PK’s NLL Power Rankings - Week 10

1.       San Diego Seals – 5-2 (Last Week: #2)

We have a new leader in the clubhouse. After 7 weeks at the top for the Rock, the Seals claim it for themselves going into week 10. A true title contender will find ways to win especially in those close match ups and San Diego did just that Saturday night in Philly. A 12-11 win after holding a 12-7 lead with 10:23 left to play. The team was able to withstand the 4 goal run the Wings put on in the fourth to move to 5-2 on the season. Tre Leclaire (3/4/7), Curtis Dickson (3/1/4), and Austin Staats (3/3/6) each completed hat tricks in the game while Wes Berg (2/4/6), chipped in 2 of his own. When their offense is clicking, the defense has a hard time picking which player to focus their attention on. In net Chris Origlieri just continues to pump out stellar performances. Another 42 save night for the 21 year old who still sits in 2nd in the league in GAA at 10 and SV% at 80%. The Mammoth roll into town in a rare Sunday night game this week. The Seals took them down 12-8 just 3 weeks ago in Colorado. They will look to do the same thing Sunday.

2.       Albany Firewolves – 6-1 (Last Week: #3)

An off week for the Firewolves see them move up one spot due to the Rock losing at home. There are 2 big questions this team will look to answer this week when they take on Vegas at home. First is the health of their goalie in Doug Jamieson. The bye week came at the perfect time if it was just a minor problem for the net minder. But if he is not able to go they will need to rely on the 22 year old Justin Geddie between the pipes. And the second question is how will they react after their first loss on the year. This is still a very young group who were finally met with some resistance in the season after the 14-7 loss to the Seals. Getting Las Vegas at home fresh off a break is the ideal matchup for the team looking to get back in the win column. They won on the road vs the Desert Dogs 12-10 in week one of the season.

3.       Toronto Rock – 5-1 (Last Week: #1)

Their first loss of the year comes at home to the Bandits 16-14. Now you might think, sliding 2 after just 1 loss seems a bit extreme. Which it might have been a bit too far of a fall. But besides the 3rd quarter of play which they seemed like themselves scoring 6 of the 7 goals scored to take the 10-9 lead, they were getting beat by the Bandits up and down the floor. The score might read a 2 goal loss but 4 of their 14 were scored in the last 1:45 of the game when their goalie was pulled. Chris Bousy led the way with 2 goals while Dan Craig, Dan Lintner and the returning Tom Schreiber kicked in 2 each. This is not a game to sound any alarms for the Rock. They are still ranked 3rd in the Power Rankings and hold the 2nd spot in the unified standings. But you do have to start wondering what they need to do when it comes to the Bandits who seem to have their number after winning 7 of the last 8 matchups. The teams will meet again in the middle of March which should be enough time to see that offense gel more with all the pieces back and playing together.

4.       Buffalo Bandits – 4-3 (Last Week: #5)

I’ll be the first to admit it. I was wrong. I picked the Rock to win this game which would have sent the Bandits to 3-4 on the year. And after the Rock stormed back to claim the lead in the 3rd, it felt like that was exactly what was happening. But 7 straight from the Bandits in 8:09 in the 4th saw them take a 16-10 lead which would turn into a 16-14 victory. The ball movement and elite passing by the offense was able to break down the tough defense of the Rock and the front runner for goalie of the year in Nick Rose. 6 players had multi goal games for the Bandits. The defense came out hungry in the first half not allowing the Rock to get any momentum going which is a major shift from what we had seen the previous 2 weeks for the group. And in net Matt Vinc was solid once again. You might see the 14 goals allowed and think he might have struggled but 4 of them came in the dying time of the game and the rest were either breakdowns on defense or incredible plays by the Rock offense. The team will play host to the Knighthawks Saturday night looking to sweep the season series and send Rochester to 3-4 on the year.

5.       Panther City Lacrosse Club – 3-3 (Last Week: #7)

Well that was one big time performance by Panther City. 8-1 after the 1st, 15-3 at half, and 18-3 early in the 3rd. Just an absolute domination by the team to finish the game with a 21-12 victory. And yes I stayed up until well after 12am to see if records would be broken. Thanks a lot PCLC for not playing Callum Crawford past 12 minutes left in the 3rd! But seriously this was a career day from the franchise as a whole. Crawford finished the night with 8 goals and 15 points. Will Malcolm added 4 goals to go with 14 points. Phil Caputo added 5 goals himself. While Jonathan Donville and Mathieu Gautier had 1/6/7 nights. I will be the first to admit it. I did not think the offense was capable of this kind of scoring output. It was an area of their game that was of concern top me in the offseason and into the season. In fact their Goal per game average jumped from 11 to 12.67 in one night. They head to Saskatchewan Saturday night to face a desperate Rush team looking to save their season.

