The evening was chilly with scattered rain starting around halftime, but the 6,700-plus fans in attendance walked out of the stadium with warm fuzzies and a home team victory. The Denver Outlaws rode off into the sunset on Sunday evening with a 17-10 victory over the visiting Chesapeake Bayhawks. The Outlaws were boosted by hat tricks from Cam Holding, Chris Bocklet, and John Grant, Jr., and the latter also contributed four assists on the evening. Anthony Kelly went 24 for 31 at the faceoff X and even scored a goal in the victory. The Bayhawks were led by The Matts—Abbott and Danowski—who contributed three and four points, respectively, for their club.
Midfielder Jeremy Sieverts opened up the scoring in the game off a pass from John Grant. The Bayhawks answered back shortly after with a strike from perennial sniper Matt Striebel 9:39 into the first stanza. It would prove to be the closest the Bayhawks would get to matching the Outlaws for the remainder of the evening.
Denver went on a four-goal run, including tallies from Cam Holding, Chris Bocklet, Justin Pennington, and Jeremy Noble, before Chesapeake would score again. Apparently folks in Maryland aren’t aware of the dangers of bears in the Rocky Mountain region, because Jack Rice’s goal to make the game 5-2 was tantamount to poking the proverbial bear. Denver responded with their second four-goal run of the half, entering the break with a 9-3 advantage.
The faceoff X was particularly troublesome for Chesapeake, and it seemed that Anthony “A Train” Kelly, was playing the role of one of those Japanese bullet trains because he pretty much imposed his will on C.J. Costabile. If Mick were there to throw in the towel the fight would have ended much earlier. Jeff Reynolds and Dan Coates, the latter suiting up for the first time this year, both went 0-for against Kelly.
In addition to Coates, there was another Bayhawk with no name on the back of his uniform – Sam Bradman. (I had to look up the box score online in the middle of the game, with crappy reception no less, just to find out who was who.) The middie from Salisbury potted a goal in his first action of the season. Mother nature made an appearance and the rain made the field a bit slippery in the second half. Bradman juked his defender, who lost his footing and hit the turf, leaving a clean look for the former Seagull.
Colin Dunster, who played for Denver last year, continued to offer a bright spot for Chesapeake’s struggling midfield with two goals early in the third quarter as well. Running inverts from X with the midfield worked well enough for Chesapeake in the early going of this MLL campaign but overall the Bayhawks’ midfield unit underwhelmed. Matt Abbott continues to be predominantly cyborg, but aside from the Dunster spark, no one really stood out in this contest.
Chesapeake’s attack unit of Danowski, Rice, and Rubeor looked solid throughout the contest, at least the during the times that they got the ball. Danowski has spent time at midfield in recent seasons but the move back to attack fits his game well. He called his own number a few times and finished the game leading his team in points. Jack Rice has blossomed nicely for the Bayhawks this year as well.
The Bayhawks’ defense, however, couldn’t contain the potent Outlaw offense. Tyler Fiorito tried his hardest to keep Denver off the board, but the spectacular saves that he made last week against New York never surfaced in the Mile High City.
On the flip side, Max Schmidt is beginning to find his rhythm with Dillon Roy and Chris O’Dougherty. Ken Clausen took some runs at the faceoff wing, providing some additional grit in that aspect of the game and even managed to thread a nifty pass at one point to a John Grant just waiting in the slot. It was Junior’s first goal of the game. Speaking of JGJ, the legend had about the quietest seven-point evening I can remember witnessing. His most daring shots were in the first half and none of them found twine.
The Denver offense did a good job of spreading the wealth in their set pieces and getting transition goals. Tallies from Kelly and Noah Molnar speak to the latter, and the fact that Denver hung 17 goals and only got a single assist from Eric Law, a dynamic playmaker speaks to the former.
Dillon Ward saw his first action in goal for the Outlaws this season as well, taking over the Denver crease in the fourth quarter. The Canadian gold-medal winner faced four shots and made three saves during his fifteen minutes of fame.
Right now Denver sits in second place in the league table and the team is coming together nicely. The Outlaws welcome the high-flying offense of the Ohio Machine to the Mile High on Friday night. The Bayhawks look to rebound at home against Rochester on Saturday.
