NLL Insider

I’m not gonna bore you with my usual witty post teasers, partly cuz I can’t think of anything and partly cuz it’s getting late on Monday night and Paradise Hotel is starting and I am not falling behind in season two of what could be some of the best TV… ever. For anyone that saw the first ever season of that show, will know exactly what I’m talkin’ about. And to those fans, gotta give ya a “Yahtzee” shout-out.

Anyways, think week seven continued to show some glaring holes from some teams and also continued to be another piece of the puzzle for others. And for those that just check out the reads on their teams and nothing else, make sure to check out New York’s breakdown, specifically the end of the post on them. You’ll know why once you get there.

Here’s the shakedown of what team’s are lookin’ like after their week seven battles…

Toronto Rock (3-3 overall, 2-3 division)
For anyone that reads this site, you know what I think the Rock need. A tough inside presence on O (that can finish), more mobile, athletic defenders to make up for the loss of Kevin Fines and the Chad Thompson injury and after seeing them struggle to muster up bombs from outside against Minnesota and now Rochester, a cannon up top. They need to get more versatile offensively for sure. Against Rochester, it looked like they had one game plan on O and just couldn’t adapt when things didn’t fall their way. Defensively they need a player like an Eric Martin, or Jarrett Park or Scott Ditzell (coincidently all Americans who play a style of ball you can’t just teach). They need a defender or two that will chop you down if you try those 1v1 stutters that Shawn Evans burned them down with on Saturday night. The guy that’s probably done it the best, or at least he did this past weekend, was Chris Driscoll. Sid Smith still has two years left at Cuse and although there are a few decent defenders available in this year’s draft year, not sure they’ll be able to step in right away and alleviate what’s ailin’ em. The Rock has gotta adapt in the trade/draft room and on the floor, or a playoff spot might be outta reach as soon as this season. A win against a heavily injured Bandits squad at home on Friday would do a lot for their season. Another loss could be devastating.

Minnesota Swarm (6-0, 4-0)
What can you say? These guys are good. It looked like in the first half against the Jax they mighta started to get a little undisciplined a bit, but they came out gunnin’ for the rest of the game totally focused on the W and nuthin’ else. The most important thing might be the depth they have at this point. Dewey Jacobs is swapping guys in and out at those 13-17 spots and still producing on the score sheet. Not that big a deal now, but if these guys start piling on any injuries, it’s obvious they have the bodies to fill in the gaps. Again, beauty of a team to watch develop over the years to what they have today. This is the way teams are supposed to be built!

Rochester Knighthawks (2-3, 2-3)
Even without Regy Thorpe in the lineup, Rochester’s D looked just awesome for four full periods of lacrosse. Easily their D’s best showing this year. Bill Greer’s been playing some of the best ball he’s played in this league ever and Scott Ditzell has looked great too. 5v5 this D could easily be argued as the best in the biz. As unreal as Scott and Shawn Evans looked in the fourth though, not sure Rochester woulda pulled out that win against many of the best teams in the league if their O played the same way against say Colorado or Minny. Their offense looked super frustrated for almost three full periods of lacrosse and it showed. Do they have it pulled together? Even if they don’t, they might get a good chance to build up even more confidence against a Calgary team that looks like it’s reeling with some key injuries and a definite lack of effort this past weekend.

Buffalo Bandits (3-3, 2-3)
Man, these guys can’t catch a break. Greenhalgh, Bucktooth, Vyse and Steenhuis all on the shelf coming outta this past weekend. Looks like Mike Thompson might be in the same boat with an apparent concussion. With key offensive guys hurt, their power-play just keeps coming up short too and with the way their last game was called, a clickin’ PP woulda been huge. They really missed any scoring coming outta their own end against New York, who didn’t let the Bandits start anything on the press. Those runs comin’ outta their own end used to be their bread and butter and needs to be there if they want to catch up to the likes of Minnesota in the standings. Not trying to blame the refs, but that OT penalty call was an iffy call at best. That’s sports though.

Calgary Roughnecks (2-3, 2-2)
Another team like the Banditos who are getting nailed with some key injuries. And with the parity this league is seeing this year, those big time losses hurt even more than normal. Although Ryan Avery told media he was to blame for the huge loss against Buffalo, there really was just an overall lack of effort in most areas on the rug and the kid shouldn’t take too much of the responsibility on his shoulders. Right now it really is lookin’ like the Necks’ are comin’ off the losing end of that three way deal with Buffalo and Philly. With Steve Dietrich hurt and Kyle Couling not really playing up to par (or at all), they aren’t getting much else from that deal. Think picking up Chris Seller was a big pickup last week, but how long does the former Stinger hang around for? They need a QB on that O if TK is gonna be out for much longer. Josh Sanderson? The Rock are in desperate need of a guy like Jeff Shattler. Just sayin’. Maybe not straight up, but just puttin’ that out there. Discuss…

