Preview of the upcoming week in the NLL.
At the half-way point, there are some interesting things developing in the league. Colorado’s John Grant Jr. is still well on pace to destroy the single season scoring record. Calgary’s Geoff Snider is still on pace to break the single season faceoffs won AND loose balls collected records. Last year’s West Division finalist, the Washington Stealth, continue to languish in last place. And the two top teams in the East are only playing .500 lacrosse.
Lots of parity this year. You never know what’s going to happen.
Video highlights for this weekend’s games (and more) can be found here:
http://www.nll.com/page/show/438937-archive
I doubt you’ll see Cat Whisperer and me in the crowd for the Saturday Calgary/Edmonton game, but who knows? 
Well, I was waving for the camera at one point - maybe you will see us. 
What a game that was! Calgary won handily, in spite of the referees acting like they had been paid by the Edmonton Rush.
Well, the Buffalo Bandits seem to have gotten back on track after dropping six in a row. This weekend, playing back-to-back games, they won two huge games against pretty good competition and suddenly are right back in the thick of things in the East Conference with a 4-6 record.
All-time scoring leader John Tavares became the first player to reach the 1,600 point plateau in the winning effort for Buffalo.
Trade deadline day in the NLL!
Toronto, panicked over their poor showing to date, has cut their goalie, Matt Roik, and traded some draft picks for Calgary backup Nick Rose. So now the Rock have two #2 goalies and no real #1 guy. THAT should fix their problems with injuries and shitty play on defense. :rolleyes:
More news to follow, no doubt…
One other move before the deadline passed: Colorado reacquired Jamie Shewchuk from Minnesota for a drfat pick. Shewchuk is currently injured, but expected to be ready by the end of the month. That being the case, he provides one more weapon for an already potent Mammoth offense that is looking to go all the way this year.
Fearless predictions about the upcoming weekend in NLL action, featuring six games and all nine teams.
Well, the playoff picture started to become a little clearer after some very close games and a couple blowouts.
The Mammoth are looking beatable after dropping one of two on the weekend and three of their last six. John grant Jr. and the rest of their offense are still clicking, but their defense is continuing to give up a lot of goals.
After two huge wins last weekend, Buffalo turned got their asses handed to them by Calgary on Saturday in a 16-7 drubbing. Not a good sign for the Bandits.
The Mammoth and the Roughnecks are defintiely looking to be the class of the West at this point, while Philly is slowly distancing themselves from the pack in the East. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess as to who will seal up the other playoff spots.
Five games on the NLL slate this weekend. Predictions can be read here.
Some interesting stories this weekend.
Garrett Billings of the Toronto Rock had a 15-point night. It was a single-game record for the Rock, tied for second most in a game in NLL history, and the first time ever that a player racking up that many points figured in every single goal his team scored.
As good as Billings’ season has been, John Grant Jr. has been even better. His four goals and seven assists against his former team, Rochester, on Saturday put him to 98 points on the season and well within range to blow away the NLL record for most points in a season with three games still remaining. This chase is all the more remarkable considering Grant missed two games due to injury.
On Friday night in Minnesota, Calgary’s Geoff Snider set a pair of NLL records, collecting 28 loose balls and going 28-for-28 in the faceoff circle, both single game records. Snider then missed Saturday’s game due to an ankle injury sustained late in the Friday night game.
So it looks like this is a year where league records are going to be dropping all over the place. Very interesting and exciting times!
Week 14 predictions.
I’ll be attending the Knighthawks-Roughnecks game Friday night. Go Roughnecks!
The Roughnecks-Knighthawks ghame was a barn-burner, with Calgary haning on for a 15-14 victory. Great game! Highlights can be viewed here.
Philedelphia had a chance to seal up a home game in the playoffs and instead dropped two games; one to the Minnesota Swarm and the other to the last-place Buffalo Bandits. On the upside for them, forward Dan Dawson set a single season record for most assists in a season with his 75th, breaking the previous record that he held jointly with Josh Sanderson (currently with the Toronto Rock, with the Calgary Roughnecks when he set the record).
With star forward Blaine Manning back in the lineup after missing 10 games with a broken collarbone, the Toronto Rock beat the Edmonton Rush 12-8, vaulting the Rock into first in the East. Manning’s presence in the lineup makes Toronto look like a legitimate contender in the playoffs, especially with the strong play of goalie Nick Rose, who won his third straight game after coming to Tornoto from Calgary at the trade deadline.
This weekend’s previews.
A couple more teams can lock down playoff spots this weekend, so it’ll be interesting to see how things play out.
The Minnesota Swarm benefitted from the return of their best scorer, Ryan Benesch, from a concussion and secured a playoff spot by beating the Washington Stealth.
Elsewhere, the Colorado Mammoth and Calgary Roughnecks traded spots in the West standings as the Mammoth beat the shit out of Toronto and the Roughnecks got handled by Rochester. That leaves Toronto and Philly in a tie for first in the East.
There are now five playoff positions locked up with only a couple games left to play. That leaves Washington, Edmonton and Buffalo to battle for the last two spots and they all have a legitimate shot at it.
Should be an exciting finish to the year!
After this weekend, all the playoff berths have been sealed up and the West’s playoff picture is now set. Calgary will host Edmonton and Colorado will host Minnesota in the first weekend of May.Calgary has locked up home field advantage for the duration of the playoffs, the second year in a row that the Roughnecks have the best record in the NLL.
In the East, Toronto will be hosting a playoff game and Philly, Rochester and Buffalo are all in, but the order remains up in the air with one week to play in the regular season.
John Grant Jr. only needs five more points in his final regular season game to tie John Tavares for the single season scoring record and six to break it. Grant has been averaging more than eight per game, so the target is well within reach.
On the weekend, Nolan Heavenor scored what might be one of the finest goals you’re ever likely to see in any sport. Check out this play at 1:57:22 – Shawn Evans attempts a pass to Jeff Shattler in front of the net with the shot clock ticking down and misses, with the ball bouncing into the corner. As players begin turning to head for the bench with the clock expiring, Heavenor see the ball bounce back to the middle of the floor and makes an unreal, diving catch and shoot to pick up the goal. An absolutely sick play by a guy who isn’t known as a scorer.
Previews and predictionsfor the last week of the regular season. Three of the four games have implications for the East Division’s seeding, while the fourth game pits Colorado against Minnesota in a sneak preview of the first round of the West playoffs. Should be interesting!
The playoffs begin tomorrow!
Summary can be found here. Based on the relative parity in the league, I’d say it’s anyone’s championship to win this year. We’ll see in three weeks…
After Round One of the playoffs, the top two teams in the league by won-loss records are out, proving that you can’t have an off night in a one-and-done playoff format. The Calgary Roughnecks (12-4) and Colorado Mammoth (11-5) were both upset at home and now get to watch from the sidelines as other teams chase the Champion’s Cup. I’d now say that Toronto has a great look at picking up their second straight title, although they have to get past Rochester, which may be a tall order right now.
Well, the semi-finals produced a huge upset in the West and an unexpecte blow-out in the East.
The Edmonton Rush, with a 6-10 regular season record, are going to the Champion’s Cup for the first time after destroying the Minnesota Swarm 15-3.
The Rochester Knighthawks advance after giving the Toronto Rock a good spanking as well, winning 17-13. The K’Hawks last won the NLL crown in 2007.
Should be an interesting finale Saturday night…