PK’s NLL Power Rankings - Week 17
1. San Diego Seals – 10-4 (Last Week: #2)
If you like a defensive goalie battle this was the matchup for you last weekend. The Seals climb up 1 spot and are now the top Seal in town with their 7-6 win of Calgary Friday night. San Diego with the return of Brodie Merrill and the addition of Chris Wardle put up 61 shots on last year’s Goalie of the Year and MVP Christian Del Bianco but walked away with just 7 goals which was enough thanks to the stealer work of the defense and Chris Origlieri making 35/41 saves. His name should be mentioned more often in that GOTY conversation. Wes Berg, Tre Leclaire and Austin Staats led the way with 2 each while Curtis Dickson handed out 3 helpers on his way to 1,000 points for his career. The team will play Saturday night at home looking for revenge against the Desert Dogs after an earlier season 10-8 defeat in Vegas.
2. Toronto Rock – 11-3 (Last Week: #1)
Sometimes teams just have your number. That’s seems to be the case for the Rock when it comes to the Bandits. Including playoffs, the Rock are 3-9 vs Buffalo the last 3 years as well as 1-6 in the last 2 years. Their most recent loss was Saturday night by a score of 14-12 ending their 5 game winning streak. Still atop of the standings the Rock slide down 1 to the #2 spot this week. Similar to their first matchup, the Rock led heading it the 4th 10-8. Bandits would tie it 10-10 but Toronto would get that 2 goal lead back 1:19 later. But Buffalo would have the final word netting the final 4 of the game. Chris Boushy and Corey Small led the way with 4 each while Tom Schreiber (1/5/6), Dan Craig (0/4/4) and Mark Matthews (2/4/6) combined for 13 assists on the night. the mighty Nick Rose made some big time saves in a 25 minute span not giving up a goal to finish the night 41/54 in net. 4 games left ton the schedule and it is one of the tougher finishes to a season. They get Halifax Saturday night before ending the season with Albany, Rochester and Saskatchewan.
3. Halifax Thunderbirds – 8-6 (Last Week: #5)
This team continues to be right on that edge of being a top tier team. I’ll explain in a second. But Halifax used a 10-2 half time lead to get their 8th win of the year with a 13-9 win over Panther City. PC scored 5 in the 3rd to cut the lead to 3 but Halifax would score 3 in 60 seconds in the 4th to walk out with the win. The offense continues to be lethal with the likes of Clarke Petterson and Austin Shanks scoring 3 each while 6 others netted at least 1. Ryan Terefenko continues to be one of the best transition players in the league with 3 points in the win to go along with 7 LB and 1 CTO. Warren Hill went on to make 34/43 saves. Now for how I started the conversation. They are 7-2 vs teams at .500 or worse. But 1-4 vs teams over .500 on the year. The good thing is their next opponent on Saturday in the Toronto Rock is their final game currently vs a team over .500 on the year.
4. Buffalo Bandits – 7-6 (Last Week: #7)
Up 3 spots to #4 this week are your defending champs after their 14-12 win over the Rock. In their first full 60 minute game in a long time, the Bandits held a team under 13 goals for the first time in 8 games. A lot of things occurred in this game that had not in a while but one of them was not defeating the Rock. Buffalo is now 6-1 in the last 2 years including playoffs vs Toronto. 5 players had 2 or more goals while 8 players had multi point nights. No shock to anyone Dhane Smith (3/4/7) and Josh Byrne (2/5/7) led the way with 7 points apiece while Tehoka Nanticoke (2/0/2), Ian MacKay (2/1/3), and Chase Fraser (2/1/3) helped out in the goal scoring party. In net Matt Vinc was invincible again when he needed to be making 46/58 saves as well as allowing just 3 2nd half goals in the comeback for Buffalo. If they can get healthy or even not lose anyone else on the back end this team can make a run at the end of the season with all their remaining opponents currently under .500 on the year. But the back end has had a rotating group back there all year due to health. They get Panther City Friday night for the first time in Franchise history.
5. Albany Firewolves – 10-4 (Last Week: #3)
After rattling off 4 straight wins to reach double digit victories, Albany has now dropped back to back matchup’s vs the Knighthawks. This week 11-10 at home. Rochester jumped out to an 8-2 lead midway through the 2nd. Albany would go on a nice run to cut the lead to just 1 late in the 3rd. 2 goals by Rochester between the 3rd and 4th saw the lead grow back to 3. Albany would net 2 and cut the lead back down to 1 with 2:44 to go, but they were unable to find that tying goal. Alex Simmons and Ethan Walker had mirror image games going 2/5/7 while Tye Kurtz scored 2 of his own. Newest addition John Wagner collected 8 LB, blocked 2 shots and caused 3 TO. Pretty good debut if you ask me. And in net Dougie Jamieson held his ground making 50/61 saves in the loss. Albany gets to travel to Calgary Friday night before heading off on their final bye of the year.
