NLL Insider

Couple days away from the first round of this year’s post-season kick-off.

No Rock. No K’Hawks. Instead Philly and New York thought they’d crash the party.

We’ll also be seein’ a number of prime time players not makin’ the trip this weekend, definitely affecting their crews chances of going past the division semis.

Checkout what teams are lookin’ like heading into what will no doubt be one helluva NLL post-season, after the jump…

The East

(1) Buffalo Bandits (10-6) vs. (4) Philadelphia Wings (10-6)

I really think this one is Buffalo’s to win or lose. We’re finally seein’ the Bandits playing that consistent 5-on-5 ball that had been missing kinda in the gut of their regular season, and I’m not sure there’s a better team in the league when all ten runners are on the rug. Even though Buffalo has wheels of their own, the key is definitely gonna be slowing down the Wings’ press and really turning this one into a slow paced, O/D style of lacrosse that subtracts that explosive two-way game that’s really been Philly’s bread-and-butter this year. You’d have to think, like they did earlier this year, Buffalo will simply allow Geoff Snider to win all the draws uncontested in order to, again, put the breaks on the Wings up temp style of ball. Philly on the other hand are really gonna need to get consistent production outta their O. Like we’ve seen down the stretch, Athan Iannucci can’t always be expected to take over a game on his own, he’s only human (or at least half human half machine). Gonna need big digits from guys like Jake Bergey, AJ Shannon and rooks Merrick Thomson and Jamie Rooney. Looks like both team’s should be at full strength, but who knows who’ll be starting in goal for either side. My guess would be Rob Blasdell for the Wings and Mike Thompson for Buffalo, but with neither coach showing their hand too much, we probably won’t know the starters until a couple minutes before game time. Both D’s are pretty similar. Both are physical, in your face, mobile and can get pretty nasty if need be. If Buffalo can limit the Wings’ chances outta their own end, and get decent tending from either Thompson or Kenny Montour, I think they should inch this one out. My pick… Buffalo wins 15-12

(2) Minnesota Swarm (10-6) vs. (3) New York Titans (10-6)

I think you’ve got two teams going different ways here. Minny really dropped off in the second half of the season and that Chicago Shamrox close-out to the year that everyone thought woulda had them in the playoffs on a high note, really didn’t do a whole lot for them. New York obviously heads into the playoffs with a  pretty impressive 4-1 record to close out the year with. So if this one comes down to who’s peaking, well it’s a pretty easy answer. With that said, New York will be without defender Jamie Hanford, who apparently way before the season kicked off (at one point when it looked like it was cancelled), planned his wedding in the Dominican for this weekend. The Swarm will be minus rookie Kyle Ross due to a bum shoulder. Ross originally dislocated his shoulder last month against Chicago, but tweaked it again in their clash with Rochester a couple weeks back. Kyle should be good to go if the Swarm make it to the division finals however. Other than that though, both teams should look similar to what we last saw from them in week 18. The big question I think in this game is, will the Swarm’s O show up? That’s been the one real question mark with Minny all year. They seem to be either firing on all cylinders, or their offense is making bad decisions and struggling to finish. Their D and Nick Patterson will give ‘em a chance to win every game, but their offense really has to step it up like they were at the start of the year. If Matt Vinc can stone ‘em early and get that Minny O second guessing themselves, then I think the Titans take this one. New York is playing with a confidence and belief that I’m not sure any other team has right now. Lots of times it’s those intangibles that take you over the hump in the post-season. So on that note, even though the Swarm impressed the hell outta me to start the year… New York wins 13-11 and keeps building on a run that hopefully doesn’t have ‘em peaking too early.

The West

(1) San Jose Stealth (9-7) vs. (4) Portland Lumberjax (6-10)

Personally, as much drama as there is in the East clashes, I’m peggin’ this game as the one to watch in the first round. Some real interesting match-ups takin’ shape here. It’s all well and good that Portland won the last two meetings between these two in the regular season, but why’d it happen? And in two words, Matt Disher. The Stealth O had some big issues trying to solve Dish for stretches in both losses. Yeah they scored in double digits in those last two meetings, but Disher made some big money saves that the Jax just weren’t getting at the start of the year. As obvious and plain as day as it sounds, the Stealth really do need Jeff Zywicki scoring large. Wicki had five goals in the Stealth’s one win against the Jax this year and then just two in their two losses. Zywicki is such a grinder in the middle of most team’s D and can’t let the Jax’s over-sized back-end get the better of him. If the Jax bang him and the rest of San Jose’s O around like a pinball, then you better believe Dan Dawson, a guy Derek Keenan said today would go through is own grandmother in the playoffs, will make ‘em pay. Anthony Cosmo is playing the best ball we’ve seen from him after a less than Coz kinda start to the year, but anything less than that this weekend could do the Stealth in. Think with top shelf tending from Coz and Zywicki and Colin Doyle disrupting that Portland D, they should come outta this one. Also gonna say to watch for Gary Rosyski on the power-play if the Jax get into any similar extracircular stuff we saw from ‘em last week. Rosy could be the difference maker IMO… San Jose wins 10-9

(2) Colorado Mammoth (9-7) vs. (3) Calgary Roughnecks (7-9)

Man, the Mammoth are in pretty rough shape heading into this one. In what sounded like a mild concussion a few weeks back, the word now is that Dan Carey is probably done for the year. Carey has apparently barely been able to get through a day without getting some severe post-concussion headaches, which will likely make him a scratch for not only this weekend but for the rest of 08. Josh Sims is also expected to miss at the very least this weekend’s clash with a high ankle sprain. The loss of Carey has also nixed the potential magic the team hoped to see between Dan and trade deadline day pickup, Chris Gill. Outside of Gill’s big game against the Titans, he’s scored only two goals in other games with the Mammoth since the trade, a number that will have to definitely go up if Colorado hopes to get past this weekend. Calgary on the other hand is lookin’ pretty good. They’re playing with the most confidence and consistency we’ve seen from ‘em all year. Their O finally looks to be in sync and if they can get a clutch game from Steve Dietrich, I think they can pull past the slumpin’ Mammoth. I was really likin’ the looks of Colorado for most of the year, but not sure they’ll be able to over-come a couple pretty massive losses. Think Josh Sanderson has his best game in a Necks’ uni and seals the deal… Calgary wins 12-8

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