It wasn’t a flashy weekend for the 2017 rookies and really, it wasn’t all that happy of a weekend for the vast majority.
Only 1 of the National Lacrosse League rooks in our top 10 right now actually won a game last weekend. We won’t count Ryan Keenan or Mike Messenger of the Rush because they had last weekend off, of course, and we won’t look at Kieran McCardle of Toronto because he wasn’t in the lineup.
But Colorado’s Jacob Ruest was the only rookie in our top 10 to take a victory lap this weekend as the remaining 5 were left to wonder what went wrong. That’s not to lay the losses at the feet of these youngsters, but given the surprises we seen so far this season among the rookie class, Week 12 has to be categorized as the week of unpleasant surprises.
But it’s an 18-game season and even though we’re more than halfway through the regular season, there is plenty of ball yet to play so let’s take a look at how the 2017 rookies did this past weekend.
Tom Schreiber (Toronto): The right-hander out of East Meadow, N.Y., has at least 2 points in every game he’s played this season and has at least 1 goal in 9 of 11 games. He had just 1 goal but assisted on 3 others in Friday’s home loss to Colorado. Still, he leads the Rock with 57 points on 18 goals and 39 assists.
Kyle Jackson (Rochester): The left-hander out of Sarnia had his most productive game on the net, scoring 5 goals in Friday’s road loss to New England. He also had 2 assists and 4 loose balls as Rochester continues its fight for a playoff berth with his offensive leadership and 43 points (19-24) leading the way.
Josh Currier (Rochester): The right-hander out of Peterborough had 2 goals and 1 assist along with 3 loose balls and a caused turnover in Friday’s road loss to New England. With 35 points, his totals aren’t through the roof but he’s proving his value with steady production in a variety of roles.
Jacob Ruest (Colorado): The right-hander out of Cornwall found his groove offensively again, scoring 2 goals and assisting on another in Friday’s road win over Toronto. He came into the game with just 2 goals in the 4 games prior and needed just 3 shots to score both his goals against the Rock.
Ryan Keenan (Saskatchewan): The left-handed forward out of Oshawa and the Rush had the weekend off.
Latrell Harris (Toronto): The right-hander out of St. Catharines had 1 assist, 4 loose balls and 2 caused turnovers in Friday’s home loss to Colorado.
Dan Lomas (Rochester): The lefty-out of Burlington continued to show his ability to see the floor and help, handing out 3 assists in Friday’s road loss to New England. He’s got 14 assists in the 9 games he’s played this season.
Holden Cattoni (Calgary): The lefty out of Calgary was back in Calgary’s lineup after a week away and had 1 assist and 1 loose ball in Calgary’s road loss to Georgia.
Kieran McArdle (Toronto): The left-hander out of Ronkonkoma, N.Y., was not in the lineup for Friday’s home loss to Colorado.
Mike Messenger (Saskatchewan): The right-handed defender out of Surrey and the Rush had the weekend off.
Honorable mention
Calgary D Chad Cummings had 3 loose balls in Friday’s road loss to Georgia … Georgia T Bryan Cole had 3 loose balls and 1 caused turnover in Friday’s home win over Calgary … Colorado D Taylor Stuart had 5 loose balls and won 3 of 8 faceoffs in Friday’s road win over Toronto … Toronto F Mike MacDonald played his first game since Feb. 17 and had 2 assists and 3 loose balls in Friday’s home loss to Colorado … Toronto F Phil Caputo had 1 goal and 2 loose balls in Friday’s home loss to Colorado … Toronto D Challen Rogers had 3 loose balls in Friday’s home loss to Colorado … Toronto D Jordan Magnuson had 4 loose balls in Friday’s home loss to Colorado and won 14 of 30 faceoffs … Toronto F Reid Reinholdt got back into the goals column with 1 in Friday’s home loss to Colorado. The lefty out of Pitt Meadows, B.C., has scored at least 1 goal in 4 of the 5 games he’s played this season … Rochester D John Rae had 1 assist and 3 loose balls in Friday’s road loss to New England … New England D Joel Coyle had 10 loose balls and 2 caused turnovers in Friday’s home win over Rochester. The 10 LBs were second on the team only to Jay Thorimbert, the faceoff guy … Buffalo D Adam Will had 2 assists and 2 loose balls in Friday’s road win over Vancouver … Buffalo T Tim Edwards scored his second NLL goal, and first since Feb. 19, in Friday’s road win over Vancouver. He also had 7 LBs and 1 caused turnover for the Bandits … Buffalo D Justin Martin had 1 loose ball and 2 caused turnovers in Friday’s road loss to Vancouver … Vancouver F James Rahe had 4 points in a game for the second time in 4 games with 1 goal and 3 assists in Friday’s home loss to Buffalo. He also had 3 loose balls and 1 caused turnover.
