It's 19 straight, isn't it? 12/09/2016 vs Florida W 8-6 12/10/2016 at Dallas L 2-8 12/18/2016 vs Cedar Rapids L 3-6 12/31/2016 vs Kansas City L 5-8 01/07/2017 at Milwaukee L 3-5 01/13/2017 at Florida L 3-4 01/15/2017 at Florida L 4-9 01/20/2017 vs Harrisburg L 5-7 01/22/2017 vs Milwaukee L 3-5 01/28/2017 at Baltimore L 1-10 02/03/2017 at Cedar Rapids L 10-13 02/04/2017 vs Kansas City L 4-10 02/10/2017 vs Chicago L 5-7 02/12/2017 at Tacoma L 5-9 02/26/2017 vs Baltimore L 1-3 11/04/2017 at Kansas City L 8-10 11/11/2017 vs Milwaukee L 2-9 11/19/2017 vs Harrisburg L 3-4 11/26/2017 at Cedar Rapids L 7-9 12/01/2017 at Harrisburg L 3-8 By my count, the Ambush can become only the fourth team to lose 20 in a row if they lose tonight in Baltimore.
Kenn, I posted your 20-straight-loss article/blog on the Ambush Facebook page. I know that Hewerton and some of the players, as well as ownership reads their social media, interested to see if anyone comments on it. Facts are facts, losses are losses (close or not). If anyone grosses about the post, I will respond with two words - win games.
I'm glad someone noticed. I "caught on" at 17 in a row but I haven't seen one mention of the streak anywhere until your post. Obviously the Ambush don't want to call attention to it, but no one else seemed to know it was even happening either.
Fred signs with the Harrisburg Heat http://harrisburgheat.com/harrisburg-heat-announce-signing-fred-carreiro/
I think the Ambush finally 'break through' with a close win against Cedar Rapids at home this Sunday. They will get boat-raced by the Wave on Saturday - Milwaukee survived an overtime win against Saint Louis last week. They will be ready this time. Cedar Rapids and Saint Louis see their games as 'rivalry grudge matches', and if Saint Louis can play well defensively and keep it close, they can win at the end. The Ambush believe they can beat Cedar Rapids and no one knows their nuances better than Hewerton. Saint Louis 6 -5 Cedar Rapids.
Douglass Miles of the Cedar Rapids Gazette is reporting Greenfield is fired after falling out with Kokalis. Another one to the Ambush?
The Ambush have been Jekyll or Hyde this season, either barely losing or getting blown out. I don't know if they could beat any team with how they lost to the Wave last night. Sorry to hear Greenfield is out in Cedar Rapids. I would not be surprised to see Greenfield suit up for the Ambush. The Ambush have brought in a lot of new players but they still can't win. A close loss is still a loss. Greenfield can help, if he is signed, but the Ambush need to sign a couple of scorers as well. Trading their best scorer Victor France hasn't worked out on the Ambush side. Averaging 4.25 goals scored per game won't win very much. It's been 1 step forward and 3 steps back. Disappointed is an understatement.
Greenfield becomes the first coach in indoor history fired in under nine games to start a season with a winning record. Who got the quickest hook in indoor history? Click here to find out.
Great info. I know Ed Hale is controversial, but I think Kokalis is the MASL (and IFL, for that matter) Steinbrenner. I say this because former players have described him as a bit of a control freak and very willing to fire/promote managers. The Titans are also a revolving door at head coach after a few years of relative stability. However, the guy is driven to win. He has gotten the Titans to the doorstep of an IFL Championship many times before. He's quick to wheel and deal when his teams aren't winning, but this is obviously a lot different. Clearly more than meets the eye here, and I am sure that differences over "personnel moves" doesn't exactly tell the whole story...not that any of you truly bought that either. I wonder if it has anything to do with Greenfield not playing himself many minutes, when our defense is one of the worst in the league?
Didn't Art Kramer take over the Toronto Shooting Stars 3 or 4 games into the season (once the ownership collapsed)? Going strictly from memory, but I thought Johan Aarnio started the season as the Shooting Stars head coach.
