IL Indoor

Every week this season at NLLinsider.com we’re going to be putting our heads together to argue and exchange threats over email bring you the All-NLLinsider Team of the Week. Quite simply, the All-NLLinsider Team will consist of the six best players to step foot on the floor in any given game every weekend. 3 F, 1 T, 1 D, 1 G, all awesome. Week seven was a week where Rochester’s 15-9 loss to the New York Titans managed to seem almost respectable compared to a pair of uglier showings earlier in the weekend. If the excellent cannot exist without the awful, we are certainly in luck this week.

Forward: Pat Maddalena

Give them credit, the Knighthawks were hangin tough for a while there. The game was even tied 5-5 at the half. It wasn’t until the third quarter that the wheels Firestoned off, with the Titans scoring seven compared to Rochester’s two. And four of those seven? Pat Maddalena. Five goals on the game, four on the powerplay, and three assists. I mean hey, way to go, but does this guy grind anyone else’s gears? We get it man, you’re a doctor. You’re brilliant. You know how to pick angles and draw defenders and anticipate the open man and pop a shot out of nowhere. You don’t need to throw it in our faces.

Forward: Brian Langtry

A lot of the time, the great thing about Brian Langtry is that he usually has something wacky to say. Unfortunately I scanned all of his quotes from this weekend and it looks like we might have to settle for the seven points he scored being his best attribute. Good thing his first goal was unassisted, his second was shorthanded, and his third pulled the Mammoth within two at the end of the third quarter. One of his four assists also came on the game-winner in a one-goal victory over the previously undefeated Calgary Roughnecks. That’ll just have to do.

Forward: Dane Dobbie

No, his team didn’t get the win that would have put them at 6-0 Saturday night, but we can’t start taking things away from people just because they’re technically losers. I don’t want to end up wandering around the countryside with one of those hobo sacks. So I propose that if a guy notches three goals and three assists against a superb Colorado defense and an on-fire Andrew Leyshon, we let him have his spot. And while his scoring was certainly impressive, Dobbie’s most telling statistic was the 10 looseballs he picked up, more than anyone else in the game. When you’re a sophomore player on an offensive shift with the likes of Sanderson, Kelusky, Toth and Malawsky, you probably need to go out of your way to make yourself useful. Can we get an Overachieving Player of the Week Award over here?

Transition: Mark Steenhuis

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Defense: Billy Dee Smith

Pop quiz time: how many penalty minutes has Billy Dee Smith piled up in his five games so far this season?
a) 24
b) Geoff Snider
c) I just looked it up and the answer is 2
Billy Dee used to be feared because, well, he’s Billy Dee, but these days he’s striking a totally new brand of terror into opposing players as one of the most athletic, dynamic and intelligent defenders in the game. For proof, please see Saturday night’s intercepted pass and breakaway bullet to put the Bandits up 5-2 in the early-goings. Because sometimes, being a menace on one end of the floor just isn’t enough.

Goalie: Brandon Miller

No one wants to hear the words well, it could’ve been a lot worse after their favourite team plays, but if I were a Philly fan right now I would take what I could get. Brandon Miller and his 48 saves are likely the main reason the Wachovia Center hasn’t been burned to the ground. There are posts all over wingszone about how boring Philadelphia’s 8-4 loss to Boston was, and far be it from me to infringe on anyone’s right to complain, but were you guys watching Miller? Block out the rest of the game and focus on his saves because they are the stuff your silver lining is made of and some of them were seriously beautiful.

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