Gold Rush - We've Got Overtime!

[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. This is Jackson VanVlake, who's been with us most of the week. I'd say all week, but I missed an episode during travel. But otherwise, been with us every week or all week. He is live from Springfield, Virginia, where he is actually at the Championship Series. Jackson, how are we doing? I'm doing great. How are you, Neil?

[00:00:45] I'm better than I was last night for, obviously, inside baseball here. You guys won't know this, but Jackson and I normally record these podcasts at the end of the night when the games are over. Everything's really fresh. And I texted him last night and was like, I just can't do it. I've been running so hard all week. I was like, I just can't do it. So we are actually up early in the morning on Monday. Not that early.

[00:01:09] It's about 8.30 now. So not that early, although you had a long night. I did. The fire alarm went off at about 1.30 this morning. So I'm going to push through and really excited for these two games today. So if that's the worst thing that happens to me today, it's going to be a good day.

[00:01:36] Nice. Two things before we jump into the games. First of all, I wanted to the PLL announced much to my chagrin, having spent two months trying to build to this podcast and designing my entire branding for this podcast off of the now old trophies as the PLL and WLL released new trophies for this championship series.

[00:02:05] You have actually seen them in person. What are your thoughts about them? I'm going to set the over under at man. They're big, probably four and a half beers that they hold. So they're, they're long. Yeah. And I don't know. I don't think the champ series trophy was my favorite. I really like the regular season trophy.

[00:02:35] I've also held that one. So I'm a little biased towards that one. But I think they're nice and definitely lend themselves to having a little bit of fun in the locker room for the, for the winning team. So I'm excited to see the change and it's nice to have, you know, two of them that are very similar looking. They're almost identical with the exception of kind of the handles on the side.

[00:03:03] The women's one kind of takes its inspiration from the kind of winged part of the WLL logo. So I thought that was a nice touch. And then the men's is very similar to it. Just like kind of different handles, but it's cool to see the, the big, you know, PLL and WLL logo kind of engraved into that trophy. So I think they did a nice job with it. Yeah.

[00:03:31] You, you telling me that they're, they're a bit bigger because obviously the pictures don't really give you any context of size. Did kind of help me come around to them a little bit. Um, I know I'm, I'm, I seem to be in the minority here and that, and that's fine.

[00:03:47] But I, I wouldn't say it was like my favorite trophy in the history of sports, but I kind of liked the old, um, championship series when I thought it, it kind of, it went with the, the PLL trophy, but was. It's kind of its own thing. I thought they, they did a decent job of, of straddling that line.

[00:04:09] I can understand the, uh, the thing I didn't love was the, the like brassy, like painted gold rather than like, you know, a shiny, you know, gold element. Um, but that aside, I liked them. Um, I was not really a fan seeing the new trophies, but again, you, you saying that.

[00:04:30] And then part of me has wondered if to, to maybe eliminate some confusion, if they rebrand this as like the, the PLL cup or the champions cup or something just to kind of, cause you know, the championship series was that the, the 2020 season. And there's just so much confusion around the names and all that.

[00:04:54] And I, I wondered if this was them kind of beginning to maybe rebrand, uh, the championship series as some kind of, um, you know, like the NBA has that, that in season tournament now. And I am pretty sure they call it like the NBA cup or something. I don't know, but, uh, yeah. So, um, interesting. Just wanted to get your thoughts on that. And then the second thing I wanted to do before we talked about the games was give you some time to talk about what happened after the semifinals yesterday.

[00:05:24] Uh, for anyone who doesn't know the, um, PLL assists put on an HBCU all-star game, both a men's and a women's all-star game that took place after the semifinal games yesterday. It was to my knowledge, not televised. I'm pretty sure it wasn't televised. I didn't see it anywhere. And all the only clips, yeah, the only clips I saw were of people there, like on their phones. There was no, you know, broadcast clips of any kind that I saw.

[00:05:54] So, um, being there, uh, getting to hang out with some friends and, and watch those games. Uh, I wanted to hear about it basically. Cause, uh, anyone who doesn't know, I grew up in a, the area of several HBCUs. I thought I would end up going to one of those HBCUs. So I, I've always been really in on it, but yeah, give me, give us the thoughts and impressions. Yeah, no, it was really well done.

[00:06:22] Um, they had the, you know, the PLL and WL crews reffing the games. So it was a very elevated experience and man, there was a bunch of talent on both sides. Um, I missed the roster introductions and I didn't think take notes, but number 18 on the yellow team for the men was wearing these bright pink cleats. You couldn't miss them. Um, and the kid, golly, I mean, he was trying to be on TLN or something cause he, it was just

[00:06:52] highlight after highlight. Um, and then there was a number one on the black team, um, who they interviewed after the game. I can't remember his name either, but, um, he absolutely put on a show and then come to find out he is a freshman. So super, super talented, um, you know, it was very high skill and the game, it was very

[00:07:17] reminiscent of a PLL game where it was very up and down and a lot of transition and, um, talent and skill. Um, and really the same on the women's side too, that, you know, there was, um, it was, the women's game was actually very close and, um, kind of like a, you know, a WL game, you know, it was a little slower through the first three quarters, but man, that fourth quarter, they really picked it up. And, um, yeah, uh, the energy in the crowd was awesome.

