NLL Insider

It’s not easy to pick winners in the NLL.

Especially this season.

The best you can do is take all the knowledge you have of the league, combine it with logic, reasoning and gut intuition to make an educated guess. Picking the score is even tougher, but it’s just a ballpark guess and adds to the fun.

My NLLInsider colleague and friend Brian Shanahan took a lot of heat for many of his picks this season when they turned out wrong. However, given the fact he’s the most knowledgeable guy I know when it comes to this league, it shows how tough being a prognosticator is. If he predicts games wrong, those panning his picks on message boards wouldn’t stand a snowballs chance in, well, you get the picture.

With that in mind, he’s my two cents on this weekend’s opening round of the playoffs.

WEST

Calgary @ Colorado, Saturday, May 3

A lot of people were impressed with Calgary’s 12-8 win over Edmonton last weekend to round out the regular season. I wasn’t one of them.
The team’s offence was disjointed and some of their big guns — Tracey Kelusky, Scott Ranger and Kaleb Toth — struggled to put the ball in the net despite getting some great looks.

However, they still won and with Steve Dietrich back and another game for the team’s new-look offence under their belts, it was a positive.
Colorado, on the other hand, laid an egg losing 11-9 to San Jose.

Calgary has gone from starting games strong and blowing it in the fourth quarter to starting slow and playing better in the second half. The team is still an enigma.

I’m going with Calgary in this one for two reasons: The Riggers transition game is clicking on all cylinders and providing goals while the offence is stronger than Colorado’s, sans Dan Carey.

Final score: Calgary 14, Colorado 9

Portland @ San Jose, Sunday, May 4

The Lumberjax beat the Stealth 12-11 on April 18. Had to be a confidence boost.

Will they win again this weekend?

No.

San Jose, which beat Portland 12-9 on April 5, has been the strongest team in the West over the last half of the season. Perhaps due to team bonding that comes from pool parties and weekday golf outings, the Stealth are a tight bunch and it shows on the floor.

Plus, they have Colin Doyle. Forget Popeye, his nickname should be Clutch or, no reference to Jay Stu from the Jim Rome Show, Mr. Automatic.

San Jose has more gamebreakers and will win this one, proving Derek Keenan’s decision to keep his rental players was a bad one.

Final score: San Jose 13, Portland 9

EAST

Philadelphia @ Buffalo, Friday, May 2

Philly’s offence was first in the East, scoring 225 goals. Philly’s defence was the worst in the East, allowing 220.

Despite having standouts on the backend such as Geoff Snider, Tom Hajek, Taylor Wray and the guy with the best nickname in the NLL — Rob Van Beek, Mr. Saturday Night — the Wings can’t seem to shut down opposing attacks.

So, in order to beat Buffalo, the Wings have to have score a truckload of goals, and get a standout game from one of its goaltenders. Tall task, given Rob Blasdell and Brandon Miller had the second worst (13.92) and worst (14.31) goals-against averages in the league.

The Bandits will look to pound on Athan Iannucci and contain him. Easier said than done since every team since Week 2 this year has tried to do just that — and failed.

Still, this game is Buffalo’s to lose.

Final score: Buffalo 16, Philadelphia 11

New York @ Minnesota, Saturday, May 3

Conventional wisdom says Minny should win this one. The Swarm took both games head-to-head with the Titans this season, winning 16-9 on Feb. 8 and 12-9 on April 5.

Moreover, Minny is an impressive 6-2 at home this season while New York is an average 5-5 on the road.

That said, I’m picking New York to win this one. The Titans have a potent offence led by Casey Powell (86 points, 8th in league scoring) and Dr. Pat Maddalena (9th with 85 points). Young goalie Matt Vinc established himself as a bonafide starter in this league and, if he stays the path, a future star.
The Titans are the feel good story of the season and, in my opinion, have the momentum after winning their final four games to close the season.

Final score: New York 15, Minnesota 11

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