It’s Saskatchewan’s Title to Lose
The Rush are out to 3-0 start, their best since 2017-18. They’re as fun to watch as anyone right now. On offense, Zach Manns are Brock Haley are ripping howitzer shots from distance and Levi Anderson is swimming people all over the floor. On defense Mike Messenger is…Mike Messenger. On the whole the defense has a bit of a Messenger identity to it - aggressive, physical, maybe a splash of crazy and reckless. It all adds up to a team that looks not just ready to take the floor with anyone, but confident on the floor with anyone. The Rush and the Toronto Rock currently have the same future odds to win the NLL Championship, both are +1000. Only four teams have better odds.
Brennan O’Neill is going to break rookie scoring records
The top pick in the draft added two more goals and four points to his scoring totals for the year. Every week he looks more the part of a borderline unrecoverable force on the left side. Philadelphia, as a team, is scorching hot on offense. They’re 49 goals are 3rd in the NLL, and the two teams in front of them (by two and seven goals in total) have played a full extra game. The Wings offense shares the ball incredibly well. They have three players in the top nine in the NLL in assists, including Joe Resetarits and Mitch Jones who are 2nd and 4th respectively. All this adds up to O’Neill being able to score a lot this year. Per Adam Levi, the rookie record for goals in a season is 47, set by Paul Gait in 1991 with the Detroit Turbos. O’Neill has seven goals in three games, which puts him on pace for 42 goals. The record is going down.
Lyle Thompson out the back door?
Transition lacrosse is, for a lot of fans, where the magic happens. The organized chaos of a team attacking in transition with a numbers advantage leads to creativity, fast play, and excitement. When players are described by saying, “oh, he’s great in transition”, that almost always means great at going from D to O. Lyle Thompson this week made plays that were exceptional going from O to D. In fact, you could say he denied not one but two goals in his efforts. As an example, watch Lyle from the point here. He's running the power play, but when the ball is turned over, he takes over, and sprints to the other end in time to deny Wes Berg a goal. Plays like this beg the question, should Lyle be running out the back door???
It’s Georgia’s Title to Lose
Georgia is 3-0. But not all 3-0’s are created equal. They now have two wins over San Diego, and a win over a depleted but still talented Toronto Rock. Starting the season 3-0 when all the games are against teams that were considered title contenders to start the year is excellent for the Swarm. The west coast swing continues next weekend when they visit the Loud House and the 3-1 Mammoth, another difficult test. As good as the offense is in Georgia, and it’s real good, the secret sauce right is in goal. Brett Dobson has a way of getting hot and slamming the door on teams. Georgia has given up a total of 29 goals this year, just 12 of them came in the second half of games. Dobson gets in a rhythm and things just snowball. If you can’t build an early lead against Georgia, you can’t beat them.
Someone tell the fans the season started
This goes for the Rush fans more than anyone. The team is 3-0! They’ve got a pair of OT wins. They are off to their best start ever. Zach Manns is tied with Dane Dobbie to lead the league in goals. Brock Haley looks like he could be a contender in the Rookie of the Year race. Jake Naso has emerged as a force at the faceoff spot. Frank Scigliano is over 80%. This team is full of budding stars and absolutely blistering hot out of the gate. And yet, the home opener drew 5,661 fans. Their smallest home crowd all of last year was 7,010, they were over 9,000 twice. People of Saskatchewan, get that bright green out and head to Sasktel Arena! You’ve got a contender!
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