Editor’s Note: We’re back with another NLL Game of the Week! Thanks to the help of the innovative team at SISU Guard, the Official Mouthguard of the NLL, we are beefing up our National Lacrosse League coverage for 2016! We hope you enjoy our look at the NLL season through a new lens with the aid of our partner SISU!
Don’t roll your eyes at this one just yet. The battle of last place has some serious implications and if you squint at it in just the right light, it could actually be a thing of beauty. Each squad comes into to Friday night’s throw down with some serious baggage and chips on their shoulders.
NLL Game of the Week
Calgary Roughnecks (3-7) at Toronto Rock (2-6)
When: 3/11/2016 – 8:00 pm ET
Where: Air Canada Centre – Toronto, Ontario
Watch: Fox Sports GO
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[mks_one_half]Standing: 4th in Western Conference
Watch For: If Mike Poulin doesn’t get the start I’m going to be wildly disappointed. Curtis Dickson is averaging 5.2 ppg and but the rest of the gang is struggling on the side of consistency. I expect a shots from a variety of shooters until someone gets hot.
Points Leader: Curtis Dickson – 29 goals, 23 assists
Things to work on: Playing a complete 4 quarters. They need to keep the ball cycling on offense and continue to shoot. Digby and Berg took a lot of shots with no success last week, they need to continue to lay into Toronto in order to keep pressure off Dickson and rack up some much needed goals.
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[mks_one_half]Standing: 5th in Eastern Conference
Watch for: The Rock defense isn’t going to let Calgary come into the ACC and push anyone around. It could be the wrong night for the Roughnecks to solve their scoring dilemmas if Merrill and the towering defensive cast comes to ball.
Points Leader: Rob Hellyer – 20 goals, 33 assists
Needs to work on: The offense must diversify their scoring options. Having Sanderson back is great, they can’t keep expecting Leblanc, Hellyer and Doyle to make any sort of magic happen. The transition team has been nothing to write home over, they can turn that image around by striking a few times this weekend.
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At this point, both organizations are trying to not look desperate, but realistically they’re only a few more losses away from watching the post-season from the couch like the rest of us. The Rock started off on the worst foot possible, dropping all six of their first games before starting the two game win streak that they’re on. As for Calgary, they turned their 3-3 record into 3-7 after four weeks, the worst part is the last three of those losses all came in overtime. The good news is they’re only a half game behind the Stealth in the playoff hunt and if they can top Toronto on Friday, and the Rock can bounce back with a win over Vancouver on Sunday, they could even start to close in on that #2 seed.
Toronto is two games back from the playoff picture, three games out of first. They’ve got two chances to close the gap this weekend, with a pair of wins and some help from Rochester and Saskatchewan, the Rock can also launch themselves into the hunt. The offense is essentially six deep when it comes to guys that can bury shots, but you wouldn’t know it from their averages. Rob Hellyer has been desperately trying to define the team’s identity all season long and his efforts have awarded him 20 goals and 33 assists. Helping to carry the weight, Stephan Leblanc and Colin Doyle have combined for 26 goals and 50 assists. Kasey Biernes has also had eyes for the net, knocking down 13 goals and 3 assists, but the recent story has been the re-addition of Josh Sanderson to the lineup. Over the last three games, his only outings, Sanderson has put up 19 points, filling the void left by Brett Hickey who accumulated 19 points in six games before going out with injury. Despite being tied with Calgary for the worst goal ratio in the NLL, the defense has been playing surprisingly tough lately, specifically last week when they held the Knighthawks to only 6 goals, in contrast to their 17.
We know Curtis Dickson (29+23) is going to do some damage to the Rock defense, it’s really about how much they can limit the production of Wes Berg, Jeff Shattler and Tyler Digby, all three are sitting between 35 and 39 points. Last week, the Knighthawks found success through keeping Digby and Berg scoreless. The Rock’s extra commitment on defense is going to lead by a strong push from the quick Calgary transition team. Maybe the two teams’ performances against a common opponent can give some indication as to gauge this one. Two weeks back, the Rock took their win streak to two with a 17-6 victory over the Knighthawks, while the same team defeated Calgary in OT, 9-8, just last weekend. My use of the transitive property alone, this one is Toronto’s for the taking.
Personally, I see this one coming down to the performances of the goaltenders. These two teams started off the season with serious inconsistencies in the crease. Now, Nick Rose is rolling in hot with back to back wins and Mike Poulin seems to have captured the job in Calgary with phenomenal performances in cage recently, despite dropping the three straight in overtime. Poulin is rocking the 2nd best save percentage (.795) while Rosey’s 2-1 record has come with a goal and a 52 save night. The two have proven they can go the distance, if they both show up big on Friday, scorers be afraid.
We were right about last seeking NLL Game of the Week, let’s hope the Calgary Roughnecks at Toronto Rock cross-conference shootout can follow the lead.
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Week 11 Games
Friday
- Rochester Knighthawks at Buffalo Bandits – 7:30 pm – Fox Sports GO
Saturday
- New England at Rochester Knighthawks – 7:30 pm – Fox Sports GO
- Georgia Swarm at Saskatchewan Rush – 8:30 pm – Fox Sports GO
Sunday
- Vancouver Stealth at Toronto Rock – 3:00 pm – Watch ESPN
Which game are you looking forward to the most? Make your predictions for this weekend and the rest of the 2016 NLL season in the comment section below!
