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Toronto Rock Vancouver Stealth NLL 2016 Photo: Graig Abel
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NLL Report: Dickson Lifts Calgary From Bottom, East Remains Unchanged

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!

Positive and negative efforts in the Western Conference kicked up some talk around the league this week, we might as well start with some of the finer bullet points. First, another loss for the (3-7) Vancouver Stealth meant the departure of the head coach to make way for some fresh ideas with a track record of winning. Second, Curtis Dickson strapped up the backpack and did everything he could to secure a win for the Roughnecks this weekend, pulling them into the #3 spot in the West. Third, I think it’s worth noting that all-star net minder Aaron Bold got back on track this weekend with a commanding win over the Swarm by stopping 80% of what he faced.

Little to no movement was made in the Eastern Conference after the weekend’s fixtures. It’s safe to say it will remain the same, unless the Knighthawks win the only game of the weekend for the conference, which would then put them a place above the Black Wolves. But before we look ahead, I’ll cover the Friday and Sunday games and Ryan Conwell will drop knowledge about the Saturday night showdowns.

Roc. Knighthawks (4-5) @ Buffalo Bandits (7-4)

1 2 3 4 TOTAL
Rochester 2 2 3 3 10
Buffalo 3 2 3 5 13
SOG SOFF LB FO PPG
52 13 66 17-27 4-5
57 30 86 10-27 4-6

Quick Thoughts

  • I fear Dhane Smith watching from home
  • Both goalies were strong in net, each posting around 80% saves
  • Is there a better rivalry in the NLL?

Rochester Notes

The offense looked better Friday night against Buffalo than they did when the past few weeks where they’ve struggled to hit 10 points in a game, but it still wasn’t good enough as only 4 of the Knighthawks bench were able to find twine in the game, all of which were forwards. The transition team was no match for that of Buffalo, I can’t even recall them pushing for a single shot which didn’t help when the offense coming on the floor couldn’t buy a goal from Cosmo for long periods at a time.

Cody Jamieson rattled off 14 shots, only coming up successful twice along with 3 assists, ahead of the 10 shots on goal taken by both Cory Vitarelli and Stephen Keogh, who each walked away with a hat trick, Keogh with 2 assists and Vitarelli with 1. It was surprising to see production through Dan Dawson slowing down since it has been the only thing that was working, but it was obvious they needed to do something different to pull of better wins. Out of the 6 shots on cage Dawson ripped off, he was able to pull of 4 points from a pair of goals in the game. Only taking 4 attempts, sniper Joe Walters continues to struggle to find those big nights, bringing home just a couple of helpers.

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

In cage, Matt Vinc was near 79%, standing tall for all of regulation. Vinc posted no less than 10 saves in any given quarter, a stat we would love to get used to seeing out of the reigning NLL Goaltending MVP. Unfortunately it could have been better but the penalty kill unit was dragging in their first game of the weekend, only stopping 1 of 5 situations they got themselves into. The positive for the defense/transition was Dylan Evans winning 17 of 27 face-offs, all of the team’s attempts, buying possession time for the offense. Too bad for him, not enough sticks got the chance to see what they could do against a hungry Cosmo. Lucky for the entire team, they would have another shot at getting things to click just 48 hours after the loss.

Buffalo Notes

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

I don’t think anyone is honestly going to have a shot at slowing down the freight train that is Dhane Smith. He doesn’t just average 7 ppg, he achieve 7 ppg near every damn game with Friday night being no exception. From the first goal of the game and an assist on the second, the ball was cycling through Smith, not just to him, from the opening possessions. His hat trick was solidified in the 3rd quarter before putting in one more for good measure in the final frame. End the season now and I still give the MVP award to Dhane, it’s hard to believe that one man is making more of a difference to each and every game than Adam Jones, yet Smith has found a way to maintain the 7 ppg average a long with the 7-4 Bandits record.

Also having a big night, but hanging out in the shadows was Mark Steenhuis, throwing down a hat trick of his own along with a trio of assists coming to Smith and rookies Tyler Ferreria and Anthony Malcolm. In transition, Steve Priolo and Alex Kedoh-Hill both forced the ball down the floor on the Hawks and came up with a goal and assist. Making sure to give it his all for all 4 quarters, Ryan Benesch spread out his points over the game, collecting 2 goals and 4 assists to help the Bandits take home their 3rd win in a row.

