Gold Rush - Friday Night Lights

[00:00:12] What is up guys? Welcome to Gold Rush, a Championship Series companion podcast brought to you by The Run Out Podcast. I am your host, Neil Barrett, and today it's just me, Us. And as a wrestling reference, in case you're not a nerd like me,

[00:00:32] last night I did skip the games, headed out on a date night with my wife that did not go to plan to say the least. We went out, got dinner, headed to a movie. We were going to go see the new Captain America movie. We're sitting in the theater waiting for it to start and two guys come up to us and say that we are sitting in their seats

[00:00:57] and I'm confused and I pull out my ticket and I show them we're in the right seats and they're confused. We're confused, obviously. They walk away and go get a manager and when the manager comes back, we find out that we were in the right seats just on the wrong day. Apparently when I bought the tickets two weeks ago, I somehow fat fingered it and bought tickets for the 15th

[00:01:26] instead of the 14th. Don't know how that happened, but it did happen somewhat funnily when we were walking out. We passed the two guys and I apologized and said we had made a mistake and bought tickets on the wrong night. And one of the guys said, we've done that twice. So, you know, I've never really heard of that happening before. Maybe it's the theater. Maybe it's not my fault. Maybe the theater has a problem.

[00:01:51] I don't know, but it was an incredible night of lacrosse last night. I hate that I missed it live. I did get up early this morning and kind of catch myself up, watch the games and, you know, kind of went through social media and looked at all the storylines and what people were talking about. So I am caught up. So we are going to record this episode right now. Tomorrow's episode when you see it, I'm probably still going to be wearing the same clothes for those of you watching on YouTube. So if you see that, I'm not gross.

[00:02:21] It's just the same day. So, yeah, it was an incredible night of lacrosse. This is a championship series podcast. So we're focusing on the WLL and PLL here. But there were some great games in the NLL last night as well. I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention them. They were headlined by an incredible game in what is probably the greatest rivalry in all of lacrosse from top to bottom.

[00:02:51] It's certainly in the professional ranks amongst the professional leagues. It's certainly the best, but it's probably even at the top of just lacrosse in general between the Toronto Rock and the Buffalo Bandits. Again, we'll stick to the championship series here, but definitely make sure that you at least check out the highlights of that game. If not, watch the full replay on ESPN Plus or wherever you can watch NLL highlights.

[00:03:19] If you aren't in the U.S., it was a game absolutely worth watching. It ended with some fireworks as well. I know that there were some stream issues, at least here in the U.S., so you may have to find kind of what happened at the end of the game online. But it was a great game. It was one of several good games last night in the NLL. Again, this is a championship series podcast, so we're not going to get really into it. But again, suffice it to say, check those out for sure.

[00:03:47] In the championship series, both games last night were considered their kind of expected championship previews between the California Palms and the New York Charging on the women's side and the Utah Archers and New York Atlas on the men's side. Both games were the two best teams in their respective leagues going at each other.

[00:04:14] Both Boston teams certainly seemed capable of winning the whole tournament, but both also kind of appear to solidly be third place behind the other two teams playing in last night's games. First up in the WLL, the New York Charging beat the California Palms 16-14. This was an incredible game. Had a real kind of heavyweight feel about it, especially in the second half.

[00:04:41] It really just felt like two teams just slugging it out. Kylie O'Miller set the pace scoring two goals in the first minute and a half, and the charging just exploded from there. They got up to 6-1 before the Palms made a concerted effort to get back in the game and made it a one-goal game at halftime. I feel like I should pause here real quick and just say Kylie O'Miller's story

[00:05:08] is one of my favorite things about the WLL championship series so far. The video that the WLL released earlier yesterday about Kylie O'Miller's story was incredible, and I found myself very affected by her on the sidelines after game one being interviewed

[00:05:32] and saying that lacrosse is one of those games that there's always space for people. So, I'm misquoting. I'm not directly quoting here, but she said something to the effect of you can always get back out on the field even if it's a different version of yourself.

[00:05:57] I hesitate to say I grew up, but I have been a really big Derrick Rose fan for his entire career, and it just reminded me a lot of him, a guy that was the most explosive player I've ever seen in my life, and I'm a big basketball fan. So, you know, I've watched a lot, and he, hands down, I haven't seen anyone like him before or since. There's a few guys that get maybe a little bit close.

