Milestone Win
Buffalo’s 15-11 win in Vancouver was significant for Troy Cordingley in terms of all-time regular-season coaching wins. The leaders: Darris Kilgour 121, Derek Keenan 118, Cordingley 94 and the late Les Bartley 93.
First Overall
Georgia got Randy Staats, Miles Thompson and Joel White back in the lineup and the result was a 17-8 home rout of Calgary. It was easy to feel sorry for Roughnecks goalie Frankie Scigliano as the Swarm had a 70-41 advantage in shots on goal in improving to a league-best 8-3.
“We got healthy at a good time after being on a two-game losing streak,” said coach Ed Comeau. “Our defense and our goaltending was really good. We kept them to no 5-on-5 goals and that’s pretty hard to do in this league.”
The closest team to Georgia in the overall standings is Saskatchewan, 7-3. The teams’ lone meeting this season was the opening game and the Swarm won it, which means they own the standings tiebreaker and now have a great chance of finishing first overall and earning home field throughout the playoffs.
Playing Defense
League rules have been tweaked in recent years to ensure safety of players — five minutes for hits to the head and an added major for knocking down an unsuspecting opponent — so being a defenseman never gets easy.
“It’s changing a little bit every year,” Colorado defenseman Creighton Reid said after his team’s 14-11 win in Toronto last Friday. “You’ve got to make adjustments. It becomes more and more footwork and more and more position-based and less going for the kill every time.
“In all sports, things adapt over time with society or whatever. You adapt with it or they’ll find somebody who will.”
Fight Night
Suspensions loom as the result of two fights after time expired in the first half of New England’s 12-11 home win over Rochester last Friday.
Knighthawks captain Sid Smith and the Black Wolves’ Bill O’Brien were in contact as the half ended. When they separated, Dan Dawson and O’Brien converged and they fought against the back board. Dawson got in most of the punches.
An NLL rule states that fighting other than during periods of the game shall result in suspension for the next game. Also, clubs can be fined $500 per incident.
Andrew Suitor of the ‘Hawks and Derek Searle of the Black Wolves then dropped the gloves. Searle threw most of the punches. Suitor was traded to Rochester for Searle last year. A second fight after the original fight draws a match penalty, which can also lead to a suspension if previous match penalties are on a player’s rap sheet.
Knighthawks Up Against It
The Knighthawks, 4-8, appear headed to a second straight playoff miss. They have six games remaining: March 26 at home against Buffalo; April 1 at home against Calgary; April 15 at Colorado; April 22 at home against New England; April 28 at home against Georgia; and April 29 at Georgia.
Winning the next two is imperative and, even if the 2012, 2013 and 2014 champions win them, they would still have poorer odds of making the playoffs than a five-year-old would have of scoring on Matt Vinc, who was saddled with a loss despite making 53 saves at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Ranking the Goalies
Save percentages (minimum 200 minutes played):
|
Player
|
Percentage
|
1 |
Dillon Ward, Colorado |
.804 |
2 |
Tye Belanger, Vancouver |
.794 |
3 |
Matt Vinc, Rochester |
.793 |
4 |
Nick Rose, Toronto |
.784 |
5 |
Mike Poulin, Georgia |
.782 |
6 |
Evan Kirk, New England |
.776 |
7 |
Anthony Cosmo, Buffalo |
.773 |
8 |
Davide DiRuscio, Buffalo |
.767 |
9 |
Aaron Bold, Saskatchewan |
.765 |
10 |
Frankie Scigliano, Calgary |
.753 |
11 |
Tyler Richards, Vancoiuver |
.740 |
Trade Deadline
The annual trade deadline is next Monday at 3 p.m. EDT. There were only two minor trades a year ago.
The 2015 deadline was newsworthy as Minnesota traded Logan Schuss to Vancouver for Johnny Powless; Toronto traded Garrett Billings to New England for Kevin Crowley; Minnesota traded Andrew Suitor to New England for Joel White and a second-round pick in swap of captains; and Buffalo sent Joe Resitarits to Rochester for Jamie Batson and picks.
Ads for Sale
The NLL-Twitter deal: the league supplies the games, Twitter supplies the platform, and any ad revenue is to be split 50-50.
Time Travel
MARCH 31, 2005
Philadelphia forward and all-time franchise scoring leader Tom (Hollywood) Marechek announced he would retire at season’s end after 12 years in the league, all with the Wings. One of the highlights of his career was the Wings’ 9-7 Champion’s Cup win in Toronto in 2001.
Marechek, who had teamed at Syracuse with twins Gary and Paul Gait to form one of the most formidable attacks in NCAA history, also played in the MLL and internationally. His Wings No. 42 was retired in 2007. That same year, he was inducted into the NLL Hall of Fame.
Now 48, he is the varsity lacrosse coach at Friends School of Baltimore. He also oversees All Pro Lacrosse instructional clinics.
