NLL Insider

Big game tonight between Ontario’s current two best when the Orangeville Northmen and Burlington Chiefs square-off at Central Arena on Drury. The two teams currently combine for a 28-4 record and sit within this week’s top three across the nation.

In fact, BC and Alberta see their best two clash this week too, while the race for the final spot in the BCJALL will play-out in what’s turning out to be this summer’s most explosive seven days of junior ball.

After the jump, check out who falls where on the heels of the post-season, and what remaining crucial regular season battles could determine some team’s playoff fate. Plus a couple polls for both BC and Alberta. Who ya got?!?!

1 (1) Orangeville Northmen 15-1-0
Past Week: 8-4 win over Whitby and 18-7 win over K-W
This Week: Mon. at Burlington, Fri. vs. Brampton and Sun. vs. Akwesasne
Top scorer: Adam Jones 10-28-34-62
Starting keeper: Nick Rose 580Mins, 6.21GAA, .844SV%
Pivotal game… Well it’s either gonna be tonight’s clash against the Chiefs or Friday night’s rematch against the recently restocked Excels. Both teams are definitely close enough to the Northmen that a couple late season losses could drop O’Ville from their #1 rank in the country. After their clashes with both Burlington and Brampton, all the Horn Heads have left on their docket are games versus sub-500 teams. Wins against their closest rivals this week will all but wrap up that first seed and home floor advantage in the playoffs.

2 (2) Coquitlam Adanacs18-1-0
Past Week: 12-11 win over New West, 12-4 win over Burnaby and 11-10 win over Nanaimo
This Week: Sat. at Delta and Sun. vs. Victoria
Top scorer: Robert Church 17-40-53-93
Starting keeper: Dan Lewis 801Mins, 6.89GAA, .840SV%
Pivotal game… The Adanacs have seemingly had that first seed locked up for a little while now, but knocking off the Bellies in that nail bitter last week definitely put things on ice. Last year Coquitlam went into the playoffs looking like they mighta been lacking some confidence, so a win to shut things down against Victoria in exactly seven days would definitely be big heading into the post-season. The game might not matter in the standings, but trust, it matters. Biggest question in the Adanacs’ camp with two left might be, who’ll win the scoring title, rookie Robert Church or Trevor Moore, sitting at 93 and 92 points respectively.

3 (4) Burlington Chiefs 13-3-0
Past Week: 13-10 win over Six Nations and 17-10 win over St. Catharines
This Week: Mon. vs. Orangeville, Tues. at Whitby and Fri. at Peterborough
Top scorer: Ryan Learn 15-25-39-64
Starting keeper: Gary Muzzin 500Mins, 9.11GAA, .690SV% and Cam Watts 424Mins, 8.49GAA, .803SV%
Pivotal game… Two great results last week, but right now, tonight’s all that matters. If you are anywhere near the Halton area, do yourself a favor and hit up Central Arena in Burlington, tonight’s clash should be epic. A win, and the Chiefs put themselves in the running for the franchise’s first ever regular season crown (Chiefs previous best finish was fourth in ‘98). A loss, and the Northmen all but have #1 in bag.

4 (5) Six Nations Arrows 12-6-0
Past Week: 13-10 loss to Burlington, 15-10 win over Whitby and 10-9 win over Brampton
This Week: Fri. at Mississauga, Sat. vs. Akwesasne
Top scorer: Randy Staats 18-29-43-72
Starting keeper: Randy Johnson 965Mins, 7.96GAA, .774SV%
Pivotal game… The Arrows actually had one of, if not the most, front heavy schedules in ‘09, so not to discredit any remaining teams they see over the next couple weeks, but the Arrows should win-out unless they don’t “show up”. One game that probably will be pretty easy to get up for though, will be their rematch with the Warriors, who dumped them 11-9 back on the 16^th. They can still potentially catch the Chiefs or Excels, but first is outta the mix for the boys in orange.

