NLL Power Rankings: Week 12
Every week during the 2021/22 National Lacrosse League season, The Lax Mag will publish updated NLL Power Rankings reflecting the previous week’s performances, as well as a team’s overall regular season rep, status and success rate.
San Diego Seals 6-1 (1)
Although bye weeks can sometimes simmer hot streaks, they can also revitalize rosters that have banged up bodies getting better. Last week, Seals GM & HC Pat Merrill confirmed with us that the team is hopeful they’ll have Casey Jackson (upper body) back sometime soon (Jackson also shared a “coming soon” message on IG last week) and that Cam Holding, who had been arguably their best defensive player this year, was still week to week while also dealing with an upper-body injury.
Buffalo Bandits 7-1 (2)
That 13-8 win over Albany might have been Matt Vinc’s best start back-stopping Buffalo’s cage so far this season (outside of getting hung out in the third). In fact, the 54 saves Vinc made on Friday night were the second most stops he’s had in a single start since arriving in Banditland. The most? Vinc had 55 in that absurd 13-4 victory over Rochester in 2019. That was also the game that Vinc passed Anthony Cosmo to set a new NLL all-time saves standard.
Halifax Thunderbirds 6-1 (3)
Austin Shanks went off, again, scoring a sock-trick against the Swam in the Thunderbirds’ convincing 15-10 win in their highly anticipated Halifax homecoming. It’s his fourth year in the league and Shanks is having arguably his best season to date, even though he didn’t produce a single point in Game 1. Asterisk alert! Shanks left Halifax’s season opener extremely early due to injury. Of his 43 career NLL games, that was the only time he ever failed to produce a point. Since he’s returned, his name appears more often than most. If he can continue at his current pace, Shanks will be a 40-goal guy for the first time in his still relatively young NLL career.
Toronto Rock 6-3 (4)
We said it last week and we’ll say it again this week, the Rock might be playing the best ball of anyone in the NLL right now. Their current four-game win streak is second only to San Diego’s six straight, with their only losses coming against the league’s elite. Since being pulled against Halifax, Nice Rose has been one of the most consistent & composed starting stoppers in the league. Rose and that dynamic Rock D have allowed ten or fewer over their last four, giving up less quality looks than any unit in the league presently. After playing nearly nothing but contenders and .500-plus clubs, Toronto finally sees some teams sitting in the bottom half of the standings, starting with New York on Saturday in Long Island.
Colorado Mammoth 6-2 (5)
They have arguably the league’s top goaltender in Dillon Ward, an MVP maybe in Ryan Lee, a determined & dependable defense led by Robert Hope, and a contagious offensive press that saw pure defender John Lintz pop one in against Saskatchewan on Sunday, his first goal in over 2,500 days. With an impressive fourth-quarter comeback against the Rush, the Mammoth continued to prove that they’re not only for real, they’ve seemingly got all the pieces in place to contend for the Cup too.
Vancouver Warriors 5-3 (8)
The confidence this team continues to build while key pieces continually get plucked out of their lineup makes the Warriors a worry for any team right now. After rejecting Calgary’s comeback effort late in the fourth this past Friday, subbed in starting stopper Steve Fryer summed up their season best during his post-game comments, telling TSN, “I think in every game every team has been looking at us like we’re an easy win, but we’re a new Vancouver Warriors team here, and I think we’re showing it, and we’re just going to keep going.”
Philadelphia Wings 5-5 (9)
After sliding in the Power Rankings regularly in recent weeks, Philly find their way up a couple spots during a bye week. More importantly, Albany & Georgia going a combined 0-3 last weekend secures their grip on fourth in the East a bit more. The bad news? Philly is on a two-game Ling streak, have an extremely difficult second-half schedule (still play Buffalo x2, Halifax and San Diego) and have just two home games to go.
Albany FireWolves 4-6 (7)
They were clearly competitive in both of their Week 11 matches against two of the top teams in the league, but the FireWolves fell short of securing victories against both Buffalo & Toronto as their record dipped below the .500 mark. The games were also the first time in almost a month that their revitalized offense failed to hit double digits, although high-producing forward Joe Resetarits has again become a legitimate MVP contender. Things don’t get any easier as Albany has San Diego, Buffalo and Halifax over their next three. The results during this significant stretch will prove pivotal in determining their post-season potential.
Georgia Swarm 4-6 (6)
They played back-and-forth ball early with one of the east’s beasts, but could not sustain that type of production against a hard-hitting Halifax side that silenced the Swarm in the second half. One positive was the play of backup backstop Craig Wende, who competed in the crease really well (7 goals allowed on 34 shots) after replacing Mike Poulin (8 goals allowed on 16 shots) partway through the first half. While the Swarm’s surge over the past month has been impressive, their struggles against teams with a .500 record or better has not. Georgia is 0-5 against sides that have a win rate of 50% or higher.
Calgary Roughnecks 3-5 (10)
While their forgettable Friday night loss to Vancouver clearly had him cringing, Calgary’s close out against Panther City left Curt Malawsky smiling bigger than anyone else in the barn on Sunday. The Roughnecks’ roster is getting roughed up like many others have this season, missing Curtis Dickson, Curtis Manning, Eli Salama and Reece Callies for one or both of their Week 11 matches. Malawsky was significantly more satisfied with Sunday’s effort, saying, “In adverse situations, you get the true character of a team and today it just shows that we’ve got good character.”
Rochester Knighthawks 3-5 (11)
They were off this past week, but Rochester still must feel like they successfully hit the reset button on their season during that Week 10 statement victory over Albany. A similar result against the Bandits this upcoming weekend would do wonders for their playoff push, but clearly that is easier said than done. In their two losses to Buffalo this year, had their power-play been producing, 0-2 could have been at least 1-1. The Knighthawks have had plenty of PP opportunities against the Bandits, but managed to only go 3 for 11 in that pair of previous encounters. Only one other team this year is averaging more PIMs/game than Buffalo has so far this season.
Saskatchewan Rush 2-6 (12)
We previously pondered if Derek Keenan would be working the phones with the Rush reeling, but the Saskatchewan GM told The Rod Pedersen Show last week, “We’re going to stick with the group for now. We have a good mix now of veterans & young guys. We still have strong leadership at both ends. And we still think we can compete this year for a championship, but we gotta get on track.” He also praised a number of players, including Josh Currier, who tripled his goal production this past weekend after netting a hat-trick against the Colorado Mammoth. With that said, the Rush lost, again.
New York Riptide 1-7 (13)
It’s hard to know right now, but a nine-win season is probably what it’s going to take to land that last post-season spot in the East (maybe eight). That means New York would need to go 8-2 the rest of the way if playoffs are at all possibility in 2022. That scenario seems highly unlikely, but in the NLL, ya never know, right? The Riptide, who own only two wins in two partial seasons, play the Rock twice over the next two weekends.
Panther City Lacrosse Club 1-8 (14)
Look, their record is what you’d expect from an expansion team, especially one without their top draft pick (Jonathan Donville, Maryland) plus top forward (Randy Staats, injured) unavailable, but HC Tracey Kelusky has got to love what he’s seeing from several, especially Will Malcom of late. “He might not be scoring as much, but he’s manufacturing a lot of points.” Kelusky was quoted this past weekend. “More time than not he is getting the number one defender for the other teams, and he is attracting a lot of attention.” After this past weekend, Malcom leads PCLC in points (32).