The Toronto Rock beat the Buffalo Bandits
Let’s just put the actual final score of the game aside for a second. The Rock got out to a 5-0 lead. The game had a combined 70 penalty minutes. The shoving, physicality, and fighting literally lasted through the game’s final whistle. Buffalo had to empty the tank. They didn’t hold their first lead of the game until the fourth quarter. It was scratching, clawing, and shoving a boulder uphill for sixty minutes. And then they won! But the had to welcome San Diego to town on a quick turnaround. They battled valiantly in Banditland, but fell to San Diego in OT. They held a 4th quarter league, but fatigue starting catching up to them late, and they couldn’t find the back of the net once in the last six minutes of the game. Toronto weakened the monster, and San Diego finished it off. This is the NLL equivalent of someone trying to open a jar for two minutes, then handing it to someone else who opens it on their first try. Just softened it up for them.
It’s Ottawa’s title to lose
What a difference a (bye) week makes. Ottawa returned after a week off, plenty of time to read people slandering Jeff Teat and make Space Jam comparisons that are dated and low effort at best. Who could do such a thing? Anyway, Teat racked up nine points for Ottawa this weekend, leading all scorers, part of an 18-9 drubbing of Albany. Seven of his points came in the first quarter. With a 9-3 lead after one, Ottawa just leaned on Albany the rest of the night until they toppled. It wasn’t just Teat though, Ottawa got star performances all over the floor. Zach Higgins stopped 47 shots, Jacob Dunbar had a five point night, Kiel Matisz had eight points. Most importantly, however, was the return of Reilly O’Connor who brought five points with him. O’Connor is Teat’s partner in crime on the lefty side of the floor, and the Bears offense improves when those two are both in the lineup healthy.
Wes Berg will never get a free beer in Buffalo again
The common and fun saying is for an athlete who makes a memorable play is “they’ll never buy a beer in (town where it happened) again.” Wes Berg may experience the reverse in Buffalo. Berg scored the goal to get San Diego within one, then assisted the Zach Currier buzzer beater that sent the game to OT, and then Berg topped it all off with the game winner in OT. It was part of a five goal night for Berg, who is heating back up again. After back to back games with no goals against Vegas and Saskatchewan, Berg had four goals against Toronto last week and then his five goal game in Buffalo. The Seals offense has had ups and downs. It may be as simple as them going how Berg goes. Right now, Berg is hot, and the Seals have back to back wins against Toronto and Buffalo.
It’s Saskatchewan’s title to lose
The Rush were one of four teams to have a double header this weekend. And they came out unscathed. With wins over Calgary on Friday and Rochester on Saturday, the Rush were the only team to win both ends of their double dip. They did it impressive fashion too. On Friday, they got Frank Scigliano’s worst game of the year so far in net, but won with sheer firepower by netting 16 goals against Calgary. Scigliano was back to form the next night, making 39 stops and holding Rochester to just nine goals while the offense stayed hot and put up 17. Saskatchewan is still without Jake Naso, the rookie faceoff specialist who had tilted the field form them early in the season, but the depth of offense is helping them overcome possession issues with high quality shooting. The Rush look like they can can score with anyone, and when Scigliano is on his game, it’s a tall task to beat Saskatchewan.
Halifax might just be bottom feeders
The Birds have won three in a row, and have climbed over the .500 mark. Given their rough start, that seems like an impressive feet. The wins are against, Albany, Rochester, Vancouver, and Philly twice. All of those teams currently are .500 or worse. We may have though differently about these teams early in the year, they may be better on paper than the record, and so forth. The schedule the rest of the way is harder. Two games with Ottawa, two games with Toronto, a trip to Banditland, plus home games with Saskatchewan and San Diego. Halifax crawling back up the standings after a slow start is commendable, it’ll take a lot for them to keep up the winning pace they are currently on.
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