PK’s NLL Power Rankings - Week 7

1.       Toronto Rock – 3-0 (Last Week #1)

And for the 5th straight week, the Rock hold onto the number 1 spot in the rankings and this was not easy. The teams behind them are right on their tail. But I have to leave the Rock where they are until they give me a reason to lower them in the rankings. They are 4th in the league in scoring at 12.67, they are nearly 2 goals against lower than the next closest to them at 8.33 a game, and they are doing all this without Tom Schreiber, Chris Corbel and Latrell Harris. Now Harris will not be back this year, but when the other 2 are added to this already dangerous team, the rest of the league better watch out if they come into town and Halifax is the next on their list Friday Night.

2.       Albany Firewolves – 5-0 (Last Week #4)

Back to back statement wins by the young Firewolves club has them go from the 13th ranked team in my first Power Rankings of the year, all the way up to the #2 spot this week. I said in the last rankings that the next 3 opponents in Halifax, Georgia and San Diego would be a true test of what this club is made of. They are 1-0 so far. The offense stayed strong against a veteran savvy Halifax defensive unit. A 4 goal run in the 2nd to pull ahead 7-5 at half and a 4 goal run to end the game gave them a 2 goal win. Rookie of the Year front runner Alex Simmons continues to perform with a 2 goal, 5 point night. Travis Longboat copied those numbers and Ethan Walker chipped in 4 points of his own. While the offense is impressing me, it’s the defense that has me truly becoming a believer. They held a team that went into that night averaging 15.33 goals a game, to just 10. The Fearsome Fivesome of Benesch, Petterson, Shanks, Staats and Jamieson were held to 7 goals on 32 shots. Dougie Jamieson is putting his name up there with the greats between the pipes with a 45 save performances that showed Saturday night. Another big showdown Saturday night as they head to Georgia.

3.       Georgia Swarm – 4-1 (Last Week #3)

You always have to wonder how a team will respond after a big, emotionally draining win in their previous game. A lot of times you might see a letdown but that did not happen for the Swarm as they moved to 4-1 with a 12-10 win over Panther City. The team was up 9-4 at half thanks to 4 goals by Shayne Jackson who finished the game with 6 goals and 4 helpers for a 10 point night. The Swarm weathered a 5 goal run from PC that saw them tie it up 9-9 early into the 4th but Georgia would score 3 of the final 4 goals with 2 coming in the final 3:19 to seal the victory. Lyle Thompson and Andrew Kew continued their scoring touch combining for 5 goals and Bryan Cole chipped in the other one on the night. Brett Dobson followed his stellar performance in Buffalo with a 48 save night on Saturday making him one of the early favorites for Goalie of the Year.  My only concern moving forward with this team is the depth scoring. This is now 2 weeks in a row where it has not existed. Of the last 21 goals scored, Kew, Jackson and L. Thompson have been responsible for 20 of them. It’s just something to track as they face off against the 5-0 Firewolves Saturday night.

4.       San Diego Seals – 2-1 (Last Week #2)

Bye week sees the Seals fall 2 spots in the rankings due to hot teams’ performances behind them. The last time we saw this team in action they had a convincing 17-14 win over the then undefeated Knighthawks. It was a coming out party for an offense you knew was just waiting to be unleashed. 3 games in, they have 5 players in double digits points. There are a handful of teams that don’t have that kind of scoring depth with more games played. They have a very busy weekend coming up with a double header. They travel to Vegas on Friday night for a 10pm game and then they faceoff 23 hours later in Colorado vs the Mammoth.

5.       Buffalo Bandits – 2-2 (Last Week #5)

I wouldn’t call last weekend’s matchup a must win for the Bandits, but 2-2 looks a heck of a lot better than 1-3 this early into the season. In their first matchup since game 3 of last year’s finals, the score line after the 1st half was the same storyline. 7-1 Buffalo going into the 3rd which saw each team receive a 5 minute PP. We also saw 4 shorthanded goals scored (3 by Colorado and 1 by Buffalo) and just 1 power play goal in the 10 minutes of play. But when the final whistle sounded, it was once again Buffalo getting the best of the Mammoth 12-8. Byrne continued his hot start to the season with a 3 goal and 7 point night, but it was Dhane Smith who got the scoring monkey off his back by netting 2 including a filthy bounce shot over Ward’s left shoulder. Matt Vinc followed up his lights out performance vs Georgia with a 49 save outing Saturday night. The team travels to Rochester after a 3 game home stand where they will take on the cross state rival Knighthawks on Saturday night.

