Fast Takes with Fast Break: Indianapolis vs Minneapolis
PC: Major League Quidditch
The Indianapolis Intensity and the Minneapolis Monarchs both come into this series off of sweeps of the Detroit Innovators, looking for a statement win against their division rivals and a chance to play Rochester for the North Division title next weekend. This looks to be a competitive series and may be the only non-sweep in the North Division regular season this year. This will also be the first time the two teams have met since the Monarchs swept Intensity last summer.
Indianapolis comes into the weekend off of a dominant performance against Detroit three weeks ago, in which they outscored Detroit by over 100 quaffle points in every game. Much of this dominance came out of their veteran beating core, who did it all: playing aggressively on both offense and defense while maintaining control and also, stopping fast breaks and making beats around the hoops. Indy’s chasers also looked good, showing impressive depth and coordination for a roster where less than half of the players were on the team last year. The biggest takeaway from their first series, however, might be the coordination between beaters and chasers, which generated many open drives to the hoops in the half court and created many easy fast-break goals through well-timed defensive pressure.
Minneapolis last played on June 11th and had a tougher time taking on Detroit than expected. While it could have been because it was the opening weekend and the Monarchs had less time to get everyone on board, the overall level of play was sloppier than expected. There were multiple drives where the quaffle was thrown away, transition plays where the chasers were missed, or the quaffle was thrown to the defense. A source of strength for Minneapolis last summer was the dominant snitch play that allowed them a 6-3 snitch catch record. However, this year they have only been able to catch in one of their three games, and that compounds the pre-season questions of whether they will be able to catch the snitch consistently this year with the losses of all-star seekers Henry Baer-Benson and Joe Goulet.
In their series against Detroit, Intensity did show a few vulnerabilities that the Monarchs may be able to exploit. On defense, Indy’s 2-2 zone proved effective at stopping drives but gave up several open shots, especially while running some of their shorter chaser lineups. Against a Minneapolis offense with Max Meier ready to rip shots, Indianapolis will have to be ready not to give up easy looks. On offense, they sometimes looked stagnant without Nathan Digmann directing traffic. Minneapolis also has an advantage in having played a close game where the snitch catch was important. The Intensity beaters largely left the seekers alone during SOP play against Detroit but may not have the luxury of doing so against a better Minneapolis squad, testing their chaser’s ability to score and get stops without their beaters’ help. The loss of April Grabner, 2021 North Division MVP, from this weekend’s roster will be a tough blow against an Intensity squad that brings back Matthew Brown and Tad Walters.
Indianapolis brings a slightly different roster to Minneapolis than they had at home, with seven different players between the two. The biggest missing piece from their first series is clearly Digmann, and Intensity’s success in this series will certainly be affected by the ability of players like Josh Horchem and MLQ rookie Nevin O’Donnel to step up their ball-carrying roles. In general, however, the Intensity’s depth and solid beating should make up for most of the difference between these rosters. While this series should be closer than either teams’ series against Detroit, Intensity still looks like the better team and should be able to put at least one game out of snitch range.
Prediction: Indianapolis 2 - 1
