Semifinal 2 - Toronto Nationals vs. Long Island Lizards

#2 seed Toronto Nationals (-1.5) vs. #3 seed Long Island Lizards

This is a very intriguing matchup. At first look, the 1.5 goal spread seems a bit low. Toronto is playing really well and the Lizards are just too confusing for me to figure out. I think Toronto wins outright. The teams split their regular season matchups 1-1.

The Rochester Rattlers, er Toronto Nationals are the defending MLL champions, bringing back what is essentially the core of the stacked Rattlers team that won the Steinfeld Cup a year ago. They made 2 major additions to the team late in the season, as Gary Gait signed on to play attack and gun for one more championship, and John Grant Jr. returned from injury to provide a late-season spark for the Nationals.

Long Island is a tough team to get a read on. They have a veteran heavy team, save for Danowski and Greer, and rely on the stellar play of goalie Brian Dougherty to keep them in games. The defense is actually pretty imposing, despite their age. Polanco, Spallina and Gagliardi are names that probably can't be matched by any other team in the league, but these guys are getting old in a hurry.

The attack is among the best in MLL, with former Duke standouts Matt Danowski and Zack Greer playing alongside veteran Tim Goettlemann. Long Island's problem is that they don't have much at the midfield spots in what has become a very midfield dominated league.

Toronto is probably my favorite team to watch. Brett Queener is the most enjoyable player in the league to see play because it's so obvious how much fun the guy is having on the field. Queener has the personality type that makes me think he's going to show up HUGE in the important games like this one. Should Queener fail, his backup is no slouch either, as Doc Schneider of UMass was the first goalie taken in the '09 amateur draft, and has played solidly in his MLL action this season. Schneider figures to see action this weekend one way or the other due to how well he's fared in his rookie year, and the tendency of the Nationals' coaches to split time between their two great keepers.

What should really scare Toronto's opponents is the amount of sheer offensive firepower on that roster. Here's a quick rundown of the offensive stars who will be suiting up for the Nationals this weekend: Joe Walters, Gary Gait, Merrick Thomson, John Grant Jr., Geoff Snider, Jeff Zywicki, and Colin Doyle. That list doesn't even include MLL Defensive Player of the Year Brodie Merrill. Merrill is an absolute terror in the open field picking up loose balls and streaking downfield to get involved in the offense. Brodie checked in with a whopping 20 points this season - tying him for 6th on the team! Native Canadian Thomson had 44 goals in 11 games this season, coming close to earning league MVP honors.

Key Matchup: Toronto's goalies vs. Long Island's attack. If Queener and Schneider can keep Danowski and Greer from going crazy and hold them to maybe 5 or less combined goals, Toronto should walk all over this Lizards team. Should the former Blue Devils catch fire, we could be looking at an upset of the defending champs.

Prediction: Toronto 19, Long Island 10

MLL Playoff Preview

So now that I'm all done trashing the MLL, I figured I'd just preview the upcoming playoffs/championship weekend, and maybe just maybe pick a winner. Somehow, I was actually able to find betting odds on the games! Good thing I don't have a compulsive gambling problem. On to the games...

Semifinal 1 - #1 seed Denver Outlaws (-2.5) vs. #4 seed Boston Cannons

I like Denver to win this one, but I think Boston covers and is going to make a game of it. Boston is a deceptive 4 seed, with every one of their six losses in the regular season coming by one goal. The Cannons don't exactly have a shining history of playoff success though, going 1-6 combined in the franchise's playoff history. However, they do have the recently named Warrior MLL Offensive player of the year in Paul Rabil, and a more than capable attack led by Ryan Boyle and Sean Morris, not to mention a stud in Matt Alrich.

The outlaws just have too much firepower. With a very balanced offense led by the underrated attack duo of Drew Westervelt and Brendan Mundorf along with young stud Dan Hardy, not to mention the MLL goalkeeper of the year in Jesse Schwartzman, Denver gets it done in the semi's. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that two of the most dominant college players in recent memory in Kyle Harrison and Max Seibald are at midfield for Denver.

The one area of concern for me with the Outlaws would be the lack of a top-caliber defense to deal with the Boston attack, but Schwartzman and the high-powered offense should be enough for the Outlaws to get it done and return to the MLL championship game. Containing Paul Rabil is oxymoronic to even type out, but I think Mike Ward, Cittadino and the rest of the Outlaw short stick defenders can do an OK job of keeping Rabil in check and not let him completely take over the game. If rookie Shane Walterhoefer can win 50% of the faceoffs, the Outlaws should be able to keep the ball out of Rabil's stick well enough to control the flow of the game to their liking.

Key Matchup: Denver's short-stick defenders vs. Paul Rabil - Rabil is good enough to split double teams and still get to the cage, but Denver has some pretty solid defenders at midfield, and I think they contain him just enough to get the job done.

Prediction: Denver 17, Boston 15