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Saskatchewan Rush New England Black Wolves NLL 2016 Photo: Khoi Ton
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NLL Playoff Race – And Then There Were Two

Editor’s Note: Thanks to the help of the innovative team at SISU Guard, the Official Mouthguard of the NLL, we’ve beefing up our National Lacrosse League coverage! We hope you enjoy our look at the 2016 NLL season through a new lens with the aid of our partner SISU!

The NLL Playoff race is as tight as it can be with only two tickets left to the postseason dance. In the words of the popular Jonathan Smith, “Turn down for what?”

My partner in crime, Ryan Conwell, will handle the first and last recap and I’ll handle the other three. Read on, my friends.

Sask Rush (10-4) @ NE Black Wolves (8-5)

1 2 3 4 TOTAL
Saskatchewan 6 2 3 2 13
N England 1 3 4 6 14
SOG SOFF LB FO PPG
52 26 68 13-31 4-5
46 27 66 18-31 5-5

Quick Thoughts

  • New England clinched a playoff spot
  • Saskatchewan did not clinch home field
  • New England is a scary fourth quarter team

You really have to hand it to the Black Wolves. They play in one of the smaller arenas in the league, but they know how to give the fans there a show. This game was just another in a series of home games for the Black Wolves that ended with a late fourth quarter surge to tie or win.  The Rush owned this game from a dominant first quarter all the way until there was less than five minutes left on the clock.

Saskatchewan Notes

Saskatchewan Rush New England Black Wolves NLL 2016 Photo: Khoi Ton
Photo: Khoi Ton

The Rush came out fast by reeling off 7 of the first 8 goals in the match. Unfortunately for them, they did not do much after that.  They did not go quiet, but really just traded jabs with the Black Wolves for most of the game until the fourth quarter rolled around. The Rush went into the final frame up 11-8, but I would never suggest they felt safe with that lead. The Black Wolves shooters just became too much for the Rush from that point on.

The leading scorer for the Rush was none other than Mark Matthews and his nine-point effort. Robert Church was a close second with eight while Zack Greer had six of his own.  The Rush were also very efficient with their extra man opportunities off of powerplays and pulling the goalie. These opportunities yielded five goals on five penalties and one extra man goal.

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Aaron Bold did not have a banner evening in net for the Rush and finished just under 70% in terms of save percentage.  They did get their standard couple of goals out of transition and Kyle Rubisch led the team with four caused turnovers.  Thing really came apart for the Rush at the very end where they allowed four goals in just five minutes of clock time. Their offense was never able to close that deficit, so once New England gained their first lead of the game with just three minutes left, the Rush were not able to answer back.

The loss delayed home field advantage for the Rush by another week.  Fortunately for them, the Mammoth lost on Sunday, so they didn’t fall behind Colorado in the race for the top seed.  With two games coming up against the Mammoth, those two teams can decide head to head who deserves the top spot in the division.

New England Notes

Saskatchewan Rush New England Black Wolves NLL 2016 Photo: Khoi Ton
Photo: Khoi Ton

The biggest thing leading to New England’s win was their very efficient powerplay. While their offense is one of the best in the league, and the Rush’s defense is THE best, the New England powerplay had the edge. The Rush only had five penalties all game, but New England scored on every one of them, including the game tying goal.

Their leader on offense of course was once again Shawn Evans. His nine points keeps him on pace to beat his NLL record from 2015 by a single point, with 131.  Kevin Crowley was just behind him with seven points of his own, followed by Jordan Hall (6), Kyle Buchanan (6), Pat Saunders (4), and Kevin Buchanan (2). Scoring 14 points with that sort of distribution is a great sign for the Black Wolves. When all six of their primary offensive weapons are recording multiple point nights, it’s a great thing.

Saskatchewan Rush New England Black Wolves NLL 2016 Photo: Khoi Ton
Photo: Khoi Ton

The defense for the Black Wolves held the Rush just a bit under their season average. Their defensive transition game was virtually non-existent, which shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone playing the Rush. Bill O’Brien recorded his first point of the season, but Brett Bucktooth was the only defender who even recorded a shot.  Tye Belanger had the start in goal, but was pulled pretty quickly in the midst of the Rush’s scoring run in the first quarter. Evan Kirk came in and really had a  good effort for the remainder of the evening.

