NLL Power Rankings: Week 6
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.
Just so we’re all on the same page since it was Week 3 we last Power Ranked … Week 4 was the holiday break and Week 5 was postponed due to pandemic-related issues. So, in keeping with how the league is tracking their weeks, we’re sticking with Week 6 here too. Also, later this week, The Lax Mag will be publishing our first in-season NLL Player Rankings, dropping our Top 30 players so far this regular season and updating weekly for the remainder of the year.
Buffalo Bandits 3-0 (1)
They’ve got six forwards sitting at double digit point totals (Smith, Byrne, Cloutier, Fraser, Fields and Buchanan), and their offensive depth & versatility was on full display in their 12-6W over the Rock on Saturday night. Matt Vinc has arguably been this year’s best backstop so far (another 45 saves this past Saturday) and ditto for Steve Priolo defensively (9 CTO, 30 LB in just 3 games). Chase Fraser is the new Mayor of Banditland, right?
Halifax Thunderbirds 2-0 (2)
Between a bye, the holidays, league-mandated postponement and provincial-mandated postponement, 36 days will have passed between Halifax’s last game and their upcoming Week 7 contest against the Rock. Gotta feel for this group, who were so hot over the first two weeks of the season, a prolonged pause the last thing they needed. Getting Cody Jamieson back on their game-day roster would be big, the future HOFer missing the team’s first two due to what was previously described as “a little tweak”. Austin Shanks was moved to the team’s injured reserve list back on December 10th and remains sidelined a month later.
San Diego Seals 3-1 (6)
Dane Dobbie is in MVP mode, again, and the Seals’ dynamic defensive game that gets little league-wide acknowledgement looked good, again. With Frank Scigliano sidelined in protocol, Pat Merrill, who was back on the Seals’s bench on Saturday, stuck 19-year-old Chris Origlieri between the pipes in the team’s barn-burning 15-12 W against Panther City. Is that young for a first-ever victory in this league? Here’s where the talented teen ranks against today’s other tendy’s age when they earned their first NLL W.
Chris Origlieri, 19
Christian Del Bianco, 20
Frank Scigliano, 20
Rylan Hartley, 20
Nick Damude, 21
Eric Penney, 21
Alex Buque, 22
Nick Rose, 22
Dillon Ward, 22
Doug Jamieson, 22
Kevin Orleman, 22
Mike Poulin, 23
Tyler Carlson, 23
Matt Vinc, 24
Zach Higgins, 24
Evan Kirk, 24
Gowah Abrams, 25
Warren Hill, 26
Adam Shute, 27
Steve Fryer, 27
Craig Wende, 28
Also worth noting, backing up Origlieri was another NLL newbie, Moose Whinery. The 23-year-old rookie is a graduate of USBOXLA (Denver Elite, Team USBOXLA and National Collegiate Box Series) and is one of the few American goalies to get his name on an NLL game-day game sheet these days.
Philadelphia Wings 3-1 (7)
How important was the addition of Eric Penney? The Wings gave up a higher than average 61 shots against the Swarm, and had Penney not popped off that 50-save performance in Week 6, no way Philadelphia escapes with a W in OT. Much like the Bandits, Philadelphia’s offense has so many capable weapons. Even when a couple shooters are cold, it’s still difficult to contain them: Ben McIntosh, Matt Rambo and OT-hero Blaze Riorden all had a hatty or more in their tight 12-11 victory over Georgia.
Eric Penney & Kiel Matisz
Toronto Rock 2-2 (3)
Their 12-6 loss to the Bandits looked somewhat similar to the one the suffered against the Thunderbirds way back in Week 2. The chances were there (outshot Buffalo 51-50, had outshot Halifax 52-42), the execution wasn’t (have not scored as few as 6 since March 2019 versus, coincidently, Buffalo), at times seemed content with Buffalo dictating how the game would be played, and they were frustrated by a hot stopper in Vinc. Potentially getting Dan Dawson and Tom Schreiber, who was their best player in the two games he’s played this year, back before the Thunderbirds on Saturday would be an obvious big boost to their offense. Dawson was placed in protocol and Schreiber was moved from protocol and then to the hold out list for personal reasons.
Colorado Mammoth 3-1 (9)
The Mammoth continue to bounce around in the Power Rankings after another result most didn’t see coming. Getting outshot early, going down 7-0 (later 10-2) and pulling Dillon Ward isn’t exactly a start that screams success, but Colorado climbed back and pulled off one of the most impressive regular-season comebacks in recent memory when they beat the Warriors 18-15. Between Tyler Carlson’s strong stopping (like Penney in Philly, how was a clutch Carlson not one of the game’s official three stars?) and an offense that properly popped off (without Zed Williams in the lineup), Colorado went from looking at their absolute worst to their brilliant best when things finally clicked in the second half. Currently, Colorado don’t play again until January 29th, an excessive three-week break that was planned and not pandemic related.
