Well, here we are with 13 National Lacrosse League weekends in the books. So what do we know?
Not much, really, because the parity of the league is such that no one is officially out of the playoff picture and no one is officially in. That suggests a tight pack from top to bottom in the standings and while some are quick to write off the Rochester Knighthawks because of their youth, it’s the youth that’s keeping hope alive in Rochvegas.
And while some are looking at Toronto as a Champion’s Cup contender, the Rock are doing much of their impressive work with a handful of rookies in the lineup. Rookies are the leading scorers for each team, which just goes to show us that rookie status in the NLL doesn’t necessarily mean the season is a lost cause.
And as we continue to look at the numbers across the board, this much is clear: We’ve got a solid group of rookies who aren’t waiting to establish themselves as leaders and contributors.
Let’s take a look at what we know through Week 13:
Tom Schreiber (Toronto): The right-hander out of East Meadow, N.Y., had another strong weekend, putting up games of 5 points (1-4) and 4 points (1-3) in a pair of wins for Toronto, at Georgia on Friday and at home against Vancouver on Saturday. One stat that really sticks out, though, is how well Schreiber is handling the ball. He’s second on the team with 26 turnovers, but 21 of those came in his first 8 games. In his last 5 games, Schreiber has just 5 turnovers.
Kyle Jackson (Rochester): The left-hander out of Sarnia scored 2 of his 3 goals in the fourth quarter to help the Knighthawks rally for the home win against Buffalo. His second goal tied the game 9-9 and his third gave Rochester a 10-9 lead before fellow rookie Brad Gillies scored the winner. Jackson has 8 goals in his last 2 games as he builds on to his team-leading 51 points.
Jacob Ruest (Colorado): The right-hander out of Cornwall scored 2 goals for a second straight game in helping the Mammoth beat the Rush at home on Saturday night. His second goal came at 5:14 and was credited as the winning goal. He also had 3 loose balls in Saturday’s game.
Reid Reinholdt (Toronto): The left-handed forward out of Pitt Meadows, B.C., has been coming on strong lately and pretty much arrived over the weekend. He had 14 points in 5 games coming into the weekend, then scored a pair of clutch goals to tie the game late in regulation at Georgia before scoring the overtime winner. At home on Saturday, he added 2 more goals in the win over Vancouver to finish with a 6-point (4-2) weekend.
Josh Currier (Rochester): The right-hander out of Peterborough is on injured reserve and will miss at least 1 more week for Rochester.
Latrell Harris (Toronto): The right-hander out of St. Catharines had 7 loose balls in Friday’s road overtime win at Georgia, then had 3 loosies and 3 caused turnovers in Saturday’s home win over Vancouver. He’s got a team-high 21 caused turnovers for the Rock and is third on the team with 76 loosies.
Dan Lomas (Rochester): The lefty-out of Burlington had 1 goal and 2 assists in Saturday’s home win over Buffalo. He’s scored 3 points in 3 of his last 5 games and has been invaluable as a contributor that provides variety for the Rochester offense.
Holden Cattoni (Calgary): The lefty out of Calgary was in the lineup for both Calgary games last weekend. He had 1 loose ball in Friday’s road loss to the Rush, then scored 2 goals, including a short-handed strike, along with 3 loose balls in Saturday’s home win over New England.
Kieran McArdle (Toronto): The left-hander out of Ronkonkoma, N.Y., had 3 assists and 7 loose balls in Friday’s road overtime win at Georgia. He was not in the lineup for Saturday’s home win over Vancouver.
Mike Messenger (Saskatchewan): The right-handed defender out of Surrey scored a goal in Friday’s home win over Calgary and had a combined 10 loose balls and 3 caused turnovers in the weekend split for the Rush.
Honorable mention
Saskatchewan F Ryan Keenan had 1 assist, 5 loose balls and 2 caused turnovers in Friday’s home win over Calgary. He was not in the lineup for Saturday’s road loss to Colorado … Toronto D Jordan Magnuson scored his second NLL goal in Friday’s road overtime win at Georgia and had a combined 14 loose balls in Toronto’s double-header weekend … Toronto D Challen Rogers had a combined 6 loosies in Toronto’s weekend games … Rochester D Brad Gillies scored the game-winner for Rochester in Saturday’s home win over Buffalo. He’s scored a goal in 3 straight games … Buffalo T Tim Edwards had 3 loose balls in Saturday’s road loss to Rochester … Calgary D Chad Cummings had a combined 5 loose balls and 3 caused turnovers in the 1-1 weekend for the Roughnecks … Calgary G Christian Del Bianco got 38 minutes of action in Friday’s road game against the Rush and was tagged with the loss after making 24 saves on 30 shots … Colorado D Taylor Stuart had 5 loose balls and 2 caused turnovers in Saturday’s home win over Saskatchewan … Georgia D Connor Sellars scored his third goal of the season and also had 4 loose balls in Friday’s home overtime loss to Toronto … Georgia T Bryan Cole had 4 loose balls and 1 caused turnover in Friday’s home overtime loss to Toronto … New England D Derek Searle had 1 assist, 10 loose balls and 4 caused turnovers in Saturday’s road loss to Calgary … New England D Joel Coyle 5 loose balls and 1 caused turnover in Saturday’s road loss to Calgary … Vancouver T Ryan Wagner had 1 assist, 5 loosies and 2 caused turnovers in Saturday’s road loss to Toronto … Vancouver F James Rahe had 1 goal and 6 loose balls in Saturday’s road loss to Toronto.
