Fast Takes from Fast Break: MPLS vs DET
With nearly a year off from quidditch and people graduating, there have been a lot of new faces on rosters across MLQ. Minneapolis isn’t immune to this phenomenon, and they’ve been able to bring in names like: Henry “HBB” Baer-Benson, Sean Pagoada, and Zeke Majeske. The biggest impact with these additions is in the seeker game, where they are picking up HBB and Majeske- both of whom were their respective college team’s primary seekers. Pagoada will be able to make a huge impact as well as he can provide stability and become an anchor for this beater core. With his high performing experience from his Team USA and Terminus past, Pagoada will fold in well with a deep beater core that starts with Twin Cities beater core Cody Narveson and Nicole Nelson before moving to the cohesive energy of the Minnesota beating core of Cole Lachmiller, April Grabner, and Joe Blanchard. With these beaters used to each others’ playstyles and Narveson’s leadership, Monarchs will be able to keep the beater game running exactly the way they want it to.
This Monarchs team is a mix of a solid core of Twin Cities Quidditch and Minnesota Quidditch. The last USQ playing season, Twin Cities went from a low performance on a starved roster at Oktoberfest to earning an auto-bid during a 6-0 run at Hoot n Howdy in Atlanta. With Narveson as the helm, leaders Alexander “O.B.” Obanor, Luke Zak, and Max Meier will also help develop players in the faster MLQ playset. Coming off a 3-3 Midwest Regional Championship record, Minnesota Quidditch may have had their season cut short, but they’ll be working to come back to quidditch swinging. Beth Mueller could assist the Monarchs offense with off-ball chasing as their beaters force a bludger focus at the front of the hoops. Beth has experience handling the quaffle at the top of the key and as a quick catch and release at hoops, and will be ready and willing to share that strategy across the Monarchs chaser lines. As long as the Monarchs mesh their two cores together, they’ll fly into this weekend ready to build off of last season’s 2nd place momentum as they soar to the top of the division.
Detroit has gone through a lot of roster changes, but we love an underdog story. With many people counting this team down and a 2019 placement of 4th (of 5) in the North Division, Detroit is going to enter this weekend with a lot to prove. With Toronto Raiders unable to attend MLQ Championships, the North Division all have their bids, so I think this season will show the strategic coaching of Jeannette High and David Weir. Picking up newer talent like Leo Fried and bringing older veterans back into the fold with Rick Wasser and Alex Mitchell, this team has lots of new pieces and is looking to craft themselves into a well-oiled machine for championships. This weekend will be the first step, a necessary stepping stone to mark what progress they’ve made toward what could be a surprising season in their franchise story.
With returning players like David Banas, Tawfik Abbas, and Jeannette High, this team can continue to tweak their chemistry and develop new strategies for seeking and beating during snitch on pitch. With Emma Vasquez (MLQ’s 3 Burning Questions Player to Watch) waiting in the wings, Detroit's off-ball quaffle game could continue to develop, a crucial change with the departure of John Smutny and Zeke Majeske as they moved outside the player radius. With a deep roster of available seekers for snitch on pitch, and the experience of Abbas and Fried from their last USQ season, we could see Innovators flip their previous catching record on its head and provide the innovation needed to truly contend in the North.
Looking at the Detroit Innovators and Minneapolis Monarchs this weekend, the Monarchs do seem on paper to have the strongest chances of victory. While the seeking depth of Innovators may normally give opponents pause, the addition of HBB and Majeske (on top of Joe Goulet) makes it barely a factor in figuring out who has the edge. Monarch’s beater game has a deep core that will be used to each other before the addition of Sean Pagoada, which could cause trouble for Innovators beaters if they can’t make any room for seekers Fried and Abbas around the snitch. The quaffle game will be the X factor in this match-up, as both teams seem ready to use a pass-heavy offense to take advantage of the wide pitch. Both teams will need to reveal some new strategies with the quaffle this season to take the North division further at MLQ Championships, but this weekend we predict Monarchs will keep the edge over Innovators.
Prediction: Monarchs 3-0
