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NLL Week Seven: Swarm moves to 6-0Colorado also unbeaten; K'Hawks win strange one over RockR.A. Philly Outsider's Guide Editor in Chief Around the National Lacrosse League for the games of Week Seven, 7-10 February 2008. (Summaries are based on best-available information and may be amended as necessary.) Portland LumberJax at Colorado Mammoth After allowing Ryan Powell to score the game's first goal, Colorado (5-0) rattled off four straight in less than three minutes, including three from Wulder. Portland (1-4) recovered, though, rallying to within 5-4 by the end of the period. Colorado busted the game open in the second quarter, as Nenad Gajic scored nine seconds in, Brown added a pair, and Jed Prossner and Jamie Shewchuk scored late. Only a Derek Malawsky goal three minutes before halftime prevented a shutout for the LumberJax. Jason Bloom extended Colorado's lead to 11-5 just 32 seconds into the second half, but Portland rallied for four quick consecutive goals, cutting the gap to 11-9 within four minutes. The Mammoth bounced back with three straight of their own and went on to lead 14-10 at the end of the third quarter. Malawsky and Tyler Codron scored in the fourth quarter for Portland, but it wasn't nearly enough to upset the Mammoth. Brown (3 goals, 3 assists) and Gajic (2 goals, 4 assists) each had six points for Colorado. Spencer Martin (1 goal, 5 assists) did likewise for Portland. New York Titans at Minnesota Swarm To say that Minnesota (5-0) ruled the first half offensively would be an understatement. Ryan Ward scored twice in the first quarter as the Swarm jumped out to a 5-0 lead, then Sean Pollock did the same in the second quarter, helping Minnesota to an 11-0 halftime lead. The Swarm even struck again at the start of the third quarter before Pat Maddalena finally found rope for New York (1-4). Remarkably, the Titans strung together two more goals right after that and tacked on a pair from Jordan Hall in the last minute of the third quarter. By the start of the fourth quarter, Minnesota was coasting, looking to stay healthy in advance of Sunday's game against Portland. The Swarm did manage to score three more goals (against four by the Titans), including the third goal each from Ward and Mike Hominuck. Hominuck led all scorers with six points, on 3 goals and 3 assists. Ryan Boyle had a goal and four assists for the Titans. Buffalo Bandits at Calgary Roughnecks Dostie led Buffalo (3-2) to an early 3-0 lead, scoring twice and having the primary assist on the other. The Bandits then extended their lead to 4-1 by the end of the first quarter. Buffalo ran off two more goals before Curt Malawsky -- who scored the Riggers' first-quarter goal -- struck for Calgary (2-3) in the closing minute of the first half, narrowing the deficit to 6-2. After a couple exchanges of goals to begin the second half, Steenhuis netted two goals for the Bandits and Delby Powless followed not long after that, going ahead 11-4. Two more Bandits goals, to begin the fourth quarter, put the game out of reach John Tavares led all scorers with nine points, on two fourth-quarter goals and seven assists. Malawsky (3 goals) and Kelly Hall (1 goal, 2 assists) finished with three points each for Calgary. Chicago Shamrox at San Jose Stealth In one of the team's few bright sides this afternoon, Chicago (1-3) raced out to an early lead, going ahead 2-0 on goals by Josh Wasson and Lindsay Plunkett in the first two minutes and stretching the lead to 3-0 by mid-quarter. San Jose (3-3) took it all back by the end of the first quarter, going ahead 4-3 on a pair of Frank Resetarits goals and, after ten scoreless minutes of second-quarter play, knocked down two more. Jonas Derks stopped the Stealth's run with a goal at 13:33, but Colin Doyle and Zywicki each struck late for an 8-4 halftime lead. Chicago pulled a bit closer in the third quarter, as Mat Giles and Chris Panos each scored twice. However, Zywicki and Resetarits each scored for San Jose in the period, and the Stealth still led, 12-9. Gary Rosyski and Luke Wiles scored early in the fourth quarter for San Jose, effectively put the game out of reach for the Shamrox. Zywicki netted a couple late goals and Resetarits closed out the scoring with an empty-netter in the closing seconds. Zywicki (5 goals, 3 assists) finished with eight points, leading all scorers; Doyle and Cam Sedgwick (1 goal, 6 assists each) weren't far off the pace. Giles (3 goals, 2 assists) and Jason Clark (5 assists) each had five points for the Shamrox. Toronto Rock at Rochester Knighthawks For three quarters, there was precious little to speak of offensively. Josh Sanderson scored in the first minute for Toronto (3-3) and Blaine Manning tacked on a goal at 11:50. Scott Evans put Rochester (2-3) on the board a minute after the Manning goal, but the Rock extended its lead to 4-1 by the middle of the second quarter (Rob Marshall and Sanderson). Evans scored again at 5:43 of the third quarter, the only goal of the period, to pull the Knighthawks to within 4-2. John Grant made it a one-goal game 47 seconds into the fourth quarter, just prior to the start of a six-goal run by the Evans brothers -- two from Scott, four from Shawn, and a disaster for Toronto, which had to end goaltender Bob Watson's night prematurely. Andrew Potter and Steve Toll (a former Rock) twisted the knife a bit more by scoring late goals, making the score appear even ugly than the game itself. Shawn Evans led all scorers, tallying seven points on three goals and four assists. Sanderson (2 goals) and Ryan Benesch (2 assists) paced the Rock, scoreless over the game's final 37:44, with a mere two points each. Buffalo Bandits at New York Titans New York (2-4) led for much of the first half, taking leads of 2-0 in the first three minutes and 3-2 at the end of the first quarter. Two Casey Powell goals in the second quarter countered a pair in that period from the Bandits' Andrew Lazore, and the Titans led at halftime, 6-4. Kevin Dostie scored twice in the third quarter for Buffalo (3-3), tying the game at 6-6. Dan Teat then put the Bandits ahead for the first time, scoring an even-strength goal with about five minutes left in the period. New York pulled back in front early in the fourth quarter, courtesy of goals by Matt Alrich and Jarett Park, but Teat tied it up at 8-8 with 6:14 to play. After Pat Maddalena and Dostie exchanged goals 12 seconds apart late in regulation, forcing overtime, New York caught a break when Delby Powless was sent off for roughing; Hall's game-winner came just 13 seconds later. Powell paced the Titans with three goals and two assists, while Mike McLellan added a goal and four assists. Kevin Dostie had four goals and an assist for the Bandits. Portland LumberJax at Minnesota Swarm Minnesota (6-0) scored right off the opening draw, Craig Point at 0:14. Andy Secore soon made it 2-0, but the LumberJax battled back for a 3-3 tie at the end of the first quarter. Portland (1-5) jumped in front on goals by Ryan Powell and Derek Malawsky to begin the second quarter, then held on for a 5-4 halftime lead after a late tally by the Swarm's Chad Culp. Culp scored again to begin the second half, and the teams went back and forth a few times, with Portland going ahead and Minnesota tying. Finally, Point and Secore strung together final-minute goals to take a 9-8 lead to the fourth quarter. A flurry of early goals pushed the score to 11-10 in favor of the Swarm, then Portland ran off three straight goals (Cory Conway, Dan Dawson and Brad MacDonald). Point and Secore again bailed out the Swarm, sandwiching a Conway goal to pull Minnesota level with Portland and force overtime, ended on Cousins' only goal of the game and the only shot on goal of sudden death. Point (4 goals, 5 assists) and Secore (4 goals, 4 assists) led Minnesota offensively. Peter Morgan netted four goals and chipped in an assist for Portland. -30- |