A Washington Stealth Fan Blog
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The San Jose Stealth are opening the 2008 NLL season on the road against a tough Calgary Roughneck squad. It’s going to be the first Stealth game I’m not seeing in two years because I’ve got tickets to the Lumberjax home opener than night. I really wish that Shaw channel was available on DirecTV so I could record the game.
The single biggest advantage the Roughnecks will hold is that they’ve already played a game (and a scrimmage) against another team while the Stealth have only had training camp. But if any of the Stealth in the US had a dish based TV they were able to watch/record the Mammoth/Roughneck game off the Altitude channel. This will help the Stealth see what Calgary is doing with their new players on D. And the Roughneck defense did good, sticks were up and doubles were consistent and persistent. I hope the Stealth is ready for those doubles and calls out for the dump to the open player.
I think to counter act the doubles the offense needs to start with just two guys, Colin Doyle and Jeff Zywicki. Doyle can pretty easily handle a double and dump it to someone and Jeff will be smart about when doubled and either split it or not stupidly lose the ball. Rosy will also be cool if doubled, but I worry a little about Wiles getting doubled. He might force things when encountering the double. I hope that the double comes from his guy and he’s getting the dump off passes to finish. And Calgary will pick up Devon Wray how didn’t play in the Mammoth game which will improve the defense, another bonus for them.
I feel confident about our match-up of Stealth defense vs. the Roughneck offense. The Stealth did a below average job holding Tracey Kelusky and Lewis Ratcliff in check last year. But the Stealth games against the Roughnecks were all early last year and Cosmo wasn’t performing like he did at the end of the season. Cosmo was also thrown out of the first game for arguing with the ref after some Roughneck shot from behind the goal, bounced the shot off Cosmo and in (not legal, it must go in w/o touching the goalie when shooting from behind) and Bold had to come in and hold on to the get the victory in OT. Anyways, Kelusky and Ratcliff probably both get 5 points each and we’ll hold everyone else in check. BTW – Great highlights of the end of that OT game are available on Veoh.
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The biggest addition and subtraction to the Roughnecks during the off season was getting Steve Dietrich in goal from Buffalo. The reason I say it was also the biggest subtraction is because they had to give up Taylor Wray who was probably their best defender. But Chugger is an excellent goalie and the only time I’ve seen him play against the Stealth he had strep throat, 100+ degree temperature, wouldn’t leave the goal for any reason (time outs, extra attacker chances, nothing but to switch at the quarter) and he shutdown the Stealth. So if he’s healthy it might be even worse for the Stealth. Chugger also took a wicked shot to the head two weeks ago in Colorado that appeared to knock him out cold, he came back and wasn’t as sharp either (but neither was his defense that started to get fatigued). If there’s any lingering effects from that hit I’m okay with that, because it’ll be to the Stealth’s advantage.
Possible X-Factor:
Curt Malawsky – last season in Arizona Curt would put up decent games against the Stealth. He’s always done that since we cut him a year and a half ago. If we go man down too much, Curt will tear us apart.
Prediction:
Stealth win 12-11 to show that 2007 was just the beginning. They’re going to dominate the first and second half of the season this time around.
The defense will have play tough man down (because the refs have been starting the year with numerous penalties) and they will. The Roughnecks will be over prepared for the core 5 attackers and Tom Johnson and Frank Resetarits will get their NLL careers started fast and furious with at least a goal each. Speaking of Resetarits, in his blog post on nllinsider.com this week he said he hopes he dresses for the game. Seriously? A pre-season ROY candidate worrying if he’ll dress?!?! He’ll dress, he’ll play and he’ll surprise himself and hopefully Chugger. Maybe it’s code for I hurt something, but it better not be.
Go Stealth!