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

Like I said, goaltending was a major factor in the game, despite both teams registering double-digit performances. Staying at the top of his game in 2016, Anthony Cosmo filled the net, stopping 42 shots on goal, most notably blocking 16 in the 2nd quarter. They get the week off before hosting a revamped Vancouver Stealth squad on the 25th, there’s not much to tune-up in the meantime, it will be all about using the rest to recharge and come back firing through their last 7 games.

Calgary Roughnecks (4-7) @ Toronto Rock (2-7)

1 2 3 4 TOTAL
Calgary 3 4 3 5 15
Toronto 2 2 3 3 10
SOG SOFF LB FO PPG
52 14 65 10-29 2-5
50 22 74 19-29 2-5

Quick Thoughts

  • Rock transition was strong, but came up with few points
  • We had two members of the 2016 Stealth on face-offs
  • Friday night lacrosse seems so perfect, doesn’t it?

With only one game on the docket for Calgary over the weekend, they needed to make it count if they were going to find a way out of the bottom seat in the Wester Conference. Toronto came into the game on a 2 game win streak and on the front half of a long home stretch. It turned out that over eight-thousand lacrosse fans on-hand in Ontario cheering on the Rock wouldn’t be the secret ingredient in a Toronto victory, as they remain all alone in the last spot in the NLL after 60 minutes.

Calgary Notes

Toronto Rock Calgary Roughnecks NLL 2016 Photo: Graig Abel

If Curtis Dickson had a supporting cast that played with a fraction of his energy, they would be neck and neck with the Mammoth for the top seed. I don’t mean to take anything away from the 9 goals the rest of the bench score for the win, but they’ve struggled all year to play their own game and not at the pace of their opponent. This was just the 3rd game of the season that wasn’t decided by 2 goals, or less. Superman Dickson was absolutely on fire, scoring 2 shorthanded goals, 1 powerplay goal, a between the legs twister and 2 other beauties spread evenly over 4 quarters.

If there’s another man on the team bringing the ruckus for a full 60-minutes it’s Mike Poulin. Despite his 2-3 record, Poulin is posting a near 80% save average, exactly where he finished the win over Toronto. I called for Poulin consistently through the early parts of the season and I’m glad he’s working out now between the pipes. Now out of that dreaded bottom seat, they can start to make up for those OT losses and tread water until they can make the playoffs.

The transition team has been playing the best we’ve seen out of Calgary. Dan MacRae is running the show with 13 points and 56 loose balls, 4 helpers coming in the last win. The rookie Tyson Bell continues to prove his worth to the organization. Bell buried the game’s first goal in transition and picked up an unassisted point in the 4th quarter on top of the team-high 9 loose balls. Pretty solid numbers for the rookie from St. Catherine’s, ON, that was playing for the first time in-front of his “home” crowd of family and friends. Karsen Leung is also bringing much more productivity to the table after not finding the net until week 8. This time around Leung finished with the hat trick, his first coming shorthanded in the 2nd quarter and the last two coming in succession, both on the empty net, in the last 2.5 minutes.

Toronto Rock Calgary Roughnecks NLL 2016 Photo: Graig Abel
Photo: Graig Abel

Wes Berg has been slowing down since getting a good jump on his rookie season. His one goal on Friday came in the 1st quarter, the only one he scored over the last two games. His tendency is to put the ball in Dickson’s stick, but he’s a shooter, they need to give him more than 5 or 6 shots per game. Tyler Digby has also started to lag in points production, but he was able to come away with a goal and pair of assists. Although he didn’t bury any of his 9 shots on goal, Jeff Shattler came up with 4 assists, a point under Dane Dobbie‘s 2 goal, 3 assist evening. Superman may be superhuman, but these last four names in bold need to a shot of confidence juice and start taking the pressure off of Dickson. If it’s not clicking early, change it up and let someone else rattle off a few, this team has weapons that I think they forget to use.

Toronto Notes

Things were so bright for the Rock heading into to Friday’s battle with the Necks. They were coming into the game with their chins held high after back-to-back signature wins, turning over a new leaf for the second half of the season. This would be game 3 of their 5 game home-stand and if they played their cards right, could have ended up in the playoff picture by the end of it. Unfortunately the Calgary offense showed up completely focused on the task at hand and ready to use the weekend to get themselves out of last place.

A rough first half for Nick Rose and the defense helped build the 7-4 deficit at halftime. Finishing with a .74% save average was still a positive touch, despite allowing 15 goals in the loss. Backup Brandon Miller was out due to illness, calling up Oakville Rock net-minder Steve Fryer, who saw a little over a minute of floor time but never faced a shot on goal.

