We’re 6 weeks into the 2017 National Lacrosse League season, and remember that trend we mentioned last week?
Scratch that.
And here we thought the rookies of this season were showing their tendency to not be as flashy as rooks before them, when along comes Tom Schreiber. And not only is the kid a rookie, he’s an American rookie! Still, the 10-point game he dropped in helping the Rock blow past Buffalo certainly is impressive and even though 7 of those 10 points came on assists, it’s clear that this kid is picking up the game quite quickly.
The personal upside to this for Schreiber is obvious, but there’s a chance it could go beyond that as well. He’s got plenty of American eyes on him and the better he does, the more fun he has.
That can only speak well to the future of the game south of the border and who knows, maybe we’ll have another American Revolution on our hands?
That said, let’s check in with this year’s NLL rookies and how they fared in Week 6.
Tom Schreiber (Toronto): The right-hander out of East Meadow, N.Y., keeps getting better and better. His third straight game with at least 1 goal was his first career hat trick, and he added 7 more assists for a 10-point game. Scoring 5 goals in his last 2 games certainly is a positive sign, but better proof may be in these numbers: In his first 2 games, Schreiber scored 1 goal on 23 shots (.04%). In his last 2, he has 5 goals on 23 (22%).
Kyle Jackson (Rochester): The left-hander out of Sarnia scored a pair of goals and assisted on another in Rochester’s road overtime loss to New England. The assist was key, coming in the final minute on the Joe Resetarits goal that forced OT. He’s scored 2 goals in 3 of the last 4 games and has a team-high 20 points.
Ryan Keenan (Saskatchewan): The left-hander out of Oshawa had his second straight game with 0 goals after scoring 1 in each of his first 3 games. He did have an assist in Saturday’s road win over Calgary, setting up a Matt Dinsdale goal in the first quarter.
Josh Currier (Rochester): The right-hander out of Peterborough had his first game of the season without a goal, although he did have 2 assists in Rochester’s road overtime loss to New England. Like Jackson’s assist, Currier’s came on a clutch fourth-quarter goal that kept the Knighthawks in the game as both rooks continue to play with poise and coolness.
Holden Cattoni (Calgary): The lefty out of Calgary had 1 goal and 3 loose balls in Saturday’s home loss to Saskatchewan. His goal gave the Roughnecks a 4-2 lead in the first quarter but he came up empty on his other 5 shots in the game.
Latrell Harris (Toronto): Any doubts about the progress of this right-hander out of St. Catharines? He had 9 loose balls in Friday’s home win over Buffalo and forced 4 turnovers. He’s second on the team with 35 loose balls and leads the Rock with 6 caused turnovers.
Dan Lomas (Rochester): The lefty-out of Burlington got back into the goal column with 1, along with an assist, in Friday’s road overtime loss to New England. His goal was Rochester’s first of the game and it came on the power play.
Mike Messenger (Saskatchewan): The right-hander out of Surrey had 1 assist, 8 loose balls and 1 caused turnover in Saturday’s road win over Calgary. He also took 6 faceoffs, winning 1.
Jacob Ruest (Colorado): The right-hander out of Cornwall cracked the active roster out of camp and has been a reliable contributor. But on Saturday, he had his most productive offensive game of the season with 4 points (2-2) which nearly matched the 5 points (2-3) he had in the Mammoth’s first 4 games. Both of his goals in the home win over the Georgia Swarm came in the fourth quarter and they stretched Colorado’s lead to 12-7.
Challen Rogers (Toronto): The right-hander out of Coquitlam scooped a career-best 7 loose balls in Friday’s home win over Buffalo. He also forced 1 turnover.
Honorable Mentions
F Seth Oakes scored his first NLL points with 1 goal and 2 assists in New England’s home overtime win over Rochester on Friday … Buffalo D Adam Will scooped 1 loose ball in Friday’s road loss to Toronto … Buffalo D Justin Martin scooped 1 loose ball in Friday’s road loss to Toronto … Toronto F Mike MacDonald had his second 2-goal game in 3 games with a pair of goal and a pair of assists in Friday’s home win over Buffalo … Toronto D Jordan Magnuson had 1 assist, 4 loose balls and 1 caused turnover in Friday’s home win over Buffalo … Toronto F Kieran McArdle was not on the roster for Friday’s home win over Buffalo … Saskatchewan D Matt Hossack made his NLL debut in Friday’s road win over Calgary and scored his first NLL goal on his first shot … Calgary D Chad Cummings had 3 loose balls and 1 caused turnover in Saturday’s home loss to Saskatchewan … Georgia D Connar Sellars had 1 assist, 1 loosie and 1 caused turnover in Saturday’s road loss to Colorado … Georgia T Bryan Cole had 3 loose balls in Saturday’s road loss to Colorado … Georgia T Sean Young had a career-best 6 loose balls in Saturday’s road loss to Colorado … Colorado D Brent Adams picked up his first NLL point with an assist, along with 2 loosies and a caused turnover, in Saturday’s home win over Georgia … Colorado D Nick Ossello made his NLL debut in Saturday’s home win over Georgia and he scooped 4 loose balls.
