PK’s NLL Power Rankings - Week 11

1.       San Diego Seals – 6-2 (Last Week: #1)

Back to back weeks as the top Dog or should I say Seal in our BSC Power Rankings. San Diego won at home vs Colorado 16-7 to sweep the season series. After starting the season 2-2, this team has rattled off 4 straight and sit in second place in the NLL Standings. Colorado actually held a 3-0 lead in the 1st and a 5-4 lead 11:53 into the 2nd. But then an 11 goal run that stretched from the 10:33 mark in the 2nd through the 4:39 mark in the 4th. That’s nearly 36 minutes of action without allowing a goal. Austin Staats led the way with his first career sock trick to go with his 3 assists. Curtis Dickson scored 3 himself in a 10 point night. Dane Dobbie netted 4 in his 7 point showing. And Wes Berg had what was a quiet 7 point night. The defense was able to hold Eli McLaughlin and Connor Robinson scoreless while allowing just 4 players to score a total of 7. In net the magical season of one Chris Origlieri continues with a 29 save performance. They head to New York on Saturday to face the Riptide who are winners of 3 straight. One winning streak will come to an end.

2.       Toronto Rock – 6-1 (Last Week: #3)

After suffering their first loss of the year in Buffalo last week allowing 16, the Rock got back on their winning ways with a 9-7 win in Calgary Saturday night. After a 3-3 game after the 1st you wondered if this would be another high scoring affair. That thought went away quickly with just 10 more total goals being scored/ Tom Schreiber was able to maintain that late game momentum for the Buffalo game and be in on 7 of the 9 Rock goals on Saturday. Corey Small and Dan Craig both provided a 2 goal, 4 point night. And Mark Matthews was the post man once again dishing out 5 assists. In Net Nick Rose bounced back making 38 saves on 45 attempts to continue his Goalie of the Year type season and notched his 100th win in the process. The Rock will be looking to repeat this performance Saturday night but this time at home vs Calgary with a chance to sweep the series and push the Roughnecks even further back in the standings.

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

As has been the case with Buffalo teams lately, the Bandits kept us all on our toes with the finish to that win over Rochester 15-14. Buffalo jumped out to a 4-1 lead after the first and held a 14-9 lead with 10:15 to go in the game. But Rochester would score 4 straight to get the game within 1 until Chris Cloutier (3/3/6) scored with 3:36 which would end up being the game winner. Josh Byrne led the way with a 3 goal, 7 point night. Dhane Smith and Chase Fraser copied one another scoring 2 and providing 6 points each. And Kyle Buchanan had his first hat trick of the year on a 4 point night. 15 of the 18 players who saw minutes on the field, including Matt Vinc recorded a point in this game which saw the Bandits bring their per game goal scoring average in their last 4 to 14.75 and 13 GPG on the season. Matt Vinc had another 50 save performance to move him into 1st in most saves in the league this season. After stacking back to back wins, the Bandits will head into their first bye week since the Christmas break before traveling the Halifax next weekend.

4.       Halifax Thunderbirds – 4-3 (Last Week: #6)

The first game off the weekend did not disappoint as the Thunderbirds got some OT revenge vs the Wings in a 15-14 win. Halifax led 11-5 early in the 3rd until Philly would score 9 of the next 11 goals to take the 1 goal lead with 4:29 left in the game. That’s when the savvy vet in Ryan Benesch added his 2nd of the game to send it to OT with 1:22 to go in the 4th. Cody Jamieson (3/2/5) after a clutch Jake Withers FO win would end it just 21 seconds into overtime. Aaron Woods in his NLL debut netted 2 to complete his 6 point night. Warren Hill made 32 saves in this one which was good enough for the win. But it was the play of Dawson Theede that has my eyes wide open. The guy is a legit weapon on the floor. 3 goals and 7 points on the night but he is a massive player out there that has moves a player of that size should not be able to pull off. If he is able to continue to be piece on the offensive side of the ball with players like Clarke Petterson, Austin Shanks, Randy Staats, Benesch and Jamieson, this team can win it all. They the Desert Dogs at home Friday night to try and extend their winning streak to 3.

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

After starting the season 6-0, the young Firewolves have dropped 2 in a row and are averaging just 6.5 goals a game after averaging 13.17 in their winning streak. Alex Simmons was held off the scoreboard after taking 13 shots. Ethan Walker contributed 33% of Albany’s goals having a 2 goal, 3 point night. The team was without their leader in net as Doug Jamieson was put on IR prior to the game. But in his place was 22 year old Justin Geddie who made 45 saves. Geddie gave his team a chance to win it but going over 29 minutes without a goal is not going to get it done. The team heads into another bye week which will be their final one of the year before hosting the Mammoth.

