NLL Power Rankings: Week 9

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.

As part of last week’s Power Rankings, we took a deeper data dive into every NLL roster to determine the most experienced, youngest and which one protocol placements have punished the most. We’re back to the regular weekly check for Week 9, but next week will nominate each team’s unsung hero.

Buffalo Bandits 5-0 (1)

Great teams figure out a way to win. The Bandits did that on Sunday afternoon in Long Island, scoring three goals in the final four minutes of the fourth, and that extra in OT courtesy of Chris Cloutier. Pretty powerful performances from Ian MacKay (2A, 12LB, 1BLK and 1CT) & Kevin Brownell (1G, 1A, 8LB and 2BLK), who’ve both been two of Buffalo’s most reliable runners during their undefeated streak to start the season. BTW, this is the seventh consecutive week Buffalo has hit #1. They’re the only team we’ve had at the top since our Preseason Rankings, where the Bandits sat a respectable second.

San Diego Seals 4-1 (3)

Like Buffalo, San Diego was trailing leading into the final frame, but also like the Bandits, they got it done like great teams tend to do. Austin Staats scored in quantity (3G, 6A) & quality (ranked 4th in last week’s NLL Clutch Kings), Jeremy Noble continues to be one of this year’s most formidable feeders (6A last week, 25 in two games this year) and rookie Tre Leclaire (2G) had his most impactful game since his strong start to the season (5 goals in first two games, held scoreless over next three).

Colorado Mammoth 4-1 (5)

Sure, their four Ws are against teams that are all currently under .500, but forget their fabulous record (second best winning % in the league), the Mammoth are playing really good ball right now. Dillon Ward became just the 25th goalie in league history (going back to 1987) to allow as few as four goals in a regular season game during their one-sided win over the Warriors. Colorado’s next six games are still against current sub .500 clubs (Calgary, Calgary, Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, Panther City and Vancouver). They won’t see a standings leader until March 19th when they fly to San Diego to take on the Seals.

Albany FireWolves 3-2 (6)

We’re not simply jumping the FireWolves over Halifax (who they beat last week) and Toronto (who they lost to in Week 1 but were missing significant defenders and still sans Ryan Benesch) because of their really good recent results. They figure into our top four because Doug Jamieson is arguably the best backstop in the bigs right now, their defense has been decidedly dominant since they got the gang back together, and their forwards continue to figure out who they are post Callum Crawford. No one wants the FireWolves right now. Trust that.

Halifax Thunderbirds 3-1 (2)

Many around the league felt the Thunderbirds got outplayed in their OT win against Toronto two weeks ago, and then Doug Jamieson had their number when he handed Halifax their first L of 2022. Because of key injuries (Cody Jamieson, Austin Shanks and Rhys Duch) and seriously strict pandemic-related provincial restrictions, few if any have faced as much adversity this year than the Thunderbirds. Hamilton is home for their next couple. Building from their bad luck will undoubtedly provide even further motivation (#UnfinishedBusiness) to come out stronger, scarier and saltier than they already were.

Toronto Rock 3-3 (4)

The Rock group chat is probably puking over where we slipped them after an impressive win, but with Colorado cruising and Albany looking A+ right now, sixth is where they get slotted this week. Nick Rose rebounded, Tom Schreiber shot the lights out (6G), and Brad Kri & Mitch de Snoo continue to be one of this year’s most devastating defensive duos. With Latrell Harris (IR) & Jason Noble (PUP) sidelined, they’ll need more of the same from their back-end leaders. The Rock still have Reid Reinholdt, Brandon Slade and now Adam Jay on their IR too. Ouch.

Philadelphia Wings 5-3 (7)

The Wings snuck another super-close result out in OT when the slipped by the Swarm on Saturday. While tight wins have been a trend so far this season, so has their run against opponents lacking a positive winning % in the standings. Philadelphia’s next four though: Toronto, Halifax, Halifax and Buffalo. The second half of the team’s schedule is also really away heavy. Of their eight games so far this year, six have been held at home, the Wells Fargo Center. Although he’ll sit just a few spots outside of this week’s Top 30 Player Rankings (drops every Wednesday during the regular season), Zach Higgins has been the team’s MVP next to maybe only Kiel Matisz. While Brett Hickey ended it in OT vs. Georgia, it was Higgins’ 53 stops that saved them that game.