Week 13
Six games are on tap. Every team plays. Toronto, Saskatchewan and Calgary play twice.
FRIDAY
TORONTO (6-5) at GEORGIA (8-3), 7:35 p.m.
Georgia is 5-0 at home but don’t expect this to be an easy one for the Swarm because Toronto has played some of its best lacrosse on the road in going 3-1.
This will be the second and last meeting this season. Georgia won 13-12 in Toronto on Feb. 17 thanks to an overtime goal by Johnny Powless.
Toronto has activated defenseman Brock Sorensen, who hasn’t played since tearing an ACL last April 15, and forward Turner Evans, who missed the last three games after twisting an ankle.
Last Friday, Toronto lost 14-11 at home to Colorado, while Georgia walloped visiting Calgary 17-8.
Georgia is No. 1 on offense with a league-high average of 14.09 goals/game, while Toronto is No. 1 on defense at 10 goals/game against.
CALGARY (4-8) AT SASKATCHEWAN (7-3), 9:30 p.m.
This will be the third of four meetings. The Rush won 15-11 at Calgary on Feb. 4 and 12-11 at home on Feb. 25. They’ll end the regular season together April 29 in Calgary.
The Rush are 8-0 against the Roughnecks, including regular season and playoffs, since a May 23, 2015, NLL West finals loss in Calgary.
Saskatchewan had last weekend off. The 2015 and 2016 champions are 7-1 since losing their first two games. Calgary, a 17-8 loser at Georgia last Friday, is 1-7 since a 3-1 start.
The Rush are 5-0 at home. Calgary is 2-4 on the road.
SATURDAY
VANCOUVER (5-8) at TORONTO (6-5 before Friday game), 7 p.m.
Vancouver, a 15-11 loser at home against Buffalo last Friday when it blew a 7-6 halftime lead, was studying Toronto’s 14-11 home loss to Colorado to see what changes might be made.
“We are going to look at the tape and see what Colorado did right against the Rock and we will go from there,” said General Manager Doug Locker.
Toronto will have played the previous night in Georgia.
The Stealth are 4-2 on the road. Toronto is 3-4 at home.
BUFFALO (5-6) at ROCHESTER (4-8), 7:30 p.m.
Star Bandits lefty Ryan Benesch aims to return to action in this game after sitting for four recovering from a high hit that resulted in a two-game suspension of O’Brien.
Buffalo’s 15-11 win at Vancouver was its fourth win in its last five. The Bandits are the best fourth-quarter team in the league having outscored opponents 49-36.
Rochester was edged 12-11 at New England last Friday.
This will be the third of three meetings. Buffalo won 13-9 at home March 3 and Rochester won 9-8 at home March 4 so this will be the season series tiebreaker.
Buffalo is 2-3 away and Rochester is 2-3 at home.
Buffalo’s goals-against average of 13.27/game is worst in the league but Rochester is scoring a league-worst average of 9.50/game and Josh Currier, one of its top scorers, got banged-up last weekend and will be sitting this one out. Quinn Powless has been activated.
SASKATCHEWAN (7-3 before Friday game) at COLORADO (7-6), 9 p.m.
The Rush fly to Denver after playing at home the previous night. They had last weekend off.
The Mammoth won 14-11 in Toronto last Friday, which was a relief after two losses the previous weekend.
“This is definitely a boost for the team,” defenseman Greg Downing said as he removed tape from his ankles in Toronto.
Colorado’s penalty minutes average of 10.54/game is lowest in the league, which is a good thing when playing the Rush because their 59.3 per cent success rate is best in the league.
This will be the third of four meetings. Saskatchewan won at home 8-7 on Feb. 18 and 12-11 on March 11. They’ll square off in Denver against on April 28.
The Rush are 2-3 on the road, while the Mammoth are 3-3 at home.
Colorado is 5-0 against the East but is only 2-6 against West teams.
NEW ENGLAND (6-6) at CALGARY (4-8 before Friday game), 9 p.m.
It has been 10 years since Calgary lost a game to New England nee Philadelphia.
All tickets are $17 because Tracey Kelusky wore 17 and the Roughnecks will honor their former captain and current New England assistant coach in a pre-game ceremony. He’ll become the second inductee of the Forever A Roughneck program. Kaleb Toth was recognized in 2013.
Last season, Calgary won the lone meeting 9-8 in Connecticut. In 2015, Calgary won 20-9 at home. The ‘Necks are 6-0 against this franchise since Feb. 10, 2007, when the Philadelphia Wings won 10-7 in Calgary. The only men who played in that game and who will be in this game are Kelusky and Jeff Shattler.
New England, coming off a 12-11 home win over Rochester, is 2-4 on the road. It’s penalty minutes average/game is a league-worst 22.67.
Calgary will have played the previous night in Saskatoon. The ‘Necks are 2-4 at home.