Larson Sundown is unstoppable
There are heaters, and then there’s whatever you call what Larson Sundown is doing lately. He scored a total of three points in the Black Bears’ first three games. Just one goal. In their last two games he has ten points, including his four goal outing against Vancouver on Friday night. Two of his goals were spectacular diving efforts, something of a trademark for Sundown. The explosion is coming at the right time for Ottawa. Jeff Teat leads the team in scoring, but coming into the weekend the next four top scorers on the team are all righties. Ottawa just acquired Eric Fannell from Albany to try and boost the left, and Sundown finding the back of the net consistently only makes that side of the floor stronger.
It’s Toronto’s title to lose
The news hit the wire on Saturday afternoon that both TD Ierlan and Tom Schreiber would be active for the Rock game that night. It was a “Happy learned how to putt. Uh ohhhhh” moment; an announcement that counting them out, even at 0-5, would be a major mistake. Ierlan won the faceoff battle against rookie sensation Jake Naso. Schreiber led all scorers with seven points. The Rock had it all working. The game was hardly a gimme. Saskatchewan is a difficult opponent, with quality shooters and a hot goalie in Frank Scigliano. It’s the kind of win that really sparks a team. The road is still uphill. Four of their next five opponents currently have winning records, and the one exception is the 3-4 San Diego Seals.
There’s nothing like desperation
Plenty of teams around the league were desperate for a win. We just covered Toronto, who finally got their first win of the year. But they weren’t the only one trying to get things going in the right direction. Albany won to get to 2-5, and they played their first home game of the year that didn’t end in an overtime loss.Rochester split the second half of a home and home against Halifax with a big 4th quarter on the road. Vegas got their first win at home, and they did it in front of a sold out crowd. Philly took a beating in Banditland on Saturday, but bounced back with a win at home Monday to keep pace near the top of the standings.
Double headers are bad for the game
This was the first weekend with a double dip on the schedule. Philadelphia played in Buffalo on Saturday night, Vancouver played in Ottawa on Friday night. The two met in Philly at 5pm EST on Monday. To read the box score for the Monday contest is to see a hotly contested game. Philly and Vancouver had a shootout, with a late charge by the Warriors following just short. And there was certainly some of that. But the closing quarter of the game, if you watched, was full of errors by both teams. Poor possessions, bad shot selection, bad turnovers, and questionably clock management choices. It’s the kind of thing that happens to teams on a quick turnaround. Without adequate time to recover and prepare, games can become a sort of “roll the ball out and see what happens” affair. As a fan, I’ll always say more lacrosse is good and I enjoy it. But the quality of play can’t be sacrificed for a fatter schedule.
San Diego could use some weapons like Jacob Dunbar, Curtis Dickson or Dane Dobbie
The Seals have lost three of their last four games. The win in that run was a record breaking low scoring 6-5 win over Ottawa. They’ve cracked double digit goals once in that span, and it was 10 goals in their loss to Las Vegas this weekend. The newcomers to the offense, Rob Hellyer and Ryan Benesch, are the top two on the league in scoring, but the production over the last month just hasn’t been there for the Seals. San Diego has never been shy about making moves for stars to bolster the roster, and the trade market in the NLL has already heated up. As other teams makes more for talent, it could be time for the Seals to do the same.
Connor Fields is going to lead the league in just what we all expected. Loose balls.
After this weekend, Fields is up to 72 loose balls on the year. The league leader, Robert Hope, has 74, Zach Currier has 73, and then Fields. This is not a stat that forwards lead the league in, and yet Fields once again is racking up the loosies. Last year had had 159 looseballs, which ranked 9th in the NLL and best among forwards. The next highest ranked forward, Dhane Smith, had 40 fewer loose balls. Fields seems to just be a magnet for them. Any rebound, anything bouncing around in the corner on his side of the floor, he just tractor beams it in. It creates second chances for Rochester off shots, extends possessions, it’s a truly valuable asset. Per Adam Levi, the only other time a forward led the league in loose balls was 1997 when Jon Tavares did it. He will have company
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