[00:06:26] You know, Russell Westbrook for a little while was kind of in that vein. John Morant has some similar elements to his game, but nobody quite does it the way that Derrick Rose did, and obviously he had his injury troubles and had to essentially reinvent himself as a player.

[00:06:46] He was no longer the explosive, power-dunking, you know, little guard that we had come to love and was the MVP of the NBA at one point. He had to reinvent himself, and it was a long, long road for him.

[00:07:07] For those of you that are NBA fans, you may remember seeing him drop 50 points as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves, and there's a very famous interview of him getting very emotional. It was kind of him the first time since his injuries that he had really kind of been that level of player again, again, in a very different way, and I see that a lot with Kylie Oldmiller.

[00:07:34] I was not a huge women's lacrosse follower when she was at Stony Brook, but I do remember her. I had seen her play. I make the comparison to Derrick Rose because she reminded me a lot of him, maybe not quite as explosive, but in the level of kind of the way that she did things a little bit differently. She was a little bit faster, a little bit quicker, a little bit more skilled when she was at Stony Brook,

[00:08:04] and just was shredding record books, and she became one of, if not the best player in the world for a little while when she went pro. And I remember seeing her go down in that semifinal game in the World Championships in 2022, and then because I'm not a huge follower of the women's game, or haven't been at least,

[00:08:30] I didn't even know that she had re-injured herself again. I thought maybe she had just kind of not recovered from the first one or ultimately decided to retire or something. I didn't really know why she hadn't been playing. I didn't know that she had re-injured herself. But having seen her again at Stony Brook and now seeing her in the first two charging games,

[00:08:58] you can tell she is not, at least not yet, maybe she can get some back as she gets more and more game time under her belt. But up until, at this point, she is clearly not the same player that she was, but she is still very, very good, can score pretty much at will. And I am really, really enjoying watching her.

[00:09:27] She's definitely become one of my favorite stories of the WLL across the board for sure. Back to the game, though. The second half was, like I said, just two teams absolutely slugging it out, making plays all over the field. Taylor Moreno was incredible. She made 12 saves at about 43% with an assist.

[00:09:50] And, of course, the first ever WLL goalie goal that I'm quite sure you have all seen on social media everywhere. I didn't check, but I have to imagine it was on SportsCenter's top 10 somewhere. Just an incredible play, so much fun. And one of the things that I think we're not going to talk about a whole lot because of the impact of that goalie goal was that in sixes,

[00:10:19] a goal goes in and the goalie just picks it up and throws it out and the game restarts. So what happened after, I think, was just as important where Taylor Moreno's caught. She can't get back to the goal. And three Palms players bust back into the hole and prevent charging from scoring. If they don't do that and charging, just run back down the field and score.

[00:10:46] It takes some of the push that you get from that off the table. And so it's something that we're not going to talk about somewhat rightfully. So the Taylor Moreno play should be kind of the play that gets the plaudits. But I think equally as important, at least in terms of the game, was the play immediately after where they covered for Taylor being out of goal.

[00:11:15] On the other end, Madison Doucette was also playing out of her mind, especially down the stretch when the Palms were making runs and getting back into the game. She made a couple of key saves that really held off the rush from the Palms and gave the ball back to her team to get some scores. And I don't think that you can say enough about her. She may not do it as flashy as Taylor Moreno. She didn't score a goalie goal or anything,

[00:11:45] but she is just as good and equally as important to her team as Taylor Moreno is to the Palms. So both goalies were playing outstandingly, but the star of the game obviously was Emily Harris-Chuck. Not even because she scored seven points on five goals and two assists and what should have been a two-pointer if the WLL had a two-point shot

[00:12:14] on an absolute rocket from behind the line, but more because of when she made those plays. Every single time the Palms got something going, started rolling, she stepped up and made a play to keep her and her team in front, whether that was a goal or the one that really sealed it for me and I think really kind of sealed the game for me was Izzy Skane's goal,

[00:12:44] which was basically all due to Emily Harris-Chuck's work. She dodged Drew too, stepped away from the pressure, and banged it to the backside with Izzy Skane for a relatively open time and room shot that she just absolutely uncorked. It was a really good shot. The shooting across the board from these women is incredible.

