| AUDL Preview & Inactive List: Week 11

This week in the AUDL Eastern Conference the DC Breeze are on a two game road trip, starting in Toronto. The Rush have their Team Canada players back in action this week, so it’s going to be difficult for the Breeze to keep the game competitive. The last time those two teams faced off was the home opener for DC, and the Rush won 30-13. The next day the Breeze play the Dragons in Rochester. The season series between the two teams is tied up at 1-1, but with the Breeze coming off a game in Toronto and missing Jon Pressimone for Sunday’s game, the Dragons are the heavy favorites. The Empire have a two game weekend as well, starting in New York against the Phoenix. Though the Empire have beat the Phoenix each of the last two weeks, this week they’ll have to do it without Husayn Carnegie and Mike Drost. A win would be great for the Empire, but it’d be even better for the Dragons, who need the Phoenix to lose to stay in the playoff race. On Sunday the Hammerheads host the Empire, and this is one of the best chances for New Jersey to pick up their second win this season.

In the Midwestern Conference the Indianapolis AlleyCats face a tough test. They play in Madison on Saturday and in St. Paul against the Wind Chill on Sunday. The AlleyCats will be without some of their best supporting players too, missing Michael Ames, David Valentine-Elam, and recent addition Ben Parris. Luckily the Radicals will be missing David Schleicher, their leading goal scorer, and Tyler Glenn, another top Madison cutter. Minnesota is missing a strong contingent of players too. Brian Schoenrock, their leader in goals and D’s, Austin Lien, Jay Drescher, and Josh Hemmesch will all be out as well. On top of that Grant Lindsley has only played in two games this season for the Wind Chill, and is no longer on their active roster. Given all that there is a chance that the ‘Cats might pull off an upset, but the Wind Chill are a strong home team and it’ll be tough after playing in Madison on Saturday. Even if the AlleyCats drop both games they’ll still be in third place in the Midwest, but a win would make it very difficult for anyone to catch them. The Wildfire stand at 10-1, and even with a two game road trip this weekend, it looks like they’ll cruise to the top spot in the Midwest and the first round bye in the playoffs. They play the Mechanix and Revolution this weekend, and could effectively end the season for both teams if they go 2-0. The Wildfire are missing Brodie Smith for the fourth straight week, though he still leads the league in Assists. That could change this weekend, Revolution player Chris Powers would need eight assists to take the lead.

In addition to the playoff races for the last spot in the East and Midwest, some statistical races are heating up as well. Right now Keenan Plew is the only 40-40 (40 goals and 40 assists) in the league, though Matt Esser has 38 goals and 34 assists, along with 33 D’s, making him the only 30-30-30 player in the league. Jonathan Helton only trails Esser for the league lead in D’s by 3. Daniel Selwyn of the DC Breeze leads the league in points played and throws completed, and despite his 50 turnovers still has a 91.6% completion rate. The players with the top completion rate in the league (with at least 150 throws completed) are Bob Liu and Andrew Brown. Liu has a 97% completion rate for the Wildfire, while Brown is at 96.8% for the Radicals. In +/- (goals+assists+D’s-turnovers) a statistic that does favor cutters, AJ Nelson leads the league at +82.

Cincinnati Revolution