NLL Report: Week 6 Recap, LaxAllStars of the Week

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We were only given two NLL games to watch last weekend, but boy were we blessed with the couple that we got! Both Friday night and Saturday night turned into over time thrillers and both games had us on the edges of our seats. You’re not going to want to miss the recaps and highlights from Week 6!

Week 7 features 7 different games, so it must be our lucky weekend.

I hope you enjoy our new navigation for the NLL Report! Try using the buttons above or the table of contents to the right (or at the bottom on mobile devices) to read each game’s full rundown and to check out our new NLL LaxAllStars of the Week!

NLL Week 6 Results

• Minnesota Swarm 7, Rochester Knighthawks 6 (OT)
• Buffalo Bandits 15, Calgary Roughnecks 14 (OT)

Coming up this weekend

Friday 2/13
Toronto at Minnesota – 8:30 PM EST – UniversalSports.com; TSN GO
Edmonton at Colorado – 9:00 PM EST – Watch ESPN; TSN GO

Saturday 2/14
Minnesota at Toronto – 7:00 PM EST – NLL Live; TSN GO
Rochester at Buffalo – 7:30 PM EST – NLL Live; TSN GO
Calgary at Vancouver – 10:00 PM EST – NLL Live; TSN GO

Sunday 2/15
Colorado at Edmonton – 4:00 PM EST – NLL Live; TSN GO
Rochester at New England – 6:00 PM EST – Watch ESPN; TSN GO

NLL Week 7 Pick ‘Em

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Farewell,  Sweet Lew!

Not many expected it to happen midseason, but Lewis Ratcliff was lead into his retirement in the middle of last week. The long term Stealth forward has put up hall of fame numbers yearly for 14 seasons.

When I say hall of fame numbers, I’m not exaggerating. Lewis is the talk of Western Canada and the Stealth expect him to be a first ballot Hall of Famer as well. Now facing limited floor time with Powless, Small and Smith, Ratcliff was able to walk away with glory in tact instead of pushing Doug Locker and the Stealth front office for a trade or more minutes.

Lewis is still involved in the game daily as the backbone of the Seattle Starz organization and we wish the NLL great the best!
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NLL Report TOC

1 – Results & Pick ‘Em
2 – Swarm/Knighthawks
3 – Bandits/Roughnecks
4 – LaxAllStars of the Week
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Crawford Has Monumental Goal in Swarm OT Win Over KHawks

Takeaway Moments

The first overtime win of the weekend went to the Minnesota Swarm moving them to 3-2… The Knighthawks fall to 2-3 after the 7-6 Swarm victory at the Xcel Energy Center… Callum Crawford had the game winning goal which marked the 200th goal of his NLL career… Zach Higgins had his best night of 2015 making 35 saves on 41 shots… Logan Schuss led with a hat trick and 1 assist… Miles Thompson had 1 goal and 2 assists in the wins… attendance was over 9.6k.

Dan Dawson and Cody Jamieson were the only Hawks to achieve 2 goals in the game… Matt Vinc had a strong night with 42 of 49 shots saved… Dylan Evans went 9-16 on draws and picked up 10 loose balls for Rochester… Paul Dawson racked up 22 minutes of penalty time with some aggressive play simultaneous with Crawford’s dagger.

Boxscore

MD’s Take

The Knighthawks have had a few too many hiccups to get the season kicked off. Jamieson and Walters are consistently grabbing a goal or two per game, but this offense is desperate for more. Playing 2 quarters without scoring can’t happen in the NLL, especially against a struggling goaltender like Zach Higgins. Rochester has to head on the road to Buffalo and New England this weekend. Buffalo is looking for revenge over the Hawks and they’re coming off a big OT win while New England is looking to get their ship back on course proving to be a tough weekend for ROC.

On the other hand, Higgins and the Minnesota defense got the confidence booster that they really needed to keep pushing forward. Schuss is there for Minnesota where they need him and is helping Miles Thompson get into his groove, likely leading to back-to-back rookie of the year honors for the Swarm. This weekend the Swarm have a home and away trade with first place Toronto, if they split the two they will still be sitting pretty above .500 in a very close East Division this season.

Around the League

“We were battling, we were moving the ball and there were five seconds left,” Callum said of his game-winning shot. “I just wanted to get it on net and good things happen when you shoot the ball. I think just getting a win against a three-time defending champ is huge.”

“How fitting is it for Callum Crawford to not only get his 200th, but to get that,” Sullivan said.

