Stephen Stamp from IL Indoor has posted his NLL Three Stars of Week 5 following five games this past weekend in the National Lacrosse League. Check out which players made the biggest impact for their team with almost 1/3 of the season now in the books heading into Week 6.
“The National Lacrosse League season started out with some out of left field results,” Stamp writes. “We all knew that Edmonton would turn things around, that Rochester would get back on track. They’ve both done so. We suspected that New England, while showing that they’re probably better than we expected, would fall back to earth after their 2-0 start, and they have. Really, the big thing that hasn’t corrected itself yet is the big fat 0 sitting in the win column beside the Calgary Roughnecks. Saturday night in Toronto was definitely their best game of the year, so it was extra frustrating for them to come up short yet again. A lot of things haven’t been working the way they’re expected to in Calgary, but one facet of their team that has been as good as ever is forward Shawn Evans. He’s second in the league in goals, third in assists and second in points. And he’s one of the chosen in this week’s IL Indoor NLL 3 Stars.”
Second Star
Mark Matthews, Edmonton Rush
6 goals, 2 assists
Matthews was on a mission in Edmonton’s domination of New England. He shot quickly and accurately from a variety of spots on the floor. Shooters will miss the net sometimes when they’ve aiming for corners, but Matthews felt he was missing it too often this year and needed to dial his shot in. Mission accomplished Friday: he took 13 shots, six of which went in, five of which were stopped and only two of which missed the net.
Third Star
Joe Walters, Rochester Knighthawks
5 goals, 2 assists
Several players merited consideration for this spot, but Walters takes it in a slight nod over teammate Dan Dawson, who put up 11 assists and will appear among the honourable mentions. Walters is a solid offensive option for the Knighthawks, but he’s never scored more than 15 goals in a season. So 5 in one night is a huge deal for him. Even more importantly, it came in a game in which the Rochester offence came to life, scoring more goals than they had in their previous two games combined.
Honorable Mentions
Johnny Powless (Vancouver): 4g, 2a. JP appeared a little tentative in his first couple of games with the Stealth, but he’s looking more and more like he’s ready to take on the bigger role that Vancouver envisioned for him when they made the trade to bring him out west…Dan Dawson(Rochester): 11a. Dawson wasn’t even picked as one of the three stars of Rochester’s offensive explosion against Buffalo, but any time you put up 11 assists in a game you’re helping your team immensely…Josh Sanderson (Toronto): 1g, 5a. Another virtuoso Sanderson passing performance plus the beautiful game winner for the Rock…Ben McIntosh (Edmonton): 4g, 4a. McIntosh is already establishing himself as a regular in this space just four games into his career…Joey Cupido (Colorado): 3g. Is there much doubt that Cupido is leading the pack early in the transition player of the year race?…Corey Small (Vancouver): 2g, 6a. With 12 points in two games since being acquired, Small has been even better so far than the Stealth could have imagined…Mark Steenhuis (Buffalo): 5g, 5a. Steenhuis was dynamic…
Click here to find the First Star of Week 5 along with more honorable mentions on Inside Lacrosse via IL Indoor. Photo by Larry Palumbo.