[00:13:13] Every single time the ball leaves their stick, it is moving. Casey and I in yesterday's episode both had the Palms winning this game, which obviously they didn't. The charging did win 16-14, but despite the loss, I walk away from the game feeling pretty good about the Palms' chances to win the tournament as a whole. I feel like with even a marginally better start to the game,

[00:13:43] they probably win this game. And I don't just mean if it had been four instead of six, that they got down four to one instead of six to one and just covering those last two goals at the end. But if they can start their run slightly earlier or before it, it's such a hole, then at halftime, instead of being down one, they're maybe up one or up two, and that puts pressure on charging in the second half.

[00:14:12] And you know how these things compound. So it just feels like if they had maybe just gotten out of the gates just a little bit better, that they could have really pushed and won this game. So again, I feel really good about their chances to win it all. I wouldn't expect in a second matchup with charging for them to really get out of the gates the same way they did today.

[00:14:40] I would expect them to maybe try and push from the beginning, and who knows what could happen at that point. So all in all, an incredible game. The WLL continues to be my favorite version of sixes. The PLL is fast and fun, and I do enjoy watching it. But there's something about the WLL that just is a notch above even that.

[00:15:09] It's so much better. I can't state that enough, how much I have really, really enjoyed the WLL games this week, and I'm looking forward to some very, very good games as we finish out the weekend and head into the championship game on Monday. Moving to the PLL, the Utah Archers beat the New York Atlas 23-20.

[00:15:34] Utah once again showed that they are the most complete team in the championship series, with all 10 of their outfield players registering at least a point for the second game in a row. So the sad thing about that statement right there is that you can almost say that they performed worse because in game one, all 10 field players registered a point, and the goalie registered a point.

[00:16:01] So even though all 10 field players again registered a point, the goalie did not. So it was technically a worse performance. But the offensive contributions of defensive players has been the story for the Archers so far in this tournament. Mason Woodward, Bo Pedersen, Connor Marr, and Piper Bond have all played major, major roles in the Archers scoring. And not just in transition,

[00:16:31] like you might expect from defensive players playing in sixes. These guys are being trusted to not only be a body and be present on the field during settled play, but to handle the ball, force the issue, and take shots. And they are doing so and doing so successfully and scoring points, even on a quiet night for some of the higher profile players like Mac O'Keefe, who finished the game with,

[00:17:00] I think it was one or two points. I can't remember. Relatively quiet night for him. The remaining players all stepped up. The aforementioned defensive guys all played extremely well. Mason Woodward actually doubled up Mac O'Keefe for points. And then Cole Williams and Matt Moore combined for nine points and a whole slew of plays that kept the Atlas from making runs and getting back into the game. The game finished 23-20,

[00:17:30] but that had a lot to do with kind of a late Atlas push in the fourth quarter. The game never really felt that close after about halftime or maybe middle of the third quarter. It never really felt like Atlas was really going to get back into the game, regardless of how close the score got.

[00:17:52] But in the last episode, Casey and I talked about how we thought Liam Entenman would be the difference maker. And even though he made 13 saves and finished at about 41%, it felt rather pedestrian, at least by Liam Entenman standards, which are high standards. He did not play poorly by any stretch of the imagination,

[00:18:19] but he didn't do kind of those extra things that you kind of expect a Liam Entenman performance to include. Like I said, this is by his standards that I'm calling it pedestrian. He is still almost inarguably the best goalie at the championship series. But on this specific night, he didn't do any of the kind of,

[00:18:44] he didn't steal any saves really that you would typically expect him to. And the archers were just kind of overall able to limit his effect on the game. And that was a huge, huge part of their effect, their game plan going into the game.

[00:19:08] Inarguably the best player on the field and what would have likely been the headline of the game with any different outcome was Brian Costabile. He broke the record for points scored in a game that was just set and also broken the night before in the Cannons Whips game when TJ Malone dropped 10 points and then Matt Campbell dropped 11.

[00:19:34] Brian Costabile in tonight's game dropped 12 points on six goals, two two-point goals, and two assists. Just about everything good that happened for the Atlas tonight came off of number 26's stick. It was an incredible performance, one for the ages. And again, with a little bit better performance from some other guys around him, that is absolutely the story of the night.