Portland Lumberjax (1-5, 1-3)
Man what a heart breaker against Minny on Sunday afternoon. The difference between the Swarm and Jax (outside of some on-floor chemistry and a bit of skill) is that the Swarm are winning these tight ones and building confidence and Portland keeps droppin’ ‘em and falling deeper and deeper into a spiral of losses that can just kill guys mentally. Like I said earlier today, Peter Morgan played the best I’ve seen him since he broke onto the scene with Vancouver and looked just awesome. Definitely some positives outta a weekend that I’m sure guys on the Jax are just hatin’ right now though. The troubling thing for me? What happens to this team if the Zona guys go back to wherever that franchise ends up? It totally guts ‘em. It was nice to see them not lean on Dawson and Malawsky as much over the weekend, but in the same breath, they still lost. I’d say, keep playin’ the kids. Cory Conway looked good again and Tyler Codron looked fearless at times. I’d say try and score some 09 draft picks, but if this slide goes past this year, will there even be a 2010 season in Portland. All depends on what direction this team wants to go. Even if they make the post-season, I personally would trade the likes of Dawson and D$ for some decent rooks or high picks. This is not a Champion’s Cup year. To hold onto those two just to get your face smashed in by the Mammoth in the first round of the playoffs doesn’t make a lotta long term sense. I know it’s the NLL and anything can happen in their post-season, but again, think they need to be focusing long term here. Even if Zona stays on the shelf into 09, still not sure they have the right on-floor chemistry right now and they’ve got some guys now that would definitely bring in a huge score if dealt properly.

Colorado Mammoth (5-0, 5-0)
The only strike against ‘em is that people wanna see ‘em on the road in a tight one. Can they pull it out against this year’s best in someone else’s barn? They’ll have Philly at home on Friday night, which should be a real beauty, but with only two homes games in their last seven, it’ll be go-time for sure. To come outta those last seven as squeaky clean as they’ve been to start would make Colorado an absolute soul killing monster come playoff time. With that said… they Mammoth have looked A-W-E-S-O-M-E, and for me personally, the best team in the bigs so far. And Bob, ya gotta bring back that fro man. The ol’ mop is way too slicked down these days.

New York Titans (2-4, 1-3)
I think I know the secret to the Titans’ success… have Mikey Powell play a set at every game (rumor has it, Jiloty didn’t even know the Titans were playing on Sunday, he just wanted him some sweet Mikey Powell grooves). Mikey’s band jammed out on Sunday afternoon at MSG and I think Powell’s pipes got into the boys bones and brought ‘em up a notch. Just a theory… Either way, the Titans looked great. Sometimes New York has looked so flat this year and then other times they look like the speedy, athletic in your face team we saw against Buffalo. Albeit they were playing a very depleted Bandits team, but nonetheless, they looked good. I think the only thing holding Jordan Hall back from rookie of the year hardware is a guy by the name of Craig Point, cuz otherwise, he’d have it in the bag. I still think they could use an O guy that’s willing to have his knees banged in that can finish in traffic and another Jarrett Park type Yank or thuggish Canuck, but otherwise, think Adam Mueller and his crew are doing some good things in the Big Apple. Oh yeah, and anyone notice Rory Smith get some minutes on Sunday. Kids mustered for sure. Really looking forward to seeing more of Rory, who Fight Club scouts (yes we employ them) are drooling over. Why? Well it’s on ice, but here’s why… And even though it’s a couple summer old, here’s also why… (fast forward to like a buck 50). Oh hell, and one last one on the blades…

Chicago Shamrox (1-3, 0-2)
Their D has really let ‘em down this year. The vets that they should be looking to aren’t playing as well as the younger guys. San Jose walked in untouched at points during their 17-11 pasting on Satunday and when you got O grinders like Jeff Zywicki and Luke Wiles, you gotta tighten up inside or it’s lights out. Jonas Derks looks like he’ll be the one steppin’ up and taking over that offense, stats-wise at least, still think Jason Clark and Mat Giles bring stability up front, whether the #’s are there or not. Did they deal Andrew Lazore too early? Was he the right O guy to move? Tough call. The vets really ran the ship on O this past weekend, so tough call as far as what youngster they shoulda kept in the loop. Sure Darris asked for Andrew by name too though. Lazore hasn’t proved to be a tried and tested NLL commodity just yet, so it mighta ended up being a pretty even trade depending on who they pickup in the second round of this year’s draft. If guys like maybe a Ryan Campbell or Andrew Chapman are still around, it might end up being a decent swap. Might end up seeing more of Cody Jacobs in coming weeks too, or maybe even first rounder Kevin Ross, who didn’t appear to be in their plans for 08 even just a couple weeks ago. Will be interesting to see how their O develops as the year goes on. Think they have some big questions that need to be answered at both ends of the court and hopefully they’ll figure that out in coming weeks. Big sophomore team battle this weekend against New York that might end up being one of this week’s more entertaining tilts.

San Jose Stealth (3-3, 1-2)
San Jose continued to beat up on the teams pretty much everyone has them ranked ahead of, dumping Chicago 17-11. Nice to see rook Frank Resetarits playin’ the kinda ball the Stealth brass was hopin’ for. Now that the leash is off, think we’ll see more of the same from him. A lot gets made of SJ’s high power O, but their D is just as good if not better on most nights. That was probably a surprise statement for most Eastern fans, but trust me, it’s true. Shaydon Santos is one of the most consistent no nonsense defenders in the game (and I’m not just sayin’ that cuz he bought me lunch… once). Eric Martin is the least talked defender in the game and if he was playing in Rochester or Toronto, he’d have been the cat’s meow last season for sure. And then Curtis Hodgson for me, is easily a top five defender in the game today. Three guys playing in front of crowds that most junior teams can outdraw and getting next to no ink, but believe me, this trio can go stride for stride with any defensive trio in the L. When these guys are “on” at both ends of the floor, they are easily on par with the top third of the NLL, but when they’re off, they’re barely mid-table.

Rate This Story:

(7 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

 Loading ...