Overview:
Daniel May is a Toronto native and current lacrosse player at Jacksonville University. May’s Grinders is a weekly series which highlights the contributions of players around the league, particularly those that don’t appear on the box score. Check back here every week for another edition of May’s Grinders!
Week 11 brought more great NLL action. No messing around, let’s get right into May’s Grinders.
Dave Brock – Halifax Thunderbirds
The Halifax Thunderbirds fought off a late game comeback by the Las Vegas Desert Dogs to come out on top 12-10. David Brock made his presence felt on the floor contributing a goal and assist in transition, which both came off of strong defensive efforts on his part.
His first assist came from Brock finishing the play by picking up a contested loose ball in Halifax’s defensive end. He ran the ball up the floor and threw a skip pass to Ryan Benesch on the crease who quick-sticked the ball cross crease, resulting in an easy tap in for Ethan Woods.
Brock’s goal at the end of the second quarter was a similar effort of making a play in the defensive end that resulted in success via transition. After an errant rebound, Brock and Colton Armstrong pounced on the loose ball at centre, which Brock picked up and ran the other way for a goal. The goal should go to Armstrong for his effort in beating out the Vegas player for the ball and kicking it to space for Brock to pick up. All in all, their willingness to be diligent on the created the chance.
Complete efforts such as these are prime examples of complementary lacrosse, which all great teams do. Making plays on one end of the floor that leads to success on the other. Brock was the epitome of that all night. He ended the game with 1 goal, 1 assist, 7 loose balls, and 4 caused turnovers.
Connor Kirst – Vegas Desert Dogs
What I love most about Connor Kirst’s game is his presence in transition. Although he comes out of the D-door, every time he gets involved in the rush it’s an advantage for Vegas. You can see his background as Third-Team All-American attackman – in 2021 at Rutgers – through his ability to create good shots and poise with the ball in his stick, which manipulates defenders.
A prime example of his prowess ii transition is his goal at the beginning of the third quarter.
Kirst broke up the floor sparking a reverse transition opportunity after a Landon Kells save. It created a 2-v-1 with Rob Hellyer breaking off the bench and the Halifax defender was caught in the middle. Knowing that the defender’s priority was to take away Hellyer, Vegas’ leading scorer, Kirst threw a fake to get the defender to show his cards. Especially since Kirst’s stick was towards the outside, the defender spun towards Hellyer. Kirst kept the ball and threw a leaner towards the short side, fooling Warren Hill.
Kirst didn’t look like your typical defender when he crossed the centre line due to his poise and calmness with the ball. On top of his goal, Kirst was up the floor all game creating chances for the Desert Dogs. He picked up 12 loose balls because he’s an absolute workhorse and caused 3 turnovers. A complete effort from a player who’s a backbone of Vegas’ squad.
Damon Edwards and Callum Jones, New York Riptide
2024 is the year of the Riptide. They’ve started off the new year 5-1 and are over .500 for the first time in franchise history, taking down some of the tops teams in the league – Buffalo, San Diego, and Georgia – during that span.
This weekend’s 10-8 comeback win over the San Diego Seals was a complete effort down the lineup. It was the defence who stood tall holding the Seals to one goal in the second half, which allowed the Riptide to erase a five-goal deficit. A couple defenders who stood out in the win were team captain Damon Edwards and Callum Jones.
Edwards stood out for his ability to negate the Seals top scoring options when he was on the floor. In the fourth quarter, where the Riptide defence shutout the Seals, Edwards forced his matchup into advantageous positions for Cam Dunkerley to make saves. He played the off ball position on picks perfectly, staying level with the dodge as it went down the alley and forcing either a bad shot or a bail out from the dodger. When players threw the flip pass he was quick to recover and was able to contest shots. Although he didn’t block any, nobody was getting clean looks off of 45. He put the final dagger in the game scoring the 10th, and final, goal on a where he caught the Seals sleeping and broke up field for breakaway goal.
Jones stood out because of both the volume of reps he got in the game and his physicality. In the fourth quarter he was out there nearly every defensive possession and faceoff on the ball team. On the goal to make the game 8-7, Jones picked up a contest loose ball with two Seals players on him. He tip-toed the crease and was able to get rid of the ball, which went the other way for Jeff Teat’s third of the night. He picked up 7 loose balls during the game and was in the middle of every scrum he could get into.
Jones matched the physicality of Austin Staats, which was a big reason why the Seals were limited to one goal in the second half. It’s no secret that Staats is a matchup nightmare in the NLL, especially where he gets physical as a picker. Jones stood up to the challenge and matched Staats’ physicality, which slowed down his production.
A prime example came in the final minutes of the game. In the two-man game against Staats and Dhane Dobbie, Jones shoved Staats to the floor and out of the way to pick. He was then picked from behind, which easily could’ve been called for a moving screen, gets up, and puts his shoulder into Staats on the ensuing loose ball, sending Staats to the turf. The refs swallowed their whistles in the final frame, for good reason, letting the game play out. Still, a big sequence that resulted in the game-tying goal by Teat.
Lyle Thompson, Georgia Swarm.
Lyle Thompson isn’t typically a player you’d expect to see on the weekly rendition of May’s Grinders, but here he is. Why? His relentless effort on the ground to extend possessions for his team. Although Thompson finished the game with a singular goal, his production wasn’t limiting to his scoring touch. Thompson finished the game with 9 loose balls, the most of any Georgia Swarm player, because he rode possessions tirelessly.
Whether it was fighting for a contested loose ball or getting up and applying pressure to force a turnover, Thompson made a difference.
His lone goal of the game came off of him scooping up a loose ball on the powerplay and subsequently getting a crosse crease tap-in on the ensuing play. Later in the game on another powerplay, he got involved in the ride and along with Karson Tarbell coming off the bench, forced an errant pass by the Rochester player that Tarbell got a stick on. His relentless pressure makes a big difference that allows the Swarm’s offence to get hot.