6.       Georgia Swarm – 5-4 (Last Week: #7)

Georgia was able to end their 3 game losing streak with a 12-11 OT win vs Vancouver on Friday night. Andrew Kew finished the night with 4 goals including the game winner, to go with his 8 point night. Seth Oakes added 5 of his own as the 2 combined for 9 of the 12 goals. Brett Dobson made just 27 saves on the night. Vancouver made it interesting scoring 4 of the 5 in the 4th and 5 of the final 6 in regulation. The concern for Georgia remains what it has been for weeks now. Goal scoring. If you remove the 2 games vs Colorado, the offense is averaging just 9.72 goals a game. For a team with Lyle Thompson and Shayne Jackson that number should be in the 11-12 goal range on a nightly basis. The team will look to get those goals on Saturday night when they travel to Rochester who is allowing a league worst 14 goals a game.

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

After starting the season 0-3, the Riptide have won 3 straight and 4 of their last 5 games. And it is not just about the wins but who they are against. Buffalo, Georgia and Calgary in their last 3 including the 11-10 win Friday night. This was a back and forth game all night long. The largest lead was just 2 goals and it was tied 5 different times. NY went on a 3 goal run to end the 3rd for a 10-8 lead. Calgary would cut that lead to 1 with 11:05 to go in the game but that would be the final goal scored by either team. Jeff Teats heater continues with a 4 goal, 5 point night which moves him into 2nd in the league in scoring. Kiel Matisz and Connor Kearnan had mirror numbers going 1/5/6 on the night. And in net, the Riptide might have found their franchise goalie. Cam Dunkerley made 38 saves in the win and continues a very solid season. While his 75.3% save percentage and 12.18 goals against average do not stand out, he is averaging 11.4 goals against in this last 5 game stretch, which with this offense producing how it has, is good enough to win games. NY is currently the 7th seed in the standings and will look to extend their winning streak to 4 Saturday when they host the San Diego Seals.

8.       Panther City Lacrosse Club – 3-4 (Last Week: #5)

After their rise in everyone’s rankings last week, Panther City slips to #8 this week after their 10-9 loss vs the Rush. The issue in this game has been the issue we have raised all year long. Consistency from the forwards. Will Malcolm and Callum Crawford combined for 5 goals but the rest of the group combined for just 2. Jonathan Donville alone was 0-9 in shots. And the more frustrating part is they got the goaltending from Nick Damude making 32/42 saves which should be enough for a win. I thought we had finally seen the team turn the corner scoring 35 total goals in the last 2 games but the inconsistency continues. They get a chance to get back to .500 on the year on Friday night when Colorado comes to town.

9.       Rochester Knighthawks – 3-4 (Last Week: #8)

The old saying in lacrosse is that it’s a game of runs. And that is the case for Rochester. They began the season 3-0 but have now fallen to 3-4 after dropping their 4th straight 15-14 to Buffalo. They made it interesting battling back down 14-9 with 10:15 to go in the game to get within 1 with 1:12 to go but fell short. Ryan Smith led the way with 5 goals to go with 6 assists on the night. Connor Fields was right behind him with 4 goals on a 9 point night. In net Riley Hutchcraft made 41/56 saves to give the team a chance but the hole they dug early in the game was too much to overcome. The defense held the Bandits scoreless for over 16 minutes between the 2nd and 3rd but it was not enough as they slide down to 8th in the standings. They are in the grouping of 2 other 3-4 teams in a very crowded middle of the league race. They will host Georgia on Saturday night looking to break the losing streak and get back to .500 on the season. 

10.   Las Vegas Desert Dogs – 3-4 (Last Week: #14)

I really cannot understand this team at all. Last week they get their doors blown off at home allowing 21 goals vs PC. This week they allow just 6 vs Albany. And now they have wins over San Diego and Albany, 2 over the best offenses in the league but keeping them both under 8 goals. With the 9-6 win they also split the season series vs Albany. Jack Hannah went 2-3-5 while Casey Jackson and Rob Hellyer added 2 each. The defense held Albany scoreless for over 29 minutes in this one including keeping Rookie of the Year candidate Alex Simmons scoreless. Landon Kells flashed his true potential as a franchise goalie in this one make 45/52 saves in the game. But it was the ability to stay out of the box that I thought was key to this game. Vegas has been able to hang in games when they play smart lacrosse. Its games when they spend too much time in the sin bin that they lose control. They get another test to see if they can hold another top level offense in check when they travel to Halifax on Friday night.