Toronto Rock Calgary Roughnecks NLL 2016 Photo: Graig Abel
Photo: Graig Abel

Brett Hickey had a busy first half, scoring 3 of the team’s 4 goals, once on the powerplay and the other two assisted by quarterback Colin DoyleRob Hellyer would also find his name up in lights in the first quarter, but the consistent pressure from the Calgary offense was proving to be a heavy load for the Rock defense to carry. The Rock were handed 4 powerplay opportunities in the 1st half, yet could only score once and gave up 2 shorthanded points. It wasn’t much better in the 2nd half when the Riggers scored again shorthanded to wash out the lone powerplay goal for Toronto. Rose earned his 2nd point of the season on an assist to Rob Marshall in the 3rd frame and the Rock wouldn’t score until Josh Sanderson and Kasey Biernes would score 10 and 11 minutes later.

A pair of goals for Hellyer and a notch from Doyle wouldn’t be enough in the 4th quarter to match the effort of the Roughnecks offense led by a 7 point performance from Dickson that they didn’t have an answer to. When they even tried to over play Dickson, it was Leung and Dobbie making it a nightmare to limit the shot selection. On a positive note, Brad Kri won 19 of 29 draw attempts, a solid addition for the Rock since his mid-season addition.

NE Black Wolves (5-4) @ Roc. Knighthawks (5-5)

1 2 3 4 TOTAL
N. England 6 2 3 2 13
Rochester 1 9 3 4 17
SOG SOFF LB FO PPG
54 22 93 18-35 5-7
61 17 75 17-35 3-4

Quick Thoughts

  • New England’s defense is turning porous
  • Rochester’s pieces are coming together
  • The Eastern Division is as tight as ever

For New England, this game marked the first of three straight against Rochester. Rochester sees Georgia during New England’s bye week, so it will be interesting to see who is more fresh for the rematch. Rochester took this game by a dominant second quarter. New England really had Rochester stunned after the first, getting out to a quick 6-1 lead.  Rochester’s nine goal second quarter is was proved to be the difference in the game. This offensive explosion gave the home town fans a lot to cheer about.

New England Notes

Rochester Knighthawsk NLL 2016 New England Black Wolves Photo: Micheline V
Photo: Micheline V

The Black Wolves took a little while to get their offense rolling, but they used four powerplay goals to start the scoring en route to their six goal first quarter. Unfortunately, they would score just two goals in the second, which split up two big runs by the Knighthawks. Their shooters were a little cold that night as Shawn Evans scored two goals on 16 shots while Kevin Crowley was 2/13. Pat Saunders led the way with a hat trick to go with five helpers and Kyle Buchanan had a hat trick of his own, but just one assist.

The defense is what is becoming concerning for the Black Wolves. Evan Kirk was the top goalie in terms of goals allowed and save percentage for the first several weeks of the season, but has really started to fall off. Now I don’t want to appear as if Kirk should be shouldering the blame here. Against the Knighthawks, they let through an astounding 61 shots on goal. This barrage of shots led to Tye Belanger seeing time in net, but he was not remarkably better. An area they really need to improve also is cause turnovers, where they only forced three all night.

Rochester Knighthawsk NLL 2016 New England Black Wolves Photo: Micheline V
Photo: Micheline V

The Black Wolves get a bye week before splitting a pair of home and away games with Rochester again. This three game series between the two teams can cause some big swings in the Eastern standings. If Rochester runs the table on New England, that can matter in a potential tie breaker scenario.

Rochester Notes

Rochester Knighthawsk NLL 2016 New England Black Wolves Photo: Micheline V
Photo: Micheline V

It’s no secret that Rochester’s success is directly linked to the ability for Dan Dawson and Cody Jamieson to have control of their respective sides of the floor. When those two go quiet, the team struggles. In past seasons, their defense has always risen to the occasion, but the influx of youth running out of the back door has Matt Vinc not seeing the types of save numbers and goals against average he has grown accustomed to.

On offense, Dawson and Jamieson had their typical productive nights, combining for seven goals and eight assists.  Where they got atypical production was from Stephen Keogh and Joe Walters. Walters especially started the season very slow in the points department, but he is really turning it on lately. Walters only scored a single goal, but had seven assists to go with it. Keogh went in the other direction and had two assists to go with a team high six goals. Those six goals also came on just 12 on net shots.

