PLL Game Notes: Whipsnakes Survive Against Depleted Chaos Squad

The Whipsnakes needed a last-second Mike Chanenchuk goal to lift them to a 9-8 victory over a depleted Chaos squad in week one. The question at hand is, how did the two-time defending champions dig themselves a large hole and subsequently climb back out of it? The answer isn’t that simple. 

The Chaos came into week one missing quite a few of their mainstays; Josh Byrne, Dhane Smith, Chris Cloutier, Chase Fraser, Max Adler and Ian MacKay due to overlap in the NLL and PLL schedule. Wes berg was also notably absent after coming off the San Diego Seals’ three-game series loss to the Colorado Mammoth. Their offense was made up of almost entirely guys who were in the player pool less than a month ago, but you wouldn’t have thought that after watching the first half of this game. The Chaos were scoring goals early and often, climbing to a 6-2 lead late in the second quarter. 

Their main point of emphasis was to push transition to trap the Whipsnakes offensive midfielders on defense and exploit those matchups. By trapping the Whipsnakes midfielders on defense, they forced early slides from defenders, opening up tight skip lanes for the ever-opportunistic Chaos offense. 

While the Whipsnakes defense wasn’t having their best performance, the offense was having an even worse one. The absence of Zed Williams (absent due to NLL Finals) was an even bigger deal than I thought it would be. Through the first half of the game, there was no one on the Whipsnakes that could generate offense in settled situations. Chaos defenders were overplaying Matt Rambo and Justin Guterding’s left hands and forcing them to beat them to the right, which they’re not used to doing. Chaos head coach Andy Towers opted to put a short-stick on Jay Carlson and throw Jack Rowlett on Brad Smith which essentially took away all of the Whipsnakes main initiators. With Blaze Riorden in net, the Chaos defense thrives on being slow-to-go on slides and force the opposing offense into shots that Riorden can key in on. When no one was beating those guys one-on-one, you can imagine how easy Riorden’s job looked in the cage.

Now, how did the Whipsnakes muster a comeback despite their outlook being so bleak? It started with a couple of halftime adjustments to slow down the Chaos’ transition game. Instead of running offensive midfielders through the box during changes of possession, they were running back into the defensive hole to shut down any and all transition opportunities for the Chaos. They were going to dare the Chaos’ depleted offense to beat them six-on-six. 

While pushing transition has its benefits, it also has its deficiencies. The biggest problem with this style is that when it doesn’t work, they don’t get into their offense until about 25 seconds left in the shot clock. If you’re only asking the Whipsnakes to play settled defense for 25 seconds per possession against an offense that was thrown together last week, you will lose that battle more often than not. And they ultimately did lose that battle, only scoring two goals in the second half. 

The Whipsnakes offense didn’t really do anything that different in the second half, but started to attack short-stick matchups to generate some offense. They ended up moving the ball across the field and got Riorden off his spot for some good looks, but nothing really came to fruition. With the talent they possess on the offensive side of the ball, they’re going to score goals one way or another. The real story is their defense holding strong and only allowing two goals in the second half.

If I’m Jim Stagnitta and the Whipsnakes, I’m going back to the drawing board as soon as possible because that effort isn’t going to hold up against any other team in the league. If I’m Andy Towers and the Chaos, I’m encouraged by the effort that was put forth by the guys who played but boy oh boy Berg, Byrne, Cloutier, Fraser and Smith can not come back fast enough.