NLL Insider

Even though the Orangeville Northmen and Coquitlam Adanacs sit one-two again this week, the rest of the rundown, due to some outta left field results, had a lot of movement in our third week of tracking the top teams in the nation.

Where does St. Catharines’ recent slide in the Ontario’s standings put them in the rankings? With the Raiders dumping the Eclipse last night, where does Alberta fit in? And what about those Six Nations Arrows, who seem almost unbeatable of late?

After the jump, check out this week’s top ten.

1 (1) Orangeville Northmen (10-1-0)
Past week: 10-6 win over Toronto, 9-5 win over Peterborough and 16-2 win over Akswesasne
This week: Tues. at Peterborough, Sat. vs. Burlington and Sun. vs. Barrie
Top scorer: Mat MacLeod 10-22-24-46
Starting goalie: Nick Rose 420Mins, 5.85GAA, .832SV%
The Northmen have continued to bury the opposition since that loss to St. Catharines a couple weeks back, demoing teams this past week with a combined score of 35-17, including an absolute mauling on Akwesasne last night. This week also marked the return of Adam Jones to the lineup, Jones scoring an impressive four goals and six assists in his first two starts back. And although NLL fans are several years away from catching a glimpse of him on pro rugs, Cody McMahon (yes, son of current Colorado head coach, Bob McMahon), is playing some call-up ball with the Northmen this year, grabbing two-and-two in the Indians game on Sunday. McMahon has already received a ton of national attention playing for Team Ontario, last year averaging almost 2.5Pts per game at the Midget Nationals in Calgary, which Ontario won.

2 (2) Coquitlam Adanacs (13-1-0)
Past week: 19-7 win over Langley, 18-8 win over Port Coquitlam and 11-9 win over Burnaby
This week: Wed. vs. Delta and Sat. at Victoria
Top scorer: Robert Church 12-29-38-67
Starting goalie: Dan Lewis 667Mins, 7.20GAA, .835SV%
The Adanacs continue to rip through the league, twice this past week almost touching the 20 goal plateau in a single game. They had a tough one against a slightly new-look Lakers squad, who incidentally picked up Mitch Dibblee, Michael King, and Ray Hodgkinson from Langley last week, but between Robert Church and Corbyn Tao’s combined eight goals, and Dan Lewis‘ typical solid play between the pipes, the Adanacs not surprisingly found a way to win yet again. We’ll repeat, even though expectations were probably a lot lower than what was expected from last year’s squad, this year’s Adanacs team is playing flat out better ball. They’re skilled, but also play an up tempo, athletic style of ball that is creating issues for virtually everyone in the province.

3 (6) Six Nations Arrows (9-3-0)
Past week: 11-8 win over St. Catharines, 10-5 win over Barrie and 13-7 win over Burlington
This week: Tues. at Whitby, Fri. at Brampton and Sun. vs. Peterborough
Top scorer: Randy Staats 12-19-28-47
Starting goalie: Randy Johnson 615Mins, 6.93GAA, .792SV%
Few thought the Arrows would be anywhere near where they’ve played over the past couple years, but with some minor tweaks, inspired play and some players really stepping up and taking accountability, the Arrows are once again one of the best teams in the entire country (gasp, with no Cody Jamieson no less). Two huge high profile wins this week against the A’s and Chiefs catapulted them to the top of this week’s rankings, behind only Ontario and BC’s one-loss kings. Everything seems to be falling into place for the Arrows right now, including their American imports playing solid, Maryland’s Grant Catalino riding a three game scoring streak, which has seen him tagged with the game winner in the team’s past two wins. They’re baaaaack.

