Seems a good number of 2017 rookies had Week 11 of the National Lacrosse League off.
Rochester and Buffalo had byes this week, of course, but a few others appeared to be healthy scratches during Saturday and Sunday games. But at this point, does it really matter?
In the team perspective, perhaps. But this space is focused on the rookies and their individual games in 2017 and from that perspective, it appears all the rooks are chasing Tom Schreiber of Toronto. He had another big game for the Rock in their home win over Calgary, putting the right-hander in clear control of this year’s race for the top rookie.
Let’s take a closer look at who did what in Week 11.
Tom Schreiber (Toronto): The right-hander out of East Meadow, N.Y., had 4 goals and 3 assists in Saturday’s home win over Calgary, a career-best for goals in a game. He’s got a point in all 10 games for Toronto this season and has shown his value as a finisher and as a helper, as we saw in Saturday’s game. With 52 points (17-35) as the team’s leading scorer, the 2017 Rookie of the Year award is his to lose from here on out.
Kyle Jackson (Rochester): The left-hander out of Sarnia and the Knighthawks had the weekend off. Rochester returns to action on Friday, at New England.
Josh Currier (Rochester): The right-hander out of Peterborough and the Knighthawks had the weekend off. Rochester returns to action on Friday, at New England.
Ryan Keenan (Saskatchewan): The left-handed forward out of Oshawa was not in Saskatchewan’s lineup for the first time this season.
Holden Cattoni (Calgary): The lefty out of Calgary was not in the lineup for Saturday’s road loss to Toronto.
Kieran McArdle (Toronto): The left-hander out of Ronkonkoma, N.Y., had 2 goals and 3 assists in Saturday’s home win over Calgary, his biggest game of the season in terms of production. He’s got at least 1 point in all 9 games he’s played this season and he’s also got 33 loose balls and a pair of caused turnovers to round out his game.
Latrell Harris (Toronto): The right-hander out of St. Catharines didn’t do much offensively but was strong on defense in Saturday’s home over Calgary. He had seven loose balls and a team-high 4 caused turnovers for a unit that forced 13 in the game.
Dan Lomas (Rochester): The lefty-out of Burlington and the Knighthawks were off this weekend. Rochester returns to action on Friday, at New England.
Mike Messenger (Saskatchewan): The right-handed defender out of Surrey had 1 assist, 1 loose ball and 1 caused turnover in Saturday’s home win over Colorado.
Jacob Ruest (Colorado): The right-hander out of Cornwall played in both games this weekend, Saturday’s road loss to Saskatchewan and Sunday’s home loss to Vancouver. He had 1 goal and 2 assists against the Rush and combined for 10 loose balls in both games.
Honorable mention
Toronto F Phil Caputo had 1 assist and 2 loose balls in Saturday’s home win over Calgary … Toronto D Challen Rogers had 2 assists and 6 loose balls in Saturday’s home win over Calgary … Toronto D Jordan Magnuson had 8 loose balls and 1 caused turnover in Saturday’s home win over Calgary … Toronto F Reid Reinholdt had 3 assists, 5 loose balls and 1 caused turnover in Saturday’s home win over Calgary … Calgary D Chad Cummings had 2 loose balls and 1 caused turnover in Saturday’s road loss to Toronto … Calgary G Christian Del Bianco gave up 6 goals on 14 shots in just under 14 minutes of action to be tagged with the loss Saturday in Toronto … Colorado D Taylor Stuart played in both games this weekend for Colorado, combining for 11 loose balls and 2 caused turnovers in the losses to Saskatchewan and Vancouver … Colorado D Brent Adams played in Saturday’s road loss to Saskatchewan and had 3 loose balls … Georgia D Connor Sellars had 3 loose balls in Saturday’s road loss to New England … Georgia D Leo Stouros had 2 loose balls in Saturday’s road loss to New England … Georgia T Bryan Cole had 2 loose balls and 1 caused turnover in Saturday’s road loss to New England … Georgia T Sean Young had 2 loose balls and 1 caused turnover in Saturday’s road loss to New England … New England D Joel Coyle had 1 assist and 3 loose balls in Saturday’s home win over Georgia … New England D Matt Spanger ad 1 assist, 2 loose balls and 1 caused turnover in Saturday’s home win over Georgia … Vancouver F Evan Messenger made his NLL debut in Saturday’s road win over Colorado and was credited with 1 assist and 1 loose ball for the Stealth … Vancouver F James Rahe had 3 loose balls in Saturday’s road win over Colorado.