[00:07:47] Uh, DJ Ralphie Ralph was absolutely killing it on the playlist in the background. They were, they were treating it a little bit more like, um, an NLL game where, you know, there was a little bit of music kind of going on all the time. Um, which I thought was great. And, um, I mean, you could tell that everybody was into it. Like I said, great energy in the crowd from the players and the coaches, you know, I got to speak to a few of the women's coaches, um, after the game ended and, and man, they

[00:08:16] were, you know, so appreciative of, um, you know, what PLS was doing, you know, because you know, those girls work so hard. And, and, and I believe he said that they were, you know, they were kind of dealing with some funding issues. So for the PLL to take this, the stand here and, um, and really advocate for them was, was really, really cool to see. I wish people, um, you know, would have stuck around a little longer towards it.

[00:08:42] And to the, you know, defense of the fans, the women's game ended at about 10 30. So, I mean, you had to stay, you know, two and a half, three hours after the men's game ended, um, yeah. And if you had been there, if you had been there for the WLL game, you know, that's, that's a full 12 hours after the WLL game started. So, yes.

[00:09:07] Um, you know, but like I said, super well done, super talented and, um, well worth staying around for, and, uh, hopefully I can come back again next year and they'll be here again. So, um, I think there were some clips posted by PLL assists. Um, so there, there should be a few highlights, uh, around there. You know, like I said, most of the PLL social team was kind of hanging around there too.

[00:09:34] So, um, it was, it was really awesome. Uh, just before we, we move on, you said 18 on yellow or was it black? What were the two? Okay. 18 on yellow was Errol Tucker. I hope I said that right. That sounds familiar. He's from Morehouse college, uh, in, I believe that's in Atlanta. Um, and then what was the other one you said? One on black. Is that what you said?

[00:10:02] Well, one on both teams were actually both really, really awesome. Those two stuck out to me. One on black. The black team was called legacy. Uh, number one on black was Charles Hatton. He's from Howard university in Virginia. The yellow team was excellence. Uh, number one for them was Derek green, jr. He's from Coppin state. So, uh, just so we can shout them out and, you know, applaud their play. Also just real quick.

[00:10:32] Funny thing to me. And this was just something that I noticed. They were reading the lineups for the women's team and whichever the green team was. I think that was the magic, um, had four number 25, which I just thought was hilarious. I was like, who said that that was okay. Oh yeah. The roster says three, but yeah, maybe one of them changed. Yeah. No, that's weird. But I guess because my understanding of these is that all of these players play in the NCL,

[00:11:02] the next level or collegiate lacrosse. I'm totally butchering that. Uh, I should know this better. Um, but yeah, this, this seemed to be all made up of players from, again, it was an all star game of the NCL league. Uh, and so, yeah, I would guess, you know, they were 25 for their team. So they just slapped the 25 on everybody. That's funny. I didn't, I wouldn't have noticed that otherwise.

[00:11:28] Um, I'm looking, yes, I, they do appear to have had some content. This looks like kind of PLL content up on, uh, or content makers up on, uh, recording stuff for, um, for them. Yeah. Yeah. There goes number one in black scoring. That was pretty nice. Uh, anyway, we will, we will move on, but that was, that was a pretty fun, cool thing.

[00:11:54] The only, the only thing I thought like you, like kind of what you were pointing out was why, why did they do it at the end? Especially when you had this big giant break in the middle of the day, like, why couldn't we have played that in between the games? You know, they weren't being televised either way. So, um, but all that to say, uh, just a great, great event. And like I said, I wanted to give you a chance to talk about it because I thought it was pretty cool.

[00:12:23] So with that being said, let's move into the WLL games where the charging defeated the palms, uh, 18 to 11. And we'll move on to face the Boston guard in tomorrow. And today's, excuse me. I wrote those notes yesterday in today's championship game. Um, you were there. What, what were your, your kind of feelings? That crowd looks amazing for that game.

[00:12:52] It was incredible. Um, and I don't know. I mean, the story of the day was it was the charging stay and it was not the day for the bombs. I mean, um, I can't tell you how many pipes the palms hit. Um, and I mean, Oh, um, do, do set, uh, set the record again with 21 saves. Yep.

[00:13:21] Um, and Emily Harris Chuck was, I think seven for seven shooting. Yep. Just a monster day killed my prediction of Meg Carney winning the golden stick. Yeah. But yeah, the palms just couldn't get anything going. I mean, they were just off and kind of like I talked about yesterday, you know, um, you know, riding with a little bit more experience on the, the, the charging. And I think it, it, you know, it definitely helped down the stretch and, you know, we're

[00:13:49] on the back end of, uh, of a long and, you know, pretty physical and, and, and, you know, mental draining week. Um, so, you know, the, the charging just kind of had a little bit more seasoning there. And, um, I think that's what they, they really rode to the end there. Yeah. Um, first of all, Madison Doucette 21 saves, I believe is just a championship series record like PLL WLL.

[00:14:16] I think that's far and away, uh, the record there. Um, and then yeah, Emily Harris Chuck with 17 goals, you might as well hand her that award now. Like, I don't think anyone, I'm going to say that and then someone's going to drop nine goals and, and beat her by one or something. But I just, I mean, she's, she's so far and away.