The win locked up a playoff bid for the Black Wolves, but they still need to play for home field rights.  They will have at least one game for sure, but they want to beat out Buffalo for the top overall seed in the East to host the division finals. They also have a legitimate shot at the best record in the NLL if they win out and get a little bit of help in fending off the Rush and Mammoth.  This is a world of difference when compared to their season a year ago.

NE Black Wolves (9-5) @ Toronto Rock (4-7)

1 2 3 4 TOTAL
N England 4 4 2 4 14
Toronto 3 1 2 4 10
SOG SOFF LB FO PPG
61 18 65 13-38 5-7
60 18 85 15-38 3-7

Quick Thoughts

  • The win clinched the Wolves’ playoff berth
  • Shawn Evans 1st player to record 100+ points for 4 consecutive seasons
  • The Rock are still not out of the race

The New England Black Wolves rolled into the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on a high after taking down the top team in the Western Conference and going 5-5 on the powerplay the night before at home. Toronto was returning home from a close win over the Stealth and fighting to make a playoff rally. Over ten-thousand fans packed the arena for a game that meant a lot more to the New Englanders by the time it was all said and done.

New England Notes

NLL 2016 New England Black Wolves Toronto Rock Photo: Graig Abel
Photo: Graig Abel

Kevin Crowley didn’t wait to get the party started, getting hooked up with Shawn Evans’ first of five assists less than a minute into the game. Toronto would retaliate with a couple of goals in the first two minutes before Crowley would strike again, this time on the powerplay.  Crowley finished his hat trick in the second quarter, picking up four total points. Evans would continue to lead his team with a pair of goals, on top of all of the helpers, and he led the team in loose balls with nine. Talk about an MVP.

Pat Saunders was also feeling it on Saturday, scoring his first goal and both assists in the second quarter before registering two powerplay goals in the second half. Nine different Wolves scored in the game, with solo shots from Kevin Buchanan, Brett Bucktooth, Zac Reid, Jordan Hall and Sheldon Burns. That’s a good look for this team as they charge into the last couple games with their heads down, hungry for that one-seed.

NLL 2016 New England Black Wolves Toronto Rock Photo: Graig Abel
Photo: Graig Abel

After a slow first quarter, Evan Kirk stepped up his game by registering double-digit saves in the following three. Fifty saves on sixty shots is something serious and the guy leads the NLL with a .793 save average. Defense and transition weren’t amazing and they got outworked on the loose ball game, but they found a way to get the job done. They’ve got two games over two weeks against the Georgia Swarm, desperately clawing at the chance to get in. They’re only a single game back now from the Bandits, the bye is so close they can almost smell it. I am so excited to watch these men play the best lacrosse of their lives over the next three weeks, they are the team to keep an eye on right now.

Toronto Notes

NLL 2016 New England Black Wolves Toronto Rock Photo: Graig Abel
Photo: Graig Abel

Well, we can’t count the Rock out of the post-season dance just yet. Technically no one has been eliminated from the dance, but the Toronto group is going to need to win out and get some help from some Rochester and Georgia losses. Although it didn’t get than any closer to the postseason, there were still some positives coming out of the loss. Leading the production on offense was Kasey Biernes, with a goal in the second, third and fourth quarters. Biernes gathered four total points, but he wasn’t the only one, Rob Hellyer and Turner Evans matched feet, Hellyer with a pair of goals and Evans with one. Stephan Leblanc got on the board twice and Kevin Ross was the last forward to score a fresh goal.

Nick Rose was as good as he needed to be all night long, finishing with a .783 average and ten to thirteen saves per quarter. Big, bad Brodie Merrill scored his fourth goal of the season, they won the face-off game and they outworked their opponents on twenty extra loose balls. The problem was the defense struggled to contain the stars on the other end of the floor while getting scored on by nine different guys. Both teams committed an unnecessary sixteen minutes of penalty time and the Rock got charged for five of them and a shorthanded goal. Jeff Gilbert and Brock Sorenson played well on defense and in transition, grabbing a ton of loosies and applying heavy pressure.

