CLA Power Rankings
Return to Blog Home
Ok, ranking the Canadian Lacrosse Association (CLA) Senior lacrosse teams is not quite as easy as the NLL. (Come to think of it, ranking the NLL teams is not so easy either. Look at where I had the New York Titans at the beginning of the season). There is no interlocking schedule between east and west and we only get to see the best of the East against the best of the West at Mann Cup time in September. You can argue till your blue in the face that the second best team in Ontario is better than the best of the West but you’ll never get a chance to prove it.
Last NLL season I was able to see every team play live at least once and many teams a handful of times. I traveled to the West Coast 8 times so I got a pretty good feel for both Divisions. I don’t think I’ll be making any trips to BC this summer so I’ll be relying heavily on my Western sources during the season. I’ll also be getting a lot of opinions from players and coaches in the East. I doubt any of them will want to go on record so it will be up to me to piss people off. To start off you WLA fans might as well get used to it now. The East is dominant in 2008. Check out the top 15 scorers in the NLL, other than Lewis Ratcliff they all play in the East.
Also keep in mind that the summer season is a lot different than the short NLL season. As the Rochester Knighthawks found out, NLL teams can’t afford to take a night off. That’s not quite so true in the summer league with 6 out of 7 OLA teams making the playoffs. Coaches know that it’s more important to have your best players available down the stretch than in May. The season is just underway and many of the stars (Dan Dawson, Brodie Merrill, John Grant, Athan Iannucci, Casey Powell) have not yet suited up for their teams. Some of the guys need a break and some just need to pace themselves because they are also playing MLL ball.
Lets get to it
| Team | Record | This week | Comment |
| Peterborough Lakers | 1-1 | 1 | 2 time Defending Mann Cup champs still trying to get all their stars signed up. |
| Brampton Excelsiors | 1-0 | 2 | Look better than they have in years. Dawson and Doyle might push them to the top. |
| St. Regis Indians | 1-1 | 3 | Darris Kilgour’s Indians are definitely taking a run at it this year with Iannuci leading a list of recruits to join John Tavares. |
| Victoria Shamrocks | 4-0 | 4 | Lost Dawson to Brampton but got a lot of local talent back from the 2006 team. Best goalie duo in the West with Nick Patterson and Arron Bold |
| New Westminster Salmonbellies | 3-0 | 5 | loss of Iannucci and Craig Conn will hurt, but still have lots of depth. ”Rookie tender Tyler Richardson is playing out of his mind” |
| Coquitlam Adanacs | 2-1 | 6 | Always a force but may not be as physical a team as in years past. Young and fast some thing A’s fans will like to see |
| Six Nations Chiefs | 1-1 | 7 | Casey Powell signing makes a big splash. Is Shawn Evans next? |
| Barrie Lakeshores | 0-0 | 8 | Mark Steenhuis’ team is always a contender. |
| Brooklin Redmen | 0-1 | 9 | Brought back Hall of Fame coach Peter Vipond who has won more Mann Cups than any current coach. |
| Langley Thunder | 1-1 | 10 | Did amazing in the draft! Players are starting to want to play there. Tough, aggressive and with some back end help could surprise a few teams |
| Maple Ridge Burrards | 1-3 | 11 | adding Tyler Codron and Joel Dalgarno to this young team will help, but it will still be tough for them to make the playoffs. |
| Burnaby Lakers | 0-3 | 12 | lots of raw talent, but no chemistry. With Curtis Palidwor and Andrew Leyshon in net, they should be better, but they aren’t |
| Kitchener Kodiaks | 0-0 | 13 | Snuck past Brooklin for a playoff spot last year. Won’t happen this season. |
| Nanaimo Tibermen | 0-3 | 14 | last year’s play-off birth was a welcome surprise but I doubt you will see them any where near the post season this year |
Rate This Story:
(+30 rating, 7 votes)
Loading ...
