Going into the last game of the season, there are only two playoff spots remaining and three teams fighting for those spots; and one of those teams is the Rochester Rattlers. The team standing in their way is the Charlotte Hounds who won their game last week against the Hamilton Nationals. The Hounds will most likely have momentum on their side going into the game because they won their game last week while the Rattlers lost their game to the Denver Outlaws.
Attack:
The Hounds’ three starting attack players (Matt Danowski, Billy Bitter and Jeremy Boltus (injured)) together have put up 88 points on the season which is almost 40% of Charlotte’s points on the year. With Boltus out due to a torn ACL, the Hounds have been testing out other players in his place. With Danowski and Bitter on attack, it’s easy to adjust to a new player and the Hounds don’t seem to have had trouble scoring without Boltus.
Rochester is led by Ned Crotty, one of the most dangerous players in the league. Crotty has had plenty of help on the attack end thanks to Kevin Leveille and Steven Boyle who have 21 and 25 points respectively. Rochester’s attack hasn’t been at its best lately, but that doesn’t mean the Hounds should sleep on them. When these players are all on the same page, it’s one of the deadliest attack corps in the league.
Midfield:
Charlotte has one of the best midfield groups in the league led by all-star Stephen Berger. The Hounds have five midfielders with 10 more points and two players that are within two points of being at the ten mark. Berger and Jovan Miller have both been phenomenal this season and a late surge by Kevin Kaminski has really helped keep Charlotte in games. Other than scoring, most, if not all of Charlotte’s midfielders are just on good on the defensive end of the field. With as many options as the Hounds have, Rochester will have their hands full guarding all of them.
The Rattlers’ midfield corps might not get as much attention as some other teams’, but they’re just as good as most of them. Led by veteran Matt Streibel, Rochester has four players with 10 or more points. Jordan MacIntosh has been having a great year for the Rattlers, as has Brad Ross. Rob Rotanz is a great young star, and if he can produce in their final game, the Rattlers have a great chance to put their name in for Championship Weekend.
Face-Off:
Charlotte’s biggest problem this year has been face-offs. And hopefully, that problem will cease to exist since the Hounds will finally get Geoff Snider for their final game of the season. Snider is one of the best face-off specialists in the game and will be a huge boost for the Hounds, who have been waiting for him for several weeks now.
Rochester has been switching between face-off guys pretty much all season. Craig Bunker, Tim Fallon, and Bobby Dattilo have all taken face-offs for the Rattlers. All three are very capable of winning face-offs and it’ll be interesting to see who Rochester gives the nod to and how he can fare against the Hounds’ Geoff Snider.
Defense:
Charlotte’s defense has been progressively getting better as the season goes along. Ricky Pages and Joe Cinosky have both been steadily improving and have made huge impacts for the Hounds. Brett Schmidt, who missed a good part of the season due to injury has been playing great defense since coming back. Ryan Flanagan has been the rock of this defense and it’s paid dividends for the Hounds. Flanagan has been their top defender and leads the team in groundballs with 56.
Rochester’s defense is full of big-name players including all-star Joel White. He leads the defense in groundballs with 54. Steve DeNapoli and Tom Montelli have been studs defensively for the Rattlers. Rochester also plays Mike Manley, a great close defender, Will Koshansky and John Lade. This defense protects one of the league’s top goalies in John Galloway, and will need to play with all they have in order to win on Saturday.
Goalie:
Charlotte’s Adam Ghitelman played lights out last week against the Nationals stopping 18 of 26 shots. His save percentage from that game was very nearly at 70% which is fantastic for any goalie. On the year, Ghitelman is stopping about 55% of the shots he sees. When Ghitelman is on fire, he can really take control of a game and turn it in favor of the Hounds.
Rochester’s John Galloway has been one of the more talked about goalies in the league this year due to his really hot start. He’s averaging 12.77 goals against and has a .523 save percentage. Galloway’s numbers might be down, but he’s been facing an unusually high amount of shots per game. If Rochester wants to win this game, they’re going to need their defense to step up and play so Galloway won’t get constantly sprayed with shots.