NLL 2016 New England Black Wolves Toronto Rock Photo: Graig Abel
Photo: Graig Abel

The hardest pill to swallow for Toronto supporters is their playoff hopes are riding on them winning not one, but two games against the Bandits this weekend. Let raise a toast to the Rock, the team that needs nothing short of a miracle to keep their hopes alive.

Rochester Knighthawks (6-8) @ Buffalo Bandits (10-4)

1 2 3 4 TOTAL
Rochester 1 5 2 4 12
Buffalo 4 2 3 5 14
SOG SOFF LB FO PPG
48 19 74 15-29 2-2
49 22 79 14-29 0-2

Quick Thoughts

  • Dhane Smith is a record breaker
  • Bandits have a guaranteed home-game in the playoffs
  • The Knighthawks are still a couple scenarios away from a clinch

Our Game of the Week turned out to be all that and a bag of Funyuns. The Thruway Rivalry was locked at twelves for six whole minutes in the fourth quarter, with seventeen-thousand Banditland faithful loosing their voices for the home team. After it was all said in done, in the win Dhane Smith set the Bandits franchise record for goals in a season at fifty-eight and points in a season at one hundred and sixteen. Dang, son.

Rochester Notes

NLL 2016 Buffalo Bandits Rochester Knighthawks Photo: Bill Whippert
Photo: Bill Whippert

Nine different Knighthawks scored, showing that the offense finally doesn’t have to go through just a couple of sticks. Three of those goals came in transition from defensemen Scott Campbell, Brad Self and rookie Brad Gillies, his career first. Also scoring their first goals, Ty Thompson score the first of his career and Josh Gillam buried his first goal in Hawks colors. Going full throttle, Cody Jamieson continued to lead his team, hitting three goals and helping on two assists yet Dan Dawson actually led the team in points with two goals and five assists. The team’s other two goals were scored by Joe Walters and young gun Quinn Powless.

NLL 2016 Buffalo Bandits Rochester Knighthawks Photo: Bill Whippert
Photo: Bill Whippert

The defense stayed aggressive but out of the sin bin and if their goals didn’t vouch for their effort, their limitation of Smith’s support staff should be worth some credit. Matt Vinc did his job between the pipes, stopping 88% of what he faced but making only six games on ten shots in the first quarter would come back to bite him where it hurts. At the draw circle, Dylan Evans was really tough against Buffalo’s star Thorimbert, winning fifteen of his twenty-nine takes.

This weekend they get Georgia in the Blue Cross the night after the bees take on the red-hot Black Wolves. They can clinch that last playoff spot with win this weekend if Georgia loses to New England and Toronto loses just one of their games against Buffalo. The Hawks won multiple championships after mediocre regular seasons, if they can just get in, they’ll have the chance at winning their fourth of the last five Champion’s Cups. Come on, gang! You’re so close!

Buffalo Notes

NLL 2016 Buffalo Bandits Rochester Knighthawks Photo: Bill Whippert
Photo: Bill Whippert

Score on the first two shots of the game, Anthony Malcolm and Dhane Smith got that Bandits off to a nice lead less than a minute into the game. The Hawks would find one before Smith would finish his hat trick to close out the quarter. In the second frame, Ryan Benesch hit his only goal of the night before Rochester rang the Bandits up for four consecutive scores. None other than Dhane Smith answered with two consecutive goals to close out the first quarter. Jay Thorimbert would do his part to recapture the lead, but they would get hit for one more to go into the half tied at six.

Alex Kedah-Hill and David Brock scored their only goals of the night in the third with another one from Great Dhane. Malcolm picked up his second goal along with Dhane Smith’s fifth and final goal/point. Defenseman Steve Priolo scored his first of the game before they let the Hawks go on a four goal run to tie the game at twelve. Kevin Brownell showed up with a minute and a half left to take the lead before Priolo could throw one in the empty-net to push the lead to sixteen, closing out the win.

