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.

New York tries to start the season with two huge wins, while Chesapeake wants to keep the good times rolling.

The Lizards dominated the Cannons at the face-off X last week. Greg Gurenlian went 21-28 to suffocate Boston. He's the key for the Lizards. The team has a scary ability to score. If he can have another performace like that, the Bayhawks bettter watch out.

As for Chesapeake, it picked off right where it left off last season. The keys for the Bayhawks are the same as last week. Control the game and have a strong performance in net. Their the champs, they just have to keep playing that way.

Prediction: Chesapeake 18-New York 15

It's too much to ask for the LIzards to beat two of the leagues top teams in consecutive weeks, let alone one on the road.

The Ryan Boyle countdown is on. The Attackman has a chance to break Casey Powell's MLL point record with a strong performance for Boston. On the other side, it's back to the future for Hamilton with Dave Huntley starting his first game as head coach. Here's how it should go down.

Boyle inched within two points of the record with two last weekend in his team's lost to New York. Powell's mark stands at 399 and if history is any indication, he should get it Saturday. When these two team's met last year at Harvard Stadium, Boyle had five points (three goals, two assists). Of course, he's going to need help from the rest of his team which was a problem last week. Outside of Boyle, Paul Rabil, Ari Sussman and Mike Stone, the rest of the team combined for four points. That's not going to cut it.

As for the Nats, they're starting fresh with Huntley...kind of. The head man spent two years with the squad from 2009 to 2010 and had success with the club. The team won the Steinfeld Cup in it's inaugural season in 2012. The team returns Brodie Merrill, the six-time defensive player of the year. His job...defend Paul Rabil. Good luck, Brodie!

Prediction: Boston 16-Hamilton10

Boston's not starting 0-2 and with so many pieces still playing in the MLL for Hamilton, I don't think they'll have enough for this one.

Great start to the MLL weekend. We saw Denver and Chesapeake maintain the status quo, while New York sent a message with a big win.

Denver 21 - Rochester 16

What an offensive explosion from the Outlaws. Chris Bocklet led the charge with five goals, while Will Mangan, Jeremy Sieverts and Terry Kimener each had a hat trick. A big reason why they could score so much? Anthony Kelly dominated at the faceoff X. The FOGO went 19-29 and even added a score. 

On the Charlotte side, Matt Danowski was the star. He tallied seven points for the Hounds (5 G, 2 A). Still, though, the rest of his team couldn't pick him up. Mark Manos struggled in net. He managed to save on 15 of the 35 shots on net. 

Chesapeake 17 - Rochester 14

The champs got off on the right foot and they did it with defense down the stretch. After Rochester scored four straight at the end of the third quarter, Chesapeake came back to shut the Rattlers out in the fourth.

On the other side, the four goal run by Rochester was fantastic, yet in the fourth, the momentum died. This team needs to find a way to keep that momentum going if it wants to have success against the top teams like the Bayhawks

New York 14 - Boston 11

The Lizards started off the 2013 season with a huge win. What a game by Tommy Palasek. The second year man out of Syracuse had a hat trick (in the first half, mind you) and tacked on two assists. Another special shoutout to Greg Gurenlian. He went 20-27 at the faceoff X and completely stifled Boston.

Paul Rabil did what he could for the Cannons. He tallied four scores and Ari Sussman threw in three more, but it wasn't enough production from the resto of the team. Ryan Boyle had a chance at the MLL point record, but failed to reach the mark. He remains two points away from Casey Powell on the list. 

The time has come. The MLL season starts Saturday. Here's how I see it.

Denver (0-0) at Charlotte (0-0), Sat. April. 27th 7:00 PM EST

Charlotte's no longer the new kid on the block, but that doesn't make this matchup any easier. Faceoff's are going to be key in this one. I expect Anthony Kelly to have a big game for Denver at the X. Charlotte just doesn't have a FOGO who can matchup. Brendan Mundorf and company will take care of the rest. 

PREDICTION: Denver 15 - Charlotte 8

Chesapeake (0-0) at Rochester (0-0), Sat. April 27th 7:30 PM EST

The Bayhawks start their title defense on the road against a Rattlers team that just missed a trip to championship weekend last season. Few people were hotter than Kip Turner last season, especially at the end of the year. Rochester likes to spread out the scoring and I think that will allow them to be in this game for the most part, but in the end, Chesapeake will be too much.

PREDICTION: Chesapeake 13 - Rochester 11

Boston (0-0) at New York (0-0), Sun. April 28th 3:30 PM EST

This might be the game of the weekend. Ryan Boyle's on the verge of breaking Casey's Powell's MLL point record. He needs just four to get it. On the other side, I know New York's expecting big things this year. I think Boyle gets his point record, but the W is a different story.

PREDICTION: New York 16 - Boston 15