one of Kelly's goals, he's not the primary focus of this clip.
Boyle, show us how Grayden Hogg- That's right made this play happen.
Grayden Hogg, that's right.
So, you know- It's your moment, Grayden Hogg.
So just, you think about league-wide, right, and just how important the pick game is.
A- a- and all these clips that we just showed on Denver, their pick defense was a critical part.
We, last week's episode, we, we talked about the short list of guys that can win a one-on-one against the pole.
So it's all about pick game and changing the match-ups.
And, and Grayden Hogg did a masterful job in, in the pick game.
And, and frankly, like, he is to the Boston Cannons what Reed Bowering was to the New York Atlas in terms of unlocking Teats game, making Shelley's live- life a lot easier.
So I think Hogg has the same potential, you know, for this Cannons offense, and I think he's gonna be in the lineup on a consistent basis if he continues to deliver these pick assists.
That's right, Doc, pick assists.
So you look at- Is it the new stat line?
Are we, are we creating a new stat line out here, the pick assist?
It's, it's sp- it's like a, an advanced stat that gets fl- you know, kind of- floated out a little bit.
But, but, you know, we're gonna, we're gonna show how you kind of tip your cap.
He doesn't get credit with anything, but he's the key to success.
So you're gonna see, you got a, a big little, right?
You got Te- Tevlin on Grayden Hogg, Matt Wright on Brian Kelly, right?
So we're setting up this pick.
What I love about this is, at this point, he realizes, "Wait a second.
I, I'm outside the play.
I, I, I This is not a good position.
I'm not in a good stance.
I'm gonna reset myself.
I'm gonna reset myself."
And now in doing so, I have actually sealed kind of both guys.
You see that late switch by Tevlin.
He gets a piece of Matt Wright, and now Hogg goes, "Okay, now we've got the advantageous match-up.
Now I'm in a mirror situation.
Now I'm gonna get through, and now I'm mirroring."
So Brian Kelly goes underneath.
I mirror back.
I take the slide guy in a really tough position, and now I create space for Brian Kelly to cook.
Yeah, so I, I really like how, you know, you, you, you, you nailed the whole, part of the pick game, kind of reestablishing himself.
but the really smart thing to do is to kind of, y- you called it a mirroring, but it's really just getting out of there so they can't switch back.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
A lot of times w- you'll just kind of run through the middle, and they'll be able to kind of switch back right here.
But he does a really good job of looping all the way down through the crease, really getting out of there.
Now he can't go.
Now if you're the 51, you have to kind of go, a- and make that decision much, much, faster.
But it, it was, you know, it's a great play.
It, it, it's, we, we talked again for weeks about giving away free picks.
That is a great Sometimes they're just really good picks- Exactly that you have to switch on.
Exactly.
Right?
That, and, and, and, but not as, you know, there's not as many as you think, right?
In the course of a game, there's maybe five really good picks, you know, maybe four.
Maybe there's 20 total picks, and there only a quarter of them or half or, you know, maybe 10% of them are really good picks that you have to switch on.
You know, this was one of them, and he, actually I think he ends up with like three of them.
He, yeah, that's the, that's the first of, of three.
You know, so he, he obviously set that pick for Kelly.
His more natural habitat is on this left side.
So again, big little, Brian Tevlin covering Hogg.
Yeah, Cullen Brown, and then here is this little slip.
So you're just gonna act like he's setting the pick, and that the moment the defense is deciding what to do, whoop, I'm just gonna slide right through that.
You could see Tevlin try to step out, right?
And then Cullen Brown, actually that changes the trajectory of his, his approach.
He's on ball.
He's trying to stay on ball.
He's trying to maintain that match-up, right?
S- but Hogg right here, this is like old school volleyball.
Let's freeze it right here, right?
This is old school volleyball, right?
You're between the two guys, right?
And Doc, the ball falls right between us.
It's like, "I thought you had it.
I thought you had it."
Yeah.
Right?
He slides right through that.
And Cullen Brown, now he's gotta work around Tevlin.
This is a lot of traffic to have to get through, and by having to go around, now he's lost leverage.
Mackesy gains a step, and then Cullen Brown is in catch-up mode.
He goes for the desperation kind of check to try to, you know, come down right on his arms.
Mackesy's gonna run right through that.
