PLL Team Previews: Chrome and Redwoods
WITNESS THE SHINY WISE BEARS!
If you wanted an intro you should have clicked on a YouTube video.
Chrome
Biggest Strength: Team Identity
There are several teams in the PLL that don’t know who or what they are. The Chrome do not have that issue. This is a hustle gang. A band of brothers. They don’t have friends; they have a family - and it’s each other. That’s the intended effect that occurs when Tim Soudan is your head coach. He fosters that want - not need - to do better for the guy next to you because that guy is awesome. And also, your cool uncle is your coach. You don’t want to let them down. It sounds like I’m making fun of that dynamic, but I’m actually praising it. It’s incredibly hard to pull off - I couldn’t even do it as the coach of a JV team in rural New Hampshire this spring. But Soudo...the man they call Soudo is the master of that type of team building. He yells and he smiles in the same sentence more than any other man I have ever met in my life.
Biggest Weakness: Too many B’s not enough A’s
This is a bit harsh, but let me alternatively phrase it before I put it in perspective - who is the Chrome’s best player? Is it Jordan Wolf? Is it Justin Guterding? Is it Jesse Bernhardt? They’re all great players, but this team reads - on paper - as a classroom full of B students. Not as an average - everyone just gets straight B’s. In one way it’s an advantage because you have to almost prepare for everyone in the same way; it’s less “My No. 1 defender vs. Their No. 1 attackman” and more “My best off-ball defender has to be on Guterding or Gaudet”. If you get your picks right you can really limit how they do things. Conversely, if you get them wrong they can tear you apart. It’s all about personnel, but who gets the ball with the game on the line?
Player to Watch: Joel White, Offensive LSM
The return of the prodigal...older gentlemen was not foretold, but it was whispered and I’m thrilled that it’s a reality. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again - the long stick midfield position is the hardest field position to play in the PLL. You cannot use your natural athleticism to win the day; you have to pick your sprints, your checks, and your runs upfield wisely or you will burn out or get blasted. Or both. Joel White does all three of those things better than 90% of the LSM’s in the league. Missing a year of time is tough, but it’s not a deal-breaker. I fully expect him to return to All-Pro form - as long as he can avoid the injury bug.
Favorite Player: Jordan Wolf, Scoring X Attackman
I love watching Jordan Wolf play so much that I make excuses for his mistakes in my own head. I suppose that makes me a Jordan Wolf fan and I’m okay with that; you can like players - it is allowed. With Wolf, I’m always looking to see if he can get the first goal or two of the game because if he does then you’re in for a long, long day - of fun! Name a more fun player to watch dodge a defender from X. For pure speed and terror-inducing quick-shifting movements, no one matches Wolf. That’s why teams double him at GLE and beat the bag out of him with their biggest guy - until he tastes turf dust on the tip of his tongue. That’s how he knows he’s already dead.
Redwoods
Biggest Strength: Defensive Identity
I type this in all sincerity knowing that this team absolutely has to add another pole this season. They just have to find the right one and that will be the struggle. That being said, of all the coaching staffs in the league, I trust this one to actually find that individual to fit into their scheme and culture. Eddy Glazener is truly the best talking defenseman I have ever seen. In terms of communication and clarity, he is truly unmatched. Finn Sullivan took a while to settle in, but that half-season’s worth of games in the PLL was worth so much in terms of his adjustment period from the MLL. Garrett Epple...had a rough Utah summer. He did too much with his checks and pressed out on guys where he should have stayed home but all defensemen go a little mad sometimes. This team has stellar SSDM’s and LSM’s as well, so the damage that a team can do to them in the middle of the field is safely mitigated.
Biggest Weakness: Reliance on two-pointers
If you look at how the Redwoods played in the six-on-six last summer, the sheer impact of their two-point goals is unmistakable. They didn’t just rely on them - they needed them to win all of their games. Two-pointers are not lacrosse’s three-pointers, at least, not yet. The Woods cashed in on 10 two-pointers, but scored the third-worst amount of total goals with 42. That has to be addressed. The additions of Rob Pannell and Ryan Lee in the offseason were huge in terms of player types that were sorely needed. Lee, a shooter, and finisher of the highest caliber that can operate on the left wing was essential. No one is prepared for how good he is going to be for this team all season. Pannell has to go back to his roots as a pure distributor in order to get the best results at X. Jules Heningburg was sorely missed in the offense last season and his return is crucial to the teams success just in terms of his movement and the attention that he can draw from opposing defenses. This is not a “3 and D” (or “2 and D”) team - at least not anymore. They are more complete with those additions and hopefully won’t have to lean so heavily on fast breaks and their big shooters to win all of their games. Lord help me if they just do isos from the low right corner as their entire offense again...
Player to Watch: Rob Pannell, Shoot first X Attackman
Rob Pannell is +3,000 to win the PLL MVP. Given his numbers last season that’s a decent bet until you realize that those are the same odds that Joe Nardella is getting and Michael Sowers is +5,000. Gambling with RP3 in the PLL is a tough prospect regardless of the odds because history shows you that he’s a dangerous player. Well if he’s so dangerous why did he get dealt in the off-season? Because he had a bad tournament. According to the Devitte Matrix (goals plus assists minus turnovers), he was +1. One. Now, did his teammates flub their lines a bit when it came to finishing his feeds? Absolutely. Is that almost certainly going to be an issue again with the Redwoods? Given their team shooting percentage from last summer, also yes. But guys like Ryan Lee and Charlie Bertrand will help. This is a huge year for RP3. He has nothing to prove to his fans, and everything to prove to the league.
Favorite Player: Pat Harbeson, Utility Midfielder
More than an SSDM, less than an O-mid, a founding member of team-under-5’ 9’’ - PHarb is just flat out fun to watch. Did he have two different coast-to-coast runs through the defense only to have his shot saved by the goalie last season? Yes, but it’s the work to get him into that position that makes him so impressive. We talk about SSDM’s and rope units like they’re interchangeable sometimes, but players like Harbeson are created in the same lab where guys like Matt Abbott were constructed. Hustle is nothing without guile. Remember that the next time you see a tryhard SSDM press out too far and get roasted on a split/spit by someone who can actually play offense and defense in the same shift like PHarb.