6.       Halifax Thunderbirds – 3-3 (Last Week: #9)

One of the biggest movers this week are the Thunderbirds after their 13-8 win over the Knighthawks on Saturday night. Halifax scored just 6 seconds into the game and it was on after that. The closest this game would get would be 3-2. Halifax would outscore Rochester in 3 of the 4 quarters of play and would lead by 6 goals at one point. It almost felt like this was a game that Halifax just wanted and needed more. Ryan Benesch scored 5 goals on the night and moved into 5th place in NLL history in the process. Clarke Petterson had a 3 goal, 6 point night. While Jake Withers contributed 20 LBs and 5 CTO in the win. The defense was able to hold Ryan Lanchbury, Thomas McConvey, Kyle Waters and Dan Lomas scoreless which was a big key to their victory. Warren Hill made 42 saves in what might have been his best game of the year. It was a big win for the club after 3 straight losses and got the team back to .500 on the year. They will travel to Philly on Friday to face off against the Wings who beat them 16-15in OT at the end of December earlier this year

7.       Georgia Swarm – 4-4 (Last Week: #4)

I think it’s time to really start to look at whole the Swarm truly are this season. I mentioned on last show that they need to find ways to put the ball in the back of the net against teams not named Colorado. Well this was another game where that didn’t happen enough. A 14-11 loss to the red hot riptide. Lyle Thompson finished with 3 goals on a 6 point night. Zach Miller and Andrew Kew each netted 2 in the loss. And Seth Oakes had a 5 point night. But this team needs their star players to be star players. Shayne Jackson and Brendan Bomberry each had 2 assists but combined for just 9 shots on net. On top of that, we need to start looking at Brett Dobson a bit more. He seems to be bit by that sophomore slump. In their 4 wins he is averaging 9 goals against and an 83% save percentage. In their 4 losses he is averaging 11.75 goals against and just a 69% save percentage and has been pulled in 3 of them. The team will host Vancouver on Friday night looking to break their 3 game losing streak.

8.       Rochester Knighthawks – 3-3 (Last Week: #6)

Down 2 spots are the Knighthawks coming in at #8 on the week. After starting the season 3-0, Rochester has now lost 3 straight after their 13-8 loss to Halifax on Saturday night. The Thunderbirds scored 6 seconds into the game and never looked back. This was a game where I thought Riley Hutchcraft played one of his better full 60 minute starts of his career. Sadly for him the team in front of him just did not seems as motivated to do the same. Connor Fields netted 3 on 12 shots and Ryan Smith Scored 2 on his 7 shots. But Ryan Lanchbury, Austin Hasen, Kyle Waters and Thomas McConvey were all held off the board. On top of that they went just 1-5 on the PP while Halifax went 4-6. Nothing gets any easier for this team as they travel to Banditland on Saturday night to try and stop the losing streak and split the season series after a 15-13 loss at home 3 weeks ago.

9.       Colorado Mammoth – 3-4 (Last Week: #11)

A rematch for the earlier season game played between Colorado and Vancouver that saw the Mammoth shut out the Warriors in the 2nd half and win it in OT. Different score line but same result this go around. Vancouver led 3-1 after the first and then scored 6 of the next 7 in the 2nd to take a 9-3 lead into half. Each team put 5 in to get the end score line of 14-8 and a second straight win. Eli McLaughlin has been incredible this season as well as in this game with a 5 goal, 10 point night. 7 other players got involved in the goal scoring which was their highest output of the year and are averaging 13.5 goals between the last 2 games. In net was the old Dillon Ward we have been accustom to see from years past. In his last 2 games he has a save percentage of 81% and a Goals against average of 9.5. If they are going to get those types of numbers from their star goalie, this team should continue to rise up the ranks. They travel to San Diego on Sunday to try and split the season series after a 12-8 loss 3 weeks ago.

