Season Beginnings For The West

Photo courtesy of lacrosseisawesome.com/

Article by Gary Groob

Columnist and Co-Host of NLL Lacrosse Talk on Spanglish Sports World and Spanglish World Networks

TORONTO. - We continue our look at how teams are fairing to begin the new season.  This week we take a look at some of the teams in West Division.

The Championship hangover:

Teams that win championships are notoriously slow starters the following year.  Colorado looks to be falling in that category with a big defeat against the rebuilding Saskatchewan Rush.  Are the Mammoth in trouble? No!  Do I think a few weeks to get back in sync are in order? Probably.   The Mammoth made news last week signing Rhys Duch as a free agent.  He will compliment the already strong lineup of Ryan Lee, Connor Robinson, Eli McLaughlin, Logan Wisnauskas, and Zed Williams.   With perennial All-Star Dillon Ward in net, no one can count the Mammoth out.

Can Panther City continue to move forward?

The Panther City team really found it's mojo about halfway into the season last year.  The additions of Dean Fairall and Cam Milligan were significant enough to almost get them into the playoffs in their inaugural year.  The offense has gotten even stronger with the addition of Jonathan Donville.  Add these guys to a roster that also has Patrick Dodds, Phil Caputo, Nathan Grenon, Will Malcom, and Evan Messenger and you will have a lot of offensive prowess.

The defense led by Chad Cummings, Matt Hossack, Liam Patten, Liam Byrnes, and Connor Sellars are both punishing, and quick.  Add Nate Wade for muscle, and this team will be tough to beat.

In goal, veterans Nick Damude, and Kevin Orleman are more than capable.  Damude has gotten better and better in the starting role.

A 13-11 win over Las Vegas was a good strong showing from this group to start rhe season.

A quick rebuild for Rush Nation:

Last season the Rush had the worst season in years, not making the playoffs.  Enter Jimmy Quinlan to steady the ship as the head coach.  With the genius of Derek Keenan, they were able to rebuild quickly and efficiently.

Offensively you have Dan Lintner, Robert Church, Marshall Powless, Mark Matthews, Ryan Keenan, Marty Dinsdale and with newcomer Austin Madronic they will be a force again this year.

Defense has Kyle Rubisch, Matt Beers, Bobby Kidd, Mike Messenger, Ryan Dilks, and Holden Garlent.   Coupled with the speed of Jeremy Searle, Jake Boudreau, and Jerrett Smith in transition, this is an exciting team.

I'm not sold on the goaltending situation yet with Alex Buque, and Eric Penney, but time will tell.

The Rush started the season 1-1, and probably should've been 2-0 but for a fourth quarter collapse against San Diego.

Can the Seals gel to be league's pearl?

With such a star studded lineup that includes Austin Staats, Wes Berg, Curtis Dickson, Dane Dobbie, Kevin Crowley, and Mac O’Keefe, you know you have plenty of offense.

A defense that has Brodie Merrill, Jesse Gamble, Cam Holding, and Patrick Shoemay will be steady in front of starting goalie Frank Scigliano.

Although the Seals played two heart-stopper games, they are 2-0 to start the season.  But with all that star power, will egos get in the way of the big picture, or will they buy in to the grand plan set out by coach and GM Pat Merrill?  Only time will tell which road the Seals take.  If they all are on the same page, the sky is the limit on what they can do.

Did Calgary do enough to be competitive?

With the loss of Dane Dobbie, and Curtis Dickson over the last two seasons, the Roughnecks offense has taken a beating.  Brett Hickey, Jesse King, Dan Taylor, Tyler Pace, and Haiden Dickson will try to carry the load. 

Defensively Reece Callies, Jeff Cornwall, Curtis Manning, Eli Salama, Shane Simpson, and Liam LeClair will give goaltender Christian Del Bianco plenty of support.

A hard fought victory over Vancouver started the season on the right foot, but is it enough against stronger teams?

My guess is this is the beginning of a couple of years of rebuilding.  But, the foundation is definitely in place to make this team as strong as years previous.

Next week we will look at the remaining teams in the league.

Next week’s editorial will look at five of the league's West Division teams, and how they are fairing to start the year.