Charlotte (1-2) at Hamilton (2-0)/Friday, May 17th, 11:00 AM EST-Charlotte is one of the toughest teams in the league to figure out. Is it ready to make that playoff push? A win against Hamilton would do a lot to improve it's outlook. On the other side, the Nationals are undefeated, but still need to keep it going to really convince people what it can be. On a side note, a win Friday would be the best start in history for the Nats.

Prediction: Hamilton 14 Charlotte 9

Chesapeake (3-0) at Boston (0-3)/Saturday, May 18th, 7:00 PM EST-Not a good sign for the Cannons. The last thing they need is to have a team like the Bayhawks come into town. With how litle support the guys like Paul Rabil and Ari Sussman are getting offensively, Kip Turner and company have to be licking their chops. The 'Hawks goalie is allowing a league low four goals-per-game.

Prediction: Chesapeake 12 Boston 5

New York (1-2) at Ohio (0-2)/Saturday, May 18th, 8:00 PM EST-Talk about two teams that are in need of a pick-me-up. New York's lost two straight now after that nailbiting loss to Hamilton last weekend, while Ohio can't seem to find the back of the cage. Something's got to give here.

Prediction: New York 11 Ohio 7

Rochester (1-2) at Denver (3-0)/Saturday, May 18th, 9:00 PM EST-Finally Denver gets a home game. After opening the season with three straight road wins. Despite an impressive showing last week, I'd be surprised to see the Rattlers pull this one off. The Outlaws just have too much of a home-field advantage.

Prediction: Denver 14 Rochester 10

Charlotte (1-2) at Hamilton (2-0)/Friday, May 17th, 11:00 AM EST-Charlotte is one of the toughest teams in the league to figure out. Is it ready to make that playoff push? A win against Hamilton would do a lot to improve it's outlook. On the other side, the Nationals are undefeated, but still need to keep it going to really convince people what it can be. On a side note, a win Friday would be the best start in history for the Nats.

Prediction: Hamilton 14 Charlotte 9

Chesapeake (3-0) at Boston (0-3)/Saturday, May 18th, 7:00 PM EST-Not a good sign for the Cannons. The last thing they need is to have a team like the Bayhawks come into town. With how litle support the guys like Paul Rabil and Ari Sussman are getting offensively, Kip Turner and company have to be licking their chops. The 'Hawks goalie is allowing a league low four goals-per-game.

Prediction: Chesapeake 12 Boston 5

New York (1-2) at Ohio (0-2)/Saturday, May 18th, 8:00 PM EST-Talk about two teams that are in need of a pick-me-up. New York's lost two straight now after that nailbiting loss to Hamilton last weekend, while Ohio can't seem to find the back of the cage. Something's got to give here.

Prediction: New York 11 Ohio 7

Rochester (1-2) at Denver (3-0)/Saturday, May 18th, 9:00 PM EST-Finally Denver gets a home game. After opening the season with three straight road wins. Despite an impressive showing last week, I'd be surprised to see the Rattlers pull this one off. The Outlaws just have too much of a home-field advantage.

Prediction: Denver 14 Rochester 10

We don't have a whole lot of change in the top of the rankings this week, but the bottom is a different story. 1 and 2 are the same. Rochester makes the biggest jump, while three teams are tied for the biggest drop.

1) Chesapeake Bayhawks (3-0) (LW: 1, High: 1, Low: 1)- Ben Rubeor with another how week and how about Kip Turner? The guy's giving up just four goals-per-game. Amazing.

2) Denver Outlaws (3-0) (LW: 2, High: 2, Low: 2)- Denver's started the season with three straight road wins. Now, it returns to the Mile HIgh City and that great home crowd. This streak could last a couple more weeks.

3) Hamilton Nationals (2-0) (LW: 4, High: 3, Low: 4)- What a statement when over New York. Hamilton's starting to show that it's a force to be reckoned with.

4) New York Lizards (1-2) (LW: 3, High: 3. Low: 4)- New York's now lost two straight. In the first loss, it was without a lot of it's offensive talent. However, last weekend, guys like Mark Matthews returned. This team needs more role players to step up and stop this streak.

5) Charlotte Hounds (1-2) (LW: 5, High: 5, Low: 5)- The Hounds lost, but didn't have Matt Danowski. That earns a pass.

6) Rochester Rattlers (1-2) (LW: 8, High: 6, Low: 8)- The Rattlers finally got a win and have that monkey off their back. Now can it continue?

