The Ohio Machine got their second win of the season last night against the Hamilton Nationals 13-12. With the win, the Machine move to 2-7 on the year, now tied with the Nationals for last place in the league. The teams play the second game of their double-header tonight, fighting to not be the worst in the league.
Last night Chazz Woodson led all scorers with 4 points, yet no goals. Woodson made some great assists and played good team ball to help the Machine get their second win. Chazz Woodson is always a player to watch out for and is one of the more exciting players in the league. Woodson now has 26 points on the season, tied for 10th in the league. The Machine had 6 players with 2 or more points in last night’s game.
The Machine have yet to find a solid replacement for Anthony Kelly on face-offs. Eric O’Brien went 8-27 at the face-off X against the Nationals last night.  They’ll have to do better than that tomorrow if they want to guarantee another win.
The Nationals had 4 players with 3 or more points in last night’s game. Most of the Nationals’ high-scoring players played well, so they will really need to get the bench scoring if they want better luck in tomorrow’s rematch. With the loss last night, Hamilton has now lost 4 games in a row and dropped into a tie for last place.
Scott Rodgers has been struggling lately in goal for the Nationals, so Brett Queener may be the key to a win tonight. Queener played the entire second half and only allowed 4 goals during his time in cage. Rodgers was only able to stop 3 of 11 shots against the Machine.
Tonight’s game will determine which team falls to last place in the league. With neither team having much of a chance to make the playoffs, the main incentive for winning is to not be last place in the league. It’ll be interesting to see which team can dig deepest and get the most effort from bench players and come out with a win.
