Random Thoughts: Ottawa’s Opener, Rush Faceoffs and Focus Calls

My random thoughts…

We should have learned from last year.  In the NLL, just like in Big Brother, expect the unexpected. A pre-season favourite to win it all, the Toronto Rock, failed to score for 35 minutes.  The Rush flipped the script from last season on the Firewolves.  San Diego and Philly nearly covered the over/under in the first half.  Ryan Benesch continues to find the Fountain of Youth with 5 goals and 9 points.  And Vancouver… well… Vancouvered themselves once again.

Opening Night in Ottawa

Its always interesting to see in the opening few games how a city embraces a team.  Even those teams that had great attendance in a new market have needed time to build on their attendance mark.  The reported attendance for the Black Bears’ opening night was 6,995, but what was key, if you watched that game on TSN, the lower bowl of that arena was packed and loud.  If you’re an Ottawa area resident and saw that on TSN linear, you know you need to check that team out.

But even more important perhaps for a team in a new market, the Black Bears got a dominant 11-5 win over the Rock.  Sometimes the slightest of things can turn off the momentum of an offense and for the Rock, they had an early powerplay in which they hit the crossbar twice.  When an offense goes a full 37:42 without scoring (Toronto’s opening goal 35 minutes in was in transition), one can only imagine what an early goal would have done to change that momentum.

One of the big issues that plagued the Riptide in past seasons was goaltending, and early on the trade to pick up Zach Higgins paid off immensely.  No, we won’t decide who won the Higgins-Damude trade just yet.  But on opening week, Higgins 5.00 GAA, 0.884 SV%.  Damude, 17 GA, 19.81 GAA, 0.667 SV%.

The Rock were playing without Challen Rogers who was placed on the IR prior to game time, but his presence would likely not have changed the outcome.  The Rock’s defense wasn’t a major issue, nor was their transition game.  On the opposite side, what a night for Jacob Dunbar.  Technically still a rookie this season, only playing five games in two seasons in San Diego, he had 3 goals and 3 assists, outscoring Jeff Teat, and 9 loose balls to boot.  This in itself is one of the things that makes the Black Bears’ performance that much more impressive . Nobody’s stats on offense jump off the page outside of Dunbar, and even with Jeff Teat scoring once off 13 shots, Ottawa still won comfortably.

Faceoffs Matter

Some people might wonder why I praised Jake Naso on Twitter immediately following the Rush’s 10-9 overtime win over Albany.  The key to Naso’s performance was this.  A year ago, the Rush missed the playoffs by a single game, and the game most obvious where they could have turned the tide last season was an overtime loss to Albany.  In that game, Joe Nardella dominated Mike Messenger at the dot, winning 22 of 25 faceoffs, including the one to start overtime, where Albany scored on the opening possession.  In that game it got to the point where Messenger was simply going to body Nardella just to prevent a fast break.  As much as Derek Keenan resisted bringing in a faceoff specialist last season, the problem was clear, and he drafted two faceoff specialists this offseason, with Naso eventually winning out.

Naso may have only won 35% of the draws on Saturday night, but that is impressive for most players facing Nardella.  A year ago, Albany had an extra 19 possessions off the draw compared to the Rush.  This go around, that advantage was just 7 extra possessions.  In a game that is won in overtime, that contributes to the difference.  Plus, you’re no longer in a situation where you’re simply assuming that you’re going to lose the draw when you need a key possession.

The league as a whole has started to realize just how important faceoff specialists are.  You don’t have to look far.  The final four teams last year had Connor Farrell, TD Ierlan, Trevor Baptiste and Nardella.  Buffalo went 11-1 once Farrell joined the team halfway through the season.  The flipside to this is that faceoff specialists are difficult to find.  With TD Ierlan out long term, Toronto has yet to replace him with someone close to his level.   

