A couple close ones, but the National Lacrosse League’s Week 5 saw some nasty blowouts (again) that had this past week’s winners taking their W’s by an almost six-goal differential, leaving some of this year’s basement dwellers licking their wounds (again).
Blaine Manning factored in on both Toronto Rock Week 5 winners. (Photo: Tania Garshowitz)
NLL parity, where’d you go?
Over 30 games this year, compared to 30 in ‘09, teams are winning by an extra half-goal across the board, and while that number isn’t staggering, the separation in the standings looks like it might be more telling.
The Washington Stealth, Toronto Rock and Orlando Titans sport a combined 14-2 record as they sit firmly at the top of the standings, while the Buffalo Bandits, Philadelphia Wings and Minnesota Swarm have strung together a mediocre 3-13 mark, only the Bandits winning a game over the past two weeks.
Last year the Rochester Knighthawks found themselves in a similar position to this year’s Philadelphia Wings. Both at a single win a month into the season and both a couple superstars short due to significant injuries. The Knighthawks brushed off their weak ‘09 start with the return of Pat O’Toole, and strung together a second-half that snuck them into the post-season. If and when Merrick Thomson returns in Philly, both Anthan Iannucci (’08 Money Baller winner) and Sean Nadelen out for all of 2010, can he do the same as what O’Toole did for Rochester?
If and when Merrick Thomson returns, will it be enough to get the Wings into the playoffs?
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So now to the individual clutch stuff coming outta this past weekend. It’s a two horse race as far as naming our Clutch Performer of the Week… Washington’s Jeff Zywicki and Toronto’s Blaine Manning.
Zywicki spearheaded a comeback in the Stealth’s tightest game so far this year, pushing past Ryan Ward at the top of The Money Ballers this week, scoring a pair of uber important third period goals, and also factoring in on four of the Stealth’s fourth period goals. He was as clutch as they come as the Stealth kept their winning streak alive.
Manning on the other hand posted maybe his most epic doubleheader showcase of his career, factoring in on a ton of goals while the Rock and Philadelphia Wings went back-and-forth (early), and then also part of pair of momentum swings, one which he ran almost on his own in Buffalo, that buried both the Wings and Bandits. The Rock assistant captain scored the fourth period tying and then winning goal at the HSBC Arena on Saturday night.
The winner? We’ll give the edge to Manning, who was just unreal during some long stretches in both games, scoring 10-clutch points this past weekend, crashing the leaderboard below after putting up just a 1/2 clutch point the previous month of the season.
The leaderboard loses both John Grant and Gary Gait, two guys that owned The Money Ballers over the first couple weeks of 2010, their absence this week not all that surprising considering the Hawks are just 1-3 over their last four, getting crunched against Boston on Saturday. Ditto for the one time dominant Mammoth youngsters, who sat high at the top of the clutch rundown, all but Cory Conway losing their grip after an embrassing loss to the Orlando Titans.
Last week we addressed some reader’s emails in regards to a lack of Rock scorers on the countdown, Toronto part of some of this year’s biggest blowouts (on both sides) previous to Week 5. This week Rock scorers responded in both of their Week 5 wins, getting clutch responsive scoring after the Philadelphia Wings jumped out to an early lead at the ACC on Friday, and then again a night later when the Bandits attempted a comeback of their own, Toronto shutting the door. Both Manning and Garrett Billings cracked the board this week, while Colin Doyle and Stephen Leblanc sit just a couple clutch points outside of the top ball players below.
| Week 5 |
| FIRST | FOURTH | OT |
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| TIE | AHEAD | GWG | TIE | AHEAD | GWG | GWG |
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| Player | Team | G | A | G | A | G | A | G | A | G | A | G | A | G | A | Pts |
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| Jeff Zywicki (1) | WSH | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 17.5 |
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| Cam Sedgwick (T15) | WSH | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16.5 |
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| Ryan Ward (14) | EDM | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15.0 |
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| Cory Conway (T15) | COL | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.0 |
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| Lewis Ratcliff (7) | WSH | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14.0 |
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| Jamie Shewchuk (T12) | COL | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13.5 |
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| Rhys Duch (9) | WSH | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12.0 |
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| Alex Gajic (T37) | COL | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12.0 |
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| Josh Sanderson (T2) | CAL | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.5 |
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| Daryl Veltman (T12) | BOS | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.5 |
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| Luke Wiles (T45) | WSH | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11.5 |
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| Ilija Gajic (T24) | COL | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11.0 |
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| Mark Steenhuis (10) | BUF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11.0 |
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| Callum Crawford (T17) | MIN | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.5 |
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| Blaine Manning (8) | TOR | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10.5 |
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| Gavin Prout (T20) | EDM | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10.5 |
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| Garrett Billings (T2) | TOR | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9.5 |
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Players regular season scoring ranking in brackets
Week 5
Leader – Jeff Zywicki, Washington Stealth
Performer – Blaine Manning, Toronto Rock
Week 4
Leader – Ryan Ward, Edmonton Rush
Performer – Cam Sedgwick, Washington Stealth
Week 3
Leader – Jamie Shewchuk, Colorado Mammoth
Performer – Jamie Shewchuk, Colorado Mammoth
Week 2
Leader - Gary Gait, Rochester Knighthawks
Performer – Ryan Ward, Edmonton Rush
Week 1
Leader - Gary Gait, Rochester Knighthawks
Performer - Gary Gait, Rochester Knighthawks
The foremost boxla writer, Tutka is a former NLL scout and a longtime Inside Lacrosse contributor. Email him at paul.tutka@nllinsider.com.
