Welcome in to the newest weekly feature on Lacrosse Culture Daily: By the Numbers. Each and every week of the National Lacrosse League season, I’ll be here breaking down a few of the key statistical nuggets that will surely get you excited about the week ahead in the NLL.
Jeff Teat has scored how many career points against _____? Dillon Ward has had how many 40+ save games against ______? Stats don’t tell the full story, but they are a great tool to learn more about the league and what is really going on. Let’s dive into this week’s numbers before Week 1 action kicks off on Friday night.
Here we go! Week one of By the Numbers!
197 – Brayden Laity and Owen Grant Combined Blocked Shots Last Season
The Vancouver Warriors Brayden Laity and Owen Grant were the best rookie defensive-minded duo in the NLL last season. This wasn’t much of a surprise to anyone who has been covering lacrosse over the last few years. Grant was the #3 overall pick in the 2022 NLL Entry Draft (he played at the University of Delaware in 2023) and Laity was the #9 in the 2023 NLL Entry Draft.
Last season, the youthful duo (Laity was only 20-years-old last season and Grant turned 24 towards the end of the regular season) contributed all over the floor – Grant’s eight goals led all rookie transition players in scoring (his eight goals were only second to the Toronto Rock’s Justin Martin for goals scored by listed transition or defensive rookie).
Furthermore, Grant and Laity’s 197 combined loose ball recoveries was tied for the most by a rookie duo last season (tied with the Albany FireWolves Tye Kurtz and Alex Simmons). Their combined 60 caused turnovers and 26 blocked shots were also among the best by a duo in the NLL last season.
Grant, Laity, and the Warriors kick off their 2024-25 NLL Season this Friday against the Colorado Mammoth in Denver. The pair are expected to be instrumental parts of the Warriors future success, but there’s no denying they’re part of the present success, as well.
94 & 133 – Ryan Benesch, Ben McIntosh and Rob Hellyer Combined Goals & Assists Last Season
The San Diego Seals are going to look a lot different offensively this year. Yes, Wes Berg is still on the Seals, but, across the floor, there’s going to be quite a few new guys on the attack.
Ryan Benesch came over from the Halifax Thunderbirds to join the Seals, Ben McIntosh made his way to San Diego after his time with the Philadelphia Wings, and Rob Hellyer joined San Diego after his time with the Las Vegas Desert Dogs. Each of these three guys are gifted offensive talents.
Last season, in his 17th NLL season, Benesch scored 42 goals – the most he’s scored in one year since the 2015 season. Hellyer had 55 assists (and that was following a career-high 71-assist season the year before). McIntosh quietly had his 3rd consecutive 30-30 season (the longest such streaks in his career). All together, last season, the pieces of the new Seals’ trio combined for 94 goals,133 assists, and 227 points – that’s not too shabby, to say the least.
This, of course, though, is to replace the likes of Curtis Dickson, Dane Dobbie, and Austin Staats, who scored 101 of the Seals’ 210 goals left season (that’s almost 50%). All eyes will be on the Seals new trio to see how they can compare to the old trio in SD. They’ve got the experience and capability to do it, now that just have to make those potential great numbers a reality.
3 – Las Vegas Desert Dogs Home Wins Last Season
The Las Vegas Desert Dogs have moved to a new home at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson. We’ll see how that affects their home record this NLL season.
Last season, in just their second year in the league, the Desert Dogs took a step backward regarding home Ws. In their inaugural season, the team earned four home wins – last season, that was cut in half. Desert Dogs fans hope being in their new stomping grounds will propel them to record-setting home success.
When the Desert Dogs played on their home floor, they averaged 9.1 goals per game while allowing 13.4 goals per game.
The Desert Dogs outperformed themselves on the road in many key metrics, including having better goals for and fewer goals against on the road, leading to more wins away from home than on their home floor.
With key new additions of Jonathan Donville, Shane Simpson, Adam Poitras, and others, these new-look Desert Dogs seem poised to learn from their past and move forward.
44 – Points Combined By Jeff Teat & Tom Schreiber In Their Last Two Times Facing Eachother
“By the Numbers,” you can’t ask for a much better start to the NLL season than what we’re getting. The league is kicking the season off with an awesome Ontario rivalry matchup between the Toronto Rock and the hosting Ottawa Black Bears. This is the Black Bears first season in Ottawa, and they’re getting the awesome privilege to open up the NLL season with a big game against last year’s best regular season team.
Both rosters have lots of talent, but the last two times these two franchises have played each other (when the Black Bears were the New York Riptide), it was the stars who shined.
It’s crazy enough to think that the Black Bears’ Jeff Teat and Tom Schreiber have combined for 44 points over only two games (that’s 22 combined points per game), but when they played each other back on February 4th, 2023, both players were on a whole other level.
Teat put up five goals and seven assists for 12 points, while Schreiber one-upped him with three goals and 12 assists for 15 points. The 12 assists was tied for the second-most assists in a single NLL game and, so were his 15 points. Tom was the first player to record 15+ points in a game since the Toronto Rock’s Garrett Billings notched 15 points back in 2012.
Both Schreiber and Teat are currently listed on the Active Roster for their respective teams, so if they both play, expect fireworks on both ends of the floor as Teat and Schreiber duel it out in a must-watch season-opener.
Thanks for reading By the Numbers!