2019-2020: Week 5 Player Reports

Game 1: Team Blue (Matt Koll) vs. Team Orange (Jerry)

-In a full week of upsets, Team Orange got things started by laying a huge sloppy turd on the floor for the full forty minutes of this one. The undertalented Team Blue offered a balanced attack, with 7 players scoring 4 points or more, but Team Orange should have had more than enough fire power to outscore the Blue Man Group. Team Orange continues to make the critical mistake of hockey subbing their worst players into the game all at the same time, leading to huge shifts in momentum. Coach Hahn needs to buckle down and deploy a rotation that makes sense. With Team Green also getting upset, Orange could have found themselves tied for the best record in HatchetBall. Instead, Orange will have to stew on a BYE week before feasting on Team Red in Week 7, who coincidentally plays Team Blue in Week 6.

Game 2: Team White (Freddy) vs. Team Green (Troy)

-While Mike Steigerwald continues to lust after his favorite HatchetBall players that aren’t on his team, he ignores the fact that he does have a few useful pieces around him that could make his team competitive. The older/smaller Schick outplayed the younger/larger Schick in this one with a game-high 26 points and single-handedly dragged Team White to the come-from-behind victory over the previously undefeated Team Green. Team Green had all four starters in double-figures, but it’s possible that their pieces don’t fit all that well. Some games, when everything is going your way, this doesn’t matter as much. It amounts to 4 separate players taking turns on offense. If your players are good enough, this strategy can work, especially considering the likelihood that there will be a significant mismatch somewhere in the mix. However, when shots aren’t falling and the momentum is against you, isolation becomes a strained effort. Adversity doesn’t suit Team Green, which could be a fatal flaw in the long run.

Game 3: - Team Black (Matt V) vs. Team Red (Steve)

-Oh me, oh my. After 2 games of pure manure, Team Red suddenly looks relevant. After their first two games (both losses), they had a combined differential of -27. Since then, they’ve rattled off two straight wins for a combined differential of +11. What’s been the difference? Probably effort. Maybe personnel. Maybe matchups. Certainly, they’re sharing the rock better, which is leading to a collective effort. All 7 active players scored in Week 5, which is always a good thing. Team Black is slipping the other direction. They seem to be relying on Rob more and more each week, which is a risky proposition for such a questionable hair style. But who will step up to carry some of the burden for Team Black? Matt V has created a legacy of success based on drafting depth. Not this year.

Standings

Team	Captain	Win	Loss	Record	Win %	Streak	PS	PA	DIFF
Green	Dave Troy	3	1	3 - 1	0.750	L1	266	226	40
Orange	Jerry Hahn	3	2	3 - 2	0.600	L1	377	370	7
Black	Matt V	2	2	2 - 2	0.500	L1	269	261	8
Blue	Matt Koll	2	2	2 - 2	0.500	W1	257	261	-4
Red	Steve Dudek	2	2	2 - 2	0.500	W2	235	251	-16
White	Freddy	2	3	2 - 3	0.400	W1	310	328	-18
Gold	Bob Kelly	1	3	1 - 3	0.250	L2	254	271	-17