5 (3) Brampton Excelsiors 13-3-0
Past Week: 12-4 win over Toronto and 10-9 loss to Six Nations
This Week: Tues. at Peterborough, Fri. at Orangeville and Sun. vs. Mississauga
Top scorer: Andrew Potter 16-37-53-90
Starting keeper: Steve Fryer 610Mins, 6.10GAA, .861SV%
Pivotal game… That 10-9 loss to Six Nations probably wasn’t part of the plan, but unless the wheels really fall off right now, the Excels should be sitting at either two or three when all is said and done. Of their last six games, they do have a pretty tough sked starring them in the face. They see Orangeville this week and then the second place Chiefs next, two games that define pivotal. They also see both Peterborough and Whitby, two teams with all their manpower finally on deck, and two teams that should make this year’s post-season first round matchups very interesting. As reported by Ted Jenner last week, the Excels also picked up high scoring Delta Islanders’ forward Jason Jones, and hard hitting Nanaimo defender, Matt Wray. All the guys Brampton brought aboard in recent weeks are definitely quality, but will they jell in time for the post-season, and more importantly, the Minto? Could be one of the post-season’s biggest story lines this year.

6 (7) Victoria Shamrocks 15-5-0
Past Week: 11-7 win over Nanaimo, 15-9 win over Port Coquitlam and 9-8 win over New West
This Week: Sun. at Coquitlam
Top scorer: Matt Yager 19-21-48-69
Starting keeper: Adam Hickey 705Mins, 8.43GAA, .792SV%
Pivotal game… Only one game left on their regular season sked, and it’s a doozy, the 18-1 Adanacs. First place isn’t doable anymore, but a win over Coquitlam would be really nice to have heading into the playoffs. Timely rebound week over the past seven days, the Shamrocks heating up right when it matters most. Some big goals from their name brand O guys, plus some nice secondary scoring in the New West win. Either way, they’ve shored up second place and will have a nice rest before their playoffs kick-off. It was gut check time over the past week, and the Rocks definitely answered the bell… CHARACTER.

7 (6) New Westminster Salmonbellies 11-7-1
 Past Week: 12-11 loss to Coquitlam, 17-8 win over Port Coquitlam and 9-8 loss to Victoria
This Week: Tues. vs. Langley and Thurs. at Langley
Top scorer: Kevin Crowley 14-33-34-67
Starting keeper: Neil Tyacke 972Mins, 9.51GAA, .789SV%
Pivotal game… Even if they somehow drop both games to Langley to close-out their year, third place and a first round match-up against someone like Nanaimo or Delta (technically even PoCo) is a definite at this point. The Bellies really went into last week with some serious momentum, but again will finish behind Coquitlam and Victoria in the standings after a 1-2 week. How do they look against the teams they might see in the first round… Nanaimo 2-1, Delta 3-0 and PoCo 2-0-1.

8 (9) St. Catharines Athletics 11-6-0
Past Week: 17-10 loss to Burlington, 11-6 win over Mississauga and 8-7 win over K-W
This Week: Wed. vs. Barrie
Top scorer: Joey Resetarits 17-34-36-70
Starting keeper: Zach Bowen 692Mins, 9.11GAA, .783SV%
Pivotal game… No real pivotal games this week outside of a game against the Lakeshores mid-week, but with four games in just a seven day span to close-out the season, the Athletics will no doubt have their work cut out for them, especially considering they’ll be playing Burlington (who crushed this 17-10 last week) and Peterborough, who might be able to sneak up on St. Kitts if they’re not careful. Potter might be gone, but rumour is, these guys are far from giving up.

9 (10) Burnaby Lakers 10-10-0
Past Week: 12-4 loss to Coquitlam, 11-4 win over Delta and 14-7 win over Langley
This Week: Sun. at Nanaimo
Top scorer: Riley Loewen 20-47-22-69
Starting keeper: Brodie MacDonald 740Mins, 9.08GAA, .803SV%
Pivotal game… They can’t catch the Bellies for third, but still can have Delta pass them over if things don’t shake out right. Nanaimo, who they see on Sunday, could also be fighting for their post-season lives depending on how things pan out during the week, so the Lakers’ close-out could definitely have a playoff like feel already. And although they don’t involve the Lakers, some really big games between Nanaimo, Delta and PoCo this week that should be classics considering how valuable two points are this week.

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10 (8) Calgary Raiders 11-4-0
Past Week: No games
This Week: Sat. at Eclipse and Sun. vs. Miners
Top scorer: Casey MacIntyre 15-13-33-46
Starting keeper: Adam Schutte 459Mins, 4.70GAA, .876SV% and Greg Hallett 443Mins, 6.91GAA, .830SV%
Pivotal game… The Raiders have a bit more down time before their next one, but with two against the Eclipse (July 4^th and 12^th), pivotal doesn’t even begin to describe things. The Raiders and Eclipse have been virtually neck-and-neck all year, and now that the Mounties are winning consistently, we could see an insane log jam at the top of the charts at this time next week. Who’ll take that first seed? Let us know below.

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