September 11, 2024 Nolan Hughes

The Akron Atom Splitters were perhaps the steadiest team in the PBA Elite League presented by Snickers. 

Akron neither won or lost more than two consecutive matches all season, finishing with a 9-5 record. The Atom Splitters lost both head-to-head matches with Portland, thus dropping the Atom Splitters into a quarterfinal matchup with Lucky Strike L.A. X.

Mark Baker's squad hopes to win the franchise’s fourth Elias Cup crown and first since 2018.

Roster

Manager: Mark Baker
Protected players: Chris Via, Jesper Svensson
Draft picks: François Lavoie, Tom Daugherty, Dick Allen, Nick Pate

After protecting Via and Svensson, Baker brought back two familiar faces (Daugherty, Allen) and added two new ones (Lavoie, Pate).

High Point: Round 14

Akron’s short-lived-but-electric climax came during their regular season finale. Needing a win to have any chance at the coveted bye, Daugherty, Ohio-native Via and Svensson slammed the door shut on the top-seeded High Rollers.

Low Point: Round 7

Akron’s Round 7 loss to Las Vegas dropped the team to 4-3 and marked their only time losing consecutive matches all season. The High Rollers performed well once the lights came on, but Andrew Anderson admitted the team’s practice before the match “was as bad as any practice [we’ve] had all season.”

It speaks volumes that a midseason loss to the league’s best team is another team’s low point. Akron’s plethora of stoic personalities helped them avoid the massive valleys that ensnared other teams.

Turning Point: Round 10

They say the deafening sound of Pate’s stone-9 — which cost Akron the Round 10 roll-off against Portland and, ultimately, the two-seed and a bye — still echoes across the Midwest to this day.

Even in the moment, the Atom Splitters knew how pivotal that result would become.

 

Biggest Strength: Peaking at the Right Time

Sure, Motown has Anthony Simonsen and EJ Tackett — but the last two champions on the PBA Tour reside in Akron.

Lavoie won the PBA/PBA50/PWBA Trios title in Jonesboro, Ark., then Svensson captured the Storm Lucky Larsen Masters in his home country of Sweden.

If we learned anything from last year’s postseason, the hot hand is the Konami code of the PBA Elite League.

Biggest Weakness: Filling Frames

I'm picking nits here because the Atom Splitters have few glaring flaws, but Akron ranked seventh in filled frame percentage as a team (87.66%). Akron only opened 10 more times than the league-leading KingPins on basically the same number of attempts.

But the sample size of a best-of-three-games match will pale in comparison to 310 frames. One or two opens could spell the end of Akron's season.

(My runner-up choice was their team name. Imagine a three-time champion NBA franchise called the "airballs." No wonder they have so many open frames.)

Non-Bowling Team Comparison: 2020-21 Tampa Bay Lightning

The Lightning, reigning Stanley Cup champions, advanced to the playoffs after a solid-if-unspectacular regular season, finishing tied-eighth across the NHL in points. 

But in the playoffs, Andrei Vasilevskiy turned into a menace. The goalie stifled every opponent — or, in Lavoie's native tongue, "stood on his head" — as he led the Lightning to a second straight championship while earning Conn Smythe honors.

The only question is which Atom Splitter — Svensson, Via, maybe even 2015 Mark Roth MVP Dick Allen — can channel their inner Vasilevskiy or 2023 Ryan Ciminelli.