[00:20:03] Unfortunately for him, it just wasn't working for the rest of the guys on the Atlas team. One stat I saw that really kind of nailed that point home to me was that the Atlas only had 97 passes tonight. That was the fewest by a decent margin for any team in championship series history, which is pretty incredible.

[00:20:33] As we talked about with Asher Nolting and the Cannons, the game plan from the Archers almost seemed to be to just kind of let Costabile do his thing and then let their big bodies, let the Archers' big bodies do what they do and just try to limit everyone else from being involved. And it clearly, again, seemed to work even with Costabile dropping 12 points.

[00:21:01] Like I said, the game in that second half just really never quite felt like the Archers were really in danger of losing. So, you know, we'll see if these two teams meet up again, especially in that championship. We'll see if it works again.

[00:21:23] We have talked again about how Asher in the championship series, in the championship of last year's championship series, was able to kind of overcome that and lead the Cannons to the victory ultimately in the championship game, despite it having worked pretty well in games previous to that. Sometimes seeing that happen again can make it easier to overcome.

[00:21:52] So, again, we'll see what happens. But I think everyone is fully expecting to see this matchup again at some point. So now in both leagues, everyone has played two games. And despite the records, it feels like in the WLL, there are three teams that are very capable of winning with the guard, palms, and charging,

[00:22:19] all looking capable of lifting the trophy. But in the PLL, while I think there are still three teams capable, no one's going to be all that surprised to see the Cannons lifting the trophy come Monday afternoon. There is a much more clear order, I think, in the PLL. You clearly have the Archers, number one. I think pretty much everyone would say that Atlas is number two, and then Cannons are number three.

[00:22:47] I think if you asked people about the WLL teams, you would get likely three different rankings. Every person would have a different order for the teams. I don't think that anyone has really pulled away, despite, again, the records. A majority of people might say charging are at the top, but I think the margin is crazy thin.

[00:23:16] So, we will see. But, even though I am on my own today, we're going to keep going ahead with the predictions, even given kind of the close nature. There are a lot of games today. Every team in both leagues is playing. So, I'm going to try to run through this relatively quickly.

[00:23:39] Actually, the Charms and Palms start the day off. I believe that game is at 1230. Palms would likely have been a favorite no matter what. But, on top of Megan Whittle being out for the charm, they have announced that Alex Ostholman is also out for a, quote, team-approved absence.

[00:24:10] We don't have any other information about what that is. Seems a little weird that you would know you have this seven-day tournament and you would have some kind of required absence scheduled for one of the game days. But, things happen. Again, we don't have any of the details. So, all we know is that it is a team-approved absence. But, again, I think the Palms would have been the favorite anyway.

[00:24:38] But, removing Alex Ostholman is a huge hit to that charm team. So, again, Palms were going to be the favorite. I have less reason to think otherwise. So, I'm taking Palms. We're going to go 1913, I think. Seems pretty good. I still think the charm is a good team, capable of scoring. They still have Sidney Black. And, perhaps this is one of those things where losing one of your high-profile players kind of helps the team.

[00:25:07] People feel like they've got to step up. People have to make plays. So, we'll see. The second game of the day is Charging vs. Guard. I believe this game is at 230. This game will really show where the guards stack up in the WLL. The charging go into the game as favorites, I would assume, from most people. Again, they're the ones that are undefeated and playing at the top of their game.

[00:25:36] But, the guard with a day's rest, I think, will help them. Additionally, the charging are already assured a playoff spot. So, in a manner of speaking, this could be a trap game with the charging kind of looking ahead towards what the playoffs have in store for them. So, I think I'm going to take the guard 16-15. It's not a big margin. Again, I'm not going to be... I don't think anyone would be shocked to see the charging win.

[00:26:05] But, I feel like the guard are really, really going to push and just nip this one. The third game of the day is Atlas vs. Cannons. That game is at 6 p.m. Both teams are going to be looking to prove themselves before they head into the playoffs. So, I have a feeling that this is going to be kind of the game of the night. The Cannons have the rest and are coming off of a big win.

[00:26:34] So, I think I'm going to give them the slight edge here. I've got them winning 25-23. That's not because I think the Cannons are a better team than the Atlas. It's because of the rest and wanting to make a statement. Whereas, Atlas played last night and just aren't going to quite be up for it. I think they'll be a little bit more tired. If this game has a rematch in the playoffs, I might have a different opinion.

