Onto the Empire Play-In game between the Rockers and Wolves.

#4 Seed Watertown Wolves (28-23-1-3)

Key Players:

Trevor Lord (52GP, 38G, 47A)

Trevor Grasby (55GP, 9G, 66A)

Davide Gaeta (51GP, 38G, 46A)

Tate Leeson (15GP, 7G, 17A)

G: Breandan Colgan (528MP as Wolve, 3.98 GAA, 3-5, .903 PCT)

G: Anton Borodkin (1991MP, 3.74GAA, 18-13-3, .907 SV PCT)

The Scoop: This is a Watertown team that has reloaded right for playoffs, you mention this big four above, including the return of Leeson. Add in ex Winnipeg Jets draft pick Jimmy Lodge who came over from Athens, and this team could even contend with Binghamton should they win tonight. Defensively, Trevor Grasby has been sensational, he’s my pick for Rookie of the Year if I had a vote.

And now Anton Borodkin is back in the fold in goal, so Justin Coachman has to decide if he wants to go to the playoff tested veteran in Breandan Colgan who brought Watertown a title in 2022, or go to the Rookie who turned heads earlier in the season.

Speaking of experience, Colgan and Lodge are the only two members of the 2022 Wolves back on the team. Also add in longtime veterans in Kyle Powell, Ludlow Harris and Dustin Henning, this team has one of the more experienced squads in the league, especially on the back end. Justin Coachman since taking over for Charlie Pens Jr has brought in his style, while also making moves for Colgan, Steven Klinck, Henning, Quinn Chevers, and Ian McDonald.

#5 Seed Motor City Rockers (19-32-1-4)

Key Players:

Eli Rivers (56GP, 28G, 31A)

Josh Colten (56GP, 15G, 27A)

Tristan Wells (42GP, 14G, 8A)

Nick Gullo (44GP, 9G, 28A)

G: Ricardo Gonzalez (1886 Min, 3.75GAA, 13-17-3, .919 SV PCT)

The Scoop: This is a Motor City team that had pretty high expectations going into the season, but with a few coaching changes early on, the dissolvement of the original ownership group, and trading key pieces like Declan Conway and Scott Coash down south, the team faltered. Jameson Milam took over as the team’s Player-Coach, and now the team has new ownership from Ken Andrews, who brought back original GM Nick Field.

Field is seemingly building for next year, while retaining the core players on the Rockers roster from the first three seasons, while adding in new pieces like Timur Gavilrovich and Brendan Ronan from the Athens Rock Lobsters. The team put all faith in Ricardo Gonzalez after trading stalwart netminder Trevor Babin to Columbus.

The Rockers have a solid nucleus, it’s not a terrible roster, but things just haven’t gone their way all year. There’s still about half of the roster from last year who made a deep playoff run to the Division Finals, but only four of the top ten scorers return, three of them are defensemen. But again, the team is without those big names, but Eli Rivers has been a revelation for the Rockers this year. Getting Chris Corgan and Brad Reitter back has been huge, but we’ll see with this team.

Head-To-Head

Seven meetings, Watertown won 5-2

Predictions:

Christian: I love the Rockers and their crew, but it’s going to be all Watertown. This Wolves team is built for the playoffs, and they think they can beat Binghamton, and we’ll see that matchup.

Mat: Watertown easily.