Aarnio made it nine games as the coach of the Shooting Stars (1-8) before resigning. Art went the rest of the way (5-26).
Lol, my 'pick 'em' record overall is mediocre but I got these picks right. I talked to several Ambush players post game after today's win, they were more relieved than anything. The Ambush still need to sign a scorer and maybe another guy or two for depth. They need to finish games stronger, maybe this win gives them more confidence going forward.
I was gonna say you nailed it! It was always going to be us who you broke that streak against, with Hewerton on and then Pablo and Tony traded. They each brought poise and possession to the Ambush in OT. Congrats.
Everyone keeps talking about the Ambush goalkeeping situation. Paolo is new to indoor, as he's a pure futsal goalkeeper. He's not perfect, but neither has been the team in front of him. He is slowly coming along and will grow to be a very good indoor keeper. Easy to say get a new goalkeeper, but where?!?! good goalkeepers are in extremely short supply in the indoor game these days. and no team will want to part with their starter. As far as I see it, there is only one team in the league with two legitimate keepers, and that's San Diego. But I can guarantee you (knowing both keepers) neither would want to leave San Diego for St Louis. We are doing our best to develop Paolo. Give him a chance. This hasn't been easy by any means. The history of this team has been a huge elephant in the room that we've been working hard to overcome. Yesterday's win was a good start, but there is still plenty of season to manage, so can't get too caught up in the moment. Still lots of work to do. Have faith.
Paolo is coming along, and it is fair to point out that he hasn't always had a lot of goal scoring support, and the defense has not always played well in front of him (the defense was much better yesterday afternoon though). His Futsal soccer background and (mostly) good ball handling this season are helping him out a lot. Way better than our goalkeeping last season. I don't think we can judge him too harshly about the Wave game this weekend, not many defenses can stop Bennett and company when they are in a groove. Once the Wave score a couple quick goals, they are off to the races. We almost even beat the Wave a week ago. I too think Paolo will be fine as a goalkeeper. The rest of the Ambush needs to be more consistent and score more often. I hope this win is a corner turn for the whole team.
Tacoma Acquires Nick Perera from Syracuse http://www.tacomastars.com/news/stars-bring-in-target-perera-sign-plu-s-na
Perera's working his way around the Pacific Division the way Hewerton is making the circuit around the Central Division.
Can the Ambush build on their first win in 22 games? It all depends on which Ambush team shows up. The ball handling and defense has improved recently with Aguilar and Da Silva, the two players acquired by the Ambush from Cedar Rapids in exchange for Victor France. However, the Ambush have found themselves down by large margins in the first half of several losses this season. The Ambush lost some offense with the trade of France, and don't have a star scorer. They will need to rely on a mix of different players to generate goals. They got just enough to win this past Sunday but will need to improve on their 4.3 goals per game average to be more competitive. Cedar Rapids is (oddly) last in the league in power play scoring percentage at 13%, but they can score a lot at other times. Expect another close game as Cedar Rapids hosts the Ambush on Dec. 22. The Ambush finish the month with a December 31 afternoon home matchup with Florida. If the Ambush can replicate their improved defense and generate a bit more offense, they have a decent chance to win at least one more game this month.
The Rampage have scored more short-handed goals than power play goals. It's pretty disconcerting. They also don't score much off set plays (though their last game against KC was their best in that department), which makes me think that early in the season Greenfield really, really stressed creating goals through open play. CR leads the league in that category, IIRC.
And of their 2 power play goals, one was scored by Pablo (no longer on the team) and the other one was a total on goal (goalkeeper cleared a ball into his teammates back and it bounced into the goal).
Can we add the Rampage as the second team to that list after tonight? Wow! What a goalkeeping battle that was. Kenn might know, but how often in the last decade has a game gone into a half scoreless? Not often, and definitely not often with CR. Haus is also steeped in Brazilian futsal and Hewerton brought him in as the back-up man last year, and his duel w/ Paolo was highly entertaining. They were often excellent tonight. Wondering what Petricek did to violate team rules? Tumultuous couple weeks here.