Lyle Thompson, the man at the centre of the NLL’s most dynamic offense, has to be in any MVP conversation.
The 24-year-old Onondaga Nation athlete put up 60 points in his rookie season after being the No. 1 draft pick out of the University of Albany and he already has 90 in his second year with the Georgia Swarm, who are on the verge of clinching first place overall.
“He’s in the discussion, for sure,” Swarm coach Ed Comeau said of the MVP talk. “There are a number of guys in the league who are a big part of the success of their team and Lyle is definitely in that conversation – not just scoring goals, but for his all-around play.
“He had to find his way in the pro game last year. He hadn’t played against pro guys other than at world championships. He had to figure out the pace of the game and how he was going to fit in. He was a huge contributor towards the end of the year.
“Now, he feels more comfortable. He’s continued to evolve as a player. When he has the ball, he can turn a corner and shoot going one on one or he can deliver passes to set up teammates for goals. His play off ball setting picks, gaining possession of loose balls and creating turnovers differentiates him from a lot of players. That helps us get a couple of extra possessions a game, which equals an extra goal here and there.”
The way they’ve been playing, the Swarm are hardly in need of extra goals of late. They’ve scored 21 goals in winning each of their last two games. Randy Staats scored five goals and assisted on six in a 21-12 victory at New England last Friday.
“Everything’s just clicking right now for the offense,” said Staats. “Twenty-one goals in back-to-back games is pretty good.”
Thompson had two goals and three assists. The NCAA’s all-time leading scorer has six points behind league points leader Curtis Dickson of the Calgary Roughnecks and has a game in hand.
Georgia sits atop the NLL East 2 1-2 games ahead of second-place Toronto and will not be caught. Four games remain in its 18-game schedule and all are against the bottom two teams in the division: a home-and-home set with Buffalo the next two weekends is followed by a home-and-home set with Rochester on the final weekend. Thompson will surpass 100 points and possibly double his 2016 points total, which would be an impressive statement on how far he’s progressed so early in his career.
SURPRISE, SURPRISE
With backup goalie Brodie MacDonald ill, the Swarm activated Adam Shute off the practice roster to take his place at the end of the bench.
Shute, who is studying for a masters degree at the University of Calgary and was an attack player in the NCAA with the New England College Pilgrims, prefers being a goaltender in the indoor game. He did not expect to see any game action but, with the Swarm up by seven on the scoreboard, coach Ed Comeau decided not to overtax starter Mike Poulin and sent Shute into the game with 4:39 remaining. Shute faced four shots on goal and stopped three.
“He was excited and thankful he got the chance to get into the game,” said Comeau.
OUT OF THEIR CONTROL
Attendance continues to lag in Georgia despite the team’s winning ways. The average is 3,843. Only Vancouver, averaging 3,053, is worse.
“Everyone wants more people at our games,” said coach Ed Comeau. “We know the people in the office are working hard to make that happen. We’re really hoping that both the lacrosse community and the sports community in the greater Atlanta area will take the opportunity to come see an exciting team play. It’s disappointing but, just like bad travel, it’s out of our control.
“We all want a full house. The fans who do come are engaged. They’re loud. We’ve done a good job of entertaining them. They’ve gone away happy. We’ve only lost one game at home. We’re doing what we can and hopefully more fans will come out.”
FALLING FLAT
New England’s lopsided loss to Georgia ruined its chance of moving closer to second-place Toronto, and now the Black Wolves have to go to Saskatchewan to play the NLL West-leading Rush.
Georgia was up 6-1 after one quarter and outscored the Black Wolves 5-2 in the fourth. It was a surprisingly easy win for the Swarm.
After the trip west, the Black Wolves finish their schedule with games at Rochester on April 22 and at home against Vancouver on April 29. If the standings remain as they are, they will be going to Toronto for a one-game semifinal showdown the first weekend in May.
RUSH AT THEIR BEST
A 16-12 home win over Vancouver last Saturday pretty well sewed up first place in the NLL West for Saskatchewan. Head coach Derek Keenan was pleased.
“It was a really good win for us,” said Keenan. “Defensively, we were outstanding. We executed in the defensive end exactly the way we had planned and, offensively, we really got going.”
Rookie defenseman Mike Messenger scored a highlight reel goal and was 15-for-18 on faceoffs in again showing why he should be in the rookie of the year conversation.
“We focused on shutting down their transition and not letting them get much and our defense was flying down the floor in transition,” said Messenger.
The Rush have stretched their home winning streak to 14 games when regular season, playoff and exhibition games are combined.
KEENAN TIES KILGOUR
The win over Vancouver was No. 121 for Rush coach Derek Keenan, moving him into a tie with former Buffalo coach Darris Kilgour for most career regular season coaching wins. The next two Rush games are at home, so Keenan should get No. 122 in front of another sellout crowd in Saskatoon.
