The Long Island Lizards owe the Charlotte Hounds big time. The Lizards got blown out by the Hamilton Nationals last night and only advanced to the playoffs because the Hounds were able to upset the Rochester Rattlers. On a night when they really needed a win, the Lizards fell flat. Goalie Drew Adams was only able to stop 9 of 26 shots and only five players scored for them in the 18-8 loss.
Only five players were able to score goals for the Lizards last night; Stephen Peyser, Tommy Palasek, Ryan Young, Matt Streibel and Matt Gibson. Greg Gurenlian won more than half of the face-offs, but the Lizards just were not able to find the goal. The Lizards seemed completely out of sync and couldn’t get manyy good offensive possessions going.
Drew Adams had a lot of trouble seeing the ball and was only able to stop 9 of 26 shots. Hamilton peppered him with shots in the first quarter, and didn’t let up for the remainder of the game. Adams seemed to have a lot of trouble stopping high shots, which is not like him. Long Island’s defense had a really hard time slowing down Hamilton defenders and they were able to get several crease shots against Adams.
Hamilton was led by Duch Rhys who scored five goals and added two assists in route to being named Game MVP. The Nationals had ten players in addition to Rhys who were able to find the back of the net. Kevin Crowley and Joe Resetarits both added two and everyone else just added one. Joe Walters and Cody Jamieson each added five points on one goal and four assists.
In goal for the Nationals, Brett Queener stopped 13 of 19 giving him a .684 save percentage for the game. The Nationals defense really stepped up and shut down the Lizards’ offense and Queener was able to stop most of the shots that did get through. Queener led the defense like a true general and had one of his best games of the season in route to a widely unexpected upset of the Lizards.
Had the Rattlers won their game against the Hounds, then Long Island would have been eliminated from the playoffs, but fortunately for them, the Hounds prevailed at home. Championship Weekend starts the 25th of August and the Lizards will play the second seeded Chesapeake Bayhawks. The Bayhawks lost to the Denver Outlaws and lost the first overall seed. Denver will play the Boston Cannons in their first game on the 25th.