[00:14:41] I mean, seven goals, I think would be a WLL record for goals in a game. Um, um, the, uh, but I, I, I'm like you, I, it just did nothing worked for the palms. We, we've talked all week about, you know, making your own luck. And, and I certainly think the charging did a lot of that, you know, what was in the position

[00:15:10] to, to capitalize on things. But I also just felt like, you know, the, the, the, in the first half, the palms had 11 turnovers. Um, about half of them were, were cause, which means they were, uh, there were so many just simple exchanges that they were just throwing out of bounds and stuff. They ended with 19 turnovers in the second half, seven of their eight were forced turnovers.

[00:15:37] So, you know, that, that kind of goes back into the charging, making their own luck. But I just thought the, the palms just, they weren't having any of those luck elements. And then I thought their shooting was just awful on the day, you know, whether that was tiredness or what, like they just, they couldn't, they couldn't score. And, and part of that is Madison Doucette.

[00:16:04] But I, there were so many, so many of the shots that were shot straight into her body. She didn't move. She didn't do anything. It just hit her or, you know, went, you know, right to her stick. And it was like, you know, they, they didn't, she didn't have to work to make a lot of those saves. She's in the right position. She's doing what she's supposed to do. So like, I'm not trying to take credit from her, but they also weren't making her work to make those saves at all. Yep.

[00:16:34] Um, and I, and, you know, I thought, I thought probably the best thing that the charging did, uh, all around was the palms are clearly at their best in transition. Taylor Moreno makes that save, gets it upfield, probably to Ali Mascherini. But, uh, you know, they had several people that were capable and that getting up and down the field was the palms, uh, strength. And part of the reason why I think most of us thought they had a pretty good shot in this

[00:17:04] game because six is such a heavy transition game. Um, but I don't know, I don't know what it was. Taylor Moreno wasn't making super clean saves. A lot of saves she's, she's making, and then has to like bend down and pick up the ball or whatever. And, and then of course, Madison Doucette was making some saves on, on some of those really impressively.

[00:17:28] Um, so yeah, like you said, it just, it just wasn't the palms day in any way at all. Um, yeah, that, that, that's kind of it. I, that was such a simple, simple game, you know, every, everything just weren't like it, that there's not a whole lot to talk about. The, the charging just had everything go their way. They did everything right.

[00:17:56] And the, the palms didn't basically, uh, that's what it boils down to for sure. Um, so they will move on to face the guard today. Uh, I am, I think I'm sticking with the guard. I have no reason to doubt them as good as charging has looked. Uh, they have played, I looked back at the schedule.

[00:18:23] They have, they will today will be their fourth game in four days. They, they played Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and now they will play Monday in that time period. The guard have played, will have played twice. This is the guard second game. So yeah, they had the rest yesterday, but they also have an additional day of rest that the charging don't have. Uh, and I just think that'll be too huge of a factor.

[00:18:49] There we've seen every, every team on both the men's and women's side that had that day of rest came, came in. And I mean, even the whips, they had a day of rest and came out and went up like what? Seven, two or something. Um, and we all know what the whips are. So I don't think that day of rest can be understated. That being said, I'm not counting, I'm not counting the charging out at all. They're very capable.

[00:19:17] Um, but I think I'm, uh, I wrote down guard win 1815 is what I, what I got. I, I think I'm going to stay with, with my charging pick. I mean, kind of a, a win like that is a, is a great confidence booster. And obviously I don't think you can expect 21 saves out of Madison to chat today, but, um, I think she's going in there with a lot of confidence.

[00:19:45] Emily Harris, Chuck is on another level right now. Um, insane. And then, I mean, even if, you know, they, they make a game plan to limit her, you still got Izzy Skane, you know, McCarney, um, to, to kind of pick up the load. So, um, I'm going to stay with the charging and I think Emily Harris, Chuck's, you know, lead on the golden stick is, is too big. So yeah, she'll probably, yeah.

[00:20:11] You know, if, even if she gets, you know, two or three goals today, I think, you know, whatever, even if we see a new PLO record for goals, I think, I think she's just too far, um, from the rest of the back for that. So I'm going to go charging. I'm going to go 1715 overtime games. I'm going to say it ends 1414 regulation and goes 1715 charging. You know what?

[00:20:40] Overtime is such a bold prediction that even if the score's wrong, if it goes to overtime at all, I'm going to count that as a win for you because like, it's just such a, such a bold prediction to be like, yeah, we're going to overtime. So, uh, speaking of overtime, that's a good transition there. Uh, we'll move to the PLL game where the cannons beat the Atlas 24 to 23.

[00:21:07] And overtime, I, if my memory serves me correctly, that's the first overtime game, this championship series, right? It has been. Yeah. Yeah. It was fun because I was, I was sitting with a few folks and I was like, man, like, you know, we haven't seen overtime yet. You know, and you know, at that point it's 2219 with like a minute and a half. I'm like, man, like would love to see this one go to overtime. But, you know, partially as an archers fan, like, you know, get beat up and worn out.

[00:21:32] But, um, you know, just to showcase that overtime rule set, which I think was perfect. I mean, obviously if the game had gone a different way, the cannons would have wished, you know, that it was golden goal again, because they did score the first goal in overtime, which was their first lead of the game. Yeah.

[00:21:55] Um, and I mean, it was, it was absolutely electric and, and, and throughout the game too, you know, before the game, they interviewed, um, you know, a bunch of little guys, um, in Atlas jerseys and Steven Brooks, his son was among them. And, um, you know, Jesse with the PLL kind of, kind of stuck the mic in his face and he, he did awesome.