[00:27:03] Because, I think roster-wise and on field, I think Atlas is the better team. But, I just don't know that that necessarily translates to tonight. And, the final game of the night is Archers vs. Whips. This game is at 8pm. Utah has already sealed the playoffs and now have their eye on the bye. In the WLL, I had this game as a bit of a trap game.

[00:27:32] Because, the favorite, the charging have already qualified. And, the guard are going to be looking to kind of make a statement. But, in this case, I don't think that the Whips have the firepower or fire, for that matter, to really challenge the Archers. I think the Archers are going to cruise to a pretty easy victory here. I've got them winning 27-19.

[00:27:57] I wouldn't be too terribly shocked to see the Whips kind of punch them in the mouth a little bit. But, again, I just don't think that they can last until, you know, the fourth quarter. I think, again, the Whips may jump up, punch them in the mouth early in the first, jump out kind of like they did to the Cannons the other night, kind of jump out to an early lead, and then just kind of fade down the stretch.

[00:28:25] Because, they just don't have the roster that can run for four quarters with the Archers. So, yeah, 27-19 is what I'm going with there. As for my championship and golden stick winners, I wanted to get these from the guys that have been on the show, Casey and Jackson. And I forgot to have them text me their picks last night.

[00:28:52] So, once again, it is just me, Ouse. But I am officially changing my WLL pick to the Palms. I've really fallen in love with this team from top to bottom. Taylor Moreno is insane in goal. Ali Mascherani does it all. I don't even think I mentioned Sam Greer's back earlier when I was talking about the game.

[00:29:17] Sammy Joe Tracy, Wurzberger, Bakes, Wood, etc., etc., etc. Like I said earlier, despite the loss, I feel better about the Palms coming out of that game. Even a slightly better start to that game. And it's a different result. So, I am all in on the Palms on this one. Again, I'm not going to be terribly shocked if it's one of the guard or charging. But I think that, again, from top to bottom, the Palms have everything.

[00:29:46] For the golden stick, I am going to hold on to Charlotte North. She is one goal behind leaders Ali Mascherani and Emily Harris-Chuck, who are both tied at nine. Charlotte North has eight. I think it's one of those three for sure. Sidney Black has the ability. But again, I just don't think the charm are going to stick around long enough for it to really be Sidney's trophy to lose.

[00:30:14] Ultimately, I think it might be Ali or Emily that wins it. But mostly because I think we're looking at a California-New York final. But until I can kind of decide one or the other, I'm going to stick with Charlotte North. And if tonight they win, I might just ride it out with Charlotte North. We'll see.

[00:30:41] Again, that was kind of the fun of doing this every single day is trying to hedge bets and see what's going to happen and predict only maybe a day ahead as opposed to, you know, all the way through the weekend. So again, I'm going to stick with Charlotte North for the WLL. But Ali Mascherani and Emily Harris-Chuck are making that very difficult. On the PLL side, I think you'd be a fool not to look at the Archers as the favorite.

[00:31:10] They're clearly the best team overall. So they're obviously kind of the pick here. Atlas and Cannons are clearly both capable. Cannons won it last year with largely this same roster. Atlas looks so, so good at like 90% of the time. So again, you're not going to be all that shocked to see them win. But the Archers are the pick. So I am switching from the Cannons to the Archers.

[00:31:40] I am officially on the bandwagon with Jackson. For the Golden Stick, my pick of Marcus Holman's been decent so far. He's three goals behind Brian Costabile, who leads the league with 15 goals. Luckily for Marcus Holman, the Cannons play the Atlas today. And if he can outpace Costa, he'll be right there in the mix.

[00:32:07] I think he can and will outpace Costabile. So I'm going to hold on to Holman come tomorrow. I might be wrong and have to change it. But at least until then, I'm going to stick to my guns. I'm going to hold it down with my original pick of Marcus Holman. And hopefully he comes through for me.

[00:32:29] But that is it for today with all four teams in both leagues playing their final round robin games today. We have so much to talk about on tomorrow's episode. We will know what the playoffs look like officially. And we'll have a much better grasp on title contenders and Golden Stick winners. So be sure to check out tomorrow's episode.

[00:32:56] We should have Jackson for sure and probably Casey as well. There might be all three of us for tomorrow's episode. So definitely be sure to come back and check that out. Okay, see you tomorrow.