6.       Rochester Knighthawks – 3-1 (Last Week #7)

A rare bump up for a team that was off the week prior but that’s due to Halifax’s loss more than anything Rochester did. Coming into week 7 sitting at 3-1 but leading the league in scoring at 14.25 goals a game. Connor Fields is tied for 5th in scoring with 27 points but if you go by a per game basis, then he is tied with Dhane Smith and Josh Byrne for 1st with a 6.75 average. Now for the negative. While they lead the league in goals for, they also lead the league in goals allowed per game at 13.75. Now you can blame that on the goalie department if you would like. In the 2 games where Hutchcraft relieved Hartley, he was great allowing 5 vs Calgary and 3 vs Vancouver. But it’s when he has had to play the whole game that numbers get inflated allowing 14 vs the Rush and 17 vs the Seals. Buffalo heads to town Saturday. It’s a chance to get a game in hand vs the cross state rivals before heading to Buffalo in 3 weeks.

7.       Halifax Thunderbirds – 2-2 (Last Week #6)

Down 1 slide the Thunderbirds after their 12-10 loss to Albany. They were just the latest victim in the path of the Firewolves. A 4 goal run by Albany saw them take a 7-5 lead into half but it was Halifax that stormed back scoring 5 of the next 6 to start the 2nd half of action. They held that lead for just under 5 minutes when Alex Simmons would tie it. Albany would finish the game on a 4-0 run to take it home. The offense that was scoring 15.33 goals a game was halted to just 10 as the 5 main go-to scorers in Benesch, Petterson, Shanks, Staats and Jamieson combined for just 7. Graeme Hossack, Jake Withers, and Ryan Terefenko led the way on defense collecting 29 LBs and causing 9 TOs. It’s no time to panic in the nest as the team falls to 2-2. They get the Rock coming to town Friday night with a chance to pull off the upset and bring their record back over .500 before entering another bye week.

8.       Calgary Roughnecks – 1-2 (Last Week #8)

Fresh off their bye and looking forward to their Saturday night faceoff with their former coach Curt Malawsky and the Warriors. This has not been the start that Calgary had hoped for under new coach Josh Sanderson after he came over from San Diego in the offseason. After 2 back to back losses to start the season, their team played a full 60 minutes and took care of the Vegas Desert Dogs 17-11. This team will still go as far as their 5 on 5 offense takes them. In the first 2 games it was shaky but led by Jesse King and his 18 assist start to the season, if you find a lane, he will find you. They have some digging out of the early hole they have put themselves in, but with CDB in net, stacking wins won’t be very difficult.

9.       Panther City Lacrosse Club – 1-3 (Last Week #10)

Facing off against the red hot Georgia Swarm who came in after their upset of the Bandits the week prior was not exactly the game you wanted to try and get back to .500 on the season. But they fought back in the 2nd half, eliminating a 9-4 deficit to tie it 9-9 early in the 4th. A couple goals from Shayne Jackson and another from Lyle Thompson were enough to send the team packing back to Texas. The issue with this team continues to be what I have said from before the season began. Scoring is and will continue to be an issue. Beyond Callum Crawford who had 3 goals and an 8 point night, only 1 other player in Phil Caputo had a multi goal night. Will Malcom was held scoreless on 12 shots. Jonathan Donville scored 1 on 9 shots. When those 2 guys are not providing the offense behind Crawford, this team will need to rely on winning low scoring games. And if Nick Damude, who was pulled after allowing 6 on 18 shots, isn’t up for the task, this could be a long season for the team. But the benefit is they get NY on Saturday night to try and right the ship after their 3rd straight loss.

10.   Philadelphia Wings – 2-3 (Last Week #9)

Whelp. We knew someone would be the first to fall to the Riptide and we have our team. Philly slides down 1 in the rankings after their 16-9 beat down by NY. The team went down early, falling behind 3-0 but they would score 4 of the next 5 to tie the game 4-4 early in the 2nd. A 4 goal run by the Riptide gave them the 8-5 lead before half and that would be the closest the Wings would get. This game was similar to their first matchup when Philly was the one in control. But in this one, anytime the Wings would try and get any sort of momentum, NY would snatch it right back. Philly would score 3 in the 3rd and NY would score less than a minute later each time. The upside for the Wings is the early return of both Holden Cattoni and Blaze Riorden back into the lineup. The down side is they lost 2 more defenders in the week prior. Short week as they will host the Rush with a chance to get back to .500 1/3 of the way through the season.