[00:22:19] I mean, he, he, he didn't, didn't offer a ton in the way of, um, you know, X's and O's, but man, he got that crowd pumped up. And then there was a pretty good, um, contingency of, of Boston fans as well. And, you know, really in the second half, it was, um, it was palpable. I mean, there were, you know, defense chance for, from both sides.

[00:22:43] And, um, and I really do think that that had an impact on, um, on both teams, you know, where, you know, they kind of felt the, the crowd was behind them. You know, I, I think it was very split, but, you know, both teams made it sound like it was a home game for, for them. And, and, you know, coach Holman actually came around the kind of little restraining, you know, barrier, um, on the field.

[00:23:11] And I mean, was, you could tell that he knew that the crowd was the reason they won that game, um, and, and spent, you know, several minutes thanking people and, you know, hyping up the crowd. He said, that's two in a row because of you. Um, and so I think, you know, it can't be understated the impact that the crowd had on it. Um, so I, you know, as an Archer fan, I don't know exactly how well we travel.

[00:23:41] I'm sure there's a few folks and, and some parents, so we're gonna have to get together today and kind of make our own little section. But, um, I mean, it definitely can't be understated the, the impact that the crowd had, you know, across the game. I have to say as much as I'm ready for us to experience some new venues for this event and, and spread the love around for lack of a better term, you can't argue with how good

[00:24:11] of a venue. It has been the only kind of complaint I've ever heard about them is that the, the playing surface is not amazing. Uh, but every other aspect of that venue has been great and they, they get a good crowd out there and the, the crowds are fun and it gets loud in there.

[00:24:32] And, um, I, I don't want to see those elements gone if, and when it moves to a new location, um, that may end up happening. But, um, before we get into the, the last, let's say six or seven minutes of that game, uh, let's talk about the first, whatever, whatever the math ends up at, I guess it's,

[00:25:03] oh, nevermind. I'm not even going to try to do it, but the, the, everything. 28 minutes maybe, or 30 minutes. Something, something. Or the last two. Something. Well, yeah. Yeah. I bring this up to, um, miles Jones was on one yesterday. He was on one and every way you can be on one. Um, he, so the Atlas came out of the tunnel first and miles Jones stood at midfield and watched the cannons come out. And I could, I couldn't tell who he was mean mugging, but there was, there was something

[00:25:32] that they were playing for that day other than to make it to the, um, to the, the championship. Um, and, and, uh, he, he was fantastic yesterday. I mean, what did he do? You know, five and two or something on a hundred percent shooting. Yeah. Five and two on a hundred percent. Yep. Yeah. No, no, you know what? He missed that two in overtime. So he didn't finish at a hundred percent, but, uh, he was, he was at a hundred percent until that shot.

[00:26:01] Um, but yeah, no, I noticed that too. One, because he played like that. He played like, you know, no one's going to stop me. I'm going to do whatever I want. But also as someone who's followed miles for a really long time, uh, there was the interactions with opposing teams. And there was a little bit of like chippiness kind of, you know, going at guys, uh, not being

[00:26:31] afraid there was, there was one play. It was sort of like the Matt Moore hit and we don't have to get into that hit, but sort of like that, where there was a, there was a hint of maybe some leaving it in there a little bit on someone. And I think almost instantly he kind of realized like, Oh, I better, I better chill out and not, not cost us a penalty. Cause, uh, you know, a split second later, he, he kind of grabbed the guy and was like,

[00:27:00] Hey, you know, my bad or whatever. But I could tell again, as someone who's, who's like followed miles fairly closely for a long time, I could tell that there was just, there was just something about him that was like you said, he was, he was on it and in all aspects of, of the ways that you can be on it. So, um, but yeah, he's, he comes out of that game as, as probably other than, than the,

[00:27:26] what went down at the end as, as probably the, the kind of headline of that game and any other, any other result. And, and he is the story of that game. Um, the energy in there was just palpable. I mean, from, from the opening face off, I looked at somebody and I texted one of my buddies. I said, this is going to be just kind of a knock them out, drag them out, you know, heavyweight bout where as an archers fan, I'm thinking, man, that's great.

[00:27:56] You know, we're going to get a beat up and bruised team and especially going into overtime, you know, they got four, four more minutes on their legs, but it was a really, really awesome game to, to be there for, um, you know, I don't love the football tackles from Asher. Um, I don't think there's a place for that and there should be an additional penalty for that. The second one in particular, the one that kind of started that fight, um, you know,

[00:28:23] he was on, he was hanging on the guy before the timeout was called, but then continues to take him down to the ground. And obviously I think miles was the first one to get there, but, um, you know, the Atlas did take exception to that, which I, you know, I agree with, um, you know, there's gotta be some kind of, um, you know, separate penalty for that where, you know, there's one thing to, you know, like a hard foul in basketball.

[00:28:50] There's another thing to, you know, trying to, you know, I mean, Asher's how big, you know, six, you know, six, four, two something, you know, upper twos, um, you know, on, you know, putting all that weight on somebody, especially on this, you know, St. James turf is not a, not a recipe for success. Um, that was, that was my thought on that whole thing was it's one thing if it's a, if

[00:29:19] it's, you know, you you're still playing defense and, and you, you slash him or something. If it's some kind of lacrosse play, I get it. The timeout happened. This is basically null and void, but like the timeout shouldn't negate you tackling somebody like, you know, and I, I tweeted out, you know, he, all the calls that were missed on him because, because they were not calling it the other way when it was, when it was Asher

[00:29:48] getting manhandled basically all game, they called one on him, um, and then missed like three. Uh, but he got basically all of those calls back in that one instance. I don't think he can complain about not getting a call at all during the championship series because I'm like you, I couldn't believe when, when they went and looked at it and then came back and were like, no, I was all fine. I was like, there's no way that can be the ruling.