From NLL.com

[mks_icon icon=”fa-youtube-play” color=”#dd3333″ type=”fa”] Game Highlights

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[mks_icon icon=”fa-rss” color=”#dd3333″ type=”fa”] Related Articles

• Showtime in overtime! Swarm over Knighthawks, 7-6 (NLL.com)

• RocJocks: Lacrosse star Joe Walters (Democrat and Chronicle)

• Swarm defeat K-hawks in overtime (Democrat and Chronicle)

NLL Report TOC

1 – Results & Pick ‘Em
2 – Swarm/Knighthawks
3 – Bandits/Roughnecks
4 – LaxAllStars of the Week
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Bandits Rob Calgary of First Win with OT Dagger

Takeaway Moments

The Calgary Roughnecks slip to a miserable 0-5 with OT loss on Saturday… the Buffalo Bandits move to 3-2 and 1 game behind the first place Rock… Dhane Smith had the night of his career, tying his record high of 5 goals and setting a career high with 10 points… Chad Culp had 3 goals and 3 assists while Ryan Benesch earned 2 goals and 6 assists in the win…

Curtis Dickson and Shawn Evans each had 2 goals and 6 assists in the loss… Darryl Veltman and Jeff Shattler both earned hat tricks… Karsen Leung and Dane Dobbie finished with 2 goals and 3 assists… both teams’ goalies exchanged saves in OT before Jerome Thompson put the nail in Calgary’s coffin… attendance recorded 10.3k fan in the Saddledome.

Box Score

MD’s Take

Everyone seems to be left scratching their heads on how the defending West champs have fallen to a dismal 0-5 record to start 2015. Each loss is one heartbreak after another and it’s not because of a lack of effort. The need to step back, take a breath and shake if off before walking into Vancouver’s barn this weekend. They can focus all of their effort on only one game this weekend and they will be hungry to get back on the floor with the Stealth who got the best of them last time around with an 11 goal run.

Big Dhane showed up for up this week and the Bandits are going to rely on him for another big weekend as they try to get their revenge with Rochester at home in the First Niagara Center. They had 10 different runners collect at least one point against Calgary, now they need to work on tightening down on defense and continuing to stay out of the penalty box. Last time Thompson struggled to find footing against Rochester. Getting Hiana going  will be a huge determining factor in the outcome.

Around the League

“One thing about leadership is – when you’re in the dumps near the bottom – that’s when you step up,” said Malawsky. “It’s easy to fold and finger point, but we’re not doing that in that (locker) room. We’re going to continue to battle, we’re going to go to Vancouver, a massive game for us next weekend and we’re going to saddle up, we’re going to prepare ourselves accordingly during the week and we’re going to give it our best effort out there.”

From NLL.com

[mks_icon icon=”fa-youtube-play” color=”#dd3333″ type=”fa”] Game Highlights

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[mks_icon icon=”fa-rss” color=”#dd3333″ type=”fa”] Related Articles

• Bandits look for some home cooking (Buffalo News)

• Thompson gives Bandits OT win at Calgary (Salamanca Press)

• Bandits swipe 15-14 overtime win from Roughnecks (NLL.com)
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NLL Report TOC

1 – Results & Pick ‘Em
2 – Swarm/Knighthawks
3 – Bandits/Roughnecks
4 – LaxAllStars of the Week
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NLL LaxAllStars of the Week

I was so excited to hand out the #1 spot this week. The big man is one of my favorites in the league and he was the dagger in the Rochester hearts, no other way to put it. I only had two games to chose from, but I think the following 5 guys are well worthy of some recognition.

Interested in helping me make my LaxAllStars of the Week selections? Drop a comment below after this weekend’s games and give me know your take on who deserves the accolades!

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[mks_two_thirds]#1 – Dhane Smith

Great Dhane finally had the big night that we all expect from him. 5 goals and 5 assists for 10 points is pretty impressive as he was in on 2/3rds of all Buffalo goals.

He hit his career high for points and tied his goals in a game personal record in the win and carried the team on his back to keep the Roughnecks winless. Easy pick for number one, without him there was no Bandits win.

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[mks_two_thirds]#2 – Logan Schuss

Last year’s Rookie of the Year has been doing it again this season. After missing game 1 for a work commitment, Schuss has returned and lit the stat sheets up. Logan hurried to get his hat trick out of the way before hooking Callum Crawford up with his 200th goal and the night’s OT winner.

This kid is going to be around for a long time, expect to keep seeing his name around these parts.

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[mks_two_thirds]#3 – Ryan Benesch

Benesch has been the much needed spark Buffalo has been looking for ever since he was moved from Minnesota. 2 goals and 6 assists makes a strong case for making this list, because we all know that’s what everyone is playing for. Ryan is going to need to keep the momentum moving forward to keep Buffalo climbing in the win column.

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[mks_two_thirds]#4 – Callum Crawford

When you score your 200th goal of your NLL career by burying a clutch overtime laser from the restraining line, you make the LaxAllStars of the Week list. 11 goals in 5 games is setting the tempo for Crawford’s best season of his NLL career!

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[mks_two_thirds]#5 – Zach Higgins

Zach Higgins had his breakout game of 2015 last weekend against the Knighthawks. The Swarm defense has been Swiss cheese for most of 2015 and the goaltending has been a back and forth struggle between Higgins and Brodie MacDonald.

Higgins made a case for himself by only allowing 6 goals after 40 shots on goal, his best posting of the season, which included 2nd and 4th quarter shutouts.
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