BLUE COLLAR BATTLE: CLEVELAND/CHICAGO PREVIEW!



When you think of Cleveland and Chicago, you think of two working class cities that love their sports. Browns/Bears, Cavs/Bulls, Indians(now Guardians)/White sox, whatever your sport there's guaranteed to be a Cleveland/Chicago rivalry somewhere. Then you see the Crunch and Mustangs and realize that the word "rivalry" takes on a whole new perspective when these two teams meet.


This weekend should be no different as the Crunch host the visiting Mustangs for a weekend series Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Before the series kicks off, let's preview both teams more closely shall we?


Chicago Mustangs: The Mustangs come into the series 2-1. All games against the Muskegon Risers. The Mustangs have five returning players this season mixing a young group with some veteran leadership. Jose' Resendiz, Angel Rodriguez, and Michael Marchionna will be those to watch on offense while Alex Lopez and Alex "Sonic" Gomez will be guys to watch on defense. We spoke with Mustangs head coach, Amarndo Gamboa and got his thoughts.


     " We have a young, energetic group of young guys mixed with some veteran players. As far as Cleveland goes, we have great respect for them. We have great respect for their organization and what they have built. We know these games are going to be close and come down to the final minutes, but we are going to play hard and do what needs to be done to win. We are going to Cleveland to get one win out of the weekend."


Cleveland Crunch: The Crunch come into the series a cool 3-0 on the season. Last winning against the Cincinnati Swerve 8-4. As always, Mike Derezic,  "Flyin" Ryan Minick, Gabe Pewu, Sammy Mutemwa, and Marijo "the Magician" Musa are some of the faces you will see Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. We caught up with Crunch head coach Lou Kastelic and he shared his thoughts on the weekend series.


     "We always look forward to playing Chicago. They are well coached and well organized. It'll be fun to watch and see how our guys handle their speed and youth. As far as our team is concerned, I want to see us finish more of our chances and cut down on the one-on-one chances we give up on the counter attacks. I felt last weekend we should have scored a lot more than we did. Part of that was due to how the Swerve played, the other part was due to our inability to find the corners of the goal. If we can correct that and limit the counter attacks I think we will be successful."


The Mustangs will come into the game with a 10.3 goal average and +10 goal differential. They are 29% on power plays and 20% on penalty kills. The Crunch will come in averaging 8.7 goals a game with a +12 differential. They also sport 50% on power plays with  25% on penalty kills. 


This will be the first meeting of four meeting between both teams with all four meetings being weekend series. The Crunch took the overall series last season with a 2-1 advantage in the series. The most exciting and controversial game of last season came on April 11th when the Crunch battled back to tie the game but would lose 9-8 in overtime on several questionable calls from the refs.


Kickoff for Saturday night is slated for 7pm. While Sunday afternoon's kickoff will be at 3:30pm. Tickets are on sale now at theclevelandcrunch.com or at the gate on game day. However don't expect tickets to be there long as the Chicago crowd does travel well and this trip to Cleveland is essentially a trip around the corner for Mustang fans. It may be a split crowd, but my gut tells me that the Crunch are still mad from that April 11th game last season so expect fireworks all weekend!



~IT'S CRUNCH TIME!!~

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