[00:30:17] That's, that's insane. And, and I'm, I'm not a fan of either of these teams. Like I'm not, uh, you know, I don't know. Um, one more thing real quick. Cause that, that kind of leads into the, the ending. Um, I, I wanted to specifically shout out, uh, Kobe Smith and Tyler Carpenter who both. What? I don't know.

[00:30:47] Uh, who both, um, I thought played outstanding defense on Asher. They, those two, the, the two poles who obviously are playing with shorties, I thought played Asher better than I've seen pretty much anybody play them. Razanka, Camizio, anyone else who got on him was, were the ones that were just like manhandling him, but those two put body into him, you know, play positioning.

[00:31:16] And I thought played excellent. Tyler Carpenter, uh, not only did that very well, Kobe Smith, Kobe Smith, I think had, had a goal or, or several points or something. Um, but Tyler Carpenter stood out also on the offense. He had that interception that he took down and scored. Um, he, yeah, he reminded, he, he reminded me a lot of some of the, the archers, uh, guys

[00:31:42] that we've talked about those, those defenders who have been heavy contributor, at least in this game. I don't know that he's done a whole lot the rest of the series, but at least in this game, he, um, he, he definitely looked like one of those guys. Uh, so I wanted to, to shout those two guys out specifically. Cause I thought they played, I couldn't believe how well they were playing defense on Asher. Like it was noticeable bodying him up, staying in front of them.

[00:32:09] They looked, they looked like elite NBA defenders and in terms of like how they were guarding without fouling, you know, putting him off on his shots and eliminating him from, from even becoming a passer, uh, you know, they, they did so well. Um, but with that being said, I guess it's time to talk about how this game ended. It started with that Asher play, um, which is another part of this whole thing to me is

[00:32:38] like, it should, there should have been a penalty there anyway. And we probably don't get to this, to, to what ended up happening. That's, that's kind of step number one. Yeah. Um, then Jeff trainer comes out of the box and hits a 15, 17 yard. Yeah. Like, uh, part of me wanted to be like, you got to play better defense there, but also I'm

[00:33:06] like, nobody's expecting Jeff trainer to pull up from midfield. Like, you know, uh, I can't, I can't really blame the defense. I think you'd, you'd maybe say Liam Intamin should, should maybe do better. But you know, that, that high bouncer that, I mean, that's, that's why every, every youth coach in America will scream constantly about bouncers.

[00:33:33] Even, even arguably the best goalie in the world will be beat by, by bouncer. It's part of the reason that the Dobson save in the championship two seasons ago is so impressive because it was on a, on a bouncer that bounced, you know, a foot in front of him, you know, it could easily hopped over a stick. So, and on a slick field on that one too. I mean, that, that's the shot that you want to take there.

[00:33:58] Um, you know, obviously your turf is slightly different, especially indoor turf, but yeah, I mean, for him to come out, you know, first game, you know, real action, he's been hurt all week. I was wearing a thick, you know, and it looked like there was some taping under it, but it also looked like a thick leg sleeve. And yeah, um, I meant to send you a picture, but I mean, he was fully embracing the, you know, black accessories, um, you know, gritty.

[00:34:29] He was the only guy on the field wearing black elbow pads, uh, in addition to his black cleats. Um, so it was great. I, you know, as an archer fan had nothing but love for, for Jeff trainer. Um, and it was really cool. Actually, somebody tweeted a video where he had, um, you know, cleared out probably, uh, you know, a five foot diameter circle, um, of snow, um, on a, on a field and was just

[00:34:57] working on that distance from, it probably wasn't that far, but he was working on that this week. And, um, for, for that to come full circle was really, really cool. Um, I agree. Intamin probably he needs to save one of those. Um, the, the one from Verdaro afterwards was right on the line, but yeah, that's, that's the one I thought he should have got. It was a lower angles.

[00:35:26] So you kind of, you're, and I don't know the first thing about being a goalie, but to me, you know, it was a lower angle. So you have a little better of an idea of probably where it's going and, um, and, and, but we can also talk about, you know, so they score that, um, the Jeff trainer too with 35 seconds. Yeah. Yeah. And you go down there and, and, and I guess this is something that you would talk about

[00:35:55] and I don't know what the right answer is here, but you know, you almost think, okay, well, let's run it down all the way, you know, make a point to put it in the absolute corner and then face guard everybody and ride. And, you know, if you give up one, then it's a tie, you know, then you hope that your goalie makes a save on a two. Um, you know, they ended up getting the ball back with nine seconds and just happened to

[00:36:24] kind of have the right personnel on the field. I don't remember who touched it first, but I went to Asher, then to Matt Campbell. And I mean, you know, kudos to the cannons players for knowing they needed to do their, um, you know, with nine seconds left and being aware of what the score was, but, you know, you know, Matt Campbell makes a great pass to Alex Fedoro absolutely steps into one from, you know, two inches behind the line and, and, and just beats into men.

