Fast Takes with FastBreak: Legends at Stampede

This weekend has a lot at stake for both teams. Go to champs, or in the bold words of Josh Johnson, stay home and watch champs from your couch while eating Shipley’s Donuts. Either way, this weekend will be exciting for viewers, with one of the youngest and most promising cores in MLQ of the Kansas City Stampede going up against the surprise team this year, the League City Legends. This will be a true tell for both teams this weekend. Stampede finally gets Riley Usami in their line-up for the make or break series of the year against a core of players that have always struggled to find a solution to deal with his offense in both USQ and MLQ. All of the odds are stacked against the Legends. Any team that has to travel to face the Stampede on their home turf seem to struggle, but the roster the Legends are bringing is realistically the one they want when facing Stampede.

For the Legends, they need to be bringing everything to the table this weekend and leave it there. The Legends only have to win one game to make it to MLQ Champs, but that might be a little harder than most people think. This is a very full Stampede roster, and they have had weeks to prepare for this series, but so have the Legends. Coming into this MLQ season, most people expected Stampede to easily get third place in the South division, that’s not how the season’s planned out though, with Stampede having drastically underperformed, needing a sweep this weekend to secure a bid to championship weekend. But do not count the Stampede out. This is a very gritty Stampede team who are going to be pulling out all of the stops to secure their bid.

Looking at rosters Stampede have their best roster they have had all season. They are missing core pieces in Anya Ortiz, T.J. O’Connor, and Tanner Sato. But in return they get Riley Usami and still have the very strong roster they had at the South Superseries, and in my opinion, some of the best second or third options at every position across the board. They have all of the pieces to put together a very impressive end of the season going into champs and sweep the Legends, the only problem I think there really is with the Stampede is the inconsistencies in their offense. It just looks like sometimes the decision making that they need to have just isn’t their. Now that isn’t to hate on them, or their players. But for this team to be the team everybody expected them to be, they have to be smarter. Another big question I have is where does Riley Usami fit in on defense? This is a more patient Legends offense than we have seen in the past, it looks like they have a plan when they play offense and know where they want their players. I’m not saying Riley doesn’t fit anywhere on this defense, but with good point chasers up top like Ryan Mehio, Jackson Herdade and J.D. Hopton, maybe Usami’s size might be a problem for up top defense, and it also might be a potential problem on hoops. So, I am very interested in what they decide to do with him on defense. I trust the coaching staff of KC to have a system that they trust, with a player they trust.

Now for the Legends, they are missing pieces they have had all season in players Swathi Mannem, Aaron Price, Andrew Acosta and Nathan Wilkinson. But they are finally getting Kiara and Alec Webber for a series, which with their veteran knowledge should be a big help on both sides of the ball. I also think we see a very bigger role for Mallory Hughes and Brandon Kubena. Mallory Hughes has been a very big constant for this team with her offensive skills to extend plays, and not being afraid to put her body on the line to stop a drive. As for Brandon Kubena, coming back in his first series after having surgery, he was kind of underwhelming. His ability to play make for this team and draw defenders needs to be more on show against this KC team if they want to win this series. If he can take the defense away from other scoring options, it will put this team in a place to succeed. Not to mention his willingness to put his body on the line as well on the defensive side of things. Another thing I feel needs to go perfect for the Legends, is the beater game. We have seen this Legends team this season use Baldemar Nunez in a league leading 198 drives total, but they have been a constant bright spot in the beating game for the team in these drives played. But this Legends beating core is going up against a very depth heavy KC beating core, but it is a very high-quality beating core. Then there is the constant threat of Hayden Boyes on both the defensive side of the ball, and the offensive side. Boyes is currently second behind Detroit’s Leo Fried in goals with Fried having forty-two, and Boyes having forty with Fried being done with the season, and Boyes still having this weekend to potentially be the scoring leader for this MLQ Season. Boyes is also tied for fifth place in stops with New York’s Jon Jackson with seventeen stops. But, Boyes is also third in turnovers with thirty of them, with KC’s Ryan Mehio being first with thirty-four. If Boyes can keep the scoring and defensive presence up, and cut down on the turnovers, this Legends team is almost guaranteed to punch their ticket to MLQ Champs.

My Prediction: I see this matchup being a very action packed, hard hitting, and high scoring series between this two teams. But I also see a lot of turnovers happening for both teams, and I think whichever team can keep the turnover numbers down the most, wins this series. I think looking at the series this season, the Legends have showed more poise and patience on the offensive side of things, but that isn’t taking into account the KC defense which is very stout. But on the other side, LC’s defense has also been a lot more patient this season with KC’s offense being somewhat shaky at times. In the end, I see the Legends punching their ticket to champs.

Series Prediction: League City 2 – Kansas City 1