Fast Takes with Fast Break: Ottawa vs Toronto
Authors: Erin McCrady & Ittaana Krow
PC: Major League Quidditch
The Scavenger Showdown, MLQ’s first-ever series between the league’s two Canadian franchises, comes at the end of the Black Bears’ season and as the Raiders’ last series before Championships. For both teams, it’s a great test of how far they’ve come.
“The goals we set at the beginning of the season were to first grow as a team and focus on trusting one another,” said Black Bears Head Coach Darren Bell. “The goal for moving forward now is to make that more consistent [...] the team will be a little bit older and everyone will know what to expect coming into the season.”
Heading into this weekend, the Raiders have punched their ticket to Championship weekend, and they're looking for a solid ramp-up. Hoping to sow the seeds for a future budding rivalry with the Black Bears, Head Coach Michael Howard isn’t losing focus on the bigger picture, “Our season-long goal was to make championships this year. As a team that is effectively rebuilding after a two-year hiatus, it's incredibly important for us to get as much experience as possible to retain players and build for the future. We would have loved to go into championships as a higher seed, but a mix of availability and injury issues, along with some very strong competition in the division, left us taking the final spot to championships from the North.”
With tighter restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, Quidditch Canada was forced to shutter its 2021-22 season last November after only two months of play. For new players on both the Raiders and the Black Bears, the MLQ season has been their longest ever, and the improvement speaks for itself. Matthew Brockman became a key piece of the Black Bears’ defense in his rookie season, making a larger impact with each series in which he appeared. For the Raiders, Levi Medeiros has brought youthful energy in his rookie season, with his blurring speed and agility and a knack for not being afraid to step up in big moments last weekend. The Raiders have also seen huge production from a few other players that are hoping to gain momentum vs. the Black Bears this weekend. “I want to highlight all of our female/GNC players who played through last weekend under grueling conditions with only 5 of them available to play, and crushing it,” said Howard, “Dykstra, Hare, Kahane, Sherwood, Hare, and Zhu.”
After a hard-fought season in a tough division, the Black Bears will enter this weekend hungry for their first win. “We have faced players on the Raiders before, so it will be a good measure of how much each of our players have grown,” said Bell. “I’m also excited to see how much the Raiders have grown. I’ve played with some of them before and I’m excited to see how the North Division has changed them.”
As the season has progressed with the Raiders, we’ve seen many of their quaffle players taking on big minutes. The schedule will not be kind going forward as many players will be coming off of three consecutive weeks of competition (North Championships, Scavenger Showdown, and the Summer Faceoff), and it will be paramount to spread the load. In talking with Howard, he’s hoping for some of his players to seize this moment, “I'm really looking forward to getting play time for some athletes who have not had as much chance to shine yet this year as we would like, as well as get a couple others up to speed from some time off. It's a competitive setting, but with lower stakes with our championship bid secured, meaning these minutes will be invaluable in the development of these players for the future”.
After last weekend, the Raiders do have some things they should be focusing on, particularly their half-court offense. They’ve been successful putting points on the board when veterans Howard Andrew Kusters have been on the pitch, but surviving on fast-break goals alone is not a recipe for long-term success in MLQ, as opponents make a more concentrated effort to take those easy opportunities away. Toronto getting 3 returning players this weekend who have not played since early June that can help in that department; Sam McCaul, Tyler Vindua, and Michael Wanless.
Particularly on the defensive end, the Black Bears have improved steadily over the course of the season. Their disciplined defense and hard hitters have forced opponents to truly earn goals in the half court. If they’re able to control the pace and prevent the types of fast-break plays that led the Raiders to victory over the Detroit Innovators last weekend, we’ll see their closest games yet.
Unfortunately for the Black Bears, a small roster missing some key players leaves them with a hard fight this weekend. Darren Bell, Gabriel Ferreira, and Hailey Yhap are absent, leaving Nathan Reid as a solo coach, and with fewer beaters than usual the team could burn out over the course of the day. Despite smaller numbers, however, the Black Bears have plenty of seeker talent to spare. If they can manage to keep games close, Alex and Emily Naftel and Lucas Pawley could make a big impact.
Prediction: 3-0 Toronto