[00:36:50] And, and you, you, you can notice visible frustration, even taking a few seconds to kind of hit himself in the head before he picked up the ball after the first one. And so I don't know if, you know, he was a little bit rattled and, you know, I mentioned to you before the game, um, you know, he was, he was just off for there, there for a little bit, um, before the game and, um, was kind of screwing up some, you know, inside shots,

[00:37:19] maybe from about seven yards and coach Brooks warming them up, you know, kind of does like this and tells them to breathe. And so I didn't know exactly how, you know, that that was going to affect him and didn't affect him at first. But I do think in the back of his head, he's thinking, man, I gave up that first one. Do not give up the second one. And when you're afraid to make a mistake, that's intense to be when, when those mistakes happen. And, um, so unfortunately for him as, as well as he played, um, you know, during the, you

[00:37:48] know, regulation period, you know, he just, he just gave up to pretty tough ones there at the end. And then, um, going into overtime, I mean, Colin curse was, was absolutely phenomenal. Um, I think, and, and it seemed to me that the Atlas game plan changed from regulation to overtime where they were kind of hunting some, yeah, hunting some outside shots. And, and I'm thinking like you have a miles Jones on your team.

[00:38:17] You have, you know, a Xander Dixon and you have a Brian Costable that can kind of get all get to their spots or, and, you know, Xander, not as much as a ball, a ball carrier, but you know, gets inside, if you get Xander Dixon within six yards of the goal, I mean, you think that's probably a 70, 80% shot. Um, and, and they'd seem to just abandon their game plan. And, you know, they were, I can't remember who I heard the other day talking about wanting

[00:38:44] to make a 20 point play, but, um, you know, the whip snakes always talk about it, you know, where you go down there and hit singles. Um, and, and, well, that was, that was part of my thing was, I don't think until those last two minutes, I don't think, although, although the game was never out of hand, the cannons were always kind of in it.

[00:39:09] I don't think that anyone really felt like they were in danger of actually winning the game. You know, the Atlas to your point earlier had, had basically the, the perfect formula. They were, they were getting good play out of Intamin. Miles Jones was playing out of his mind. You know, defense was, was working, everything was going. And, and again, it was never really out of hand.

[00:39:36] I think they were only ever really up three or four goals at most. Uh, but you also just never felt like they were, that the cannons were really in it, not in terms of, of trying to win it. And then, like you said, Intamin, even though I think, I think the, the second two was the more savable was the one that, that you think, okay, he's gotta get that.

[00:40:03] But, uh, he did, I, I noticed the same thing you did when, when trainers bounce went in, he got on himself. He clearly thought he should have saved that. Um, and then, yeah, I don't, I don't know, like you said, if that affected him or not. Um, in, on the second shot, the, the one, the one thing I'll, I say, um, mild correction

[00:40:27] for you, the Atlas, the, the shot, uh, the, yeah, the shot clock was off when they, when the, after the Jeff trainer shot, when they went down, uh, the shot clock was off. So they could have just held the ball and, and ran out the time. And obviously in, in retrospect, that would have been the, you know, quote unquote, correct play.

[00:40:55] However, people, people are going to hate me for this. I'm going to get so many people that tell me, I don't know ball. I don't think it is ever a bad idea to score a goal. Never. The, the only thing, assuming it's a legal play, the only thing that cannot change in a game is the scoreboard.

[00:41:23] I, I just, I never feel like it is a bad idea to score a goal. The issue for me, and if, as a, as a coach, this would be what I would say to my players. It's not the goal. That's an issue. It's not giving them the ball back. It's everything after. So I've watched, I've watched this play several times. When they bring the ball, when Atlas brings the ball down, they leave two guys up at the

[00:41:53] midfield line. It's, it's basically, uh, I forget who all was on the field. Costabile scored the goal. And then there's two guys. Essentially the, the three guys were kind of attack men. They, they were the one pushing the play. And then the two kind of midfielders were, were standing up at the midfield. And the idea was clearly we are preventing a turnover, a miss shot, a, a shot that it ends.

[00:42:21] We're preventing them from getting back up the field. That was clearly the game plan. The issue I think was that, uh, when Costabile scores that goal, I think there was that moment of like, oh, we just won the game and they, they shut off for half a second and the cannons did not and took up off, took off down the field and, uh, created a three on two that then

[00:42:50] became a two on one that left Lodaro open. And so my thing is there's, there's all of that in the last 10 seconds, even after that goal that could have, if, if they place, if they play slightly better defense, if, you know, uh, Liam into and makes that safe, we're not having this conversation. It's not a, it's not really a debate. People might go, oh, it's weird. He's, he took that shot when he could have just held the ball, but like, whatever it didn't, it doesn't matter.

[00:43:20] Which tells me that it's, it's more about the result than about the goal. Uh, the goal is only a problem because of what happened after it. Uh, and then, like you said, the, the entire overtime, I was like, what are we, what again? I'm not, I, I feel like I morphed into an Atlas fan, even though I'm not an Atlas fan because I was watching this and I'm like, what in the hell are y'all doing?

[00:43:50] Miles Jones touched the ball one time in the four minute overtime period. And it was during a simple exchange of them just passing the ball around. Xander Dixon seemed to be the main initiator, which. Yeah. Uh, why? That's not his game. No, I don't remember. He probably did. I don't remember Brian Costabile doing anything. Again, he might've had some touches in exchanging the ball. I don't remember him dodging. I don't remember him doing anything.

