Top 20 NLL Player Ranking: Week 14

April 2nd, 2008 by Paul Tutka

Not a ton of brilliant performances comin’ outta this past weekend. In fact, most of the top ballers were comin’ up short in lifting their teams, which actually made this week’s ranking maybe the toughest to piece together so far this season. Made sure to factor in a bit what the players and Insiders told me last week too.

Anyways, here’s this week’s Top 20…

RK	PLAYER	LAST	+/-	TOTAL	CONS.	HIGH
1	Athan Iannucci	1	-	12	12	1
1	With two pivotal games this weekend, if there was ever a week Nooch was gonna get knocked off the hill, this definitely could be it. Kept the top spot this week while other top dawgs bombed in week 14.
2	Bob Watson	5	+3	11	11	2
2	A 2-0 weekend with Whipper standin’ on his head could definitely give him the nod as the MVP fave this time next week. Huge slate of games this week is gonna determine a lot this season. Best thing is, Nooch and Whip face each other after church lets out.
3	John Tavares	4	+1	13	13	2
3	Will JT have enough left in the tank to make a run past either guy above him? Been there, done that and still had time to teach his kids about fractions. He’s still that good.
4	Gavin Prout	6	+2	13	13	1
4	In recent weeks, Prout has lost a bit of ground in the charts, but benefited from a few guys droppin’ a deuce last week too. If he can take the Mammoth to the top in the West, no reason he won’t get some love from the powers that be.
5	Casey Powell	8	+3	13	13	5
5	Beauty game against the Wings two weeks ago. CP will probably need the same kinda performance this weekend if he wants to serve Minny some serious payback for that stinker NY dropped almost two months back.
6	John Grant	12	+6	13	13	1
6	Those are the kinda performances Rochester needs outta last year’s MVP. Not only was he posting his usual sick digits, he had the whole O playin’ lights out lacrosse. Man, if Jr and the Hawks land a post-season gig and Grant takes the scoring title, can he be the first back-to-back MVP since JT?
7	Colin Doyle	2	-5	13	13	2
7	A week after he pulled the wool over the Necks’ eyes, Doyle was MIA against the Rush. Not much more to say. How does he respond without Wiles in the mix now too? OK, now not much more to say.
8	Jeff Zywicki	3	-5	12	12	3
8	Kinda ditto for Zywicki.
9	Brodie Merrill	10	+1	8	7	9
9	Still havin’ a hard time gettin’ over the 21 loosies he had in the Colorado win.
10	Dan Dawson	11	+1	13	13	2
10	Still havin’ a hard time gettin’ over the four goals he had in the Colorado win, plus settin’ up the game winner.
11	Ryan Cousins	9	-2	13	13	2
11	Cousins is still playing solid ball, but just isn’t getting the same kinda effort outta the boys at the other end of the court, which is affecting the scoreboard. Was the players and Insider’s fave for D man of the year last week.
12	Mark Steenhuis	13	+1	6	6	8
12	How he bounces back after that Toronto loss this weekend, when the Banditos face a just as hungry Colorado team, could dictate if he gets that tranny of the year nod. Like I said, week 15 is a doozey on so many levels!!
13	Ryan Ward	7	-6	12	12	4
13	Minny needs someone to give their O a shake and ya gotta think Wardo is that guy. One big show stopper by Ward, which he was doing at will earlier this year, to show the boys how it’s done, would be huge for their confidence.
14	Geoff Snider	18	+4	3	3	14
14	Might be catching a ton of heat for his slam dance on O’Toole’s face, but look at what Snider did in that game outside of that. The dude had an amazing individual showing., was beyond auto at the circle and was throwing back goals the way the Wings’ O should have been. Never takes a shift off… ever.
15	Jordan Hall	17	+2	5	5	15
15	Is he gonna win the MVP? Well no, probably not, but to deny that Hall hasn’t been one of the best 20 ballers this year would be stupid. So many players were even calling him the best tranny in the league in last week’s Player Poll, let alone best rook.
16	Matt Vinc	19	+3	2	2	16
16	Like I said the other week, Vino is definitely a lot of people’s dark horse pick for tender of the year, and if New York keeps piling up the results, will be hard to deny him the nod.
17	Nick Patterson	16	-1	13	13	9
17	Like Cousins in front of him, Patterson has looked good as usual, but just isn’t getting what he needs from the O to allow him to win ‘em the game. Got shelled pretty good by Jacobs last week though. Cody scored on him five times in like a ten minute(ish) span.
18	Jake Bergey	14	-4	10	10	7
18	Still scoring goals, but they’re lacking the dollar signs they had on ‘em when he was scoring money goal after money goal earlier this year.
19	Eric Martin	15	-4	8	8	15
19	Although I bagged a ton on San Jose’s O, their D for most of the night wasn’t much better against Edmonton. Meat pumped Crashley full of lead pretty good though.
20	Rory Glaves	-	-	1	1	20
20	He played well for Paul Day and has continued to do so for Bob Hamley. Glaves has actually had a pretty consistent and solid season, both him and Chris McElroy. Nice to see him get some love from the league this week too. Think he’s the first Rush guy to make the Top 20 this year.