Put the Breaks On 500

Final Score
Kennedy Crew 6
Shockers 3

The light at the end of the tunnel for the Shockers was breaking into the 500 club but those hopes were set aside abruptly by a team who has been experiencing a difficult start, the Kennedy Crew.

Kennedy Crew were 1-4-0 coming into the game and picked up an uplifting win against the Shockers last Thursday, so where does that leave the Shockers going into this next stretch of games against teams higher up in the standings?

"We'll just have to play harder and stop making mistakes," commented Andrew Stevens who was held off the scoresheet for the first time in 3 games.

Mistakes are definitely something the Shockers need to cut out of their vocabulary. At least 4 out of 6 goals last game against the Kennedy Crew were attributed to grave mistakes by both the offense and defense. With that being said, the Shockers will have to go back to square one and look to games against Mobilart and Subzero for inspiration. It's not hard to play man-to-man coverage on a small surface, this is where the Shockers succeed, but on a large surface where cardio is key, the Shockers are struggling. The Shockers have bigger guys so maybe a stay-at-home approach should be applied by the defense while the forwards play a trap system; either way, the team has to figure out something for games on the large surface.

Next few games will present Shockers with some new challenges: better teams and missing players. NDG Choppers, Stealth Assassins and Hitmen are all good teams who have been having a great deal of success this season. On the flip side, the Shockers will be scouring around to find players to patch in the gaps of missing players, the likes of Carlo Varano (indefinitely, personal reasons), Frankie Ortuso (day-to-day, groin), Alain Godard (day-to-day, sun burn) and Andrew Stevens (1 game, rocking out). With all these players out, who could be the cream filling? Nick Petosa? JK 77? Andrew Johnson?

Andrew Johnson, whose contract was bought out by the Shockers two seasons ago, has been left on the back-burner since and has voiced his opinion about the Shockers on numerous occassions. Words like "mofos" and "rat-sized penis suckers" have been used to describe the level of professionalism in handling Johnson's final game in his 3-game contract. "I was shammed and now I hate that team. I hope the goalie gets hit by a bus," Johnson explained. Despite his animosity for the team, perhaps now that the team is in a bind, could both parties put their differences aside or will the hate-crew saga continue?

Look for an interesting night of new faces on Saturday as the Shockers will go grill-on-grill with the NDG Choppers in their hopes to gripe their way back into 500 contention.