11.   Saskatchewan Rush 1-3 (Last Week #13)

Coming off their bye week and their New Year’s Eve OT loss to Albany, this team is ready to start rising up these rankings. While the record does not reflect what we have seen on the field, the advance numbers say this team is locked and loaded to make a run. Philly, Vancouver, Panther City and Vancouver once again are the next 4 opponents. This team could be looking at a 5-3 or 4-4 record heading into their next bye week before hosting the Thunderbirds. Frank Scigliano has shown out in the last 2 starts for the team and we know the offense is there. If I were a betting man, I’d try and find a site that has great odds on this team because this might be one of the last weeks before they adjust them.

12.   Vancouver Warriors – 1-3 (Last Week #12)

The last time we saw this team play, they were getting shut out in the 2nd half and OT vs the Mammoth who they end up falling to. After their 15-7 stomping of the Swarm, this team has dropped back to back games scoring just 11 in both. We knew it would take some time for the new group to blend together, but I don’t think they thought the offense would be the main concern of this team. Through 4 games only Adam Charalambides and Kevin Crowley are averaging more than 2 goals a game for this team. Ryan Martel is the next closest at 1.5 a game. It would be one thing if the other players behind your top 2 goal scorers were chipping in but that just has not been the case yet. They will host Calgary in the final game of this busy week 7 in the NLL as their coach faces his old team for the first time since leaving in the offseason.

13.   Colorado Mammoth 1-3 (Last Week #11)

After their epic come from behind win vs Vancouver, the Mammoth were not only looking to stack wins to get back to .500, but get a little revenge while in Banditland. In their first matchup since Game 3 of the finals last year, the first half felt very similar. Down 7-1 at half, the 3rd quarter was about as strange of one as you are going to find. Not only were there 2 5 minute majors on each team, but 4 shorthanded goals were scored on them. 3 were cashed in by Colorado and McLaughlin found the back of the net on the PP to get the lead down to 10-6 entering the 4th. But the hole this week that they dug was just far too deep to climb back out of. Chris Wardle, Zed Williams, Tyson Gibson and Connor Robinson combined for 1 goal on 26 shots. That ended up being the difference in this game. When those guys are not able to contribute on the offensive side of the ball, this team is going to struggle to score enough goals to be competitive. To end on a positive, Dillon Ward had his best outing of the season. It wasn’t typical Ward, but it’s a step in the right direction if you are the Mammoth. They host the Seals who are coming off a game the day before in Las Vegas and also looking for a bit of revenge themselves after Colorado knocked them out of the playoffs last season.

14.   New York Riptide – 1-3 (Last Week #15)

Now this is the team we thought we were going to be getting after all the offseason moves they made. The Riptide pumped in 16 and allowed just 9 in a very convincing victory over the Wings. They used a 4 goal run in the 2nd to gain control of the game and an 8-5 lead at half. Anytime the Wings would attempt to steal the momentum in the 3rd by scoring one of their own, NY would score one less than a minute later. Jeff Teat with his 5 goal, 9 point night was in full control and the shorthanded Philly defense had no answers. Connor Kearnan had his best game of the year netting 3 and adding 4 helpers. 7 other players scored at least 1 goal to get the Riptide in the win column. But we need to give some credit to the man between the pipes. It has not been the easiest start to the year for young Cam Dunkerley, but he held strong making 31 saves on a Wings offense that got back Blaze Riorden and Holden Cattoni. They have a chance to stack wins this weekend when Panther City and their struggling offense comes to town.

15.   Las Vegas Desert Dogs – 1-3 (Last Week #14)

Bye week sees the Desert Dogs slide back to the final spot in our week 7 Power Rankings. After starting the season with a close loss to the now 5-0 Albany and an OT thriller to beat Panther City, the team has dropped back to back vs the Rush and Roughnecks averaging 8 goals in those 2 games and allowing 17 in both. Simply cannot win with those types of numbers. The bright spot is Casey Jackson looks like his goal touch is alive and well with 11 on the year. The down side is they need to find a way to get Jack Hannah going in this offense. Just 3 goals to his name 4 games in. They host the Seals on Friday night as they look to pull an upset in Sin City.