Georgia Swarm 2-4 (9)

Forget the result, the Swarm have shown tremendous growth since Game 1 with a handful of their rookies and other youngsters playing well beyond what most likely assumed they’d be capable of this season. Protocol has hit this team harder than most, plus last week Georgia moved reliable rooks Tanner Buck & Ethan Walker to their PUP list. A home-and-home against Albany this weekend will be a doozy, but expect them to give the favoured FireWolves a battle in both.

Saskatchewan Rush 2-4 (12)

Their decisive 16-7 victory over expansion Panther City is most certainly a start to rewriting a regular-season script that was more horror story than the triumphant tale most thought 2022 would be in Saskatoon. Jeff Shattler was at his best (4G, 3A vs. PCLC), Robert Church continues to rip hat-tricks regularly, and Kyle Rubisch is a legit DPOTY candidate right now (shocker, right?). Ditto with Mike Messenger for TPOTY . Hell, Ryan Dilks & Matt Beers could be in best defender convos too. If you thought the Rush were done due to some early season struggles (albeit big ones), well, you were wrong. Really wrong.

Vancouver Warriors 2-3 (8)

While another loss to the mighty Mammoth was a bummer, the more devastating news was Mitch Jones being placed on the team’s IR prior to the game. Like last year, Jones was playing at an MVP-level pace and would leave a huge leading-man hole in Vancouver’s lineup. GM Dan Richardson confirmed on Tuesday that the team should know the full extent of Jones’ injury later this week. Buried in their third consecutive L was the bounce-back play of starting backstop Alex Buque, Reid Bowering continuing his dominant-debut season (honestly, how has he not been named ROTW yet?) and Owner Barker going buckets.

New York Riptide 1-5 (13)

Even at 1-5, the relentless Riptide’s stock is so supremely hot right now. If it hadn’t been for some suspect calls and a special-teams smorgasbord, their Sunday game against the Bandits coulda concluded much, much differently. While special teams are a critical component in the NLL today, to have that much undeserved uneven play determine the outcome of a game just seems wildly wrong, and that goes both ways (17 PP opportunities between the two sides). The Riptide offense has looked as nasty as any other forward cast over the last two weeks, Steve Orleman has seemingly settled in nicely as their starting stopper, and Dan MacRae has worn New York’s ‘C’ as well as any other captain this year.

Calgary Roughnecks 1-3 (10)

Unlike their season opener against the Bandits (7-7 at half, lost 16-9), it really looked like the Roughnecks were going to be able to hang on in the second half vs. the Seals, but then the fourth quarter came calling. In last week’s Power Rankings, we confirmed that Calgary had the youngest squad in the league (25.6 average age). Lessons are being learned at the highest level of the game by a group that has shown serious promise underneath their disappointing 1-3 record. Rookie Kyle Waters kicking in his first couple were certainly a reason for coming-soon optimism in Cowtown. Don’t be surprised if their success rate in the second half of the season is decidedly different.

Rochester Knighthawks 2-4 (11)

No Holden Cattoni (IR), no, well, that actually could be a problem. Hear us out though, cuz it wasn’t on Saturday night when Rochester got rolled by the Rock 12-8. Shawn Evans was needed to rip way more than he had all season, finishing twice. In fact, the rest (well, most) of their core forward cast did the same (Curtis Knight, Turner Evans and Ryan Smith all scored two apiece). What Rochester seemed to lack was any secondary scoring from their own end (Ryland Rees & Matt Gilray have been so good there this year though), the type of goals that typically shift momentum and allow a team to dictate pace, pressure and offensive opportunity. We woulda dropped significant dinero to have seen Paul Dawson & Billy Hostrawser tangle on the turf at the end there. Tee up some Bandages by Hot Hot Heat for that opening draw on April 9th (and probably some actual bandages too). Buckets & bombs from a couple beauties right off the bat. Next time, boys. Please!

Panther City Lacrosse Club 1-5 (14)

Although the team has not made a single excuse all season long, in fact it’s been quite the opposite, one thing that hasn’t been mentioned by many if any is how much talent Panther City has sitting on their Draft List. These are players that in any previous season would be leaned on for immediate production, especially by an expansion team. Forget the fact that every other team in the league has added next-gen help in two drafts to PCLC’s one since the most recent previous pre-pandemic season. Three names on that list would all likely be locks this year and next. Obviously #1 overall pick Jonathan Donville (Maryland/Cornell & Orangeville/Mimico) is one, but so is University of Denver duo Caleb Kueber (Victoria Shamrocks, BCJALL) & Jack Hannah (Rivermen, OCBLL). A high 2022 pick looks likely, too. And did you forget about Randy Staats? PCLC is most definitely set up for some serious coming-soon strides and long-term success.