[00:44:19] Guys that were taking shots were like Peyton Rosonka and Chet Camizio and, and all the, and it's like you, you, and again, like you said, they were clearly hunting twos after having built this, this whole game on, on singles, on getting to the goal and hitting singles. And it was like, what the hell? So for me, people are blaming Brian Costabile's goal on, on the Atlas losing.

[00:44:47] But for me, it's the entire four minutes and 10 seconds that happened after the goal. Yeah. I was so, and again, Cannon scored one goal in overtime. One, I, I, I'm willing to bet that there is not another four minute period in that game where the Atlas didn't score at least one goal. Yeah. And yet completely abandoned their entire game plan.

[00:45:16] So again, people, I had a few people debate me on, on Twitter because I, I said that I don't, I never have a problem with a player scoring a goal. Um, and telling me that I was wrong. And maybe I grew up and went to college in Arkansas 20 years ago when Pulaski high school won nine national, uh, state championships, never punting, always onside kicking. Like they just never.

[00:45:44] So maybe that has just like seeped into my brain too much. Uh, too many, too many Madden games that played where we just never punted. We never did anything. But my, my thing is I'm not afraid to lose, to lose. Uh, I know that might seem sound crazy in a tournament. Um, I feel like being afraid to lose is when you lose.

[00:46:10] Um, we used, uh, there's a football reference that doesn't exactly carry over, but we always said a prevent defense only prevents you from winning. So, you know, I, again, I have no problem with a goal being scored as long as you cover everything on the backend, which is what they didn't do. Right.

[00:46:48] Are we back? Yep. I got you. My inner it's me. It's actually giving me the signal on my end that my internet is, is bad. So, uh, I'll cut that out. So, um, so yeah, that was, that was kind of my frustration. I, again, like I said, I thought they got everything they would have wanted out of their team.

[00:47:12] And then in the last four minutes and, and we'll say five minutes, five, six minutes of that game just completely gave it all up. So, um, so that leads us into the today's championship game between the cannons and the archers. Uh, I'm not even sure we have to ask you who you think is going to win.

[00:47:39] Um, yeah, I'm not even go ahead. Go ahead. Um, where, where does Asher stand now on scoring points? Cause that will affect my golden stick. I think, uh, let me. Internet. I'll just say this.

[00:48:02] If, if the gap is less than it's three or less, I'm going to take Mac O'Keefe, um, to, to win the golden stick. Um, obviously my archers are, are the pick, um, to win. Um, but I think if it's four or more, I don't know. The thing about this archers team is, is they have so many ways that they can beat you. I added it up yesterday.

[00:48:27] Um, the other guys have on Mar Patterson and, um, and Woodward have 29 points through, through, through three games. So you're getting about 10 points a game out of them. Um, I don't think that trend ceases to exist today. Um, I just don't think, and obviously, you know, the cannons have now played, I think

[00:48:52] just three games and four days or maybe two games and in four days, but it's the same for the archers. And they got that day of rest yesterday. I mean, that came yesterday between the Atlas and cannons was, was really chippy. So I think a lot of people are dealing with probably going to be dealing with some nagging things and some soreness. Um, not the archers aren't dealing with that too, but they've now had a day to kind of address that. Uh, I do remember market for Brian Norman saying that Marcus will be a game time decision today. Uh, I don't think that that matters.

[00:49:22] Um, so I'm gonna, I don't know. I think, I think either way, I'm, I'm just going to be bold and go ahead and predict Mac O'Keefe to win the golden stick and, um, and the archers to, to, to come away with the first PLL double. I'll be interested to see if, uh, one that more dresses today. And if he does, you know, who picks up that last spot between moral and Van over Beck?

[00:49:51] Um, yeah, we've talked about my pick would be, would be Vano, but, um, obviously I do not have, you know, two PLL championship rings. Um, you know, they pay somebody to make those decisions and his name is Chris Bates and I will fully trust in his decision today. And now if he starts moral and we lose, then I will, you know, in the back of my mind, be like, well, maybe if you want to start Vano, you know, we would have, would have come away with this thing.

[00:50:18] But, um, no, I think the world of Chris Bates and, and coach Brian Kavanaugh, um, you know, very ready to accept that they, you know, they're, they're going to put the best 12 on the field. And, um, you know, if we lose with that 12th and we just got beat on, you know, on our best.

[00:50:38] So, uh, if I had to take a score prediction, I am going to go 27, 23 archers. Okay. Okay. I like that. That's, that's solid. Uh, we have come quite a long way from Bates gonna Bates. Yes.

[00:51:03] Uh, and I think I was pretty public on Twitter about that after, uh, 2022, when we lost to the chaos for the third time, because they double pulled our midfield and somehow or another, we were not prepared for that. Um, but it's not even that we haven't drafted, hadn't drafted well before that. I mean, obviously you get amen in 2020. There, there really aren't that many guys from that class that are still playing.

[00:51:27] And then in 21, um, you know, we pick up Matt Moore, um, and then obviously we pick up Matt Moore and Brett Dobson in that draft. Um, and then, and then in 2022, yeah, I'm trying to remember who we picked in 22. Was that sis? I think that was the, no, that was 23. Okay. 22.

[00:51:54] No, cause we had trailer Claire and, and 21 to, I'm trying to, I'll, I'll have to go back and look at who we are draft picks in 2022, but really in the, you know, that 2023, um, obviously sis, you get, you know, bond and, and Marr. And then in, in, in 24, you get Patterson and Woodward. Um, so he's, he's really hit on, on these last two.

