Speed Kills, and it’s Halifax’s title to lose
The Wings dropped their Saturday matinee at home in front of their biggest crowd of the year. They weren’t beaten by high powered offense, or a huge game from Warren Hill. They were beat between the lines and in transition. Ryan Terefenko had six points on three goals and three assists, 10 loose balls, and five caused turnovers. Some transition players take multiple games to hit those totals. Jake Withers went 25/28 facing off, had 20 loose balls, a goal, and three assists. Terefenko and Withers are players who beat you with (well reasoned analysis incoming) GRIT. It’s John Wick type stuff; they are men of sheer will. If you allow two players on the other team combined for 10 points and 30 loose balls, it means there is no great mystery why you lost the game. Add in Graeme Hossack’s three points, 18 loose balls, six caused turnovers, and two blocks, it’s a wrap. It’s a shame, because Michael Sowers made his NLL debut and Brennan O’Neill scored the goal of the year, but Philly needed someone, anyone, to get in front of Terry and Wiz.Â
NLL Script Writers forgot to send the story to San Diego
Toronto hosted the Seals on Saturday for Indigenous Heritage Night. The Rock wore custom purple jerseys that were auctioned off to raise money, Challen Rogers custom painted his own shoes for the event and auctioned those off. The game itself was excellent. San Diego led for most of the night, but Toronto went on a 5-0 run in the 4th quarter to take a 10-9 lead. The stars were aligning. Next week, Toronto hosts Buffalo on Valentine’s Day. A huge rivalry game, on Valentine’s Day, against an undefeated Bandits team, with a chance to get Toronto to .500 on the season, the story was shaping up perfectly. But nobody gave the script to Wes Berg. He scored with under a minute to go to give the Seals a lead and eventually the win. NLL script writers clearly didn’t get the story to Berg in time for Saturday’s game.
Joe Resetarits, MVP
The production from the Philly offense has been tremendous. Resetarits and Mitch Jones are the top scorers in the NLL as of now, the former is up to 72 points in nine games. Scoring eight points a game, in that sample size, against defenses that include Buffalo, Vancouver, San Diego, and Halifax, is nothing to sneeze at. Last year’s MVP, Josh Byrne, averaged 7.5 points per game for the season. Dhane Smith was about the same the year before, as was league points leader Jeff Teat. Reseratits still has nine more games to go. That includes dates with Toronto, Colorado, and road games against Halifax and Vancouver. The task is tall, but the scoring pace is red hot.Â
Hope you enjoyed the bye(s), Buffalo
The Bandits had yet another bye this weekend, and have played just six games even though we are wrapping up Week 11. This is a no win situation. Yes, Buffalo is 6-0 and looks great, but if you were to poll they players you would probably learn that they hate having all these byes early in the season. And now, the flip side of that coin lands. The Bandits don’t have a bye for the rest of the regular season. Every weekend, starting with a double header this coming weekend, between February 14 and April 19, has a Bandits game on the schedule. Great for the fans, great for the game, but this can start wearing on the players. It would take a miracle for Buffalo miss the playoffs at this point, and they are a heavy favorite to be back in the championship. That means there are precious few weekends off for the next four months. Recovery and player health are paramount now, because it’s all gas no brakes (or breaks) the rest of the way.
Georgia Swarm Leading Scorer, Toron Eccleston
Over the past two games, Eccleston has bee the leading scorer for the Swarm. That’s a roster with Lyle Thompson, Shayne Jackson, Andrew Kew, Bryan Cole, Brendan Bomberry, and yet it’s a rookie who has racked up 15 points in the last two games to lead the team. He had four goals and three assists against Colorado, and last week had four and four against Vegas. The explosion has vaulted him into right up there with the top scorers in the rookie class. Brennan O’Neill is leading the way, but Eccleston, with the production of his last two games, is only a couple points behind Adam Poitras, and right there with players like Brock Haley and Brian Cameron. The torrid pace he’s on will be hard to keep up, but if his opportunistic scoring and outstanding shooting (he’s at 45% this year) stays where it is, he’ll be on the scoring leaderboards - league wide - in no time.