On Saturday night, the hometown Charlotte Hounds will play host to Paul Rabil and the (1-5) Boston Cannons. The Cannons have vastly underperformed so far this season after making a trip to Championship Weekend last year. The Hounds (3-3) are currently tied for fourth place in the league, and are ahead of pace from last year, their inaugural season. During the off-weak Boston fired their head coach Steve Duffy and replaced him with assistant coach John Tucker. Duffy was fired following a 16-14 loss to the Rochester Rattlers and a (1-5) start to the season.
Tucker was the head coach of the LA Riptide from 2006-2008 and even won Coach of the Year honors in 2007 after taking the Riptide to the championship game. His first assignment with the Cannons will be to put a stop to the Hounds’ two-game win streak they have going. The Hounds made some moves during the off-week as well, adding NCAA Champion midfielder Jake Tripuka to the active roster as well as moving All-Star middie Jovan Miller to the practice squad.
The Charlotte Hounds are led on offense by two newcomers – attackman Ryan Young and midfielder Peet Poillon. Both players have 18 points through the first six games of the season, with Young having 13 goals and five assists, while Poillon has 12 goals (three 2-pointers) and three assists. Defensively for the Hounds, Ryan Flanagan has led a very aggressive and tough defense that allows 12.5 goals per game. Charlotte expected to return face-off star Geoff Snider, but placed him on the Physicallly Unable to Perform list this week. Tim Fallon will continue to be their go-to guy, and so far this season he has won 77 of 174 face-offs for a 44% win rate. The Hounds goalie Adam Ghitelman has started every game except for game one and has saved 49 shots while allowing 55 (47%).
Per usual, All-Star midfielder Paul Rabil leads the Cannons offense and is second in the league. Rabil has 29 points so far this season on 16 goals (two 2-pointers) and 11 assists. However, the rest of the Cannons offense has been less effective as they were last year and in previous seasons. Matt Poskay is second on the team with 14 points. The organization is hoping that the addition of Tucker as head coach will help this offense mesh together and put up more points. Two different goalies have split time for the Cannons; Jordan Burke and Mike Gabel. Burke was Boston’s hands down starter last season but dealt with some injuries early in the current season. In four games Gabel has saved 36 shots and allowed 32 goals (53%) while Burke has saved 57 of 58 for a 49% save rate.