4 (8) Victoria Shamrocks (12-3-0)
Past week: 7-4 win over Burnaby and 16-7 win over Langley
This week: Sat. vs. Coquitlam and Sun. at New Westminster
Top scorer: Karsen Leung 13-29-28-57
Starting goalie: Greg Krstic 481Mins, 9.60GAA, 769SV% and Adam Hickey 414Mins, 8.84GAA, .795SV%
A big rebound weekend for the Shamrocks, who not only got a bit of revenge over Burnaby, they spent the next day beating up on Langley too. Really great game by keeper Adam Hickey in the Lakers win, including a second period where the London, Ontario native allowed just two goals on 17 shots, locking up a number of the Lakers’ top snipers. The return of a full-time Micahel Pires to Victoria’s everyday lineup is also huge. Pires, who previous to this weekend had played just once for the Shamrocks after making a special trip to be in their lineup against Coquitlam back in May, scored six on the weekend and is hands down one of the most dangerous O guys not only in BC, but all of Canada. Really tough weekend coming up against the Adanacs and Bellies. The results of those two meetings will factor heavily into next Monday’s countdown.

5 (7) Burlington Chiefs (10-2-0)
Past week: 10-9 win over Brampton, 17-10 win over Whitby, 13-6 win over K-W and 13-7 loss to Six Nations
This week: Wed. vs. Toronto and Sat. at Orangeville
Top scorer: Ryan Learn 11-17-26-43
Starting goalie: Gary Muzzin 409Mins, 9.22GAA, .665SV%
We actually missed listing one of their games last week, and said that getting two wins outta a pretty tough stretch would be a positive, but the Chiefs ended up going 3-1, beating a tough Brampton team earlier in the week, their only blemish, the loss to the Arrows last night (a reoccurring theme for most teams running into the Arrows lately). They’ve been getting good minutes from backup tender Cameron Watts, who’s played a big role for the team in June. Come playoff time, the Chiefs will need consistent big game performances from their big time players, if not, they’ll see more results like we saw last night. Don’t get too hung up on that Six Nations loss though, cuz at 10-2, this team is still as real and serious as a heart attack in ‘09.

6 (4) Brampton Excelsiors (9-2-0)
Past week: 10-9 loss to Burlington and 9-5 win over St. Catharines
This week: Wed. at St. Catharines, Fri. vs. Six Nations and Sat. vs. Akwesasne
Top scorer: Michael Burke 11-19-20-39
Starting goalie: Steve Fryer 430Mins, 5.58GAA, .867SV%
The Excels’ week? One tough, close loss to a good team, and one pretty convincing win over a team many felt could have been ranked #1 last week at this time. Had it not been for some penalty trouble in the middle of the game against Burlington, some felt they woulda won that game. One guy we completely missed the other week when looking at prospects already in the pro game, is Pat Saunders, who is splitting duties this summer between the Excels and Halton Hills Bulldogs. Saunders, a Rochester Knighthawks’ dispersal draft pick (Chicago entry draft pick), was arguably the best player in the B loop last year, and has been a real force with Brampton this summer. Pat is averaging almost 3.5Pts per so far with the Excels, and absolutely exploded on the scoresheet last week against the Chiefs (5G, 2A). The Arthur native also has 59Pts in 17 games with the 14-2-1 Bulldogs.

7 (5) New Westminster Salmonbellies (8-4-1)
Past week: 15-15 tie against Port Coquitlam
This week: Tues. vs. Burnaby, Sat. at Delta and Sun. vs. Victoria
Top scorer: Kevin Crowley 9-26-26-52
Starting goalie: Neil Tyacke 602Mins, 9.87GAA, .786SV%
A quiet week, which only included a tie, sinks the Bellies a couple spots while the Adanacs and Shamrocks pushed forward with some really good results. This week is obviously a big one and will no doubt have a direct result on who sits where (and gets a first round post-season bye) at the end of the regular season. A couple younger guys we haven’t talked much about for the Bellies are Jordan Catton and Brandon Goodwin, both of whom are contributing considerably for New West behind guys some in the mainstream might consider a bit more high profile. Both ball players, along with current top Money Baller, Tyler Digby, have experienced big success with New West’s field lacrosse team, who have dominated at the highest level in both the US and Canada. Tons of good young depth on this Bellies’ team many outside of BC are just starting to learn about. There’s a very good, deep nucleus growing in New West.

