NLL Insider

Every week this season at NLLinsider.com we’re going to be putting our heads together to argue and exchange threats over email bring you the All-NLLinsider Team of the Week. Quite simply, the All-NLLinsider Team will consist of the six best players to step foot on the floor in any given game every weekend. 3 F, 1 T, 1 D, 1 G, all awesome. In week five we saw a few teams get some sorely-needed wins and the big individual performances that got them there.

Forward: Mike Accursi

Not only did the Edmonton Rush have to begin a two-game weekend by playing the as-yet unstoppable Buffalo Bandits, but for a while there it looked like a win was actually within reach. Imagine being down just 4-3 to start the second half and then — wait, no. Dammit. There’s Mike Accursi, stretching the lead out three minutes into the half with his third goal of the game. Oh, got two back, did you Edmonton? Well how about an Accursi-assisted Tavares marker on the powerplay? And then another one right after Dan Teat made you think you could hang on to a tie for a while. And then two Accursi goals in the fourth quarter to put all thoughts of a comeback out of your heads. Why don’t you all just line up on a rug and let Accursi yank it out from under your feet.

Forward: Shawn Williams

Just one week ago the question what do the Rochester Knighthawks need? had so many delightful answers. A miracle. A mercy rule. Horse tranquilizers for the opposing team. Turns out what they really needed was for Shawn Williams to be the architect of a 13-goal effort from the offense.

I didn’t actually get to see the game on Saturday night thanks to the Mogulus snafu, but this is a case where the stats don’t lie and the stats are these: seven helpers, including first assist on the Gary Gait go-ahead goal with five minutes remaining in regulation, and two goals, including lucky number 13, putting the Knighthawks up by two with three minutes to go. The Knighthawks need a play-maker, a clutch scorer, and someone to take the reigns on offense. Nobody said the same guy can’t be all three.

Forward: Peter Morgan

Speaking of statistics, three goals and zero assists isn’t the most impressive game Peter Morgan’s put up so far this year. One month into a breakout season, the middle Morgan currently leads the Jax in goals despite missing some time due to injury, and on Saturday night those three goals accounted for 1/3 of Portland’s offensive output in their 9-8 win over the Boston Blazers. And that third goal? The OT winner, wouldn’t you know it. Much like his Lumberjack counterpart Matt Disher the week before this one, Peter Morgan is a guy whose name is in the mix nearly every other week and a jump onto the Moneyballers chart was enough to reserve his spot in this one.

Transition: Curtis Hodgson

On Saturday afternoon the Edmonton Rush looked like a set of puppets that somebody forgot the strings to, and the San Jose Stealth sure didn’t do them any favours. While SJ undoubtedly has some of the deadliest offensive weapons in the league, the story of the day was the relentless transition game running roughshod over the Rush and amassing over 1/3 of the Stealth’s scoring. Hodgson is normally more of a pure D guy with footwork that could make a Bolshoi ballerina weep, but when he saw his transition opportunities he took them, to the tune of two goals and two assists. Add on to that the defensive wrangling that held the Rush to six goals plus the eight loosies he picked up and what we have here is the formula for a damn good game.

Defense: Matt Leveque

Read this and read it carefully because this is likely your last chance to ask this question about this player, so make it count: who?

Now that that’s out of your system, meet Matt Leveque, the very definition of a work-horse. In a line-up loaded with big names and a defense that had the scary Titans offense looking stumped it can be difficult to give one guy credit, but the endless work Leveque has obviously put in is paying off and he looks right at home with veteran studs like Gallant, Murray and Catton. To be able to get on top of an offense that features the likes of Powell, Maddalena, McLellan and Hall and still burn it to the bench after each one of his shifts like he’s in lane four of an olympic qualifier is impressive, but what’s even more impressive is picturing where his game is going to be just a few months from now.

Goalie: Andrew Leyshon

Ah, Andrew Leyshon. Watching him this past Saturday was like watching one of those high school movies where the main character takes off her glasses and — gasp! — it turns out that mousy nerd was a highly-paid and highly-beautiful Hollywood actress all along! Call me biased this week but I love nothing more than a back-up stepping in and stepping up, and by replacing the injured Gee Nash to hold the New York Titans to eight goals, Leyshon has done it by the books. This guy didn’t play a single game last season — he wasn’t even on a team — but he still had the skills to hold the Titans to two goals in the all-important fourth quarter while the Mammoth scored five and squealed off into the sunset with the win. And to say that Colorado needed that win? Well, I’d write more but I’ve got a Queen and David Bowie song stuck in my head, it’s the strangest thing.

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