Yeah, the Redwoods were trying to dog that pick.
So we've talked about this again numerous times.
A dog is when the short stick comes out, provides a little pressure, lets the defender get underneath the pick.
All right, but by moving right into, so what beats the dog, right?
It's the whole rock, paper, scissors game.
This slip kind of beats the dog because now you're going in there.
You come out to try to put some pressure on the attackman there.
All of a sudden he slips.
Now there's that sec, "Well, what do I do?
Do I continue to go out there and put pressure on the, the guy with the ball?
Do I go follow my man because we're trying to maintain the match-ups," right?
Just that one second, that's what picks do.
We, right, like, the picks, a pick is trying to either switch the match-ups or just more importantly, just create confusion.
And it only needs to be confusion for a half a second, right?
Tevlin- Just a half a second of, "What are you doing?"
"I, I don't know.
We were doing this.
I thought we were doing this.
What do, what- Exact- Tev- Tevlin gets caught in no man's land, right?
Yeah.
Where he's not in this kind of hard hedge position, where he's kind of- He could've thrown it back to Hogg too for, for- Yeah, he could for an easy one as well.
You, I mean, they might have to start rewarding my boy Hogg out there if he starts setting all these picks, right?
Mackesy, I know you're leading the league in scoring.
He's all alone.
All right?
He's all alone.
I mean, wide open right there.
When, when both guys are open- that's when you know you've really nailed- Ri- the, the, the, the two-man game, you know?
And, and- And I felt bad for Tevlin out there guarding the two-point line like it was a person out there.
Yeah.
Yeah, so a- so he set him up there.
He does, did a nice little slip pick.
This, this last one is a little bit more of the, the, the first variety in terms of where he, we changed the match up.
So same deal, you've got Chris Burrell on ball, Brown obviously on Mackesy.
We've got a pass across, and then he's gonna weave in and set an up pick, right?
He's gonna c- get underneath, and now he sets this up pick.
So that allows Mackesy to go underneath, and then this is gorgeous ball move- or a, a body movement, right?
Where you've got Weisshaar drifting, got Holman curling around, and then Hogg gets to the middle.
So they get the switch they want based off of that subtle little cut curl, cut underneath into the up pick.
You can see Burrell approach the ball, and then now look at all of this space, right?
Cause and effect.
We've got a short stick on ball based off all that off ball body movement.
Mackesy doesn't wait a beat.
He immediately attacks that, and he gets to the middle and he shoots it right before the defense is kind of reorganized and prepared for the slide.
Yeah, so I, I love these picks because as a defender when we, when we go back to the original, pick, as a defender you're forcing the, your guys down the alley, right?
That's what 99% of the people are doing in that situation.
So by throwing the ball across, right, you're actually f- you know, forcing him down the alley, and then by coming under, and setting that pick to where now I kinda have to hedge because I'm, I'm so far to the middle, I'm playing him to the middle.
Right now I'm, I'm make him go down the alley, and now all of a sudden it's like, whoa, where did this guy come from?
Yep.
Right?
I got a pick going on right now.
Again, all right, you have to switch there because boom, the last second I kinda d- it's, I'm not really used to that type of a pick.
Like, maybe he would've, he was still on him, maybe he wasn't.
but again, just, just switching the match up, getting right there.
And then a good job by Mackesy kinda shooting right before the guy.
There, he gets him under a little bit, right?
A lot of guys would try to take two or three more steps- Yep to kind of get in the middle where all those trees are, where the redwoods are, right in the middle.
You see what I did there?
The re- trees- and the redwoods, right?
They're all waiting for him in there.
He's like, "I'm not going in there.
I'm gonna pull it right from here," and catches Dylan Ward kind of, like, on a little bit of a false step.
But a great, great shot.
Hits the crossbar or hits the post, right?
Goes in there.
But, this is Hogg's moment.
This, the- these- Right last seven minutes.
This is, this is his seven minutes of fame out there.
Yeah, so Hogg had just one goal on 20 touches in this game, but as this breakdown shows, his impact went well beyond the box score, and that is why you watch Freeze It Right Here.
Although the Canons are two and four, they lead the league with 75 total scores heading into All-Star weekend.
So they can score the ball, but also if you watch this show, you know, the problem is more on the defensive end.
but if they figure that out, maybe they're a sneaky team in the second half of the season.
