MLL Team Reviews: Bayhawks

With the season soon drawing to a close, I'm going to look at every team in the MLL. I will look at the present, past, and future of each team and judge their playoff hopes (If they are in!).
First up is the Chesapeake Bayhawks. They will enter the tournament as the #4 and last seed, playing the Boston Cannons. That will be a challenge, no doubt, but they may have the home crowd on their side playing in Annapolis, Maryland.
In general, I don't see the Bayhawks getting very far in the playoffs. I thought Chicago was a much better team wit scorers like the Leveille's, Ned Crotty, and Chris Roetelli. The Bayhawks top scorer, Peet Poillon, can put the ball in the net and ranks third in the MLL in points behind only Matt Poskay and Matt Danowski. But their next leading scorer is Kyle Dixon with 33, and then Danny Glading with 26. They are third in the league in goals for, behind only Toronto (non-playoff team) and surprisingly Denver, though they made the playoffs solely on defense and goal tending. They do, however, lead the league in 2pt field goals with 16.
Chesapeake can make the playoffs at best a .500 team and at worst 5-7. The Bayhawks are also a mere 3-3 at home and 2-3 on the road, and travel to Boston t end their season next week, so that home field advantage ma be non-existent.
If one player can help the Bayhawks do teh unlikely and beat Boston in the playoffs, it would be either Dixon or Garrity. Chris Garrity, at 5-4 on the season, is fourth in the league with a 12.84 GAA, but has been lights out several occasions, including last week vs the Machine, who they beat by four goals to advance. Garrity is also third in the league in goal tending minutes with 579, behind only Kip Turner and Drew Adams, so the Bayhawks will be relying on him over Boston native and 0-2 goaltender Mike Levin.
For Dixon, he is going to need a performance smiler to Saturday, scoring four points in the Bayhawks win. Th Bayhawks will need more than just their stars in Dixon and Poillon, however, if they want to beat the goal scoring powerhouse that is Boston. They will need Danny Glading and Brian Vetter on their A game as well.
The Bayhawks are an interesting team as a whole, with not much scoring potential but they find a way to put the ball in the net enough. With young players like #1 draft pick Micheal Kimmell and hometown player Brian Carrol, the Bayhawks may make a bit of noise this Championship Weekend for the first time since 2005. But my opinion? Good ride, bu the 'Hawks will not get by Boston.

Another Look at the MLL

Last week I took a look at the Boston Cannons, Long Island Lizards and Toronto Nationals. This week let's look at how the season has progressed for the Denver Outlaws, Chesapeake Bayhawks and Chicago Machine.
Let's take a look where these teams are in the standings:

Boston 7-3
OUTLAWS 7-3
Long Island 5-5 2 GB
MACHINE 4-6 3 GB
BAYHAWKS 4-6 3 GB
Toronto 3-7 4 GB

The Outlaws have had a good year all season, fighing all season long to stay with Boston at the top spot of the league. Led by the 33 points of Team USA player Brenden Mundorf, the Outlaws can score with the help of Drew Westervelt, Dan hardy, and Max Seibald. Also on the roster is Team USA goaltender Jesse Schwartzerman, who is third in the MLL in GAA.
The Chicago Machine had a good start to the MLL season, but you imagine it's hard bouncing around city-to-city with no real home stadium. With Casey Powell opting out of playing this season, the Machine selected Ned Crotty of Duke with their first overall pick. Along with the Leveille's, the Machine can be a dangerous team if they find a way into the playoffs.
The Bayhawks, led by perennial all-star Peet Polion, could also be a team to look out for, or they could easily fall into irrelevance if the Nationals find a way to get hot. With Pollion second to only Matt Poskay in scoring, you have to go all the way down to ninth to find the Bayhawk's next leading scorer in Kyle Dixon. Chesapeake is second to last in scoring to only Toronto, a team that may turn it on later on in the season.

MLL All-Star Game Review

Last night Team USA eked by the MLL All-Stars, 13-12, to finish their exhibition play.
The Bud Light MVP Brenden Mundorf scored six goals for USA and scored the game winner. Ryan Powell scored the goal that brought them within one and the game winner. For the MLL All-Stars, they put in a terrific effort, with Anthony Kelly, Kevin LeVeille, and Peet Poillon scoring two goals a piece.
The key to the game was the MLL All-Stars great defense that shut down Paul Rabil. The MLL All-Stars were projected to have great defense, but at times in the first half Team USA looked over matched. They dropped a lot passes and looked very sloppy on offense, and blew some coverages on defense. They ended up with the lead after two though, with a five goal second period.
The Halftime skills contest was spectacular. Paul Rabil defended his title as hardest shot, and tied his record shooting 111. Chicago rookie Ned Crotty won the two point contest, and Kevin Bucanan won the free style, scoring after running up a staircase made of people (including Anthony Kelly) balanced on the crossbar, and scored.
In the second half, the MLL All-Stars made a run and took the lead, 9-6. Matt Danowski scored on a two point shot to tie it and then the All-Stars scored three more goals. But Mundorf took over again and scored two goals before the end of the period to cut the lead to one going into the fourth quarter. Ryan Powell put in the game winner with 1:00 left.

The USA did prevail in the end, but have to make some big time adjustments going into the FIL. Adam Fullerton looked bad in net, and USA had butterfingers in the first half. They have the talent to win, but they need to take improvements out of this.

Game Preview: Bayhakws @ Outlaws

The Denver Outlaws look to tie the Boston Cannons for first place in the MLL tonight as they take on the Chesapeake Bayhawks. The game is on pace to sell 30,000 tickets tonight, which will be the largest MLL crowd this season.

Leading Scorers: Den: Brenden Mundorf, 27 pts
Che: Peet Poillon, 31 pts

Goaltenders: Den: Jesse Schwartzmen
Ches: Chris Garrity

Game Notes:

* The game can be seen on ESPN3.com, CSNMA, Brighthouse, and Cox Sports New Orleans.

* Bayhawks faceoff specialist Alex Smith leads the MLL in faceoff percentage with .607

* Denver has the league's best power play at 45 %

* Denver has been outscored 21-19 in the fourth quarter this season.

* Last week the Bayhawks did not score vs Toronto for 13 minutes.