11.   Colorado Mammoth – 3-5 (Last Week: #9)

After stacking back to back wins, Colorado drops a chance to get back to .500 in a 16-7 defeat to San Diego who swept the season series. Colorado jumped out early going up 3-0 with 5:20 left to play in the 1st. San Diego would tie the game 5-5 with 10:33 to go in the 2nd. They would go on to score 10 more to complete their 11 goal run which was stopped with just 4:39 to go in the game. Connor Kelly and Zed Williams combined for 5 of the Mammoth’s 7 goals. Eli McLaughlin has his worst outing of the year providing only 3 assists on the night to go with just 6 shots on net. In Net Dillon Ward made 35/48 saves before giving way to Tyler Carlson who played the 4th. Colorado will look to get back into the winning ways when they travel to Panther City Friday night to reach their half way point in their disappointing season

12.   Saskatchewan Rush – 2-4 (Last Week: #15)

I am not saying this was a must win for the Rush, but had they lost and dropped to 1-5 on the year, it would have been a very deep hole to dig themselves out of. But they were able to pull off the 1 goal win 10-9 vs Panther City to get to 2-4 on the season. This was a true back and forth game. 5 ties, 5 lead changes and 6 goal runs of 2 or more. The Rush led 8-5 midway through the 3rd until PC would score 4 straight and take the 1 goal lead with 9:10 to go. Robert Church would score the tying goal just 55 seconds later. On the night Church scored 4 to go with 4 assists. Zach Manns collected 5 points. And Ryan Keenan chipped in 5 assists. But it has been the play of Frank Sciglaino that should have this team excited. 42/51 saves in this one but since the 16-14 loss to Rochester, they are allowing 9 goals a game. If this offense can start producing more than the 9.67 they have averaged in the last 3 games, I truly believe this is a playoff caliber team. They get their chance to stack wins in Vancouver Saturday night.

13.   Calgary Roughnecks – 2-5 (Last Week: #11)

This was not the weekend Calgary needed to climb in the standings and rankings. Back to back home games vs NY and Toronto and the Roughnecks drop them both. Friday the Riptide took it 11-10. Jesse King went 3/3/6 while Tyler pace finished the night with 4 points. In net Del Bianco made 46/57 saves in the loss. On Saturday night it was a similar story. No goals in the back half of the 4th in a 9-7 loss to Toronto. Haiden Dickson had 3 of the 7 Roughneck goals while Del Bianco made 32/41 saves. Losing back to back home games will drop you not only in these rankings but more importantly in the standings. They have now lost 3 straight games and are sitting in 14th in the NLL standings. The offense has scored over 10 goals in just 3 of their games while allowing just 11 a game. If they can just get more from the forwards tis team can turn their season around but this was the worry dating back to before the season kicked off. They get their rematch vs Toronto in Hamilton on Saturday with a chance to split the season series.

14.   Philadelphia Wings – 2-5 (Last Week: #12)

The team many picked to make the playoffs slides all the way back to #14 in this week’s rankings. There was a point in the season after their 16-15 win over Halifax that I was questioning if I got this team wrong. Since that game they have played just 3 games but they have lost all 3 of them. But yes, 2 of them were by just a goal and one went to OT. The teams they face change but the problems remain the same. This team gives up way to many shots on net. In the 15-14 loss in OT to Halifax Friday night they allowed 65 shots. Zach Higgins made 50 of those saves. While the offense looked good in this game with Mitch Jones having an 8 point night, Joe Resetarits a 6 point night and Ben McIntosh adding 3 goals of his own. It’s the defense that has me questioning how they change their game plan. If this team can limit the chances Higgins has to face on a nightly basis they can climb the ladder. They head on bye this week before heading to Vegas to try and save their season.

15.   Vancouver Warriors – 2-6 (Last Week: #13)

Close only matters in horseshoes and hand grenades. That’s the old saying right. The Warriors drop this one 12-11 to Georgia in OT. They scored 5 of the final 6 in regulation tying the game with 1:40 to go. But Andrew Kew would end it just 1:21 into overtime. Adam Charalambides and Kevin Crowley each added 2 goals to go with 2 assists on the night, Keegan Bal helped with a 5 point night. And Aaron Bold made 39/51 saves. But this offense was able to generate just 38 shots. The one positive from this one is the season series vs Georgia is split with both teams taking one from each other. They host the Rush Saturday night in a must win game. If they lose and fall to 2-7 you can almost kiss any chance at playoffs away.