Toronto is going to be the one seed
What a difference a healthy team makes. TD Ierlan went 60% against the Rush, and then went 50/50 with the red hot Justin Inacio on Friday in Calgary. Tom Schreiber has 13 points in his two games fully healthy. Latrell Harris returned to the lineup this week, and the transition opportunities The reinforcements have boosted the play of Nick Rose, who has been 80% or better in each of the last two games after feeling to break 80% in the first five. The 2025 Rock suddenly look an awful lot like the 2024 Rock. Stout defensively (they held Dane Dobbie and Curtis Dickson to a combined two goals), efficient offense, and opportunistic with their transition weapons. As noted during the game, it will probably take in the ballpark of nine wins to make the playoffs. That would require them to go 7-4 the rest of the way. When you play like they did Friday, it should be a walk in the park.
Toronto needs to make a trade
The Rock were rolling on Friday night. But because it just seems to be the story of their season, they still got bad news this week. Mark Matthews has been shut down for the season as his shoulder needs surgery. The Rock seem to have found something Brian Cameron. Despite having very little box experience, the rookie has totaled 15 points on the season, including two goals and three assists on Friday. Like many field players making their way indoors, he’s at his best when he can isolate against a defender and has some room to operate. For field fans, think of getting to dodge in space, with no clear help defender ready to slide. Indoors, Cameron wins in these situations and shoots well enough to do damage. Josh Dawick and Chris Boushy are doing most of the scoring for the Rock, and the right side just got Tom Schreiber back. Corey Small has come on lately, and Dan Craig had his best scoring game of the year on Friday. But without Matthews, the left side needs help. It might be time to call Philadelphia about all their glut of lefty talent.
Somewhere on an alien planet the MonStars are playing lacrosse using Jeff Teat’s skills
We’ve all seen Space Jam (Jordan, not James). But for the younger crowd who may need a refresher. Aliens come to earth with the goal of kidnapping the Looney Tunes to revitalize their alien amusement park. Bugs Bunny challenges the aliens to a game of basketball, because they are small and weak. The aliens agree, and then they steal the talent and ability from Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, Larry Johnson, Shawn Bradley, and Muggsy Bogues to become superstar basketball aliens, the MonStars. Ultimately, With the help of the Looney Tunes and (spoiler alert) Bill Murray, Jordan and the Looney Tunes defeat the MonStars, an alien basketball team, to win the Tunes freedom. I spent too many words on that. What I’m getting at is that somewhere in the universe, there’s a lacrosse MonStars playing, and one of them got to Jeff Teat. Through seven games, Teat sits at (gasp) 19th in the NLL with 36 points, tied with Will Malcom. He is a cool 22 points back from league leader Joe Resetarits, and they’ve played the same amount of games. Jeff Teat’s worst finish in the scoring race, ever, was his rookie year when he finished 4th with 108 points. He’s never been under 100. His current scoring pace would have him finish the year with 90 points. Ottawa has had games with four goals, five goals, and seven goals in total this year. Teat is managing to be productive, but this is the first time it takes you a second to find his name among the scoring ranks.
It’s Colorado’s title to lose
It’s not quantity, it’s quality. Zed Williams only had a single point on Saturday night against Rochester, and it came with about two seconds left on the clock. It also gave the Mammoth the lead. And while it’s hardly routine, there’s a reason they call him Zeddy Ballgame. He now has seven game winning goals in his pro career. Three of them have happened in the last six weeks. And that’s just indoors. Out of a timeout with the game tied, Colorado executed a perfectly drawn up set play (Eli McLaughlin set a beauty of a pick inside for Zed), and stole a win in Rochester. The Mammoth improve to 5-3, and while they’re clearly better on offense at home, they’ve been consistent defensively. Whether it’s the cozy confines of the Loud House or on the road, they give up about 11 goals per game. Consistent defensive performances, clutch play from guys like Williams, and offense that can go off at any time, they have a recipe to be dangerous.
Is Frank Scigliano getting Wally Pipp’d?
For the uninitiated, Wally Pipp played first base for the New York Yankees. Legend has it, one day Wally wasn’t able to go, and was replaced in the lineup by some guy named Lou Gehrig, who would go on to play in 2,130 consecutive games and a Hall of Fame career. Frank Scigliano hit the short term hold out list this week (congratulations are in order, Frank) and so rookie Thomas Kiazyk got his first career start. He got blitzed early, as anyone would expect, but settled in. The rookie went 75% in net against a potent Albany offense, and held the FireWolves to a single fourth quarter goal. The Rush won at home 17-13, and they did it without Scigliano or rookie faceoff specialist Jake Naso. Kiazyk certainly has earned some trust in his rookie year.
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