And let’s not forget about Mazzone; the Rutgers product has six one-pointers on an absurd 75 shooting percentage. The Archers, Ament first and foremost, have done a great job getting him the ball in high-leverage situations and he has delivered. If Whipsnakes want to win this game, their lights-out defense will have to find an answer for Archers’ first-year duo. 

The Battle at the Stripe
Joe Nardella has been unstoppable in the Championship Series. The New York native leads the league in faceoffs won (49) and faceoff percentage (78%) and has accumulated four points on three goals and one assist. His excellent play is even garnering MVP talk in some circles.

However, Sunday’s game could represent Nardella’s greatest challenge yet. The Archers’ tandem of Stephen Kelly and Brendan Fowler have been the next best faceoff unit in the league, notching faceoff percentages of 60 and 57 percent, respectively. The two-man faceoff approach could be used to tire Nardella out throughout the contest, which could flip the field in Archers’ favor if played correctly.

Gambling
At the time of writing, the only bet listed on DraftKings Sportsbook is the moneyline, which lists Whipsnakes as -152 favorites. Moneylines in games of teams with similar talent are seldom a strong bet, so staying away could be the play here. That said, if a high enough total gets posted before the first faceoff, the under could be a nice play given the trends of this tournament and the aptitude of these defenses.

Ramifications

The number one seed for the Elimination Round is on the line in this game. Whipsnakes will still likely lock in the two seed if they lose, but Archers would fall to the three seed behind Chrome by virtue of score differential with a loss. While the automatic berth into the final four of the Championship Series should be motivation enough for either of these teams, a loss would be more detrimental to Archers, so expect them to come out firing.