NLL Insider

Insider Bob Chavez provided you the official 2008 NLL Rookie of the Year and All-Rookie Team selections, yesterday. Craig Point of Minnesota took home the ROTY hardware. Chavez says it wasn’t much of a suprise, but he was the only Insider who had earlier picked Point to take the award with the rest of the votes going to New York’s Jordan Hall. I asked the league if it was a close vote, but they wouldn’t disclose. Congrats to Craig Point.

The rest of your 2008 NLL All-Rookie Team selections include, in no particular order, Jordan Hall (New York), Tyler Codron (Portland), Bobby McBride (Chicago), Jamie Rooney (Philadelphia) and Merrick Thompson (Philadelphia).

There are some very good players in that line-up. Will they be stars for years to come? After a 2007 NLL All-Rookie Team selection, Athan Iannucci was the obvious sophomore standout this year. You may have heard, he broke Gary Gait’s single season goal scoring record.

On the other hand, Toronto’s Ryan Benesch experienced that sophomore jinx after capturing the Rookie of the Year award in 2007. Benesch was held to 19 goals in 14 games played this season, while Iannucci put up 71 tallies.

Iannucci’s goal total was 23 more than second-place regular season scoring leader Jeff Zywicki, a 2006 NLL All-Rookie Team selection. That sparked my interest as to who’s made past All-Rookie Teams, and who from that has gone on to have All-Pro careers.

Here’s a look back at past NLL All-Rookie Teams dating back to 2001.

– 2007 –
Ryan Benesch Forward Toronto (No. 1 overall, 2006 NLL Entry Draft)
Geoff Snider Transition Philadelphia
Athan Iannucci Forward Philadelphia
Jamie Shewchuk Forward Colorado
Bill McGlone Forward Chicago
Nenad Gajic Transition Colorado

– 2006 –
Brodie Merrill Defense Portland (No. 1, 2005)
Sean Greenhalgh Forward Philadelphia
Dan Carey Forward Colorado
Jeff Zywicki Forward San Jose
Shawn Evans Forward Rochester
Luke Wiles Forward San Jose

– 2005 –
Ryan Boyle Forward San Jose
Delby Powless Forward Buffalo (No. 1, 2004)
Andrew Burkholder Forward Philadelphia
Rory Glaves Defense Anaheim
Ryder Bateman Forward Minnesota
Dan Finck Forward Philadelphia

– 2004 –
Taylor Wray Defense Calgary
Scott Evans Forward Rochester
Craig Conn Forward Vancouver
Ryan Ward Forward Philadelphia
AJ Shannon Forward Buffalo
Thomas Hajek Defense Philadelphia
- Mark Miyashita (No. 1, 2003, Vancouver)

– 2003 –
Brian Langtry Forward Colorado
Marc Morley Forward New Jersey
Lewis Ratcliff Forward Calgary
Chris Schiller Defender Rochester
Cam Sedgwick Forward Vancouver
Aaron Wilson Forward Toronto
- Patrick Merrill (No. 1, 2002, Toronto)

– 2002 –
Mike Miron Goalie Columbus
Peter Morgan Forward Vancouver
Gavin Prout Forward New York (No. 1, 2001)
Kasey Beirnes Forward Columbus
Blaine Manning Forward Toronto
Ryan Painter Forward Ottawa

– 2001 –
Tracey Kelusky Forward Columbus (No. 1, 2000)
Kris Bryde Forward Ottawa
Jeff Ratcliffe Forward Philadelphia
Marshall Abrams Defense Columbus
Mike Regan Forward Albany
Phil Wetherup Goalie Buffalo

Interesting to see. Some standouts in that mix, no question, and also some guys who’ve kind of fallen off the radar like most of those teams shown above in 01 and 02. Overall, it’s a pretty solid class and your 2008 NLL All-Rookie Team should be a big part of this league moving forward.

Of note, John Grant Jr. and Casey Powell were the No. 1 overall selections, respectively, in the 99 and 98 NLL Entry Draft. Both players were selected by Rochester.

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