The final game of the weekend might be the best one of them all. The 4th seed Atlas take on the 5th seed Waterdogs in another rematch. The first game was a 16-15 overtime victory for the DAWGS during the throwback weekend in Denver. That was the final win of the Waterdogs five game win streak and their final win of the season. That win was impressive because the DAWGS were without their top faceoff athlete Jake Withers and Trevor Baptiste dominated at the stripe for Atlas.
ATLAS
The Atlas offense has been led heavily by their starting attackmen. Eric Law, Jeff Teat, and Chris Gray are all in the top 13 points leaders this season, the only attack trio to make that claim. Coach Ben Rubeor would probably like some more production from his midfielders, only Bryan Costabile has more than 12 points this season. Rubeor's team only had 17 Power Plays this season, the lowest in the league, but they are scoring on 41% of those Power Plays, which is tied for 3rd with the Archers. Those offensive hiccups are offset by the dominance of Trevor Baptiste, who is in the running form the Jim Brown MVP Award. Baptiste is facing off at 70% on the season and he missed a game due to injury. The former Denver Pioneer is playing at a ridiculous level, seriously it's wild! The Atlas defense is middle of the pack, giving up 11.9 SAA, and goalie Jack Concannon is saving 55% of the shots he sees, second best in the league. The Achillies heel for the Atlas has been their turnovers, they're top of the league in turnovers, and they don't create caused turnovers on defense, they're 3rd from the bottom in that category. They will look to improve those two areas to beat the DAWGS.
DAWGS
The Waterdogs have had an interesting season. They began the year on a three-game losing streak all without All-World goalie Dillon Ward. They manage to pick up their first win of the season with Matt DeLuca in cage, and Dillon Ward dressed but on the sideline. That win against the Chaos, was the first of an eventual five in a row that included a win over 2nd place Chrome and handing the Whipsnakes their only loss of the season. Then they end the year on a two-game skid, and while this is happening Kieran McArdle put up the second most points in the league behind only the great Lyle Thompson. It has been an impressive season from the former St. John's attackman. The Waterdogs were riddled with injuries: Ryan Brown, Steven DeNapoli, Mikie Schlosser, and Jake Withers all missed multiple games, but they still managed a 5-5 record. The DAWGS offense was tied for 1st this season in total scores, but only shot 28% tied with two other teams for one spot above last. Thier defense has been poor this summer, part of that was their earlier season struggles when they gave up 16, 11, and 17 goals in their first three games. Another reason for their defensive struggles is that they play a lot of it, due to being only 41% at the stripe, second lowest in the league. Even with all of those issues the Waterdogs must feel pretty good about their chances this Saturday in Foxborough. All season they've had players in and out of the squad due to injury, but everyone looks healthy, and I think they will get the win and advance.
I would be foolish to not mention that the Cannons are the team to miss the playoffs this season. That result means we've seen the last of Lyle Thompson on the field in a Cannons jersey for the summer. It sucks, but we still have three great games to look forward to on Saturday and I'm expecting fireworks in Foxborough. It's the playoffs ladies and gents!
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