[00:52:18] And I think even before that too, but to finally get over the hump, you know, yeah, it's not, it's not Bates kind of Bates in the playoffs. I think, I think we're well past that. And, um, uh, you know, I think it can't be understated what Nick was shooting has meant to this team today or, you know, this week. Um, he's been very, very good in a, in a spot where, you know, if we were to have lost games, it would have been, oh, you know, we brought too many defensive guys and we don't have our

[00:52:48] starting goalie. Um, you know, we're the only team in the championship series to be without our starting goalie during the regular season. So, um, he's, he stepped up and I've gotten to interact with him on multiple occasions and he couldn't be a nicer guy. Um, so happy to see the success that he's having. And he really is having a great championship series.

[00:53:12] So, uh, hopefully, you know, come out sharp and, um, you know, play a great game today. I feel like I need to do a little bit of an explainer for anyone who wasn't an archers fan. The saying Bates gonna Bates was a thing in the archers fan community for a while, uh, after the

[00:53:35] first few seasons where it just always seemed like, like at the end of a game or, uh, especially a season that somehow we were going to be our own worst enemy and, and lose games for no real reason. The roster was just too talented to, to not have made, you know, to even have made a final.

[00:54:03] And I think really, we only made one, we made the semis and no, we lost the first round in, um, in 19. Um, I do think we made it to the second round in 2020 and 2020 in the bubble. Um, and then, yeah, I mean, just in, in 2021 and 22 run into the chaos in the playoffs and, um, and get double pulled with, you know, Holman and, and Manny and, um, you know, weren't able

[00:54:32] to overcome that. And so obviously, you know, in 2023, you know, we let those two walk, um, bring in Michael Keefe, elevate Connor Fields from a midfield spot to an attack, you know, full-time attack spot. Um, and, you know, some archers fans are like, well, yeah, we won. We didn't have to play the chaos in the playoffs. Um, but then really to, to silence your, you know, ex, um, what is the performing exorcism?

[00:55:02] I don't know what the word would be there, but, you know, excise that ghost, um, and, and really, you know, hold them, hold them to one point in the semifinals this year. Um, you know, I think, I think we're, we're definitely past Bates is going to be so. And, and in, in his defense, I think a very underrated part of the whole transaction is

[00:55:25] that as good of players as they are, and they are very good players and most teams would want them on them. There was an element of too many cooks in the kitchen with that Atlas team in terms of who were listening to. I mean, we've seen it all the time in, in those, those, you know,

[00:55:49] ESPN plus huddle shots of like Will Manion and Marcus Holman and Adam Gettleman and other guys who had like a decent amount of coaching experience coaching in huddles and nobody's listening to Bates. So we blamed Bates a lot, but I, I clearly there was at least some element of whether that was him, you know, allowing it or those guys taking over or whatever. We don't have to get into

[00:56:16] all of, all of that drama, but clearly kind of having one kind of focused voice has also done a lot for them, uh, back to the championship series at hand. Uh, you'd be crazy not to take the archers. Like they've, they've just been that team all tournament. There's absolutely no way. Uh, I think you pick anyone. You were right. The cannons have played three games in four days. They

[00:56:44] will have played a back to back. Uh, so again, that day of rest, just like I, I talked about with the guard. Uh, I think the, the day of rest is just such a big element. So, you know, I liked your 27, 27, 23, uh, I don't want to go all prices right. And one up you I'll go 28, 24. Um, you know, is it, is it closest without going over? I don't think we've ever, we've ever established a rule

[00:57:13] set for them. Yeah. Um, what I think maybe, maybe we can do if you get one score, right. And the other person doesn't then, then, you know, that's your winner. Okay. All right. I like it. Who do you like on this on the stick? Yeah. I, I, I looked at it while you were talking. I didn't want to interrupt you because I didn't want to influence you. Not that it would have,

[00:57:37] because I think you picked Mac O'Keefe anyway. Uh, uh, by my count, it appears to be Asher is at 17 and Mac O'Keefe is at 16. So perfect. Well with, well within that, that range of tolerance that you, you had, um, and seeing that made me go, Oh, I was pretty sure I was going to pick Asher, but now I'm like, Oh, I don't know. Should I, should I pick me for the sake of being different?

[00:58:05] I don't think that you are wrong, but for the sake of having a different pick than you, I'll pick Asher, uh, again, it's been beaten like a dead horse at this point, but, uh, the, the, the playbook on Asher is make him a scorer. And to, to that extent, you know, he, he's, he, no one's going to bat an eye if he has seven goals today. Like it's just going to be

[00:58:35] what he does. So, uh, uh, again, Mac O'Keefe could have a very, very good day. He could have a six goal game. He, he could have a seven goal game. They could both have a seven goal game and Asher wins. So, uh, I'll, I'll go with Asher. He's got, he's got the lead and, and it has no reason not to, to be a big scorer today. So yeah, I'll go with, I'll go with Asher.

[00:58:58] Awesome. Uh, with that being said, we will get out of here and the women's game starts in just a couple hours. And I know you've got to get over to the arena for the game. So, uh, appreciate you jumping on and we will see you guys tomorrow when we talk about the championships. Yeah. Thanks for having me. All right. See you guys tomorrow.