We'll come back around to Boston in a moment, but as we head into the All-Star weekend, for this third segment I wanna zoom out and get one thumbs up and one thumbs down for each team in the league heading into All-Star break.
We'll start with the East and move our way West.
RB, you're up first.
A thumbs up and a thumbs down for the Maryland Whipsnakes, please.
So I, I look at Maryland and, and I think they're, you know, maybe outside of Denver, you know, arguably the most balanced team.
You, you look at offensively they're second scores per game, defensively they're in third scores allowed, and then with their specialty unit they're, they're kind of above kind of the, the mythical 100. i.e.
at face-off they're at 48%, and then save percentage they're at 56%.
So you, you just kind of look across the board and they're just kind of solid across the way.
My, my question for them is offensively have they been exposed a little bit in terms of this past game against Denver, and then with New York's at- New York Atlas' comeback against them, can they win enough one-on-one match-ups?
You know, they, do they have Outside of Aidan Carroll, do you have a guy that when, like, you could just cl- clutch, crunch time you could throw the ball to and just be like, "Hey, get me a bucket," you know?
Go win a one-on-one match-up.
Like, that, that's my biggest question mark for them moving forward.
The Philadelphia Water Dogs are three and two.
CJ Kearse is heating up.
What's your biggest thumbs up and thumbs down for them?
Well, we're gonna start right there.
They've got star power, right?
They've got Kearse and Sours.
They've got two guys that basically can take over a game, right?
And n- n- n- and if you- Four guys.
Four, yeah, but I'm just gonna start with the two, but yeah, really four, but they can You start with those two where, you know, the end of the game if I said, "Hey Doc, you know, Kearse had eight.
You know, hey, Sours had 10," right?
Like, n- that wouldn't surprise you, right?
Like, they have, they, they have two guys that can just basically take, take over a game.
Outside of that my question is offensively how are you fitting in everybody else, right?
From an opportunity cost perspective, from a usage rate perspective, how do you get Silas Richmond?
Like, we barely called his name.
Like, what's his role?
And every touch that he has, that Iago has, that Collison has, you're taking the ball out of the stick of CJ Kearse and Michael Sours.
So how, how do you balance that?
A- and then I, I think until they win the championship, until they're hoisting that trophy, there's always gonna be questions about De Luca and, and Cage.
A- and so it's j- it's a little bit he, he's gonna have to prove himself week after week after week Yeah, I forget what, like DeLuca, I think s- you're right there, right?
I think he's at, like, 53%, something like that.
but that's a good problem to have, what they have, on the offense end, right?
Like, all these guys, they're gonna figure that out, right?
Kerst and Sowers are very unselfish players.
Although they- Yep completely can take over a game.
All these guys are gonna find their roles as they keep going in there, and they're a dangerous team, coming down again.
But I agree, I think it's all gonna come down to DeLuca on the, on the, on the goalie end.
Doc, let's stick with you for the New York Atlas.
They're three and three.
Last time we saw them, they were sweeping their homecoming weekend, but they started one and three before that.
So what's a thumb up and a thumbs down for them?
So the, the Atlas are an interesting team.
I think, you know, the strength of their team is face-off and goaltending, and that's been, you know, Baptiste has been hurt, and Ennsimin has been eh, right?
Yeah.
If we're, if we're looking at it and being honest, and, and, and he's not eh, but for his standards, he's eh, 53, 54%.
I think he wants to be closer to 60%.
And once they get Baptiste back, I think the, the face-off problem is solved.
So those are two of their strengths, that are just kind of there.
But, you know, it's really the little things, and the two things that jumped out at me was their power play and their penalty kills.
So their power play is only 25%, which is, I think pretty bad in, in the PLL.
I think you wanna be at least in the f- in the 40s, right?
Probably creeping up to the 50s with all that talent.
But their penalty kill on the other side is 13 for 14.
They've only given up one power play goal out of 14 opportunities.
So those little specialty things, if they can clean up that, just get better on the p- on the power play, right, and keep the penalty kill down, those are th- the things that are gonna win one goal, two goal games, just getting an extra goal here or there, giving up one or two less.
Doc, help us wrap up the East with the Boston Cannons.
Other than the abundantly obvious, Grayden Hogg is a major thumb up.
What other thumb up and a thumb down do you have?