Going off on the loose ball game, rookie Mitch de Snoo grabbed sixteen from the turf and caused another three turnovers for the defense. In net, Anthony Cosmo went 75% on 48 shots although he almost let it slip with only five save and four goals against in the fourth. Luckily the defense was on top of it, able to pull things together for the win. The caused nineteen total turnovers led by Thorimbert’s four. The return of their trusty face-off man brought new life to the whole group and although he went slightly under .500 on draws, his defensive effort and two points were clutch for the Bandits.

NLL 2016 Buffalo Bandits Rochester Knighthawks Photo: Bill Whippert
Photo: Bill Whippert

They’ll meet the Knighthawks again soon, but first they’ve got a home and away set with the desperate Toronto Rock next weekend. They should be able to put the Rock away, but with playoff hopes still alive, you can’t rule them out. Still averaging over eight points per game, Smith should be a shoo in for MVP, but they don’t have the Cup just yet. There’s just four more games, over three weeks, to prove their the best team in the Eastern Conference.

Vancouver Stealth (3-11) @ Calgary Roughnecks (7-9)

1 2 3 4 TOTAL
Vancouver 3 2 2 5 12
Calgary 1 7 6 2 16
SOG SOFF LB FO PPG
49 24 75 10-32 2-4
57 18 93 22-32 3-4

Quick Thoughts

  • Calgary isn’t out of the water yet
  • …and Vancouver isn’t dead either!
  • Curtis Dickson wins games

Nearly thirteen-thousand lacrosse fans shuffled into the Scotiabank Saddledome to cheer their Roughnecks on for their second to last home game of 2016, on fan-favorite Star Wars night. A win meant getting that much closer to the playoffs for the Roughnecks and the creation of a do or die scenario for the Stealth. A late Vancouver run would never match the second and third quarter efforts by Dickson and company.

Vancouver Notes

Calgary Roughnecks Vancouver Stealth NLL 2016 Photo: Candice Ward
Photo: Candice Ward

It’s still puzzling as to why this team has been so consistently bad. The defense has had to carry the burden all season long and the only beacon of hope has been the powerplay unit which only found a way to connect on two of their four attempts. The guys that put up the points are the only bodies that they need to keep for their 2017 offense. Rhys Duch, Logan Schuss, Joel McCready and Corey Small all raked in two goals a piece, matched by two from rookie Keegan Bal, his first career goals. Small matched his season-high of eight points, Schuss with six and Duch with five. Rookie Jordan Durston and Thomas Hoggarth knocked down the only other goals of the game for the Stealth.

Calgary Roughnecks Vancouver Stealth NLL 2016 Photo: Candice Ward
Photo: Candice Ward

The back and forth goalie dance they were running really came back to hurt them. The backline started and finished strong but it was the thirteen goals they let in over two quarters that would seal the deal for the Riggers. Tyler Richards would end up saving twenty-seven of thirty-eight shots, coming in during the third, Eric Penney cleaned up with five goals against on nineteen shots. Taking the draw duties, Jarrett Toll struggled against former Stealth defender Tyler Burton, only winning ten of thirty-two attempts.

They face the Roughnecks again this weekend, this time in Vancouver. Although they have four games left to play, a loss to Calgary would mean the all hopes of a postseason would vanish. There is no more wiggle room, it’s do or die. They have to win all four of the final games and pray to whatever deities they believe in that the Roughnecks don’t win another game.

Calgary Notes

Calgary Roughnecks Vancouver Stealth NLL 2016 Photo: Candice Ward
Photo: Candice Ward

Doing what he does best, Curtis Dickson ran the show scoring four goals along with adding two assists and nine loose balls to the stat sheet. Dane Dobbie wasn’t far behind with a hat trick and a pair of assists for himself. The only other Roughneck to register multiple goals was Tyler Digby when he found his second goal on the powerplay in the third. Tyler Burton, Curtis Manning, Wes Berg, Scott Carnegie, Jon Harnett and Jeff Shattler all landed solo shots, proving that they really can be a well-rounded offense. They really played like they wanted it and that’s not easy against a team as desperate as Vancouver.