Outside of the faceoffs, it was a mixed bag of performances from the Rush.  Mike Messenger had an off night, getting beat down low, giving Dyson Williams too much space, and missing an empty net with under a minute to go.  I don’t disagree with Messenger’s shot there like many did.  Its an empty net and he should expect to hit it from there.  Even if he goes to the corner to kill time, there is still enough time on the clock for Albany to get a last possession to tie things up.

There is lots to be excited about for the Rush in that game.  Brock Haley had 5 points in his first game.  Zach Manns left off where he was last season with 4 goals.  And Frank Scigliano came up big in overtime time and time again. The powerplay certainly needs some work, but for a team that has historically started the season slow, a week 1 win against one of the best in the league is a major step in the right direction.

Blowing Big Leads

Part of the pain that Vancouver Warriors’ fans, and the Stealth fans before them, have had to endure for many years now, is the ability to frequently lose games where they’ve had a large lead.  In the not so distant past, Colorado came back from 8-goal deficits to beat Vancouver.  In one game that Desert Dogs’ fans will never forget, they got their first win in franchise history, trailing Vancouver 12-4 at the half, with two players ejected at halftime, an extended 5 on 3 penalty kill and a penalty shot to defend to start the second half, and one of those penalties they were short on was a major.

When Vancouver went to the locker room at half up 6-1, Warriors fans had to be feeling pretty good about what they were seeing.  But it’s the Warriors, and they’ve blown bigger leads than this in the past.  And sure enough, it happens again.

Where to lay the blame for what happened in the second half, where the Warriors were outscored 10-1 isn’t singular.  Aden Walsh wasn’t great.  He let in several short-side goals in the second half, but when you know that goaltending isn’t your strength and you goalie effectively allows 9 goals in a game, not including the empty netter and the penalty shot at the end that was a matter of circumstances, you have to expect that your offense can do enough  to get you that win.

The Warriors offense didn’t score in the last 25 minutes of the game, something that is consistent in each of these large leads that get blown.  Curt Malawsky describes it better than I can in his post-game interview on the Warriors social media.  Malawsky is a coach that loves grit, guys cutting through the middle, enduring some punishment if necessary.  But as he puts it, nobody was willing to go there and take those chops.  In fact, out of the 7 Warriors goals on Friday night, three of them were scored by Owen Grant in the first half on transition opportunities.  On one hand you need to be happy that Grant is giving you a whole new weapon, but on the flipside, it means that your offense only produced four goals.

For Colorado, they have to be at least pleased with their offensive comeback in the second half.  Keep in mind this offense now consists of two new players Thomas Vela and Will Malcolm, and you have Ryan Lee back for the first time in a long time.  With a unit so unaccustomed to playing with one another, you could have forgiven Colorado for not having a great first half performance, but the offense came together better than expected.

Editors Note: This article previously stated that Connor Kelly was a new addition. He played for the Mammoth last season.

Chaos in San Diego

A similar big lead breakdown happened in San Diego on Sunday where the Wings put up 8 goals in the opening quarter and had an early 7-2 lead on San Diego, only to ultimately fall 18-15 in a surprising goal fest where the over was nearly covered by halftime and the mighty Wings lead was already eliminated going into the break.

One item that has to be questioned here is goalie management.  Once San Diego gave up those early 8 goals, they made the switch in net to get Mike Poulin into the game, and then when Poulin started to let in a handful of goals to start the second half, the Seals made the switch back to Origlieri.  Once Origlieri got back between the pipes, he only allowed one goal in the next 15 minutes and that helped propel the Seals to the win.  On the flipside, Philly resisted putting Deacan Knott into the net until the 8:29 mark of the 4^th quarter, allowing Nick Damude to stay in for 17 goals.  I get that Philly wants Damude to settle into his new team, but leaving him out there for that long with that barrage of shots isn’t going to instill too much confidence.

