Shayne Jackson scored 30 goals two years ago, 40 last year and is on pace for 50 this season for the Georgia Swarm.
The 5-foot-9 lefty fired in four goals in a 14-12 road win over Vancouver on Saturday and has a team-high 11 this season for the NLL’s only undefeated team.
“He’s definitely an underrated player in this league,” Swarm coach Ed Comeau said. “He’s on the small side but he plays a lot bigger than he is. He’s not afraid to go to the middle to get to the net.”
Jackson’s fearless play, his commitment to a diligent workout schedule and hard work in practices make him a team leader.
He’s in his fifth NLL season at age 26. He was selected fourth overall in the 2012 entry draft after being a Tewaaraton Award nominee in his NCAA days at South Carolina’s Limestone College. He’s from Bowmanville, Ontario. He was on Whitby’s 2011 Canadian Junior A championship team that included Swarm teammate Chad Tutton, Saskatchewan Rush players Mark Matthews, Curtis Knight and John LaFontaine and Toronto Rock forward Dan Lintner.
Jackson’s scoring and Jordan Hall’s playmaking have helped offset the absences of Jesse King and Johnny Powless on the left side. King scored 22 goals last season, but his 2017 NLL season was erased by knee surgery. Powless scored 35 last season but hasn’t played since suffering a concussion in Ontario’s summer league.
“We expect him back at some time but there’s definitive date at this point,” Comeau said.
4-0 looks nice but doesn’t wow the coaches.
“We like our number right now but we also know the number in January doesn’t matter in May," Comeau said. “We like the way we’re playing but there’s room for improvement.”
The team has been using “Georgia SWWWWarm” on Twitter to reflect its four straight wins. Will another “W” be added to make it Georgia SWWWWWarm? The answer will come when they take on the Colorado Mammoth in Denver on Saturday.
FIRST NLL GOAL
James Rahe scored his first NLL goal in an arena he knows inside out. The 6-foot-4 Vancouver Stealth rookie dove into the Georgia crease in the Langley Events Centre to put a ball behind goalie Mike Poulin in the first quarter.
The 22-year-old Robert Morris mechanical engineering grad played summer ball in the same arena in 2016 and before that was captain of the junior team that played in the LEC. He was the 11th player selected in the entry draft last September.
“It was extremely exciting,” Rahe said of his first game. “I have been fortunate to play in Langley for much of my career and to score my first pro goal here was a dream come true. They kind of stepped off, I got the lane, took advantage and scored.”
CROWLEY CONNECTS
Kevin Crowley can play the angles.
The New England Black Wolves forward snagged a ball that caromed off the back boards after a Pat Saunders shot went wide of the net and fired it behind Buffalo goalie Davide DiRuscio with 53 seconds remaining Saturday, giving his team its first win of the season, 13-12.
“I saw Patty winding up and I had a clear lane to the goal,” Crowley said. “Like I tell my basketball team I coach in Philly, ‘You have to crash the boards.’ I was fortunate. Pat pulled the shot wide and it came right to my stick and I had the open net.”
Announced attendance in Mohegan Sun Arena was 7,074 and the team described it as “the first sellout crowd in franchise history.”
“The energy in the building was unbelievable,” Black Wolves forward Shawn Evans said. “It was electrifying out there. Having them behind us was a huge part of our success.”
CLUB RECORD
Jeff Shattler’s first-quarter assist in a game Calgary would win 12-8 over the visiting Colorado Mammoth on Saturday earned him the Roughnecks’ all-time points record. The 32-year-old First Nations star who was the 2011 NLL MVP added a goal and three more assists to eclipse the previous mark of 628 by Kaleb Toth.
Shattler played one game for Buffalo in 2006 as a defenseman and was released. He was an unrestricted free agent when he signed with the Roughnecks that summer.
Calgary and Colorado will meet once more but, with its second win in as many games against Colorado, Calgary has already won the season series, and that is the first tiebreaker if the teams finish their schedules with an equal number of wins.
WARD PULLED AGAIN
Colorado pulled starting goalie Dillon Ward and sent in Alex Buque when the Roughnecks took a 5-1 lead in the 13th minute.
In a 14-12 home loss to Calgary the previous weekend, Ward was replaced by Buque when the Roughnecks took a 6-2 lead 4:36 into the second quarter.
“I just hope (Dillon) keeps his head up,” co-coach Pat Coyle said. “This team won’t win without him playing. I don’t think we’re concerned, necessarily, going forward. I just think he’s better than what he’s shown.”
