No one said being an expansion franchise would be easy and the Ohio Machine went through their share of lumps last season.
But the team began play, established a nice fan base and has some nice individual players to build a team around.
Consistency is key to becoming a championship contending team so it was important for the Machine to protect the right players when they announced their 23-man protected list.
As the Machine look to move forward it was obvious why they didn’t protect Brett Hughes and Jimmy Borell as both retired at the conclusion of the 2012 season.
While the Machine were sixth in goals scored last season there are some nice offensive pieces that will continue to play big roles next season.
Steele Stanwick is the cornerstone of this franchise and the rookie showed why last season, scoring 11 goals and adding 17 assists in nine games last season.
Stanwick was fourth on the team in points last season and the Machine also protected the three players ahead of him on the list: Chazz Woodson, Jim Connolly and Connor Martin.
Woodson was the team’s leading scorer and team Offensive Player of the Year, Connolly was fifth in the league in goals scored (27) and Martin showed some versatility playing some midfield when Stanwick arrived.
Also protected was Joe Cummings, who came on strong at the end of the season playing in four games and scoring nine goals. Despite playing in only four games Cummings still finished seventh on the team in points.
It was a no-brainer to protect team MVP Kyle Hartzell. Not only was Hartzell instrumental on the defensive side of the field but he was a huge boost to the team offensively. He scored 11 goals—nine of which were two-pointers—and was fifth on the team in points as a defender (which says a lot about both how good Hartzell was and how bad the Machine offense was).
Dan Groot was protected and then traded to Rochester for Roy Lang, which is an improvement to the roster.
All-Star defender and team co-captain Greg Bice was protected as were defenders Ray Megill (second on team in ground ball pick-ups) and Max Schmidt as the team works on building consistency and chemistry.
The biggest surprise wasn’t in who the team omitted to keep, but that they protected both goalies, Brian Phipps and Stefan Schroder. Both had inflated goals against averages amongst the worst in the league and neither established himself as the starter during the season or the starter of the future. The Machine will most likely pursue an improvement at the position as the off-season continues.
Other notable players protected were Matt Casey, Brett Garber and rookies Kiel Matisz and Eric O’Brien.
The Machine need to improve at goalie and acquire more offensive playmakers in the midfield. But with a core of Stanwick, Woodson, Connolly, Cummings, Martin, Hartzell and Bice there is definitely some talent to build around and create a future contender.
Protecting these players was the first step in doing that.
