08/14/2008 7:25 AM
 | Is this the year that Grant and the Rattlers can capture the title? |
By Andrew Rocklage
Is This The Year for the Rattlers?
In last year’s semi-finals, the Rochester Rattlers entered the game with a 9-3 regular season record, granting them the title of Eastern Conference Champion. Championship Weekend was held at Rochester’s home field of PAETEC Park in 2007, giving them an upper hand in home field advantage with the hometown fans watching the game. The Rattlers came into the playoffs after a spectacular regular season in which they led the league in goals (208), assists (129), points (337), power-play-goals (34), and short-handed-goals (4). Rochester had the #3 seed and drew the Western Conference’s Los Angeles Riptide in the semi-finals, who also had a 9-3 record and were the #2 seed.
The game opened up with the Rattlers’ offensive guns blazing, scoring 7 goals, including a 5-goal-run led by attackman Brandon Spillet. Rochester finished the 1st quarter with a 7-4 score and things were looking good for the Rattlers. The 2ndquarter, unfortunately, was a completely different story. The Riptide responded with a 5-goal-run of their own, led by Chazz Woodson who finished up the game with 4 goals, and both teams headed to the locker rooms with a 9-8 halftime score in Los Angeles’s favor.
The 3rd quarter was relatively tame in scoring but what it lacked in scoreboard production it made up for in physicality. There were six separate violations in the 3rdquarter alone, five of which belonged to the Riptide. Rochester’s John Grant Jr. capitalized on Chris Pieczonka’s illegal body check after Joe Walters assisted him on the crease. Both LA and the Rattlers scored a pair of goals in the 3rdquarter and the last 15 minutes began with the score 11-10 in the Riptide’s favor. Los Angeles scored again in the opening minute of the 4thquarter but the Rattlers scored two consecutive goals to tie the score up. The Riptide and Rochester exchanged successive pairs of goals to tie the game up with 3:45 left in the contest. Michael Watson scored the game-winning-goal for Los Angeles with 1:21 left on the clock and the Rattlers were eliminated from the playoffs to make them 0-4 all-time in postseason play.
One of the glaring statistics in last year’s disappointing loss for Rochester was their penalty minutes. Rochester allowed 10 man-up opportunities for Los Angeles in on which they capitalized 4 different times. Two of which were in the key second quarter when the Riptide took a lead that the Rattlers would never recover from.
Other statistics include allowing Los Angeles’s Terry Riordan and Graham Gill to score 3 goals apiece. Spencer Ford also managed to pick apart the Rochester defense as a feeder, notching 4 assists in the game. Rattlers net-minder, Mike Levin, had a dismal game, saving only 10 of the 25 shots he saw on net in the contest. However, Alex Smith remained consistent throughout the game, winning 19 of the 32 face-off draws in the semi-finals, while also scooping up 9 groundballs. |
Rochester’s roster is almost untouched since last season. 15 players from the 20 man semi-finals roster still dress for the Rattlers. This offseason, Rochester’s Head Coach BJ O’Hara picked up midfielder Jordan Hall from Chicago for Brian Clayton, Matt Dasinger, and a 2008 3rd round Collegiate Draft pick. Also during the offseason, O’Hara picked up midfielder Brett Bucktooth from Boston in exchange for a 2008 1stround Collegiate Draft pick. It’s no secret that the Rattlers roster is only getting older and in this year’s Collegiate Draft Rochester decided to pick up two goalies, Brett Queener from Albany and Adam Fullerton from Army. They also selected two defensemen, Kyle Guadagnolo from Syracuse and Nick O’Hara from Duke, who blew out his knee against Washington this year.
The Rattlers enter the 2008 post-season with a 9-3 regular season record, the same record they came into Championship Weekend with a year ago. Once again, Rochester has had a dominating season. While winning the Eastern Conference again, they also led the league in goals (202), assists (130, and points (332). This year, Rochester is seeded first overall and has drawn the number 4 seed and defending MLL Champions, the Philadelphia Barrage. The two Eastern Conference teams played each other twice in the regular season; both times Rochester came away with victories with scores of 22-9 and 20-17. The Rattlers will have to limit Philadelphia’s two offensive powerhouses, Ryan Boyle and Matt Striebel, who combined for 86 points this season. At the same time, Rochester will need to scheme for a way to get passed defensive cornerstone Brian Spallina and goaltender Brian Dougherty.
The Rattler’s roster realizes how much of a disappointment their last season was and how similar the year has been to their 2007 run. After solidifying the Eastern Conference Championship and a playoff spot two weeks ago with a win against New Jersey, Colin Doyle, one of Rochester’s key attackman said, “We recognized last year we went into the playoffs after a little bit of a lull, losing to New Jersey on the road, we don’t want that to happen again this year. So we are glad to have that Eastern Conference Championship, but this isn’t the time of year to start throwing games away.”
Doyle continued, stressing how much the Rattler’s have matured since last season saying, “We’re focused, we set high goals at the start of the year, just getting there isn’t good enough anymore we’ve proven that in the past. We were really disappointed last year and we have the same core guys here and we want to build on that. Our goal is to just stay the course, do the little things right. We hope good things will happen because we believe in the talent we have here. We have to match every team’s work ethic and do the little things. The 0-4 is in the past, this team is certainly looking to the future now.” Hopefully for the fans of Rochester, Doyle’s words will hold true come Championship Weekend. |
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