NLL Insider

In a sport where American field studs are usually the ones pointed to as the NLL’s top overall athletes, it’s funny that the league’s best pure athlete is actually a short, scrappy Canadian that only picked up the game at the age of 18.

Had it not been for Billy Dee Smith’s sister, Vanessa, we might not even be talking about Buffalo’s Mr. Do Anything-and-Everything, Mark Steenhuis, as one of the NLL’s best current players.

Steenhuis started dating Billy Dee’s sister in high school and would later be introduced to lacrosse by him as well. After impressing some of the St. Catharines area’s most respected lacrosse minds in his first shift out, Steenhuis has since become one of the indoor game’s most dynamic and exciting players.

Last year’s Transition Player of the Year and Champion’s Cup MVP had a career year during his seventh season in the league, and that’s outside of the five-goal game performance he dropped in the championship game, which also included the game winner in the Bandits’ 14-13 win over Portland. Those five goals against the Lumberjax tied him with both Colin Doyle and St. Kitts homie, Craig Conn, for the highest goal total in the final over the past five plus seasons.

Steenhuis posted a career high in assists with 41 helpers last year, also matching his career best 34 goals.

Mark bested his single season points total by 13 last winter, ranking him within the league’s Top 15 scorers for the first time in his career.

The MSL’s second leading scorer this past summer (registered 122 total Pts with St. Regis while trailing only John Tavares for the scoring crown during the regular season) has gone through a major transformation in his game since first entering the league in 2002. Steenhuis started out playing a D-to-O transition game under Head Coach Darris Kilgour in Buffalo, but with the Bandits’ in need of guys stepping up on offense last season, Mark showed that not only could he still play the two-way game better than most, he could hang as a legit premier scoring threat if needed too.

Next step has gotta be playing between the pipes, right?

Interesting fact: Mark actually started out his pro career with the Columbus Landsharks in 2002. The following off-season, Kilgour, who was making his debut in Buffalo as the team’s new head coach, picked up Steenhuis by swapping his current backup keeper, Kenny Montour, for Mark’s services straight-up. In 2004 Steenhuis was paired up with former first round draft pick, AJ Shannon, as Buffalo’s main offensive defenders, igniting an athletic, up-tempo style of lacrosse that now most teams in the league have adopted in order to survive the NLL’s increasingly quick brand of ball.

Does Steenhuis belong in the NLL Insider Top 50? Hit the boards and let us know what your Top 50 looks like heading into the 2009 NLL season…

#50 Matt Roik, San Jose Stealth
#49 Jon Sullivan, Minnesota Swarm
#48 Billy Dee Smith, Buffalo Bandits
#47 Steve Toll, Rochester Knighthawks
#46 Jarett Park, New York Titans
#45 Bruce Murray, Colorado Mammoth
#44 Shawn Evans, Rochester Knighthawks
#43 Peter Lough, Toronto Rock
#42 Matt Vinc, New York Titans
#41 Jeff Shattler, Calgary Roughnecks
#40 Craig Point, Minnesota Swarm
#39 Scott Ranger, Calgary Roughnecks
#38 Brian Langtry, Colorado Mammoth
#37 Sean Pollock, Minnesota Swarm
#36 Jake Bergey, Boston Blazers
#35 Pat O’Toole, Rochester Knighthawks
#34 Kyle Sweeney, Philadelphia Wings
#33 Luke Wiles, Toronto Rock
#32 Ryan Boyle, New York Titans
#31 Chris White, Buffalo Bandits
#30 Jordan Hall, New York Titans
#29 Shawn Nadelen, Philadelphia Wings
#28 Cam Woods, Toronto Rock
#27 Mike Accursi, Buffalo Bandits
#26 Dan Carey, Colorado Mammoth
#25 Pat Maddalena, New York Titans
#24 Andy Secore, Edmonton Rush
#23 Ryan Ward, Minnesota Swarm
#22 Tracey Kelusky, Calgary Roughnecks
#21 Josh Sanderson, Calgary Roughnecks
#20 Shawn Williams, Rochester Knighthawks
#19 Blaine Manning, Toronto Rock
#18 Nick Patterson, Minnesota Swarm
#17 Eric Martin, San Jose Stealth
#16 Scott Evans, Rochester Knighthawks
#15 Scott Self, Edmonton Rush
#14 Anthony Cosmo, Boston Blazers
#13 Geoff Snider, Philadelphia Wings
#12 Lewis Ratcliff, Toronto Rock
#11 Ryan Cousins, Minnesota Swarm
#10 Brodie Merrill, Portland Lumberjax
#09 Bob Watson, Toronto Rock
#08 Gavin Prout, Colorado Mammoth
#07 Mark Steenhuis, Buffalo Bandits

Hit this link for NLL Insider’s Top 50 archive and keep checkin’ back every week as we countdown the top 50 best in the pro game, with #1 being named just before the NLL season kicks off.

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