NLL Week 8: Standings in a Blender
Welcome to a rare Tuesday edition of the LCD newsletter. We waited an extra day this week to accommodate the Monday game for the Philadelphia Wings and Vancouver Warriors.
But now that it’s all said and done, it’s time to look back at an absolutely wild week eight in the National Lacrosse League. Four of the bottom five teams in the standings won this past weekend, with the only losing side being the Halifax Thunderbirds who dropped their contest to the similarly ranked Rochester Knighthawks.
With so much parity, there has never been a better time to be a fan of the league. We have you covered with all the action below.
Ottawa Black Bears 9 – Vancouver Warriors 8
Two weeks ago, the Black Bears were sitting at 2-2 and faced an inflection point early in the season. Since then, they secured two massive victories, this time taking down the Vancouver Warriors in front of their home crowd. They are currently in a three-way tie for second place in the league.
Larson Sundown had his best game of the year with 4 goals to lead Ottawa, while Jeff Teat added 2 goals and 4 assists. Zach Higgins continued his excellent season with 41 saves.
Riley Lowewen had a hat-trick for the Warriors, while Keegan Bal, Owen Grant, and Adam Charalambides all had 3 points.
Stat of the Game: The Black Bears have allowed 9.6 goals per game this season. In their four seasons as the New York Riptide they allowed 13.1 per game.
Attendance: 5,217
Vegas Desert Dogs 12 – San Diego Seals 10
The Dogs won the Joe Tsai bowl, securing their second victory of the season. It was the first sellout in franchise history at Lee’s Family Forum, as more than 5,500 people packed into Lee’s Family Forum for Gretzky jersey night.
Jack Hannah was the star for the Dogs with 3 goals and 5 assists, while Justin Geddie made 42 saves in his first start and win of the season.
Rob Hellyer had 2 goals and 3 assists to go along with a hat-trick from Ryan Benesch for the Seals.
Stat of the Game: Dylan Watson scored for the Seals while Drew Belgrave had 3 loose balls and a CTO in their debuts for their new teams after getting traded for each other.
Attendance: 5,597
Calgary Roughnecks 12 – Georgia Swarm 11
Calgary continued their strong start to the year with an overtime victory over the Swarm, who have now dropped three straight after a perfect start.
Curtis Dickson led the scoring for Calgary with 3 goals and 3 assists, but it was Haiden Dickson who provided the overtime theatrics, scoring just over three minutes into the extra frame. It was the second OT victory of the season for the Roughnecks.
Andrew Kew led all players in the game with 8 points on a goal and 7 helpers. Lyle Thompson had 3 goals and 3 assists. Toron Eccleston scored his first career goal for the Swarm.
Stat of the Game: Rookie Brayden Mayea drew into the lineup for the second time and pushed his season point total to 7 points on 3 goals and 4 assists.
Attendance: 9,931
Albany Firewolves 13 – Colorado Mammoth 10
The Firewolves gave the Mammoth a taste of their own medicine on Saturday, securing their own come from behind victory after the Mammoth did the same to them just a week before. Albany improved to 2-5 and kept pace with the Desert Dogs who also won on the weekend.
Ethan Walker had 8 points for the Firewolves while Alex Simmons had 7. John Piatelli scored the go-ahead 10th and 11th goals in the fourth quarter.
Ryan Lee had 4 goals and 3 assists for the Mammoth while Will Malcom had 4 goals and 2 assists. Colorado now sits on the playoff bubble at 4-3.
Stat of the Game: In his 19th regular season NLL game, Firewolves defender Nicholas Volkov scored his first career goal when he deposited an empty-netter to seal the victory.
Attendance: 4,934
Toronto Rock 11 – Saskatchewan Rush 8
As it turns out, getting some of their best players back from injury was just what the Toronto Rock needed. With TD Ierlan and Tom Schreiber back in the lineup, they beat the Rush and got their first victory of the season.
Captain America made an immediate impact, scoring 3 goals and 4 assists in the win. Chris Boushy had 2 goals and 3 assists for the Rock while Josh Dawick added 2 goals of his own, making it a big night for the right side.
Ryan Keenan had 2 goals and 4 assists to lead the scoring for the Rush, while Robert Church had 2 goals and 2 assists. Nick Rose had his best game of the year with 41 saves.
Stat of the Game: TD Ierlan won 60.9% of the faceoffs against Jake Naso, restoring the possession advantage that the Rock have been accustomed throughout Ierlan’s career.
Attendance: 5,011
Rochester Knighthawks 10 – Halifax Thunderbirds 9
Similarly to the Firewolves, the Knighthawks bounced back from their loss to the Thunderbirds the week before to secure a massive third victory on the season.
Connor Fields led all scorers with 4 goals and 2 assists, while Ryan Lanchbury continued his strong season with 4 more points.
Randy Staats had 3 goals and 2 assists to lead the Thunderbirds. Warren Hill was the starter after sitting the previous game and made 47 saves.
Stat of the Game: The cumulative score of this game (19 goals) was the same as the Thunderbirds scored by themselves against Rochester the week before.
Attendance: 10,125
Buffalo Bandits 19 – Philadelphia Wings 14
The Bandits continued their dominant start to the season in front of 17,561 fans in Buffalo. Josh Byrne had 7 goals and 5 assists while Dhane Smith had a goal and 9 assists.
Holden Cattoni and Joe Resetarits had 8 points each for the Wings, who have been very strong offensively this season.
Stat of the Game: The Bandits goal differential is +33 through five games this season.
Attendance: 17,561
Philadelphia Wings 14 – Vancouver Warriors 13
In a very rare Monday game, the Philadelphia Wings bounced back and gave the Warriors their second defeat of the season by a score of 14-13.
Mitch Jones scored 5 goals and added 6 assists for a monster night, while Joe Resetarits continued his outstanding year with 3 goals and 6 assists of his own.
Adam Charalambides nearly doubled his production on the year with 5 goals and 4 assists while Keegan Bal had 2 goals and 6 assists.
Stat of the Game: Owen Grant now has 9 goals in 6 games, and is on pace for one of the best statistical seasons by a defender in league history.
Attendance: Not listed.
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