Rochester Knighthawsk NLL 2016 New England Black Wolves Photo: Micheline V
Photo: Micheline V

Defensively for the Knighthawks, the main silver lining is they did not give the Black Wolves many good looks towards the net. Aside from that though, things were not too rosey. They were dominated in loose balls (93-75) and they only had six caused turnovers. Vinc wound up finishing the night with a save percentage of right around 75%. Now these are not all terrible numbers, but it’s not a formula for winning consistently going forward. They did enough to win the game, but greater strides will be needed before the season is done.

Georgia Swarm (3-4) @ Saskatchewan Rush (2-6)

1 2 3 4 TOTAL
Georgia 1 1 3 3 8
Saskatchewan 4 4 3 3 14
SOG SOFF LB FO PPG
40 17 78 14-27 1-8
58 16 78 13-27 2-4

Quick Thoughts

  • Saskatchewan has welcomed this team with open arms
  • First Nations night was another great move
  • Oh, and the Rush are good

With Jeremy Thompson hosting his brother Miles and Lyle along with their teammates Johnny Powless and Randy Saats, the Rush honored the First Nations people and the roots of lacrosse. Especially being in a new town, I love seeing teams pay respects and promote the history of the game. These elements are what separate this sport from nearly all others. With 13,720 fans in attendance who are already showing a love for the event side of things, hopefully a few of them learned to appreciate lacrosse at a deeper level.

Georgia Notes

Saskatchewan Rush Georgia Swarm NLL 2016 Photo: Josh Schaefer
Photo: Josh Schaefer

The Swarm are not going to be please with only scoring eight goals. Offense is their strength, so not capitalizing on their opportunities is not something they want to repeat too often. Randy Staats led the team with three goals and Shayne Jackson was just behind with two of this own. They were the only two shooters to score multiple goals. Jesse King, who has been playing great in the past few games went 0/7, which is just a perfect example of how the Swarm’s day went. A team like this only managing to get 40 shots on net may be a better nod to the opposing defense than it is an sign that they went cold.

The Swarm defense did not force many turnovers, but they did finish the game even on loose balls. Brodie MacDonald had a good day in net while Zach Higgins did struggle, but wasn’t terrible. While the Swarm do like to push transition, they really did not get much of that done in this game. Their loose balls did not turn into goals the other way and actually very few of their defenders even registered shots.

This game really was just an example of the Rush overwhelming what the Swarm could offer. Fortunately, the Swarm are still very much in the playoff race in the East. They have a chance to make that race a little tighter this weekend when they face Rochester in the first of a five game home stand. Hopefully they get things in order so they can put on a great show for the budding fan base and start climbing the standings a bit more.

Saskatchewan Rush Georgia Swarm NLL 2016 Photo: Josh Schaefer

Saskatchewan Notes

The Rush used a strong first half to build a lead and then just held on for the rest of the game. Ben McIntosh got things going with the first goal a little less than a minute into the game. There was then a dry spell if nearly nine minutes before McIntosh would score the second of the game. Two other Rush goals would close out the quarter to be up 4-1. As he usually is, Mark Matthews was the leader for the Rush. Nearly every forward recorded a multi-point night which really shows how dangerous this team can be as they spread points around.

Defensively, the Rush held true to form and forced plenty of turnovers which they turned into goals heading the other way. Even against an athletic team like Georgia, their floor speed and finishing ability proves to be one of, if not the, best in the league. Aaron Bold finished with a solid 80% save percentage in net.

Saskatchewan Rush Georgia Swarm NLL 2016 Photo: Josh Schaefer
Photo: Josh Schaefer

As dominant as Colorado has been in the league this year, the Rush are not far behind. They are also building a superb fan base that has totally bought into the team. Each week seems to be setting a new attendance record there and they may be pushing for regular sellouts soon. They have quickly become the hot ticket in town, which is excellent news for the league. There are markets out there that be quick successes!

Vancouver Stealth (3-4) @ Toronto Rock (2-6)

1 2 3 4 TOTAL
Vancouver 0 3 1 2 6
Toronto 2 2 2 3 9
SOG SOFF LB FO PPG
52 23 62 9-19 3-5
46 26 76 10-19 4-7

Quick Thoughts

  • The loss called for a Stealth coaching change
  • Vancouver now rests at the bottom of the Western Conference
  • The battle for last ended with tied records

The Canadian coast-to-coast cross-conference contest between the visiting Vancouver Stealth and the Toronto Rock started with a quick lead from the home team and finished with the third win of 2016 in front of over eight-thousand fans in Ontario. The loss sent Vancouver to the bottom of the Western Conference and tied the two for the bottom spot in the NLL.