Calgary Roughnecks Vancouver Stealth NLL 2016 Photo: Candice Ward
Photo: Candice Ward

Mike Poulin has been the man since taking over the job, he finished the night with a .755 save percentage, making thirty-seven total saves. Continuing to do a bang-up job at the draw circle, Tyler Burton worked Toll, cleanly winning twenty-two of thirty-two takes and matching Scott Carnegie with a game-high ten loose balls. Outworking the Stealth on almost twenty loosies is pretty darn impressive, but they can’t slow their role now.

Win and in, baby, win and in! All they have to do is take down the Stealth just one more time and Calgary will be joining Colorado and Saskatchewan at the big kids’ table. The Force was with them on Saturday, with only two games left, they may want to hold onto those jerseys and rock them again for superstitions’ sake. Once they’re in, it’ll mark the fourteenth straight years that they made it to the postseason.

Colorado Mammoth (10-4) @ Georgia Swarm (5-9)

1 2 3 4 TOTAL
Colorado 4 1 2 3 10
Georgia 3 4 7 3 17
SOG SOFF LB FO PPG
46 12 60 15-31 4-7
56 14 84 16-31 5-5

Quick Thoughts

  • Georgia is saying alive in the playoff race
  • Colorado has to live to fight another day
  • Georgia was very balanced on offense

This game started out as a back and forth affair, but Georgia exploded in the third quarter with seven goals to take over.  They can thank a pair of Joey Cuipido penalties and one from Greg Downing for some extra opportunities there, but those goals were not the difference in this game. Georgia’s offense played the way fans want to see them play and their defense played tough and fast. The loss does not damage Colorado too much, but it does slow down their march to the playoffs.

Colorado Notes

While this wasn’t the Mammoth’s worst game of the year, it was not far off, either. You have to go back until early February to find a game where they Mammoth scored 10 goals or less and actually won.  Fortunately for the Mammoth, that means they only lost a single game since that February match against Saskatchewan.

The normally high-powered and efficient Mammoth offense was really grounded against the Swarm. Adam Jones has had games where it’s hard to believe he missed shots, but he scored “just” four goals on eighteen shots. I had to put just in quotation marks, because it’s ridiculous to knock a four goal performance in the NLL, but that’ just the type of year that Jones has been having. He’s scored that many goals on half as many shots.  Callum Crawford continue to be helper extraordinaire with seven assists to go with his one goal.  One would hope that when John Grant Jr. enters the lineup again, their fortunes will improve.

Colorado was not able to gain any breathing room in their race against the Rush for the top seed in the West. A win would not have clinched it, but it would have put them in the driver’s seat since the Rush lost in New England. They have two games against the Rush now, and end with Toronto and Vancouver. This this should an exciting playoff race up until the last week.

Georgia Notes

The word of the day for the Swarm was balance. They didn’t need an eight or nine point night out of anyone, but really leveraged everyone at their disposal.  Randy Staats, Lyle Thompson, Miles Thompson, Kiel Matisz, Jesse King, Shayne Jackson, Johnny Powless, Chad Tutton, and Jordan MacIntosh all had multiple points in the game.  Staats led the way with a hat trick and four assist Jackson was right behind him with two goals to go with another four assist.

Tutton and MacIntosh showed how lethal this team can be in transition as they combined for two goals and three assists.  Jason Noble also nabbed himself an assist to show up his brother Jeremy’s team, even though Jeremy is currently out on suspension. Brodie MacDonald turned in a more than respectable 78% save percentage which is even more impressive considering the offense he was going against.

In terms of playoffs, Georgia still has a hill to climb, but they’re in a good spot for that third ticket to the postseason. They sit just one game behind Rochester and one game ahead of the Rock. Unfortunately, they get two more games against New England, one against Rochester, and then end the season with Vancouver. They brought New England all the way until the final second in their last meeting, don’t write them off just yet. If they string together four games like this one, the Swarm should be playing in at least one more game this year.