Fast Takes with Fast Break: Toronto v Detroit
Authors: David Banas & Naresh Edala
PC: MLQ
Coming into this Saturday’s North Division bout in Detroit at 7:30 PM EST, this “Series of the Week” has significant implications for both teams. For Detroit, a win is necessary to keep their hopes alive for the North Division second seed, as the Chicago Prowl have all but wrapped up the division last weekend with a convincing sweep of the Minneapolis Monarchs. For Toronto, a series win is necessary against Detroit if they want to not only have a chance at a North Division title, but also to prove the preseason naysayers wrong that the franchise has had it “easy” the last two seasons with the formerly split North Division format.[1] In the cross-border rivalry between Detroit and Toronto, the teams have faced off five times, although calling it a rivalry would be a stretch as the Raiders have won all five meetings: 165-120, 180-145, and 150-120 in 2019; 165-90 and 120-95 in 2022. This iteration of the Canadian-Michigan matchup, however, promises to be a much different storyline as Toronto is absent key pieces from seasons past—most notably Michael “Howie” Howard and Andrew Kusters—whereas Detroit boasts arguably their strongest roster in franchise history.
Head Coach Kaegan Maddelein makes four changes to the roster that stole a game off Prowl four weeks earlier. On the chasing side of things, Sarah Maxey replaces Jenny Sun, and Ryder Fried makes his professional (and quadball) debut. At beater, Katlyn Knudsen steps in for the injured Riley Hodder, and the Innovators add MLQ rookie Maks Sviridov to deepen a beating corps that saw four beaters play all but 5 of the 164 total shifts in the team’s last outing against Chicago. The only notable loss for the Innovators is Julien Theuerkauf, who is second on the team for both goals and assists. For the Raiders, Head Coach Sinan Kyder makes one simple swap to the side that eviscerated Cleveland three weeks earlier for the border crossing series, with Gabriel Kwok rostering instead of Scott Rousseau
Perhaps the most notable difference between the two sides is how they’ve approached their season strategically. For the Innovators, the Motor City side opted for a slow, defensive gameplay against Prowl resulting in the team scoring exactly 7 goals and catching the flag runner every game. For the Raiders against Cleveland, the strategy was the exact opposite with the Canadian side dropping 51 goals and three catches across three games on Cleveland. Fast breaks abounded for Toronto and indeed, that leads to the first of the two central questions for this series.
For Toronto, can they either find a way to establish the fast break and fast pace of play that saw them blow the Riff out of the water, or will they be forced to play into a slower half court pace of play which saw them go into rough, ugly, questionable looks (aka hero-ball). Additionally, much of this fastbreak offense was enabled by sheer beater dominance by Toronto’s beating corps over every Riff player who donned the black headband not named Pete Brechting. Even if the Raiders do manage to establish a fastbreak offense against Detroit, any Benepe Cup aspirations will rely on finding a reliable half court. After this series, they face two other tough teams in the Chicago Prowl and Minneapolis Monarchs—both teams with heavy hitting chasers and a notable beating corps. To figure out how to defeat these teams for a favorable championship placement, they’ll need to test things out this weekend and spend July filling any gaps. Will Bryan Melchior and Nathan Reid be able to change up their offensive drives, using off ball chasers such as Savannah Campbell and Joanne Lam to consistent success? Or will they find themselves stymied on a field less dominated by their own beaters?
For Detroit, can they actually score more than 7 goals a game? If Detroit hopes to curtail the Raiders hot start to their season, they must find some offensive rhythm, even more so with the absence of Theuerkauf. The Raiders averaged 17 goals a game against North Division cellar dweller Cleveland, and even if the Six was only to score half that number per game, it would still be a full goal and a half above the Innovators per game average.
Should this series be a defensive slugfest, the winner of the series will come down to flag pulls. While it would be tempting to assume this aspect would be a tie given that both sides went three for three in flag catches, with a little bit of analysis, a wildly different picture emerges. For Toronto, Christos Kaldis caught the flag runner in games 1 and 2, and Savannah Campbell pulled in Game 3. In Game 1, the runner lasted a short 27 seconds and gave up two looks during that time: getting caught from behind 14 seconds into SOP (called off ostensibly for contact to the runner) and the final diving grab by Kaldis 13 seconds later that was called good. In Game 2, the runner gave up the ghost in a shorter 13-second shift on Kaldis’ first and only move: a beautiful left-handed dive that was just long enough to get the job done. After licking their wounds, Game 3 saw a much better showing with the runner lasting 2:42 before Savannah Campbell pulled during what could already be titled a blowout with the Raiders up 160-40 to deliver the coup de grace to the Riff. Against Chicago, Innovators Neil Peterson caught in games 1 and 2 with assistant coach Ethan Wanous completing the trifecta in Game 3. All three stretches of SOP featured fierce beater control around the runner by both Chicago and primarily Detroit with the shortest flag grab being 4:45 in Game 2 in a more veteran defensive flag runner performance. While Detroit committed beater resources to catching in all three games, both Toronto and Cleveland engaged in very little “bubbling” throughout their series with both sides electing to stick to the chaser game. In terms of the matchup for Saturday, it also remains to be seen if Toronto can field an SOP pair of beaters to match the USNT Developmental Academy pair of Rei Brodeur and Ryan Hsu. Odds are they’ll face the recently married couple of Brittany and Derek Taylor, who have both played on the international stage. How the Raiders plan accordingly decides the flag period and endgame scenarios, so they can go for the gold (flag) or help their chasers rack up enough goals during the seeker floor to reach the set score regardless.
Given all this, the writers agree on their prediction for this series but for different reasons. The belief on one side is: Game 1 is a defensive masterclass by the Innovators where the Raiders’ blistering, fastbreak offense is stopped in its tracks. Both teams will need to go back to the drawing board for Game 2 that features a lower scoring game with a decisive flag pull. Game 3 will be where the wheels come off as Toronto is swept out of town.
On the other side: The expectation for a competitive matchup in games 1 and 2 is definite. Without the level of beater domination we saw in their series against Riff, Raiders’ fast break opportunities will be slim, yet the Innovators offense leaves much to be desired if they want to gain any legitimate lead. Ultimately, it comes down to the flag catch, and Neil Peterson’s resume is miles ahead of Christos Kaldis. Unless Raiders beaters can create the clean runway for a grab, Peterson likely pulls, leaving the odds ever in Detroit’s favor. For both teams, Game 3 will come down to the coaching staff and culture. Win, lose, or split, how do these teams use the final game to prepare for the rest of their season? Toronto’s got a month of wait, and then back to back series against the other top North teams from last year. Detroit must prepare for a SuperSeries in 3 weeks to hopefully crown a new second in the North. We ultimately believe Game 3 will be a slugfest for dignity and growth, matching up just as well as games 1 and 2.
Official Prediction:
Banas: 3-0 Innovators
Edala: 2-1 Detroit
[1] For new readers or those unfamiliar, for the last two seasons, the North Division was split into two (arguably unequal) halves: a western half boasting Chicago/Indy, Minneapolis, and Detroit and an eastern one featuring Toronto, Rochester, and Cleveland.
[2] “Bubbling” refers to when a team's beaters set up a protective bubble around the Flag Runner to protect their seeker from getting beat or interfered with by the opposing seeker. Normally done with two dodgeballs, bubbling can be done with one. While the term has started to come in vogue in American quadball vernacular, the phrase has been used throughout the IQA, especially QUK, since at least 2019.
