I won't start a new thread like I usually do, but wanted to give my thoughts on an Albany game -
On offense the Danes bring back some nice pieces from last year - they lost their second leading scorer (Yunker) to graduation, and their fifth leading scorer to injury (Hay). Other than that they bring back three players who scored more than 20 points. The problem is those guys didn't produce all that much. Hogg, Puchi and Whitcomb combined for 92 points, which is pretty meh in the grand scheme of things. That said, according to posters who know more about this team than I (like Jeremey) the Danes welcome in some intriguing newcomers in players like TJ Sheehan and Silas Richmond (6'4, 190).
Albany runs a unique offense and won't hesistate to push things in transition. A big question I have is will SU's attackmen turned midfield be able to keep up? Never thought I would worry about a team running on Syracuse, but I do worry about playes like Kirst and Cook getting caught on the wrong side of the field. Also last year, guys who produced very little against the rest of the schedule put up career highs against the Orange - Thomas Decker never scored more than two points in any one game, but had four against the Orange.
The SU defense answered a lot of questions last week against Vermont. They looked great in many facets of the game and Will Mark was outstanding. Can he match last week's performance against a pesky Albany offense? Have to imagine Caccamo gets the Hogg assignment. Short sticks will have to be on notice as the Danes won't really care about matchups. Also clears have to improve with all their access to indoor facilities, the Orange really have no excuse not to.
Given that news came out about Hay and Fingar being injured for the year, I'd be surprised if news about Enders being out was somehow hidden. He had a decent year last year for the Danes finishing 53% winning percentage. Good but not great. Richiusa, even if he did finish below 50% against Tommy Burke was the biggest surprise for me against Vermont. It wasn't always pretty, but given all the question marks before the season I'd take that sort of performance time and again. This feels like a game where he really should go over 50%.
Albany lost two starters on defense and their goalie from last year who stood on his head against SU despite having a pretty mediocre year overall. They do return Elijah Gash who had a good game against the Orange, holding Tucker Dordevic to 3-15 shooting last year. I imagine he'll be on Joey Spallina. The Danes also return Jake Piseno who co-lead the team in caused turnovers with 27. I'm very curious to see if they match him up with Finn Thomson. If they do Jackson Birtwistle will have to have a bigger dodging impact. In goal, the Danes rotated three guys throughout last year, none of them had a save percentage over 50%. Will Ramos who gave SU fits with a 15 save performance last year is gone.
Obviously the Orange enter the game with lots of questions on offense after only putting up seven goals against the Catamounts. What will change? Obviously Spallina needs to play better but if his shots start falling, the who team should be more productive. Do they make personnel changes? The second midfield line did indeed look out of whack, and while it's too early to panic, it would be good to see some production out of this group.
Draft Kings as the Orange as 6.5 point favorites. Personally for me that is a little high. The Orange have more talent than the Danes but this feels like a game where Syracuse could easily stub their toe. Lots of CNY kids dot the roster of Albany and Scott Marr seems to take special pleasure in causing the Orange headaches. I thought Albany had no chance last year but they outplayed the Orange all over the field (minus the face-off X). Also the Danes will have tape of the Orange whereas Syracuse will not as Albany has not played a game yet this season. With new faces dotting the Albany starting lineup comes unfamiliar challenges. I think this game is closer to a three point battle, something like 12-9 maybe? Looking and hoping to see the Orange improve on offense and keep up their solid defensive work.