It didn’t help that John Grant Jr. missed a third consecutive game and that Jeremy Noble was moved to the injured list.
BIG NIGHT FOR CORNWALL
Saskatchewan transition runner Jeff Cornwall broke free for three goals in a 16-12 home win over Vancouver last Friday. That quadrupled his season’s output, and that’s from getting off only seven shots on goal so far this year. The most goals he’s scored in one season in his NLL career is seven, in 2014, so he’s well on his way to topping that number.
The 6-foot-2 native of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, has this advice for kids learning to play lacrosse: Have fun, it’s the only way to improve.
Cornwall broke into the NLL with Buffalo. After being taken 15th overall in the draft, he got into five games with the Bandits, who traded him to the Rush for two second-round draft picks.
BIG CROWDS FOR RUSH
The Sasktel Centre in Saskatoon, which has a seating capacity of 15,190, has been packed for Rush games. Owner Bruce Urban’s team is leading the lead in average attendance.
Owners need at least 10,000 a game to hope to balance the books. Average attendance:
Saskatchewan - 14,754 (2 games)
Buffalo - 13,659 (3)
Colorado - 12,870 (3)
Calgary - 11,395 (2)
Toronto - 10,546 (2)
Rochester - 7,196 (2)
New England - 7,074 (1)
Georgia - 3,597 (2)
Vancouver - 3,484 (2)
POULIN NO. 1
Goaltenders’ save percentages (minimum 100 minutes played):
1. Mike Poulin, Georgia, .807
2. Nick Rose, Toronto, .800
3. Matt Vinc, Rochester, .790
4. Aaron Bold, Saskatchewan .777
5. Davide DiRuscio, Buffalo, .772
6. Dillon Ward, Colorado, .762
7. Evan Kirk, New England, .760
8. Frankie Scigliano, Calgary, .754
9. Tye Belanger, Vancouver, .738
10. Tyler Richards, Vancouver, .733
WEEK 6
(All times Eastern)
FRIDAY
Buffalo (1-3) at Toronto (2-1), 7:30 p.m.
Slow starts have plagued the Bandits, who have been outscored 16-9 in first quarters.
Buffalo fell to last place in the NLL East in losing 13-12 at New England last Saturday, while Toronto trailed all the way in losing 9-8 at home against Rochester.
This will be the first of four meetings. Each team won its two home games last season.
Dhane Smith hasn’t played since suffering what the team described as a lower body injury early in Buffalo’s second game. Davide DiRuscio, backup to Anthony Cosmo when the season began, has tended goal in the last two Bandits games.
Toronto activated Brett Hickey, Stephan Leblanc and Rob Marshall off the injured list last weekend.
Rochester (2-2) at New England (1-3), 7:30 p.m.
Rochester is coming off a 9-8 win in Toronto in which Dan Dawson, Cody Jamieson and Andrew Suitor returned to the lineup. Jamieson left early when he felt a twinge in his left knee and his status is uncertain again.
New England is coming off a 13-12 home win over Buffalo.
This will be the second of four meetings. Rochester beat New England 15-8 in Rochester on Jan. 7. They split 2-2 last year.
Rochester’s Josh Currier (6), Dan Lomas (5) and Kyle Jackson (4) are 1-2-3 in rookie goal scoring.
SATURDAY
Saskatchewan (2-2) at Calgary (2-2), 9 p.m.
First place in the NLL West is at stake.
Saskatchewan beat Vancouver 16-12 in Saskatoon last Friday, while Calgary defeated visiting Colorado 12-8 Saturday.
This will be the first of four meetings.
The Rush dominated this matchup last season, winning both times it played Calgary in the division final. That was after a 4-0 sweep in the regular season. The last Calgary win was at home in the 2015 playoffs when the Rush played out of Edmonton.
Georgia (4-0) at Colorado (2-3), 9 p.m.
Georgia is coming off a 14-12 road win against Vancouver, while Colorado lost 12-8 in Calgary last Saturday.
This is the first of two meetings. The Swarm are in Denver on April 1. Last year, Georgia beat Colorado 17-10 in Georgia and Colorado edged Georgie 16-15 in Denver.
Colorado has been outscored 19-8 in fourth quarters.
BYE: Vancouver (2-4). The Stealth need a weekend off after losing four in a row to fall into last place in the NLL West.