A Washington Stealth Fan Blog
This project is maintained by tfitch
The first Stealth lacrosse game of the weekend is the Friday night rematch from the thrilling OT game they started off the season with against the Calgary Roughnecks.
Calgary is coming to town with a healthy Tracy Kelusky in tow. Kelusky missed the first meeting due to illness and the Roughnecks went on to lose the game 13-12 in OT. I believe it is safe to say that the Roughnecks missed his presence on the floor.
In the weekly league press conference call, Stealth coach Walt Christianson said “We prepare as a team, there’s never any mention as to who’s going to have the ball… My philosophy is that who’s ever open needs to get the ball.” This is what I love about the Stealth and makes their offense so lethal. Jeff Zywicki and Luke Wiles torched the Roughnecks last time. So if the Calgary defense adjusts and overcompensates for the righties then Gary Rosyski, Tom Johnson and Cam Sedgwick put the ball in the net from the other side. All the while Colin Doyle is up top leading the way.
I didn’t get to watch the first match up between these two teams, so I don’t know if Calgary continued their extensive double teaming from the Colorado game. I hope they did and they continue to, because the Stealth can pick apart those doubles even better now that they’ve got a game under their belt. I’m also not expecting as slow of a start to the game as their was two weeks ago. Calgary was up to game speed already as they had played a game and scrimmage. The Stealth came out flat and really had to battle back, but that will not happen this week.
On defense, I think the Stealth will do as well or better than they did in the first game. Stealth goalie, Anthony Cosmo only had one weekend of training camp under his belt and now he can add a full game to that. Cosmo hopefully gets a few more saves than the first go around.
Steve Panarelli was a big surprise in the box score. Panarelli, the three-time All-American from Syracuse had five loosies in his professional debut. I need to see him in person, but I feel like he’s my Jarrett Park replacement that I’ve been clamoring for. (I actually haven’t been hoping for a replacement, I’ve been hoping for Jarrett specifically, but Steve sounds about perfect after one game.)
I can’t think of too many things to say that I didn’t already say in the first preview. Kelusky will be in the Calgary line up, he’s probably good for 1 or 2 goals. Hopefully he only produces as many goals as Cosmo has extra saves. Then the final result will remain in the Stealth’s favor.
Curt Malawski has been replaced as the X-factor for the game. This time around, the X-factor will be the difference in the Roughnecks with Kelusky on the floor. He’ll either put the offense over the top and lead the way to a victory or slightly interfere with the chemistry the O group had in the first match up and prevent a victory. Just two more nights until I find out.
On the bench:
This week the Stealth re-signed Todd Fairlie and release Greg Gurenlian. Gurenlian is a pure face-off man, but I think Tim Booth showed in the first game that he’s ready take that job full time this season after filling in for Joe Vasold last year after Joe was injured.
Frank Resetarits was a healthy scratch last week in Calgary, but with back-to-back games this weekend he’ll surely dress in one game, if not both. He’s a heck of a talent, but when we sit him it allows another transition guy to play and keep the defense fresh late in the game. It’s a tough trade-off but one that leads to team victories.
Prediction:
I like the prediction I had the first time around. I’m sticking to it, it was almost perfect.
Stealth 12
Roughnecks 11
I’ll have the Stealth @ Colorado preview up Friday night or Saturday so that I can have the result of Thursday’s Mammoth game and Friday’s Stealth game in my analysis.
Go Stealth!