NLL Insider

Last year the NLL ended up announcing the top three finalists for the MVP nod for the first time, with Athan Iannucci, John Tavares and Casey Powell being the trio that were up for the honour.

Although AI was practically everyone’s favorite, not having Jeff Zywicki in there was a bit of a crime considering the kinda year the UMass grad had in 2008 (and yeah, know it was based on votes, but it was still robbery).

In three short years in the NLL, Zywicki has already become one of the league’s top power forwards and is one of the league’s best off ball guys too. Few gut it out like Jeff and even fewer have the stats to go with it.

Zywicki finished fifth in league scoring and trailed only Iannucci’s record smashing 71 in the goal race last year.

The San Jose Stealth fan fave also lead the NLL in short handed goals last winter with seven, the highest shortie numbers in the league over the last four seasons. His ten short handed goals over the last three years are only topped by John Grant’s 12, and considering Jeff has only been in the NLL for those three years, that’s sayin’ somethin’.

Zywicki also owned one of the slickest shooting percentages of any top scorer last winter. His .241 SPCT was topped by only New York’s Mike McLellan (.370),  with both guys crushing virtually anyone and everyone else within the Top 30 scorers in the NLL.

Another couple interesting Zywicki stats to chew on… #1 Zywicki took 102 fewer shots than Grant in 2008 (199 vs. 301) and still posted more goals than the 2007 MVP (48 vs. 47). And #2, had Zywicki taken as many shots as Iannucci last year (352 shots), who obviously scored 71 goals while owning actually a pretty impressive .202 shooting percentage, based on Jeff’s .241 shooting percentage, his end-of-year goal total woulda been 84!!

Entering only his fourth year in the league and already topping 200 total points in his first three, many are anticipating a huge winter for Zywicki in 2009, one the Stealth will definitely lean on after another off-season with some major wholesale changes.

Check out some dope Zywicki highlights below (assist goes to zmystere for the find)…

Does Zywicki 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
#06 Casey Powell, New York Titans
#05 Jeff Zywicki, San Jose Stealth

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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