NLL Insider

Andrew McBride (Photo: Cory Shannon)

Like former Calgary Roughnecks’ assistant and current Toronto Rock GM Terry Sanderson said during an interview on the Fan590 this past week, playing the kinda system he and Rock head coach Troy Cordingley instilled in Calgary, and now Toronto, is not the kind of D where you lean on a stud player or two.

It’s hard to centre one or two guys out when the entire machine needs to be clicking, sliding, and pressuring all on the same clock, directly off one another, on every shift. With that said though, there is a defensive leader at the top of the defending champs D depth charts, and his name is Andrew McBride, easily one of last year’s top pro defenders.

Many year felt last year that McBride and teammate Jeff Moleski not only excelled in the Necks’ athletic, high impact, constant pressure D, but their shutdown skills, tireless work on loosies, and on-floor leadership helped Calgary transform into the tightest defensive unit in pro ball.

Actually, it’d be pretty easy to make an argument that last year’s Roughnecks’ roster was one of the best defensive teams off all-time. Their 167 goals allowed was the fewest since the Colorado Mammoth put up the same numbers a year before, while their 10.44 goals allowed per game, another number shared by some recent stellar D’s, is the fewest since the Toronto Rock ruled the roost with Pat Coyle running their own end. Check out the league’s best ever goals against team numbers below…

The major trend coming outta the table above, and no knock on the award winners mentioned (defintiely some very deserving names listed), very rarely is the league’s stingiest defensive unit awarded any year-end-hardware. The streak obviously continued last year with the Roughies getting shutout of even a second-team All-Pro mention.

So while the accolades haven’t come pouring in for guys like McBride or Moleski in recent years, the two Calgary defenders are probably fine with the other piece of gold they took home on the last day of the season this past year.

# (last year)
18 (NR) Andrew McBride, Calgary Roughnecks
19 (NR) Rhys Duch, Washington Stealth
20 (31) Chris White, Buffalo Bandits
21 (42) Matt Vinc, Orlando Titans
22 (25) Pat Maddalena, Orlando Titans
23 (NR) Jeff Moleski, Calgary Roughnecks
24 (34) Kyle Sweeney, Philadelphia Wings
25 (15) Scott Self, Minnesota Swarm
26 (NR) Dan Teat, Philadelphia Wings
27 (5) Jeff Zywicki, Washington Stealth
28 (38) Brian Langtry, Colorado Mammoth
29 (44) Shawn Evans, Rochester Knighthawks
30 (41) Jeff Shattler, Calgary Roughnecks
31 (NR) Dane Dobbie, Calgary Roughnecks
32 (NR) Merrick Thomson, Philadelphia Wings
33 (NR) Daryl Veltman, Boston Blazers
34 (NR) Ian Hawksbee, Edmonton Rush
35 (NR) Phil Sanderson, Toronto Rock
36 (11) Ryan Cousins, Minnesota Swarm
37 (NR) Tyler Codron, Toronto Rock
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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