IL Indoor

As good as the rookie classes have been over the past two years previous to 08, man this year’s class might not be quite as high profile, but kids are getting it done from all over.

Really impressed by Brandon Swamp and Kyle Schmelzle who played massive games against Minnesota, a game that had a total of nine rookies in it (that’s including Sams and Croswell on the bench). Nine rooks in a game with two of the top dawgs in the East… beautiful!!

And hell, Philly is in the same boat. Killing it in the standings with a slew of rooks taking up spots on their roster. Obviously Merrick Thomson and Jamie Rooney shot the lights out again in the Colorado game, but Jim Borell, Brett Moyer and Pat Heim all saw minutes on the weekend and all three dudes are American boxla virgins. How crazy is that?

For those that love to watch the young studs play, this is definitely your year, just make sure you’re doin’ more than just stat watching, cuz there are some great D rooks and role players that I’m sure many haven’t noticed.

Thumbs Up

Swamp and Schmelzle
Tenacious work at both ends of the floor from these two and the fact that both scored some key goals is just the icing on the cake, cuz even without those, they still looked great in that Minny game. These are the kinda performance Darris Kilgour had been hoping for from guys and hopefully they keep it up. On opening day, sure very few felt many if any Buffalo rookies were gonna have any kinda impact this year.

Ken Montour
Yeah Buffalo lost in TO on Friday night, but there is no way you could come close to blaming Monster for the loss. Montour looked amazing in both games over the weekend, playing the starting gig while Mike Thompson shakes off the affects of a recent concussion. Kenny had huge second periods in both games over the weekend. Yeah he let in seven against Minny during the second, but with 13 saves in a period he was getting shelled in, he kept that score-line just close enough to give Buffalo a chance after halftime. Trust me, lesser goalies would let a hell lot more than what Kenny let in in that second period.

Dan Dawson
Not only did Portland’s O look about as good as they have all season, coincidently Daws had by far his best digits too. Within those digits, a sick break down the gut that he finished off with a slick one handed low rifle that marked his 200^th career goal in the NLL. AKA… a Dan Dawson happy ending.

Athan Iannucci
Lately I’ve been trying to not handout too many Thumbs Up to the most obvious guys, but how can you not give props to Nooch after what he did against Colorado. Outside of the fact that he threw up some of the best numbers of any top shelf O guy, he also was key in their fourth period comeback where he tossed in the game tying and even winning goal. As money as Jake Bergey’s been, Iannucci is lookin’ just as clutch as anyone on the Wings roster (FYI Nooch makes his first appearance on The Money Ballers later this week). Secondary Thumbs Up has to go to rook Jamie Rooney, who shows up in the fourth like no one’s business all season long.

Peter Lough
With all the talk of Clark’s return and some big helper numbers by Manning and Shooter, Lough’s performance on Friday night seems to have gone a little too unnoticed. Lough killed it on draws, went wild on loosies and just played some solid fundamental D. Oh yeah, and he killed some serious momentum the Bandits ran outta the gates with in the fourth to give the Rock a lead again at a crucial point in the game. I’d give him this week’s D’er of the week for sure.

Thumbs Down

Edmonton O, D, etc…
Man that was not a good game for the Rush. At least when they played Portland that first time around they played with some effort, but last night it didn’t even look like the effort was there. Guys getting caught really flat footed, zero creativity with the ball in their sticks and some really poor decision making throughout the entire game marked Edmonton’s absolute worst performance of the year. Not sure there was any positives coming outta that one.

Ryan Avery
I gave him props when he came up big like three weeks back, but Avery has posted back-to-back rough starts, so gotta dish out the good with the bad. Avery’s numbers weren’t too far off Pat Campbell’s, who came in relief of Avery, but it was the kinda goals that both tenders gave up that made the difference. Avery allowed a couple weak goals that seemed to really kill any kinda momentum Calgary was hoping to get in the first 30 minutes of the game. Depending on how long Chugger is out for, should be interesting what happens with that #2 gig in the Necks’ cage.

Billy Dee Smith
Even if it was just a slight shove in the gut, ya gotta keep your hands off the zebras unless your shakin’ their hand after the game. Billy Dee found himself in a heated situation after running over Manning and crossed the line. With the league/refs throwing guys in the bin for being too vocal with the refs earlier in the year, I’d say expect to see Billy Dee miss at least a game, maybe two if they’re trying to send a message. Love him as a player, but gotta keep that temper in check. The baby faced assassin got a little too gun happy on Friday night.

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