6. Georgia Swarm – 8-7 (Last Week: #4)
Down 2 spots this week are the Swarm after their 13-8 loss vs Philly at home. 6 straight matchups with games decided by 2 or few goals ended Saturday night. And this one was not very close from the jump. Philly took a 3-0 lead midway through the 1st. Although Georgia would cut the lead down to 1, it would be the closest the game would get. Shayne Jackson scored half of the team’s goals going 4/2/6 with Brendan Bomberry adding 2 for himself. But Lyle Thompson and Andrew Kew were held scoreless on 13 combined shots. It was a forgettable night for Brett Dobson making just 8/15 saves as Angus Goodleaf finished the night 20/26. It continues to be an up and down year for this team. This is the 6th game they failed to reach double digit goals and are now 12th in the league in scoring. They have also played the most amount of games in the league. They will host the Rush on Sunday before going into a bye. With just 3 games remaining and a crowded group behind them in the standings, every game is crucial now.
7. Rochester Knighthawks – 6-6 (Last Week: #10)
This team likes patterns I guess. Started the season with 3 straight wins. Then they dropped 6 straight. Now after their 11-10 win over Albany, we see Rochester back on a 3 game winning streak and 6-6 on the year. While Connor Fields shot just 15% on the night, he still finished with 3/1/4 to go with 14 LBs in the victory. Ryan Lanchbury who has been an incredible addition to this team since he was traded there just prior to the start of the season when 3/2/5. Turner Evans in his return handed out 4 assists. And Ryan Smith while going a rough 1/12 shooting, still finished with a 4 point night. BTW if Matt Gilray isn’t in the top 3 for transition player of the year after another 1/1/2 with 10 LBs, I will riot. Riley Hutchcraft was very solid in net making 40/50 saves vs the very good Albany offense. Rochester travels to Colorado Saturday night before finishing the season vs Halifax, NY, TOR and GEO. Very tough stretch coming up for the now current #7 seed.
8. Saskatchewan Rush – 5-6 (Last Week: #11)
The final game of week 16 saw a combined 32 goals with the Rush edging NY 17-15. SAS took a 10-7 lead into half before scoring 4 of the 5 goals in the 3rd which turned out to be critical as NY would net 7 of the 10 in the 4th. Everyone got in on the scoring party. Zach Manns (3/2/5), Ryan Keenan 92/5/7), Robert Church (2/3/5), Mike Triolo (3/0/3) and Jake Boudreau (3/2/5) all had multi goal games. 14 of the 17 runners recorded at least a point in the win. While we didn’t see good Frankie Scigliano in net this week making 40/55 saves, we good pretty good Frankie and that was enough for the Rush. In the last 3 games, they have been averaging 15.33 goals a game. The issue is they have been giving up 12.33 goals. The Rush have played just 11 games with 6 weeks remaining and have finally reached the part of the season I have been constantly referencing. They get NY and GEO on the road this weekend before traveling to Philly on Thursday for their makeup game. The first weekend in April is a double header vs Calgary. 5 games in 15 days. This next stretch could make or break their season.
9. Panther City Lacrosse Club – 6-7 (Last Week: #6)
This team continues to have the same problem a team coming up is having. Inconsistent offensive scoring. The most recent example was Friday in Halifax with their 13-9 loss. Jonathan Donville led the way with a 3 goal, 5 point night. Jason Knox and Phil Caputo each gathered 2 goals. And while Will Malcolm handed out 4 assists, he was 0/12 in the shooting department. In net Nick Damude was pulled making just 28/38 saves giving way to Cam MacLeod to finish the night going 20/23. But to look back at the offense. While they have some spike games scoring 14 two times, 15 and 21. Their other 9 scoring performances average 9.67 goals per game. Unless this team can figure it out on the front end, they are in trouble. They get Buffalo Friday for their first time in franchise history, but they still have San Diego and Albany remaining.