Oh man, so when did the Cannons just start leading the league in scoring?
Like, how did this happen?
like that kind of jumped off the board.
I, I went in and took a deep dive into stats, and they got Holman and Magocy is, like, one and three in the league in scoring.
but, but to me, right, their defense is, is gotta, you know, Kerst is the only goalie underneath, 50%.
How much is that i- is on him, and how much is it on just bad defense in general?
We, we did so many clips, in the first three weeks about their defense.
Hopefully that's, you know, they're figuring out and getting better.
So you can't really tell if it's the goalie or the bad defense, but whoever it is, it's gotta get cleaned up.
He- here's where you insert the, expected save percentage, for Colin Kerst and the, the whole story that was run around obviously these shots that he's been giving up, and, you know, like, is it his fault?
And then, and then Quint on the broadcast just took a blowtorch and was just like- "None.
Not on, not on my, not on my game.
Not on my watch."
But two, two other strengths I like with the Cannons, right?
I love McMeekin.
I think he is a complete stud.
I think he's only gonna get better.
He's gonna end up being above 60%, and he can score.
The kid can shoot the ball.
He's a beast from Episcopal Academy, by the way, Philadelphia, shout out EA.
and then they've, you know, the two highest scoring attackmen in the league.
That, that's gotta be a positive.
Let's go west.
The California Redwoods lead that conference at four and two after the Dylan Malloy overtime goal to beat the Chaos to round out last weekend.
Doc, give us a thumbs up and a thumbs down for them.
Oh, I mean, thumbs up.
to me, it's been a great story.
One of the best stories of the year is Dylan Ward, right?
Dylan Ward is at 58.1%, stopping the ball.
He's really won a couple games for them to where they've been kind of outplayed a little bit, and then he's just been befuddling some of the shooters out there with his high arc.
Guys are missing, and that's a, a sneaky stat, that so many guys are missing the goal, right?
That, that, that stat never gets, you know, taken into consideration.
But I think he is a huge thumbs up.
I think you got T.D.
Ireland is, T.D.
Ireland is a huge, thumbs up as well as on the faceoff.
And what can they do better?
again, the- their power play, not very good at all.
and then who's gonna score from the midfield for those guys?
Malloy's, you know, doing a bunch, but the midfield, McAdory is really their guy, and he's having a, a solid year, but I think he only has 10 or 11 points.
So who, who's gonna really kind of step up and bring up some midfield scoring for the boys?
Yeah, their s- their six-on-six offense sometimes leaves a little bit to be desired.
It's, it seems like a lot of one-on-one kind of action or initial kind of action to trigger things, and then what are we doing kind of a- after that?
What's our plan B, or what's our secondary look like?
There's, there's breakdowns in their six on six, for sure.
Doc already told us that he says Denver Outlaws are the best team in the league and the favorites to win the championship.
Boyle, we're gonna get your thoughts now.
Let me know a thumb up and a thumb down for the Outlaws.
Well, Doc's spot on.
I mean, y- you look at them just from a, a strength standpoint.
It's just the talent.
Like, like you just look On paper, they're the most talented team.
A- and you look at, like Doc said, you, you look at everything you would look for for a championship contender, and they, they check that box, right?
And obviously, you talk about the four Tourtons, reigning LSM of the year, reigning short stick defenseman of the year, reigning goalie of the year, right?
Like clean save percentage.
The, like, just, like, you just look at the talent, and sometimes, like, they score a goal, and you're just like, "Well, that, well done."
Like, like, "What?
We couldn't have done anything."
They, like, so they could just out-talent you at times, if that makes sense, where you're just like they're just better- lacrosse players.
They're just better athletes.
To me, the, the biggest thing for them i, is gonna be their health.
they've already dealt with injuries to date.
you know, Pat Kavanagh's been nicked up.
Jared Bernhardt's been dealing with injury.
JT Giles-Harris recently had a hamstring coming off a Team USA training camp.
You know, they've got two elder statesmen, let's say, at close defense in terms of Manley and Randall.
Giles-Harris is no spring chicken anymore.
so the biggest thing to me is can they just keep these guys healthy down the, down the stretch run.
The Carolina Chaos are in the middle of the pack, three and three right now, in Stephen Brooks' first full season as head coach.
Doc, give me a thumb up and a thumb down for the Chaos.