10.   New York Riptide – 3-4 (Last Week: #13)

1 win is nice. 2 is a streak and that is what the Riptide are now on after their 14-11 win on Saturday night over Georgia. Wins in 3 of their last 4 games see the riptide move into the top 10 for the 1st time this year in these Power Rankings. It was a back and forth affair in the first half that saw both teams go on 4 goal runs until a 9-8 NY lead at half. The 3rd quarter belonged to the Riptide though scoring 4 of the 5 goals to build a 13-9 lead that they hold onto in the win. Connor Kearnan lead the way with 3 goals to go with 7 points. Jeff Teat continued his hot streak with a 4 goal, 6 point night. Larson Sundown finished with a 3 goal, 6 point night. And while Riley O’Connor was held scoreless, he chipped in 7 assists. In net Cam Dunkerley was a steady presence making 35 saves. While the new rookie’s name everyone is talking about in Callum Jones walked away with 4 LBs, 3 blocked shots and 3 CTO on the night. The gauntlet of games continues Friday as they travel to Calgary to face off against the 2-3 Roughnecks with both teams fighting to get back to .500.

11.   Calgary Roughnecks – 2-3 (Last Week: #8)

Off week and slipped 3 spots. Another case of teams behind them balling out. This is a team that has playoff aspirations and those are a real possibility when the offense is going. It just has not been consistent enough on the year. In 2 of their 3 losses they put up an average of 9.5 goals. That will not win you many games in this league. Only 1 player averaging more than 2 goals a game. That needs to improve. You can have a winning formula with a group of producing players if you don’t have that one key goal scorer. But if you go that route you need the collection to produce and that hasn’t exactly happened yet. We have seen it this season. Just need to see it more consistently. They get the chance to prove it Friday when NY comes to town.

12.   Philadelphia Wings – 2-4 (Last Week: #10)

They made it close in the 4th scoring the final 4 goas to cut the lead 12-11 but just couldn’t net that tying goal. The 1st quarter was a big reason for that falling behind 5-1 after 1. Joe Resetarits and Holden Cattoni produced 6 point nights while Ben McIntosh led the way with 8. San Diego did a good job of clamping down on Mitch Jones and holding him off the score board and to just 4 assists on the night. Zach Higgins is going to be a bruised and broken man by the end of the season. Another 48 saves on 60 shots. While the Goals against average is not ideal at 13.17. His save percentage is up at 78% which is tied for 6th in the league. He is 4th in the league in saves and behind the leader by just 17. Sounds great. Problem is the 3 players in front of him all have more games played which means he is facing way more shots than any other goalie. The defense in Philly needs to get it figured out because this is not a recipe for success. They get their chance Friday night when they host the 3-3 Thunderbirds.

13.   Vancouver Warriors – 2-4 (Last Week: #12)

Down 3-1 after the first quarter and 9-3 at half before dropping another one 14-8 are your Warriors. After a great come from behind win last weekend vs the Rush, Vancouver is slow out of the gate and it cost them and sees them drop to 2-4 on the year. Keegan Bal went 3/4/7 on the night while Adam Charalambides had a 5 point night. No one else was above 2 points in the loss. Aaron Bold made just 13 saves before giving way to Aden Walsh who made just 12 saves on the night. It’s another game to forget for the Warriors who had people excited for the new season. I believe they have some nice building pieces on the team but they are just too hot and cold to be serious playoff contender atm. One game above 11 goals will not cut it in the NLL. They travel to Georgia Friday night to try and keep their season alive.

14.   Las Vegas Desert Dogs – 2-4 (Last Week: #14)

If I’m Vegas, I’m taking that game film and tossing it straight in the trash. 8-1 after the 1st. 15-3 at half. 18-3 early in the 3rd. it’s just a game where they ran into hot Panther City shooters and had no answers. That will happen when you are a younger team still building their core up. Rob Hellyer went 1/8/9. Dylan Watson put 4 in. Zack Greer continues to produce with a 3 goal, 5 point night. Another issue that had been raised throughout the year has been the penalties. This team has got to stay out of the box. Panther City went 6-11 on the PP. in the end that wasn’t a big reason they lost but it has been a consistent problem they need to get a handle of. They get their 2nd try at Albany on Saturday night to try and split the season series.

15.   Saskatchewan Rush – 1-4 (Last Week: #15)

Bye week and no movement for the final team in our Rankings. 1-4 through 5 games and just a win over the Desert Dogs on your resume. They need to stack wins and in a hurry if they want to dig themselves out of this hole. A change of voice behind the bench as Derek Keenan steps out of the box and down behind the bench once again to see if his can make a difference. Frank Scigliano has looked solid. The offense has the pieces. They just need to put it all together in one 60 minute game. They get that chance vs 3-3 Panther City Saturday night.