10. Philadelphia Wings – 5-7 (Last Week: #12)
The trend continues for this team. They have alternated wins and losses the last 5 matchups but have won 3 of those 5 to get themselves in the playoff race after their 13-8 win in Georgia Saturday night. Mitch Jones led the way seemingly finding his goal touch once again going 4/5/9 on the night. Joe Resetarits and Holden Cattoni dished out 6 assists each while Blaze Riorden and Ben McIntosh both went 2/3/5 in the win. Zach Higgins continues to stack up saves going 44/52 and is on pace to make 781.5 saves on the year which would smash the previous record of 752 held by Anthony Cosmo since 2014 and eclipse his 729 from last year. These next few matchups are very condensed for Philly. This host Vancouver Saturday night, with the Rush coming to town Thursday for a makeup game and then Bandits in town the 2 days later,
11. Calgary Roughnecks – 5-8 Last Week: #8)
The fall continues for the Roughnecks and this time it might be too big of one to recover. Calgary drops their Friday game 7-6 vs San Diego and officially lose the season series all while allowing just 19 goals. The problem continues to be the offense. This is the 6th times the team has scored 10 or less goals on the year and they have lost all 6 of those games. Tanner Cook and Jesse King led the way with 2 goals apiece while Tyler Pace added 1 with 2 helpers in the losing effort. Christian Del Bianco did all he could stopping 54/61 shots he faced but as has been the case this year. It has not been enough. The team is averaging the 4th best goals against average at 10.77 but are 9th in the league in scoring at 11.46. after getting back to .500, this team has dropped 3 straight and now hosts the young Firewolves Friday night in a must win game.
12. New York Riptide – 6-8 (Last Week: #9)
Usually when you score 15 goals you win the games. Not this past weekend where the Riptide drop their 4th game in their last 5 17-15 vs the Rush. Jeff Teat took back control of the scoring lead for the league with his 4/4/8 night. Larson Sundown continued his hot stretch netting 4 more. Kiel Matisz (3/2/5) and Reilly O’Connor (2/4/6) also had multi goal nights. It was a night to forget for young Cam Dunkerley making 26/42 saves playing the full 60. NY made a go for it move adding Taggart Clark for the possible 1st overall pick at the deadline. They have 4 more games on their schedule with their next a rematch against the Rush at home Saturday night before a bye week. It’s a must win for the club if they want to snag one of the bottom playoff seeds.
13. Vancouver Warriors – 4-9 (Last Week: #14)
Vancouver erased a 7-2 deficit early in the 2nd to take the game 13-12 vs Vegas with an Adam Charalambides game winner with 27 seconds left on the clock. Charalambides added 3 more plus 4 assists for an 8 point night. Ryan Martell scored 4 himself while Keegan bell scored 3 in his 9 point night. Those 3 carried and offense that has now scored 13 goals in 2 of their last 3 games both of which have been victories. On the back end Ryan Dilks and Owen Grant combined to cause 6 TOs as they stood in front of Adam Walsh to block 2 combined shots. Walsh continues to show he’s worth leaning on in net making 37/49 saves. The team is now 2-2 with him starting in between the pipes. The team decided against shipping out any vets last week at the deadline and will look to continue to build off recent success as they travel to Philly Saturday.
14. Colorado Mammoth – 4-9 (Last Week: #15)
Always a nice week when you can move up a spot without doing much. In fact they slide up one all while sending Paul Dawson and Chris Wardle out the door for future pieces. The biggest issue for the Mammoth is they don’t own their own 1st round pick which was sent to NY, now Philly for Tyson Gibson back in 2022. After exploding for 18 goals vs NY you though this team might be able to go on another one of their runs but they have dropped their last 2 games combining for 14 goals scored and 27 goals allowed. They appear in full rebuild mode and will look to play spoiler with their next game at home vs the Knighthawks before a bye week.
15. Las Vegas Desert Dogs – 4-9 (Last Week: #13)
Down to last in the rankings this week after their 13-12 defeat in the dying seconds for last Friday game vs Vancouver. While they did fall once again, they tied their highest goal scoring output and have been in the double digits in scoring for 4 straight weeks. This might not seem like a big deal but it has got them out of the basement in that department for the league. Casey Jackson has a lot to do about that netting 8 goals on just 14 shots. 57% shooting is just insane. Jack Hannah and Zack Greer both had 1/4/5 nights while Rob Hellyer handed out 5 helpers in the losing effort. Landon Kells played well making 39/52 saves. Vegas also did a decent job of staying out of the box with just 14 PIMs in the game. They get their chance to sweep the season series vs the Seals Saturday night with another chance to tie last year’s win total.