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MLL Stock Report – Week 8

MLL Stock Report is a week by week look at several of the stand out units, players, and moments in Major League Lacrosse, as well as a few things that stood out in the negative.

Grades are given like stocks are traded, with ratings on a scale of +/- 10.

I’m putting the spotlight on the things that stood out throughout the weekend’s match ups as well as giving you some bets for the upcoming weekend. It’s all for fun. I like betting, I’m just not a big gambler. There’s a difference!

MLL Stock Report – Week 8

+9.8 Ole’: Did you see Roman Lao-Gosney’s around the world score? It was a thing of beauty. Florida didn’t end up winning the game but Roman did his all to help.

https://vine.co/v/iYIJPzT9xYw

+9.4 The Last line of Defense: John Galloway was terrific for Rochester, Brian Phipps was monstrous for Chesapeake, and Tyler Fiorito bounced back to have a good game against Atlanta. Phipps and Galloway nearly stole wins all on their own. Drew Adams took shots off every part of his body to get a win, It was a herculean effort by him with the number of body shots he took.

+8.9 Lock Down D: The Rattlers played one of the best defensive games of the season and shut down a vaunted Ohio team. John Galloway was amazing but the guys in front of him took away many angles. Chesapeake followed that up by forcing the Hounds into a number of mistakes and held Joey Sankey out of the goal column, it was an odd game that maybe was the MLL’s version of stall ball as fast breaks were none existent. Michael Evans is having his best season in a few years and looks like he could be in the running for DPOY. Boston Shifted Styles and put Brandon Mullins on Kevin Rice and it really worked out well for them. They forced a number of turnovers and were able to really slow down Atlanta’s transition offense.

+8.0 Feed Me the Rock: If Tom Schreiber never shot the ball he would still be 7th in scoring. His passing this season has been otherworldly. He just finds the open man and his teammates are finishing it. Joe Keegan covered it very nicely here.

+6.7 Flying Circus: The dive shot being legal in the MLL is one of the many many exceptional things about this league. It was in full effect this weekend as guys like Jojo Marasco flew through the air, and in his case onto the back of the net for some highlight reel goals.

+6.5 Welcome Back: Max Siebald came back healthy for Boston in this game and was a huge difference maker. Dropping 2 big time 2-point goals. He gives Boston a threat they lack without him and his effort is infectious.

+4.4 Younglings: You can’t help but be excited about finally seeing the rookies in action this weekend. Miles Jones had 2 goals and an assist, Dylan Donahue had a goal, Ryan Brown also had a goal, Deemer Class had 2 goals, and Brandon Mullins played terrific defense. We still haven’t seen all the first rounders in action but the ceiling feels high for this group.

-2.2 New Faces on Offense: I give the rookies a lot of credit but of the rookies I mentioned only Mullins Cannons came away with a win. Adding a newly important piece to your offense at this point in the season is great but a few hiccups in his first game can be expected.

-2.8 What Happened?: The New York vs Denver game was a crazy one. New York was up by 10 at one point only to watch Denver storm back and have many chances to tie the game up at the end. Both teams threw the ball away multiple times in a wild 90 second period before Rabil scored the seal it up. It was a crazy ending.

-8.8 The Truth: Paul Carcaterra and Eamon McAnaney are the best announcers the MLL has to offer week in and week out. They do a great job. So when they say it was a paperwork issue that kept Matt Kavanaugh off the field for the Outlaws I was shaking my head in disbelief. I really hope they are wrong on this point because if that’s the case something is wrong with the world. Your players are your product. Do whatever it takes to get the best ones on the field as often and quickly as possible.

Week 9 MLL Locks

Charlotte gets to host the Thursday night game this week as they welcome the team they are most often tied to due to expansion the Ohio Machine. Neither team dominated this past weekend but Ohio still stands at the top of the MLL Pyramid for now. Line: Ohio -2.5

The Launch host the Outlaws in a battle of teams that have really only shown flashes. Denver has played well at home but poorly on the road. Florida had its best game but still looks uninspired. Line: Denver -2.5

The Bayhawks host the Rattlers and the Cannons host the Hounds in games that feature teams that are all in flux in the standings. Right now it looks as though these 4 will be battling for the last 2 playoff spots. With the season nearing its half way point these games really matter. Rochester impressed more this past week so the line there is Rochester -1.5 while the Cannons line is -2.5 as the Hounds are playing 2 games in 3 days.

The game of the week is New York heading to Atlanta. New York did not play great in the 4th quarter this week and needs to show it can dominate on defense. Atlanta likes to play with tempo and that’s hard to do when you are breaking in some new toys. They have a game together now but this week’s assignments are tougher than last weeks, time to step up to the learning curve. Line: New York -3.5