The National Lacrosse League Power Ranking formula is based completely on a mathematical formula that uses wins, loss, goals for and against, shots for and against, and how well the team has been playing lately. Any e-mail directed to me that is of the form "You obviously hate Team X, because..." or "You are so biased in favor of Team Y, since..." will be summarily ignored.

The Power Rankings don't change much this week, since what was supposed to happen in the three games did. Philly won a close battle with Rochester, and Toronto and Buffalo beat up on two of the weaker sisters of the NLL. Philadelphia sneaks past Washington in the only position change of the week, and Ottawa continues to fall further behind the pack.

1. Buffalo Bandits       15.5141
2. Toronto Rock          14.2548
3. Philadelphia Wings    13.1533
4. Washington Power      12.9882
5. Rochester Knighthawks 10.9623
6. Albany Attack          8.7345
7. New York Saints        7.3228
8. Columbus Landsharks    6.5140
9. Ottawa Rebel           0.0000

The Power Rankings are normalized so that the last team has a ranking of 0.0000.

The Power Rankings can be interpreted as follows. If Albany is playing Philadelphia next week, the difference in the rankings is the estimated goal differential in the final score. There is also an adjustment added to the home team, which is currently 1.5750 goals. Thus if the Attack are at the Wings, and the Attack have a rating of 7.5750, and the Wings have a rating of 8.0000, the Wings are expected to win by two goals.

Midseason Review and Power Ranking Predictions

If you use this week's Power Rankings to project the rest of the games this year, the standings end up looking like this:

Team          W    L   SRS    
Buffalo      13    1   9th
Toronto      11    3   8th
Philadelphia 10    4   1st
Washington   10    4   5th
Rochester     6    8   2nd
Albany        5    9   6th
New York      5    9   4th
Columbus      3   11   3rd
Ottawa        0   14   7th

The SRS stands for the strength of the remaining schedule compared to the rest of the league (i.e., Philadelphia has the hardest schedule, Buffalo the easiest), as determined by the Power Rankings formula.

The current Power Rankings foresee two games that are close to dead heats right now (estimated margin of victory is less than one half of a goal). The Albany at New York game is a Saints win right now, but the margin is just 0.2 goals. The other game has more playoff implications. Toronto at Philadelphia, a slim Philly advantage right now, could go a long way to deciding home field in the first round of the playoffs, and if Buffalo trips up somewhere, for the title game as well.

Notes on Week Eight's games
Lines are for entertainment purposes only, and are based solely on the Power Rankings above.

Albany Attack (-7) at Ottawa Rebel, Friday, 7:30 PM
The Albany Attack looks to snap its three-game losing streak with this game against the lone winless team in the league... Ottawa was destroyed last year by Albany at home (in Syracuse), losing a 17-6 decision.

Philadelphia Wings (+3) at Toronto Rock, Friday, 7:30 PM
The Wings are 1-3 in Canada, with the only win coming in 1998 when the Rock were still the Ontario Raiders... The Rock has won the last three meetings (including two in the postseason), and five of the past six in this series.

Philadelphia Wings (-4) at New York Saints, Saturday, 7:30 PM
Philadelphia is 6-2 alltime in the second half of back-to-back games, including 1-0 at the Nassau Coliseum... The Saints need to win in order to keep any playoff hopes alive, after dropping the past two games by a combined score of 35-21.

Washington Power (+4) @ Buffalo Bandits, Saturday, 8:00 PM
The Power needs to reverse history if it wants to win in Buffalo, as the team is 2-6 alltime at the Bandits' home arenas... In what is a reversal from previous incarnations of the Bandits, Buffalo is the least-penalized team in the league, with only 22.8 PIM per game.