Is Jake Withers the NLL’s top draw?

Jake Withers, Halifax Thunderbirds (Photo: Trevor MacMillan)

One of the most highly anticipated face-off fights took place this past weekend when Jake Withers and Trevor Baptiste squared off during the Halifax Thunderbirds’ tight 10-8 win over the Philadelphia Wings on Sunday afternoon in Hamilton, Ontario.

Although the faceoffs were fiercely contested, the dot domination was most definitely one sided with Withers taking 16 of 22 draws.

After yesterday’s victory both on the scoreboard and at the centre circle, Withers upped his face-off win percentage to 67.4%. Baptiste’s percentage obviously slipped some, but still sits an impressive 66.3%

“I talked to With before the game and told him, ‘you just have to be 50-50 (in face-offs) today’ and he said ‘I’m going to be better than that,” Halifax Head Coach, Mike Accursi, told The Chronicle Herald soon after Sunday’s win. “…he’s a competitive guy who wants to win every face-off and gets mad at himself when he doesn’t. He wants to be the best at his craft and I truly believe he’s the best in the league at face-offs. He proved it today.”

Who has been this season's top face-off taker?

— The Lax Mag (@TheLaxMag) February 14, 2022

Considered by many to be the top two drawmen in professional lacrosse, Sunday was just the second time Withers and Baptiste have squared off at centre in the NLL. During Baptiste’s record-setting rookie season in 2019, the two tangled in an early season contest, the Wing’s face-off wizard taking it that time (15 of 27). Withers missed their next much anticipated match that year, and then the pandemic shortened season in 2022 put their next round on pause, until yesterday of course.

Withers’ toughest test this year was unquestionably Toronto’s TD Ierlan, barely edging out the Rock rookie with 16 wins to Ierlan’s 15. He had his hands full with Joe Nardella a few weeks ago as well (won 10 or 18), the Albany FireWolves face-off man actually leading the league in face-off winning percentage coming out of Week 11 (72.4%). Nardella also topped Baptiste earlier this season (14 of 21) when Albany edged Philly 9-8 on January 15th.

In an NLL Player Poll presented by USBOXLA at the end of the incomplete 2020 campaign, Withers was voted the league’s top draw, just a single vote ahead of Baptiste. Nardella was third in front of Alex Woodall (currently a free agent), Tyler Burton (Calgary) and Jay Thorimbert (New York now, Rochester during that regular season).

Joe Nardella, Albany FireWolves

Here are this year’s top face-off takers, ranked by FOW% (minimum of 50 draws):

Joe Nardella, Albany (139/192) 72.4%
Jake Withers, Halifax (97/144) 67.4%
Trevor Baptiste, Philadelphia (167/252) 66.3%
Tyrell Hamer-Jackson, Vancouver (107/170) 62.9%
TD Ierlan, Toronto (91/151) 60.3%
Zach Currier, Calgary (42/70) 60.0%
Tyler Burton, Calgary (37/71) 52.1%
Brandon Clelland, San Diego (61/125) 48.8%
Tim Edwards, Colorado (71/147) 48.3%
Jeremy Thompson, Panther City (80/170) 47.1%
Jay Thorimbert, New York (109/232) 47.0%
Connor Kirst, Georgia (35/78) 44.9%
Mike Messenger, Saskatchewan (65/162) 40.1%

Note: face-off figures taken from NLL Stats Pack as of Feb. 14, 12pm ET

Chris Corbeil, Saskatchewan Rush

Chris Corbeil confirms “It’s crunch time…” for Rush

Just a week after dismantling the expansion Panther City Lacrosse Club and looking better than they had all season, the Saskatchewan Rush were handled relatively easily by the Vancouver Warriors this past Friday, dropping an extremely disappointing 13-7 decision to their divisional rivals.

The Rush sit second from the bottom in the West, and are experiencing one of their worst starts to a season in franchise history.

“We lost the game in transition. We lost the game in special teams,” said Rush captain, Chris Corbeil, during Friday’s night’s post-game feedback (via @SaskRushLAX).

Saskatchewan had zero goals scored directly from transition, went 0-2 on the powerplay, and allowed three goals in six short-man situations against Vancouver. During the season, the Rush rank 8th in power-play percentage (40.6%) and 12th in penalty-killing (51.9%).

Over the next two weekends, the Rush will see the Colorado Mammoth twice in a pair of critical contests that could spark a season swing or sink Saskatchewan even further down the standings.

“This is a group that has high expectations of themselves…and a group that’s not accustomed to losing,” added Corbeil. “There’s obviously frustration, but there’s a level of support there.

“It’s 25 guys and a coaching staff that are all trying their best to dig ourselves out of this start that we’ve had…There’s a level of urgency here. When you drop a couple at the start of the year, it’s different, but we’re seven games in here, we’re approaching the midpoint of the season. It’s crunch time for us.”

The last time the Rush franchise missed the playoffs was in 2011, finishing 5-11 that year. Since then, the team has gone to five Finals, winning the NLL Cup three times too. During the regular season, the Rush have finished first in the West for six consecutive seasons, seven if you count their top-of-the-table placement during the unfinished pandemic-cancelled campaign.

Vancouver Warriors (Photo: Jordan Leigh)

Warriors already playing with post-season mentality

The Vancouver Warriors are now 2-0 with MVP contender Mitch Jones sidelined for the foreseeable future.

As already mentioned, the Warriors nearly doubled up the Rush on Friday night, a team they’ll need to stay ahead of in the standings if a precious post-season spot is to taken in 2022. Since moving the franchise to British Columbia in 2014, the club has crashed the playoffs just once.

Vancouver Head Coach, Chris Gill, told The Province that a post-season vibe is already very much present in the team’s locker room.

“We asked our guys for a playoff mentality,” Gill told the BC-based paper. “If we want to make the playoffs, tonight was a start for us and I think the boys stepped up and played a playoff game. I thought we showed a lot of character tonight.”

The Warriors (4-3) are currently third in the West Division, behind both San Diego (6-1) and Colorado (5-2), and firmly ahead of Calgary (2-4) and Saskatchewan (2-5).

Christian Del Bianco, Calgary Roughnecks (Photo: Candice Ward)

Calgary still missing Dickson in defiant win over division rival

For their second straight game, the Calgary Roughnecks were without offensive leader, Curtis Dickson, the Calgary Sun confirming the star is still sidelined with what is simply being described as an “illness”. Dickson’s condition does not appear to be related to COVID, however, as the team has not placed him in protocol.

Calgary, who sport this season’s youngest side, seemed more comfortable and composed playing at home for the first time since December 17th, claiming a hard fought 9-7 victory over Colorado this past Friday.

Although he’s played two fewer games than most full-time forwards on the Roughnecks’ roster, Dickson still easily leads the team in goals (11).

“I think we need to learn how to win a bit and learn how to win in tight games, where you have to grind it out,” Calgary starting goalie, Christian Del Bianco, told the Sun. “That was definitely a pretty big building point for our team. You have to learn how to not play scared to lose. I think we did that and got our result.”

Calgary’s nine goals were the lowest they’ve scored in a winning effort since the 2019 season when they beat the Warriors 8-5.

The seven goals Del Bianco allowed are the fewest the franchise has let in since the start of the 2020 season in a 12-7 win over the Warriors, a game Calgary’s starting stopper was shelled with a shocking 70 shots in.

The Roughnecks next game is this Friday when they host the Warriors at the Scotiabank Saddledome (10pm ET) in a game that will be televised live on TSN.