But let's look at some of the key match ups to watch in this first game. First things first is the Cannons will be a little short handed in this opening game playing without star defensemen Brodie Merrill and Mitch Belisle and also missing Kevin Buchanan all who have Indoor lacrosse commitments. The Hounds will also be forced to play without some talented players to, playing without former MVP Kevin Crowley because of indoor, and the Hounds will also be without Stephen Keough and Kiel Matisz.
Outside of the guys missing the game, both teams will probably be trying to mix players in to get them to have a feel for the game. Expect both teams to try and mix and match players to see who can play well together the first few games while some players might be out because of Indoor.
Player to Watch for the Hounds:
The player the Cannons will have to keep their eye on is the small quick Attackmen Joey Sankey. Sankey is coming off a rookie season in which he lead the Hounds in scoring with 22 goals (1 2pt-goal) and dished out 11 assists good for 34 points and he did that all in just 9 games, and helped him be named Rookie of the Year. The Hounds play through Sankey he is small and quick and his small size standing at only 5'5 makes him a matchup nightmare. The Cannons will be without their two best close defensemen in Brodie Merrill and Mitch Belisle, so the Cannons will probably try and throw as many different looks as they can on him. I expect the Cannons to either come out and put Chad Wiedmaier on him and maybe give Scott McWilliams a couple looks at him too. The one thing Sankey does a great job of is he can set up his teammates he may not get the actual assist via the stats but he gets the hockey assist making the second or third pass to set up the goal. The Cannons will have to talk through the slides and make sure they are communicating well because if they aren't, the Hounds could come out and surprise them.
Player to Watch for the Cannons:
If you are a Cannons fan the player you want to watch is Will Manny he is the Captain and just like Sankey, he is a big part of the offense. It is hard to pick one player to watch from the Cannons to watch but if you have to it's gotta be Manny. He really stepped up last season after the Cannons traded away Paul Rabil and showed a great deal of leadership and confidence when he stepped on the field. I once again expect Manny to be the go to go on this Cannons offense and he will be even more dangerous this year. I think by giving Manny even more lethal Midfielders who he can set up for step down shots, is any goalies worst nightmare. With Max Seibald, Justin Turri, and Brent Adams at the Midfield position. Also the Cannons will have a more solid attack core once again with John Glessner, Wells Stanwick, and David Emala. The shocking thing is the fact that either Glessner or Stanwick will be the 4th attack for the Cannons and both good arguably start on other MLL teams. I think when you put Manny with those kinds of players it takes some of the stress off him, and feels like hey I don't have to score 4 goals to help us win this game I can score 1goal and dish out a couple of assists and we can cruise.
Most Intriguing Match-up:
The most intriguing match-up for me is not a player vs. a player but instead the battle at the face-off dot. The Hounds have both Kevin Massa the former Bryant standout and Brendan Fowler the duke standout, and they will be possible going up against in MLL All-Star last year in Craig Bunker, Joe Nardella and maybe even a talented older face-off guy in Peter Vlahakis. It will be interesting to see who the Hounds throw in at the dot Fowler had a winning percentage of 50.4 last year, and Kevin Massa did not play a game last year it's possible we could see the two switch off and former a deadly 1-2 combo. In the two games the Cannons played against the Hounds last year Fowler dominated Bunker at the dot winning 62.1% of the face-offs against Bunker. Expect the Cannons to try and thrown different looks at Fowler if he dominates putting either Nardella or Vlahakis out there to try and throw him off a little bit.
FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:
CANNONS: 14
HOUNDS: 12
Outside of the guys missing the game, both teams will probably be trying to mix players in to get them to have a feel for the game. Expect both teams to try and mix and match players to see who can play well together the first few games while some players might be out because of Indoor.
Player to Watch for the Hounds:
The player the Cannons will have to keep their eye on is the small quick Attackmen Joey Sankey. Sankey is coming off a rookie season in which he lead the Hounds in scoring with 22 goals (1 2pt-goal) and dished out 11 assists good for 34 points and he did that all in just 9 games, and helped him be named Rookie of the Year. The Hounds play through Sankey he is small and quick and his small size standing at only 5'5 makes him a matchup nightmare. The Cannons will be without their two best close defensemen in Brodie Merrill and Mitch Belisle, so the Cannons will probably try and throw as many different looks as they can on him. I expect the Cannons to either come out and put Chad Wiedmaier on him and maybe give Scott McWilliams a couple looks at him too. The one thing Sankey does a great job of is he can set up his teammates he may not get the actual assist via the stats but he gets the hockey assist making the second or third pass to set up the goal. The Cannons will have to talk through the slides and make sure they are communicating well because if they aren't, the Hounds could come out and surprise them.
Player to Watch for the Cannons:
If you are a Cannons fan the player you want to watch is Will Manny he is the Captain and just like Sankey, he is a big part of the offense. It is hard to pick one player to watch from the Cannons to watch but if you have to it's gotta be Manny. He really stepped up last season after the Cannons traded away Paul Rabil and showed a great deal of leadership and confidence when he stepped on the field. I once again expect Manny to be the go to go on this Cannons offense and he will be even more dangerous this year. I think by giving Manny even more lethal Midfielders who he can set up for step down shots, is any goalies worst nightmare. With Max Seibald, Justin Turri, and Brent Adams at the Midfield position. Also the Cannons will have a more solid attack core once again with John Glessner, Wells Stanwick, and David Emala. The shocking thing is the fact that either Glessner or Stanwick will be the 4th attack for the Cannons and both good arguably start on other MLL teams. I think when you put Manny with those kinds of players it takes some of the stress off him, and feels like hey I don't have to score 4 goals to help us win this game I can score 1goal and dish out a couple of assists and we can cruise.
Most Intriguing Match-up:
The most intriguing match-up for me is not a player vs. a player but instead the battle at the face-off dot. The Hounds have both Kevin Massa the former Bryant standout and Brendan Fowler the duke standout, and they will be possible going up against in MLL All-Star last year in Craig Bunker, Joe Nardella and maybe even a talented older face-off guy in Peter Vlahakis. It will be interesting to see who the Hounds throw in at the dot Fowler had a winning percentage of 50.4 last year, and Kevin Massa did not play a game last year it's possible we could see the two switch off and former a deadly 1-2 combo. In the two games the Cannons played against the Hounds last year Fowler dominated Bunker at the dot winning 62.1% of the face-offs against Bunker. Expect the Cannons to try and thrown different looks at Fowler if he dominates putting either Nardella or Vlahakis out there to try and throw him off a little bit.
FINAL SCORE PREDICTION:
CANNONS: 14
HOUNDS: 12
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