So the Chaos are an interesting team.
I- They are, aren't they?
Like, what are they, Doc?
I don't know, you know?
Like, but a- at the end, I feel pretty good that, that they're gonna be okay.
So- Yeah they, they have the best goalie.
A- and whether he's the best this year or not, all the goalies I think are playing very well.
That'll be decided at the end of the year.
but they got an all-time great in Blaze, so, once you have that and, and somebody that's been through all the games, and is the backbone of your defense, and will make saves in overtime, and steal some games, I mean, that's a huge plus for them.
you know, and then I can't tell if this is a plus or a minus.
I think it's eventually gonna be a plus, but th- they don't have that go-to guy, right?
You got Scott, you got Knoblauch, you got Nick Turne, and you, you have Palumbo, who I think's the steal of the draft, right?
I think that kid is a superstar.
everybody's talking about Joey Spallina, and, you know, rightfully so.
Joey Spallina is a, a very good player born to play pro lacro- lacrosse, but I think Palumbo, the more I'm watching, right, each week in and week out, that kid is dangerous.
So right now they don't have a go-to guy, but at the end, right, they're gonna be s- a very balanced scoring team, which is also gonna make them dangerous.
So, and then they gotta clean up their face-offs.
They're the, I think, they're worst in the league in facing off at around 43%.
I don't know, you know, on the stats how big of a deal that is anymore with the 32-second shot clock and losing all the face-offs.
you know, so not the end of the world, but that's something that they, they can definitely clean up.
I personally am wanting a little bit more from Owen Hilts, only six points in four games.
Yeah.
He's gotta step up, I think, for Chaos.
Yeah.
Yeah, he, he hasn't looked, he hasn't looked the same.
He hasn't looked like Owen Hilts this, this season, so I, I, I agree.
Maybe the little bit of break over the All-Star, weekend will, will kind of rejuven- rejuvenate him, 'cause they, they need his passing.
They're, they're last in the league in assists.
that, that's where they really struggle, and that's where he could interject a, a, a little bit of life offensively.
Boyle, wrap us up with the Utah Archers.
Archers, I mean, there's, this is no surprise here.
You don't live, need a little high level analysis.
their strength is their defense, and more specifically Brett Dobson.
so despite kind of all the goalie, the, the goalie play is elite just to kind of across the board.
It is kind of crazy, and then you look at Dobson and he's first in save percentage.
so y- you think of them, they wanna play rock fights, or at least that's what they're kind of prone to, to playing, and offensively, they just, they struggled.
You know, 9.8 points per game, scores per game.
I, I, I wanna give you a little bit of context there.
The gap between first and seventh is smaller, is less than, the gap between seventh and eighth, the Archers.
So seven is closer to one than Archers at eight are close to seven.
So that, that gives you a little bit of context in terms of the disparity of where they've been offensively to date.
Still trying to process that whole thing here.
I'm carrying my wands- and kind of moving it all around out here, but I got it.
The, the gap, the gap- No, I'm kidding.
Yeah, I got it.
I got it.
The gap between one and seven is closer than the gap between seven and eight.
We need, we need producer Jake to make a graphic visualization for that.
But, that, that covers the whole league- as well as the deep dive into Denver's defense, and we hope you learned something about the Boston breakdown with Gradon Hogg and his pick game.
But one guy who I know loves this show and this content is Ezekiel 1991 on YouTube.
on last week's episode, he commented, "Love the analysis and high level lacrosse.
It's about time."
Thank you for watching and commenting, Ezekiel.
Everyone else, let us know what you see.
Ezekiel, you need to change your stage name to Ezekiel 25:17.
Anybody?
Anybody?
Anyway, this weekend we've got the PLL and WLL Lexus All-Star games.
The PLL game is Sunday, July 5th, at 2 o'clock on ESPN, and then following that is the W- Lexus WLL All-Star game on ESPN2.
There's also a couple of skills challenges.
We got the accuracy challenge, and the fastest shot challenge.
For Ryan Boyle and Brian Dougherty, our producers Jake Gould and Nate Allen, and the rest of the PLL production team that makes this show happen, I'm Kevin Boylan for the Lacrosse Network, saying thank you for watching Freeze It Right Here.
Freeze it right here.
Freeze it right here.
Freeze it right here.