Even more impressive for the Seals was the production from their new offensive weapons in Benesch, Ben McIntosh and Rob Hellyer.  The three of them combined for 12 goals and 21 points.  Once again, when you have a new offense, you wonder how long it will take them to get accustomed to one another.  For the Seals, that took a training camp and 56 seconds.  To think back to a year ago where Benesch was certain that 2024 would be his last season, but then turn 2024 into one of his best seasons ever and then start this season with five goals, he’s got things going the right direction if he’s to finally get that elusive NLL championship.

Penalties Galore

Every year there are certain penalties that are discussed pre-season that the officials will attempt to emphasize.  Sometimes those points of emphasis are short-lived, sometimes they’re enforced most of the year, and sometimes the crackdown is short simply because players adjust.  What the officials are looking to emphasize on though is known prior to the season so players do get the chance to adjust ahead of time.

The point of emphasis this season was on holding and holding the stick.  Some players adjusted while others struggled.  If you look at the 5 games this weekend, here’s what went down:

• Toronto vs Ottawa – 12 penalties, 27 PM, 1 holding & 2 holding the stick calls
• Colorado vs Vancouver – 16 penalties – 8 of which occur in the last 10 seconds, 64 PM, 2 holding & 1 holding the stick calls
• Las Vegas vs Rochester – 11 penalties, 22 PM, 1 holding & 3 holding the stick calls
• Saskatchewan vs Albany – 15 penalties, 30 PM, 3 holding & 4 holding the stick calls
• Philly vs San Diego – 14 penalties, 31 PM, 4 holding & 0 holding the stick calls

One of the theses early on in each game was the emphasis calls.  The two holding the stick calls in Ottawa were the first two calls of the game.  The three emphasis penalties in Colorado were among the 4 first half penalties.  Both 1^st quarter penalties in Rochester were emphasis calls.  In the opening 21 minutes in Albany, there were five emphasis calls.

The sheer number of penalties through is quite high.  On average, there were 13.6 penalties per game, or roughly one penalty every 4:24.

The concern for the Vancouver Warriors, and potentially the Colorado Mammoth, is what Brian Lemon has to say regarding the incident with 10 seconds remaining.  For those that didn’t see it, Vancouver was down 10-7 at the time and had just been called for an illegal substitution.  This meant a penalty shot for the Mammoth as the penalty occurred within the last 2 minutes of regulation (or anytime in overtime).  The penalty had already been assessed and announced.  Aden Walsh was back in his net to face the penalty shot.  And then a huge skirmish occurs between the benches.

At one stage Zed Williams slams Matt Beers to the turf and picks up a major for roughing.  Matt Beers himself picked up a major for roughing.  But it’s the penalty line on Jackson Subboch that will cause concern.  He picked up a major for fighting, plus a 2-minute minor plus a game misconduct for instigating (this is automatically added in a one-man fight).  A misconduct was added for leaving the player’s bench and an additional game misconduct for a fight with less than 5 minutes remaining.  The whole combination of a fight, long after play has concluded, with an instigator and leaving the bench will mean that Mr. Lemon has his work cut out for him, and whether anything else gets added as a result will likely come down to a detailed review of all the camera angles that we didn’t get to see.

An additional note, this rule came into play a few times and its one that some NLL fans, and even broadcasters, weren’t aware of.  The situation that arose in at least two occasions this weekend, including a critical situation with 8 minutes remaining in Albany, where there was a loose ball inside the crease and an offensive player, standing outside the crease, bats the ball into the net.  In this situation, rule 55.11 comes into play.  The exact wording of the rule is:

If the ball is loose in the crease an opposing player may not direct the ball into the goal. If the ball is loose in the crease, an opposing player must have possession prior to any scoring attempt.  A no goal shall be called if the ball is loose in the crease, directed by an opposing player and having the ball make contact with the goalie or a defender prior to the ball going into the net.

In simple terms, when the ball is loose in the crease, the offensive player can reach into the crease, provided his feet are outside the crease, possess the ball in his stick and shoot it into the net.  But you cannot try to tap the ball in or swipe at it without fully possessing the ball.  If the ball is outside the crease, you can try to swipe at the ball or tap it in.

Until next time…