Two teams headed in opposite directions will face off on Thursday night as Chesapeake travels to Rochester for a 7:30 p.m. opening faceoff on CBS Sports Network. After dropping their season opener against New York, the Rattlers have won three of their last four games to move into a tie for second place in the league standings. The only loss came to first-place Denver, who are 5-0 and haven’t lost a regular season game since 2012. Meanwhile, the Bayhawks are 1-4, having dropped three straight.
Most recently against Florida on Sunday, the Rattlers turned around an 8-4 deficit midway through the second quarter into a dominant 18-11 victory. Rochester outscored the Launch 14-3 the rest of the way, scoring five straight to end the first half. The Rattlers also ended the game on a 4-0 run for the runaway victory, moving into a second-place tie (with Florida and New York) in the standings.
Co-Tewaaraton Award winner Miles Thompson made his professional debut on Sunday and scored a first-quarter goal to tie the score at two. Jordan MacIntosh led the way with four goals (and an assist) while veteran Kevin Leveille had five points as well with three goals and two assists. Dave Lawson also had a hat trick. John Ortolani was dominant at the faceoff X, winning 21-of-33 with 14 groundballs. Joel White scooped up eight groundballs.
A balanced offense features five players with 10 or more points this season. Justin Turri has 13 while Leveille has tallied 11. Lawson, MacIntosh and Steven Boyle all have 10. John Galloway has played every minute in goal and owns an 11.60 GAA and 52.8 save percentage. Galloway stopped seven-of-10 second-half shots against the Launch.
Chesapeake has dropped its last three games by five, three then four. The Bayhawks have been in every game, but haven’t been able to break through since a 12-11 win over the Lizards on May 3.
Last time out, Chesapeake was leading Ohio 9-8 in the third quarter, but the Machine went on a 7-2 run the rest of the way. Trailing 14-9 with less than five minutes remaining, the Bayhawks got two goals in 20 seconds, from Nicky Polanco and Ben Rubeor, to get back within three with 4:20 remaining, but Ohio’s Kyle Harrison rounded out the scoring.
Brendan Mundorf led the Bayhawks’ offense with five points (three goals, two assists), having a hand in half of his team’s goals (Chesapeake had 10 goals; Kyle Dixon tallied a two-point goal to account for the 11 points).
A pair of Bayhawks struggled at the faceoff X, winning just 12-of-27. Kip Turner also struggled in goal, making 10 saves while allowing 14 goals. Turner has been solid this season, though, owning a 12.57 GAA and 53.0 save percentage.
Compared to Rochester’s five players with double-figure points, Chesapeake has just one. Mundorf owns 17 points while next is Steven Brooks with nine and Rubeor with eight.
Still early in the season, both teams are very much in the playoff race. Rochester is tied for second, but only one game from being out of the playoffs. Rochester, New York and Florida are all 3-2 with Boston and Ohio just a game back at 2-3. Meanwhile, Chesapeake is still only two games from a playoff spot, and pull one game closer with a win on Thursday.
