NLL Insider

Luke Wiles (Photo: Graig Abel)

Although his overall numbers dipped a bit while in Toronto versus that off the charts 82-point season he had not so long ago in San Jose, Luke Wiles is still one of the most lethal snipers and most natural goal scorers in the game today.

Over his junior career with the Orillia Rama Kings and St. Catharines Athletics, Wiles left the loop with an almost unheard of 205-goals. That’s more goals than Cody Jamieson, Shawn Evans, Tom Marechek, Gavin Prout and Ryan Benesch, all junior scoring legends, accumulated over their time playing Jr. A ball.

In fact, only four current active pro players had scored more times than Wiles while playing junior lacrosse, that small group consisting of Scott Evans, Josh Sanderson, John Grant and the unretired Gary Gait. No other player currently in the NLL puched more twine under the age of 22 than the future hall of famers just mentioned, and of course Wiles.

Although Wiles’ best season is still hands down his first full year with the Stealth, he did still manage to set a career best 33-goal mark in ‘09, which also came with by far his most shots taken too, his 212-shots fourth highest in the NLL last year.

Wiles crashed the WLA ranks this summer after spending his entire Sr. A career with the Barrie Lakeshores, hooking up with now former Rock teammate Lewis Ratcliff in Victoria, the two finishing with a combined 191-points, 54 more total points than they posted together with the Rock.

This winter Wiles will find himself on the floor with another high scoring, high profile Shamrock, NLL ‘09 rookie of the year Rhys Duch, who finished second overall in WLA scoring this summer, creating one helluva an O force with Luke and Lewis.

Although things seemingly didn’t work out as planned in Toronto, Everett fans will no doubt love having Wiles back in the Stealth family, his determinatin, skill and work ethic making him one of the sport’s most exciting and dynamic players.

Fact: The last time Victoria, or really any other club, had three ball players jammed so high at the top of the WLA scoring charts? Although their combined total falls about 20-points short of this year’s Vic trio of Wiles, Ratcliff and Duch, the last time Victoria had as many as three players ranked that high in the charts was in ‘01, when Ted Dowling, Kaleb Toth and Chris Panos all found themselves within the top seven scorers in the province. The last time two players from the same team sat 1-and-2 like Lewis and Duch this season? Coincidentally, it was a couple Shamrocks again, Dowling and Rick Brown the top scoring snipers in ‘94. Although most pro fans probably don’t recognize the name Rick Brown, Brown is set to be inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame, alongside Wiles’ current pro GM and President, Johnny Mouradian.

# (last year)
38 (33) Luke Wiles, Washington Stealth
39 (47) Steve Toll, Rochester Knighthawks
40 (19) Blaine Manning, Toronto Rock
41 (37) Sean Pollock, Minnesota Swarm
42 (NR) Mike Carnegie, Calgary Roughnecks
43 (NR) Scott Stewart, Edmonton Rush
44 (NR) Kaleb Toth, Calgary Roughnecks
45 (NR) Matt Disher, Edmonton Rush
46 (23) Ryan Ward, Edmonton Rush
47 (NR) Kyle Ross, Boston Blazers
48 (NR) Matt King, Calgary Roughnecks
49 (NR) Mac Allen, Rochester Knighthawks
50 (NR) Nick Inch, Minnesota Swarm

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