SCORING RACE
Curtis Dickson jumped into the lead in the scoring race with four goals and six assists in Calgary’s 13-8 home win over Buffalo. The University of Delaware grad leads the league in goals with 46 and in points with 96.
Saskatchewan’s Mark Matthews has 31 goals and a league-best 64 assists for 95 points. The University of Denver grad has played two fewer games. Vancouver’s Corey Small has 92.
Dickson, Matthews and Small should be included with Thompson in MVP talk.
SCIGLIANO SHINES
Calgary won despite being outshot 54-53 by Buffalo. The Roughnecks needed a big game from Frankie Scigliano and he came through with one of the best games of his career to enable his team to jump past Vancouver into the third and final playoff berth in the NLL West. The Stealth lost 16-12 in Saskatoon.
Scigliano, 25, from Coquitlam, British Columbia, set the table for a ‘Necks win by not allowing a Bandits goal in the first quarter. It can be hard to see net behind the 6-foot-4 and 290-pound goaltender.
TIME TRAVEL
April 14, 1990: Average regular season attendance as announced by the league was 11,060 per game. (The 2017 average/game after 66 games was 9,125.)
April 16, 1994: The Philadelphia Wings overcame a three-goal halftime deficit and defeated Buffalo 26-15 to deny the Bandits a third consecutive championship in front of a capacity crowd of 16, 284 in Buffalo’s Memorial Auditorium. Paul Gait scored eight goals – seven of them in the second half – to win the MVP award. The game was broadcast live by ESPN.
WEEK 16
Five games are on tap as positioning for playoff positions becomes crucial. Every team is in action. Buffalo, in desperate need of wins to qualify, plays twice. All times are Eastern.
FRIDAY
BUFFALO at TORONTO, 7:30 PM
Buffalo’s 13-8 loss in Calgary was its third straight loss. It looks as if the Bandits, who won the NLL East last year, will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2013.
Toronto was idle last weekend. The Rock will be looking to win this one to strengthen its hold on second place.
This will be the third of four meetings. Toronto won 18-10 at home on Feb. 3 and Buffalo won 15-12 at home Feb. 25. They close the regular season together April 29 in Buffalo.
Toronto is 4-4 at home and is No. 1 on defense. Buffalo is 2-5 on the road and is ranked ninth and last on defense.
SATURDAY
BUFFALO at GEORGIA, 7:05 PM
The Swarm, No. 1 on offense, are 6-1 at home and will be licking their lips at the prospect of facing a Buffalo club that has been allowing more goals than any other team and will have played the previous night in Toronto.
Georgia is coming off a 21-12 win at New England last Friday.
This will be the second of three meetings. Georgia won 18-14 at Buffalo on Jan. 14. They meet again April 22 in Buffalo.
ROCHESTER at COLORADO, 9 PM
This should be a low-scoring affair. These teams score fewer goals than the other seven teams and their goalies – Rochester’s Matt Vinc and Colorado’s Dillon Ward – are among the goals-against leaders.
Rochester remains hopeful of overtaking New England to snatch the third and final NLL East playoff berth, while Colorado will try to nail down home floor for the NLL West semifinal.
Both teams were idle last weekend. Colorado is 4-3 at home. Rochester is 2-5 on the road.
This will be the only meeting this year. In the only meeting last year, Colorado won 16-14 at Rochester. They split two games in 2015. Rochester’s last win in Denver was 11-9 on March 1, 2014.
NEW ENGLAND at SASKATCHEWAN, 9:30 PM
Saskatchewan is 7-0 at home. New England is 2-5 on the road.
New England is coming off a 21-12 home loss to Georgia, while Saskatchewan beat visiting Vancouver 16-12 last weekend.
This will be the only meeting this year. In the only meeting last season, New England won 14-13 at home. In 2015, when the Rush were based in Edmonton, they beat the Black Wolves 18-9 at home.
The Rush have allowed more goals this year than last, which is a bit of a concern heading towards the postseason.
“We’re a team that prides itself to holding teams to 10 goals or under,” said defenseman Brett Mydske. “We haven’t done that so much this year. We look at video and find mental lapses and stuff that show there are four or five goals [each game] we could take back. We’ve just got to focus for a full 60 and we can get back to holding teams to 10 goals.”
CALGARY at VANCOUVER, 10 PM
The result should determine which of the two makes the playoffs and which is doomed to miss out.
Calgary beat Buffalo 13-8 at home last Saturday, while Vancouver lost 16-12 at Saskatchewan.
“We need to be grittier and hit harder,” said Stealth coach Jamie Batley. “We can’t let teams run through our middle. Offensively, for the last five or six games, we have been protecting well against our opposition’s transition and we need to get back to that and refocus our game heading into the game against Calgary.”
This will be the fourth of four meetings. Vancouver won 12-11 at Calgary on Jan. 6, Calgary won 14-10 at Vancouver on Jan. 14 and Vancouver won 13-10 at Calgary on Feb. 18.
Calgary is 3-5 on the road. Vancouver is 2-5 at home.