Tyler Carlson (Photo: Jaclyn McKee)
Vancouver Warriors 2-2 (5)
Alex Buque clearly wasn’t as crisp as he’d been in the previous three, no Keegan Bal due to a pause in protocol didn’t help, ditto for missing Owen Barker & Justin Salt from their own end too (again, COVID). “We need to be able to adapt when things aren’t going great and adapt when things are going really, really well,” Head Coach, Chris Gill, told The Province after their hugely disappointing 18-15 loss at home against the Mammoth. “We got complacent and they came at us hard.” The Warriors are off almost two full weeks before their next one (Jan. 22nd at Calgary).
Rochester Knighthawks 2-1 (8)
A suspected outbreak of COVID on the Rochester roster put them on the shelf last week, and then an already scheduled bye has them on the sidelined again this upcoming weekend. When we last saw them though: Rylan Hartley was getting the league more peepers on the product than anything else this year, Holden Cattoni had been one of the top offensive players in the league, defenders Matt Gilray & Dan Coates had been dynamite, and defensemen, Chris Willman, had quietly been having a solid second season too.
Albany FireWolves 1-2 (12)
Even though Ryan Benesch gave the team an immediate offensive boost with a pair in his first game with the franchise, like we saw on Saturday, most of Albany’s success this year will come from three things they do better than most: goaltending, responsible defense, and an offensive press with purpose. Yes, their forwards were far more productive than they had been, but Doug Jamieson was near his best, the return of Adam Bomberry & Brett Manney to their backend was big (Bomberry was especially outstanding), and their usual cast of quick & elusive ball carriers left the Rush reeling. The team’s not-so-secret weapon (anymore), Joe Nardella, had a helluva game too (14/16 FOs, 8LB, 1G).
Joe Nardella (Photo: Kathleen Helmen)
Saskatchewan Rush 1-3 (4)
Even though on paper this team is easily Top 5 in the NLL, after yet another loss for the Rush, probably their most lackluster of the season, we had to slip them, by a lot. Their 1-3 start is the team’s worst since 2013 (also 1-3) and the five goals they finished with against Albany last week (10-5L) are the fewest the Rush have registered in a regular season game since a 12-5 result against Boston in 2010. With less offensive depth than in previous years, the loss of a star like Jeff Shattler to protocol certainly stings more than it would have in other recent seasons. TLM ranked the Rush #1 in our pre-season rankings. During the eventually cancelled 2020 season, Saskatchewan lost just three games over the ten they got in. In just four this year, they’ve already matched that L total. No ones counting them out, but this is definitely a different Rush season (or at least start) than we’re used to seeing from this always top-tier team.
Calgary Roughnecks 1-2 (10)
Like the Knighthawks, it is also expected the Roughnecks would have been missing a bunch of players to protocol had the two teams played in Week 6. They’ll now be sitting stagnant for over a month, their next game only scheduled for January 22nd against the Warriors. Although it didn’t really even register in the lacrosse world, the framework agreement between the City of Calgary and Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation being terminated means no new home for the Calgary Flames or the Roughnecks, any time soon at least.
Georgia Swarm 1-2 (11)
The lack of regularly scheduled game play is definitely negatively impacting this year’s younger players, and the Swarm have more rookies than any other roster this year. NLL newcomers need to play against top competition in order to potentially reach those same heights, and with only three games for Georgia in over a month now, that inactivity is probably hurting them more than most other. Playing against an extremely motivated Penney didn’t help much either, Georgia getting a lot of looks on the Wings’ new shot stopper, and almost pulling off the upset after being gifted an OT opportunity. Most of their vets look as good as expected, especially Lyle Thompson over the last two (10G, 8A).
Lyle Thompson (Photo: Kyle Hess/Georgia Swarm)
New York Riptide 13 (0-3)
It feels like forever ago that the Riptide lost Jeff Teat and then immediately lost twice (vs. Philadelphia and Georgia). The second-year club desperate to nail down that first W (and only second in franchise history) will be off for over a month by the time they finally host Panther City this Saturday. By Sunday, we’ll only have one 0-and team left.
Panther City 14 0-4 (4)
They might be 0-4, but Panther City coaches aren’t willing to simply stamp “expansion” on the season and walk away. In the team’s post-game comments, Head Coach Tracey Kelusky said, ““It boils down to accountability. Being accountable to your teammates. ‘My bad’ doesn’t work. ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘that was my fault’ – well then fix it. If you can’t fix it then unfortunately, we have to find somebody that will. We are going to fix it. I just want to see a little more of us having that snarl back and when adversity does happen – punch back. Maybe we are not believing in ourselves the way we should, but we will get there. No one likes to be 0-4. We are going to punch back. I can promise that.”