7) Boston Cannons (0-3) (LW: 6, High: 6, Low: 7)- Another loss for Boston and don't look now, but Chesapeake's coming to town.

8) Ohio Machine (0-2) (LW: 7, High 7, Low 8)- This team just isn't scroing enough right now. Plain and simple. 

There are few repeats from last week. Ben Rubeor makes the list yet again, while Ohio's attack is still struggling. As for the rest, here's what we have.

WHO'S HOT

Ned Crotty-The attackman really stepped up this weekend. He tallied 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists) in Rochester's win against Charlotte. Crotty's now tied for first in the league in points-per-game. 

Ben Rubeor-Another day, another dollar for this guy. How do you follow a 7 goal performance? How about four more. It looks like he's going to be garnering more and more respect.

Brodie Merrill-2 wins for Hamilton to start the season. Against New York last weekend, eight ground balls by Merrill led the Nats to victory. 

WHO'S NOT

Boston-Another loss for the Cannons. There's not much to say anymore with this squad. One thing is for sure, a matchup with Chesapeake this weekend is not what it needs.

Ohio's Attack-Only five goals in the loss to Denver last weekend. No player has more than 4 points. Maybe things will get going against New York this weekend.

Tommy Palasek-After starting the season with a five point performance against Boston, Palasek has just one goal in the last two. He has too much talent and that fits too well with the MLL style for this to continue. I expect him to turn it around soon.

It was another big week of MLL action. Despite, learning a lot more about each team this week, week 3's takeaway's are eerily similar to week 2's.

3. Hamilton's For Real

Two wins over 2012 playoff teams in the first two weeks? That's pretty awesome for the Nationals. The defense shut down a high-powered New York offense and the midfield came up huge. Look out for Hamilton.

2. Rubeor's Feeling Hot

Five more points for Rubeor against Ohio and, boy, is he off to a good start. He leads the league with 14 points and is averaging four goals per game for 3-0 Chesapeake.

1. Congrats Ryan Boyle!

Despite the Boston loss, Ryan Boyle tallied two assists to reach 400 points and break Casey Powell's MLL record. It speaks not only to his fantastic career, but to the growth of the MLL to have people reaching those kind of stats

Hamilton wins again, Boston loses again, Rochester gets revenge and Chesapeake is still really good. 

Hamilton 12 New York 11

Don't look now, but here comes Hamilton. The Nationals won their second straight game to start the season. Kevin Cunningham tallied a hat trick, but, overall, it was an balanced effort for the Nats with seven different goal scorers.

Denver 14 Boston 10

Ryan Boyle registers two assists for his 400th career point and passes Casey Powell for the all-time point record, but Boston fell again. Once again, a first half run did in the Cannons. Denver tallied seven of the games first nine goals for the win. Drew Snider led the Outlaws with five scores.

Rochester 13 Charlotte 10

Less than a week after Charlotte hands Rochester, the Rattlers got it back. Three players tacked on at least three goals for the boys from upstate New York. The victory leaves Ohio and Boston as the only winless teams in the league.

Chesapeake 14 Ohio 5

Man, oh man, Chesapeake is on a tear. Ben Rubeor tallied 4 more goals and John Grant, Jr. is back witht the team. In other words, they're only getting better.

Here's a look at this weekend's matchups.

Denver (2-0) at Boston (0-2), Saturday, 5/11 7:00 PM EST- It's put up or shut up time for the Cannons. The team's in danger of falling to 0-3 and it's defense that's been a little shaky this season is matched up with high powered Denver. The Outlaw's attack is just too good, I don't think this is the week the Cannons get back on track

Prediction: Denver 18 - Boston 12

Rochester (0-2) at Charlotte (1-1), Saturday, 5/11 7:00 PM EST-These two teams matchup for the second time in less than a week on Saturday. In the first matchup, the difference was the second half. Charlotte outscored Rochester 10-4 in those frames. Peet Poillon was on an absolute tear. He may be the hottest player in the league right now and that's why I like the Hounds.

Prediction: Charlotte 15-Rochester 14

Ohio (0-1) at Chesapeake (2-0), Saturday, 5/11 7:00 PM EST-What a tough draw to start the season for Ohio. First Denver, now Chesapeake? Well, at least it gets them out of the way. I like the Machine, but without many of it's young stars still, I don't think they can win this game this early in the season.

