The Carolina Chaos punched their ticket into the playoffs for the seventh straight season and will take on the California Redwoods this Saturday night in Minneapolis (8:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+).
It’s the second time the Chaos and Redwoods have squared off in the quarterfinals; the first matchup was in the 2023 season, which saw the Woods waltz away with a 15-9 victory. The two teams also met in the 2019 semifinals, with the Redwoods emerging victorious 10-7.
Will this be the year Carolina beats California in the playoffs?
Why they can win it all
When general manager Spencer Ford and head coach Roy Colsey took over the reins of the Chaos, they echoed the same message: “We have a championship-ready defense.”
And that sentiment remains true. The Chaos have an immense amount of experience on the back end and will need to lean on it in the biggest moments. In multiple games this season, the defense has slammed the iron door shut in the second half, allowing the offense to claw back into games and resulting in multiple comeback victories.
If Carolina’s defense shows up in full force, it’s an extremely hard team to beat.
Biggest concern
The Chaos aren’t good in 32-second offense, and it was apparent against the Utah Archers in the final game of the regular season.
Justin Inacio won 20 of 24 draws in the game (83%), and the Chaos were only able to generate three goals on the 20 wins (15% goal rate). On the season, the Chaos are a league-worst 22-of-129 (17.1%) on 32-second offense opportunities.
If they can’t gain an advantage from Inacio’s league-best 60.9% winning percentage at the stripe, they might run into scoring droughts at the worst moments.
Most important player
Nobody will be more important during this Chaos playoff run than Blaze Riorden. He can steal a game on his own, and nobody in the league is more clutch than he is.
However, Riorden’s scores against average this season rose to 12.6 per game (a 2.8-score increase from 2024), and his save percentage dipped to 57.3% (a 2.1% drop from 2024). Riorden also had the worst game of his career against the Maryland Whipsnakes early in the season. He allowed 19 scores and made only eight saves for a 29.6% save percentage.
The five-time first-team All-Pro goalie is still Carolina’s backbone, though, and everyone on the team knows they can count on him when it matters most. In 2021, Riorden was the MVP of the league and the playoffs, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see him repeat as the playoff MVP if he catches fire again.
Key stat
Riorden leads the league with 30 clutch saves (fourth quarter of one-possession games) and is second in clutch save percentage (71.4%). The five-time Oren Lyons Goaltender of the Year is built for clutch moments and rises to the occasion when his team needs him most.
No goalie in the playoffs has been more clutch in their career outside of Dillon Ward, and the Chaos can rely on Riorden’s ice-cold veins when moments get hard.