Tempers were flaring early and the 6 penalties between the two teams in the 1st quarter set the tempo for rest of the game. Things got rowdy, but the dire need for a win was on the line and the gloves stayed on for all 60 minutes to play at full strength.

Vancouver Notes

Toronto Rock Vancouver Stealth NLL 2016 Photo: Graig Abel
Photo: Graig Abel

The loss to the Rock was their 4th from the last 5 games and would be the last time we would see Dan Perreault at the helm. Following the game, the Stealth made the move to bring 5x Mann Cup winning head coach from the Peterborough Lakers, and one of the NLL’s all-time winningest coaches, Jamie Batley, out west in an effort to turn the ship around and bring clarity to the locker room. Word on the street was guys had a hard time getting a clear picture of their roles or transparent evaluations. Coaching issues aside, the game was another miserable outing for a team that could be so, so much better.

It’s a bummer the offense couldn’t do more for Tyler Richards, who is currently at the top of the goalie charts with .804 save average and 9.57 GAA, stopping over 83% of what he faced from the Rock shooters. Goaltending was exemplary on both ends, the game’s first goal didn’t find it’s way in until 10 minutes had gone by, despite countless attempts that were denied simply by the dialed-in goalies. A scoreless 1st quarter would come back to haunt the Stealth.

Rhys Duch scored their first goal a minute into the 2nd quarter, followed by Corey Small tying the game at 2 just 30 seconds later. The Rock would regain the lead before Logan Schuss scored, registering his 1st of only 2 points on the night. Toronto charged them for one more before the quarter was over, rolling into the half down by a single score, 4-3. The Stealth wouldn’t put anything positive on the scoreboard for over 20 minutes until Small got one from Duch on the powerplay near the end of the 3rd.

3 penalties from the defense in the last minute of the 3rd quarter led to a powerplay goal for the Rock right away to start the final frame. A pair of penalties against Toronto led two back-to-back scores for Garrett Billings on the powerplay, bringing the game within 1 goal. A late dead-ball contact call against Jordan Durston couldn’t have come at a worse time and Hickey made them pay. The two goal differential led to an early pull of Richards for the extra-attacker, which couldn’t work as a unit to get the right shots, turning the ball over for an empty-netter with 90 seconds left, sealing the score, 9-6.

At the draw circle, Mitch McMichael was out so they called on Tyler Garrison to put in the work. Garrison came up with 8-15 takes, only sitting out on 4 total. The defense played an overly aggressive game and came up with not a lot to show for it. 8 caused turnovers and 20 minutes of penalty time don’t correlate to me. Only forwards scored in the loss from the 75 shots the team took, 52 on goal. The whole team needs to put in the hours this week to get their sticks tuned up considering half the goals the did score came from settled offense on the powerplay.

Toronto Notes

Toronto Rock Vancouver Stealth NLL 2016 Photo: Graig Abel
Photo: Graig Abel

Don’t call it a comeback! They’re Rock’n and roll’n (see what I did there?) now with 3 wins, all over the last 4 games. You can’t pin the early issues on the goaltending of Brandon Miller, but it seems that they have a great thing going right now with Nick Rose. Rosey made 46 saves on Sunday, rounding his save percentage to an impressive 79% with a 3-2 record.

The entire offense ran through Rob Hellyer, Brett Hickey and Colin Doyle, the trio combining for half of the team’s shots. The powerplay until got their chances and Hickey and Hellyer made the most of it in the 1st and 4th quarters, with an assist to Doyle on each of them. In fact, Hickey and Hellyer score two of their hat trick goals in the first half, combining for the 4 total Rock goals.

In the 3rd quarter, defenseman Brock Sorenson would push the ball himself to be a the goalie one on one to extend the Toronto lead to 2. Minutes later Doyle would score his solo goal of the evening, their last point for over 13 minutes. The 4th quarter powerplay goals negated the only offense that Vancouver could muster up and the final nail was sunk into the coffin when Brodie Merrill fought off the extra-man situation to take the ball down the floor twice on the empty net, coming up successful on the second attempt.

Toronto Rock Vancouver Stealth NLL 2016 Photo: Graig Abel
Photo: Graig Abel

Although they had a two-game weekend, they spent the entire time at their own place and split the pair, Friday and Sunday. I would have never guessed that with enough time to recuperate after a loss to Calgary on Friday, that the Rock would have been able to squeak by with win by only putting up 9 goals. That’s their first time with less than 10 points per game since Week 4. They’ll know have the week off to put their heads together at the TRAC to come up with a solid plan of attack for hosting Saskatchewan.