Prediction: Chesapeake 13-Ohio 6

New York (1-1) at Hamilton (1-0), Saturday, 5/11 7:00 PM EST

Late week, New York was without most of it's fire power. Mark Matthews returns to the team against the Nationals so expect a few more than 3 goals. Meanwhile, Hamilton's defense is good, but it's not sneaking up on anyone this week.

Prediction: New York 10-Hamilton 8

Two weeks into the MLL season and there have been some surprises. Who knew Boston would start 0-2? What about Hamilton's performance? After taking all of that into consideration, here's how they stand.

1) Chesapeake Bayhawks- Kip Turner looks like he did championship weekend, Ben Rubeor dominates the Lizards. Yeah...they're still the team to beat.

2) Denver Outlaws-What a scary attack this team has. Even without Peet Poillon and Mark Matthews it looks like they can do it at will

3) New York Lizards-I'm not looking too closely into the loss to Chesapeake. I mean, half the team was missing.

4) Hamilton Nationals- If what we saw in Boston was a sign of things to come...watch out this team's defense might be scary good.

5) Charlotte Hounds-Nice to see the Hounds get a win. This team is clearly improved from last season.

6) Boston Cannons-We've said it enough on this site. The supporting cast just needs to do more.

7) Ohio Machine-I feel weird putting Ohio this low. Don't be surprised if it moves up, especially if Boston keeps struggling.

8) Rochester Rattlers-The defense needs to be better for this squad. It's that simple.

We're two weeks into the MLL season and that means it's the perfect time to look at who's shining and who...well isn't.

WHO'S HOT

Ben Rubeor-Use whatever adjective comes to mind: fantastic, amazing, incredible, whatever. This guy was awesome against New York last weekend. He tallied seven goals in a game that only featured 12 total. The performance earned him player of the week honors and I can't say I would disagree.

Peet Poillon-It looks like Charlotte has at least to guys that can score at will when you team Poillon up with Matt Danowski. The UMBC product managed seven points (five goals, two assists) in the Hounds' first win of the season of the season. Performances like this certainly move the team in the right direction.

Greg Gurenlian-Even though New York lost, Gurenlian turned in his second straight dominating performance at the faceoff X. The FOGO went 10-16 against Chesapeake and is now 31-44 on the season. The Lizards can score, the amount of stars out last weekend made that harder to see, but with Gurenlian winning faceoffs, they can be scary good.

WHO'S NOT

Ohio's Attack-This group was far from fantastic against Denver in the Machine's opener. They Steele Stanwick, Chaz Woodson and Jim Connolly combined for just three scores. I don't expect this to continue for Ohio, though. There's just too much talent there.

Boston's Supporting Cast-The Cannons looked sluggish for the second straight week. Outside of Paul Rabil and Ari Sussman, the rest of the team just hasn't been enough. Just like with Ohio, I'd be surprised to see this continue, but I'm sure it's not what Steve Duffy wants right now.

Rochester's Defense-For two straight games now, the Rattlers have allowed more than 15 scores. I'd blame it on the netminding, but last weekend, John Galloway saved half the shots he faced. The problem is...he faced 24 of them. The Rattlers need to force some tougher shots from opponents attacks and give their goalies some help.

Here's the first of our weekly installment of take away's during the MLL season. I'll let you know what suprise me from this past weekend of play.

3. Hamilton's Impressive Opening Win

How about this one. In Dave Huntley's first game back as head coach the Nats go into Harvard Stadium and beat Boston 15-8. Huntley's said over and over again that one of the biggest keys to Hamilton's season is Brodie Merrill and, boy, did he show it last weekend. The defenseman tallied seven groundballs and was the leader the Nats need on D. It might be too early to make any sweeping statements, but Hamilton should sure enjoy this one.

2. Ben Rubeor Score's Seven Goals

How about this. Ben Rubeor earns MLL Player of the Week honors with a seven goal performance against New York. To put that into perspective, Chesapeake scored nine total goals and there were only 12 scores in the game. Hat's off to you Ben Rubeor on a fantastic performance.

1. What's Going on With Boston?

All of a sudden the Cannons find themselves at 0-2 on the season. Once again, Paul Rabil got his team on the board early, but his team couldn't hold it. In fact, Hamilton scored the next eight goals to take control. The problem is, only a few people (Rabil, Ari Sussman, etc.) are contributing. This team needs more balance to avoid falling into a deep funk.