NLL Insider

There are seven NLL games in Week 7 of the NLL schedule, with one game Thursday, then two games each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The league recently held its weekly media conference call with the coaches from each team to discuss the match-ups

Here’s a preview of the up-coming games being played during the week.

Thursday, February 7
POR @ COL
Friday, February 8
NY @ MIN
BUF @ CAL

Thursday, Feb. 7

Portland (1-3) at Colorado (4-0) - 9:00 PM

Portland’s coming off of their first win last weekend, a one-goal victory over winless Edmonton, while the Colorado Mammoth sit comfortably a top the West with a perfect 4-0 record.

“We’ve played relatively well,” said Colorado head coach Bob McMahon about their record. “We’re smart enough to realize that two of the wins could have been losses, so we could be sitting at 2-2 as well. So, we’re anticipating a pretty tough game this weekend.

“We were fortunate to have kept Dawson down to two,” added McMahon, in reference to when the ‘Jax and Mammoth played each other earlier this season. “Our work’s cut out for us”.

The two teams met in Portland two weekends ago and the Mammoth escaped with a 12-11 victory. The game was tied 4-4 at the half and Portland held a 9-6 lead early into the fourth quarter, only to see Colorado score six of the next eight goals to come away with the OT victory.

“They seem to be able to figure out ways to win games,” said Portland’s Derek Keenan. “You know, score timely goals and get timely stops on defense. Of course, they also have a very good transition game”. But Keenan noted Portland is confident in their own game.

“I think we turned a bit of a corner last weekend, and we’re looking forward to this weekend.

“They’re a handful and we actually think we played quite well against them in the first game. We look forward to this challenge this week.

“As far as us not putting the ball in the net; that’s really what it’s come down to. We’ve really created a lot of opportunity in 5-on-5 and transition but the ball hasn’t been going in for us. I think we hit eight or nine goal posts against Edmonton last week; so eventually those start going in. We’re getting good looks and I anticipate we’ll start putting up higher scoring numbers as we move forward here.”

The Portland-Colorado game is the NLL’s game of the week on SIRIUS Satellite Radio and can be seen across the U.S. on Altitude T.V.

Friday, Feb. 8

New York (1-3) at Minnesota (4-0) – 8:00 PM

Minnesota comes into this game undefeated, and Swarm GM Marty O’Neil said he’s really looking forward to using this two-game home-stand to have his players come together even closer as a team.

On Sunday, Minnesota hosts Portland and New York plays Buffalo in a rematch from January.

“It’s going to be tough,” said New York head coach Adam Mueller about their first match-up against the Swarm. “They put some points up on us last year in both games; so that’s going to be a focus of ours… The bottom line is trying to stop them from what they’re good at doing; they’re good at running the floor and sharing the ball on offense… You know, it’s going to be a battle”

“A lot of it comes down to just executing,” added Mueller about the Titans’ difficulties scoring 5-on-5. “We’ve also played four pretty good defenses this year. We’ve got to get into a little bit better of a rhythm and I think we’ll be O.K… I think the one weekend, the one game we put together a full game we’ll be able to get on a roll.”

New York welcomed back second-year pro Brandon Mundorf to their line-up in their last game; he scored three times, as the New York powerplay generated five of the team’s seven goals in a 12-7 loss to San Jose.

Minnesota GM Marty O’Neil said he’s really looking forward to just carrying on the success they’ve enjoyed so far.

“We’re pretty excited about where we’re at because as Adam eluded to earlier, everybody looks for the perfect game. We haven’t had that game yet, but we’ve battled through adversity and had some things sort of fall our way; or maybe created our own luck, so to speak. But everything just seems to be working for us right now.”

“They don’t think about being young anymore, even though they are young. They’re just showing up and saying let’s get to work,” added O’Neill about the maturity of his players in Minnesota. He added the character in their dressing room is allowing them to pull out the close games.

“I don’t know if it’s just the leadership that we have from the top-end from three or four guys and Nick Patterson in goal; it just gives people that confidence… But right now guys are calm under that sort-of swing of momentum.”

Buffalo (2-2) at Calgary (2-2) – 9:30 PM

“We really haven’t played a complete game yet; the closest we came was in Rochester,” said Buffalo head coach Darris Kilgour. “So, we’re really looking forward to consistency coming into this weekend; it’s a big weekend for us.”

The Bandits also play on Sunday, in New York.

“We’re looking forward to the game Friday night,” said Calgary GM Kurt Silcott. The Roughnecks’ dropped their first two games by one goal a piece, but have bounced back to even their record at 2-2.

“We came out two weekends ago and put together two really good efforts against San Jose and Portland and won both of those games convincingly,” added Calgary GM Kurt Silcott.

“We’re feeling a lot better about ourselves; now we’ve just got to keep it going… If we put in the effort we put in against San Jose and Portland two weekends ago we’ll be very successful in this league. So we’re just looking to sustain that type of effort the rest of the year and keep putting out a great effort every night.”

If former Bandit goalie Steve Dietrich plays against his old team, Silcott wasn’t sure who would have the advantage, Dietrich or his old Buffalo teammates who used to face him in practice. ”I don’t know; it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out. But I know Chugger is excited to go out and play his game and perform very well. I’m obviously hopeful Chugger has the advantage; hopefully he has a nice night”.

Silcott doesn’t really tip his hand on these calls, however, so don’t be surprised if Avery actually starts. Ryan Avery made 38 saves and allowed just six goals in Calgary’s last win over Portland. Tracy Kelusky saw a specialist yesterday and will be having an MRI tomorrow; he is doubtful for the weekend.

Mike Thompson will get the start in net for Buffalo on Friday, said Coach Darris Kilgour. He also noted, however, he’d like to give Ken Montour some minutes so he may see some time on Sunday.

For Buffalo, Roger Vyse will miss Friday’s game due to an injury at his work, and he’s questionable on Sunday. Vyse suffered a cut near his eye and received stitches. “So we’ll be giving another young guy an opportunity; we’ll probably take in two extra guys and use all of them by the weekend,” said Kilgour.

That means rookie Brandon Swamp, who waived his NCAA eligibility to turn pro this year, may crack the line-up. “He’s been working real hard in practice; impressing us and stepping up his game. I think he’s earned a chance to play on the Buffalo Bandits; so maybe this weekend is the time to get him in.”

Buffalo also added right-handed forward Andrew Lazore in a transaction this week; he should play. “He’s very talented offensively. Hopefully he fits right into our offense… We’re very anxious to see what he can do on our team,” said Kilgour.

Note: If you’re going to this game, the Roughnecks are asking you to wear black for their ‘black out’. The team will also suit up in new black uniforms.

Coverage

The Portland-Colorado game is the NLL’s game of the week on SIRIUS Satellite Radio and can be seen across the U.S. on Altitude T.V. 

All games are available via broadband broadcast with B2 Networks for $7 per game. Click on the ‘Live Games’ link on NLLinsider.com to catch the feeds.

Rate This Story:

(+6 rating, 2 votes)

 Loading ...