8 (3) St. Catharines Athletics (8-4-0)
Past week: 11-8 loss to Six Nations and 9-5 loss to Brampton
This week: Wed. vs. Brampton and Sun. vs. Akwesasne
Top scorer: Andrew Potter 11-28-40-68
Starting goalie: Zach Bowen 501Mins, 9.10GAA, .783SV%
Not really the greatest week for the A’s. The Athletics are on a worrying three game slide since their heroic win over the Northmen, dropping games to both the Arrows and Excels this past week. With just 13 goals over their past two, the A’s scoring has disappeared in dramatic fashion, especially late in the game. St. Catharines has been outscored 13-5 in the third period during this winless streak, the opposite issue the team was having to start the year, when they poured it on late after slow, sputtering starts (but still winning). Consistency has hurt the A’s of late and shot them down ladder. A fourth straight loss could be a real back breaker during a season they looked primed to challenge the Northmen for the OLA, and even Minto, crown.  Check out the St. Catharines Standard’s great read on b-ball back to lax convert Steve Priolo, a big part of the Athletic’s D in ‘09.

9 (NR) Calgary Raiders (9-3-0)
Past week: 8-5 loss to Jr. Mounties, 8-2 win over Sr. Raiders and 13-6 win over Eclipse
This week: Wed. vs. Jr. Mounties, Thurs. at Jr. Mounties and Sat. vs. Jr. Miners
Top scorer: Jack Hayes 11-17-16-33
Starting goalie: Adam Schute 459Mins, 4.70GAA, .876SV% and Greg Hallett 263Mins, 7.07GAA, .828SV%
They dropped one to a recently very impressive Calgary Mountaineers team (who’ve beaten both the Raiders and Eclipse recently), but came out strong with impressive wins of their own, including a 13-6 win over the Eclipse, who ranked 10^th in last week’s national rundown (and actually have two earlier wins over Calgary this year). We’ll give Bruce Codd’s Raiders the slight edge in the battle of Alberta right now, but it’s seemingly very slight in one of the more competitive seasons the loop has seen in recent years. Like mentioned in NLL Insider’s Games of the Week post, the Raiders are serious about hardnosed, high pressure D this year, and it definitely seems to be paying off in the standings. This is definitely a new-look, new-attitude team that is miles better than what we saw last year. Should be a beauty rematch on Wednesday night against the Mounties.

10 (NR) Delta Islanders (6-7-1)
Past week: 17-7 win over Langley and 16-5 win over Nanaimo
This week: Wed. at Coquitlam, Sat. vs. New Westminster and Sun. vs. Nanaimo
Top scorer: Jason Jones 14-35-22-57
Starting goalie: Blake Duncan 553Mins, 10.09GAA, .779SV%
Although Burnaby had some high profile pickups off Langley last week, it’s the Delta Islanders who’ve really impressed outside of the big three of late, last week winning two games in dominating fashion, and the week previous, handing the at the time unbeaten Coquitlam Adanacs, their first and only loss of the season. Head coach Greg Rennie said before the year started that the team’s goal was to break into BC’s top four, and right now, the Islanders are there (Delta was just 6-15 in ‘08 and 5-16 in ‘07). The team is led by forward Jason Jones, who spent last year with New West, but is playing just lights out for the Islanders this summer. Also not to be forgotten is this week’s Player of the Week in BC, Carlton Schuss, who’s gritty, sometimes abrasive style is not only much needed on any team, it’s lead by example stuff that forces teammates to play to their potential. Will the Islanders win the Minto? Unlikely, but their honest play and recent success (minus that New West beatdown), is definitely worthy of mention in the National Rankings this week.

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