On what a bye week looks like for the Machine…
For us, having a two game sample to look over and review was beneficial. It was good for us to go back and reflect on where we are at and where we need to be heading into game three. It gave us time to talk with the people looking at our game from the outside, which was very unique and fun. I had a good conversation with Joe Keegan and those guys that break us down and give us another perspective.
On the two Launch vs. Bayhawks games that you have film on…
The one thing you can see is the adjustments that Florida made from game one to game two and see if those were effective. It is also good to look at the changes, you know, they made a goalie change and a couple other changes that were interesting and unique, but that may not have had anything to do with the Bayhawks. It could’ve just been them trying to feel out their personal and where they want to go for the rest of the year.
On Florida inverting their defense in the second game and looking to copy that approach…
With guys like Matt Abbott, you just have to be prepared for just about anything because he plays great defense, he’s an offensive threat, he just understands the game from all areas. We use Jake Bernhardt in similar ways too. Those two-way guys are invaluable. They have done things like move Mackrides, you know he’s a middy but he has great attack experience. And for them to use him in different ways, it definitely adds a little different twist to things….And Dan Burns is just athletic enough that he can play short stick, he can play pole, and he didn’t look uncomfortable playing pole, that’s for sure.
On being less focused on match-ups because of Chesapeake plays their guys one on one…
When they do that and it’s effective. It’s great because they don’t have to leave anyone off ball. But, when you do get a step on a guy it gets tricky because your slide package becomes very reactionary based and guys get open. And it is just a matter of whether or not you can capitalize on those situations. And again, when you have limited practices, it is really hard to practice those types of things. Even invert defense, you get one night to get 10- 15 reps in to prepare. Same with the reactionary slides and quick feeds to the inside. Those are the things you need to figure out in an hour and 45 minute practice Saturday night. You know, those guys are incredible and they don’t want to slide to them, they do like their match ups, they typically are pretty strong in staying toward their match ups. But it’s your strengths against theirs and we just hope that our middies can create their own base and get a step.
On the inside of the field opening up more for our…
That’s a great question for the league in general. Do you really want to help in from the back side? And how much do you want to do that? Because the guys are very capable of finding skip lanes and there are probably certain personnel who are good at finding those opportunities more than others. So, you can adjust a little bit according to personnel. That is the damned if you do, damned if you don’t part of the defense in this league. If you have a dangerous inside finisher and you have to help into him, well then of course you’re going to be vulnerable to those skip passes. Or, you just say we are not going to help in and then you’re on an island out here, working on a reactionary slide and, good luck.
On the roster moves we have made during the off week…
We drafted RG (Kennan) and picked up Greg (Puskuldjian) and had him in camp. These are all guys that we have anticipated in the past on giving opportunities and looks to. Faceoffs are tricky, especially with the new rule changes. Typically college guys, it takes them awhile to get adjusted to the league. But with the new rule changes and them being closer to the NCAA rules, these guys may be more ready than what they were before. Now it is a matter of how quickly we can address the changes. We need more possessions and we’ve got to figure it out. Our clearing game, our faceoffs, we just need to get the ball to the hot hands faster.
