NLL Insider Top 50: Matt Disher #45

October 15th, 2009 by Paul Tutka

Matt Disher (Photo: Matt J. Wiater)

Matt Disher mighta been playing third fiddle behind Tyler Richards and Matt Roik at the Mann Cup this past summer, but during at least the first half of the ‘09 National Lacrosse League season, few came close to matching the show stopping performances Disher was throwing down in Portland, playing arguably the best he ever has in the pros after stints with Buffalo, Ottawa, Anaheim, Minnesota, Edmonton, Portland and soon to be Edmonton again.

Although multiple bye weeks and some time on the shelf to rest up for the playoffs had Disher slightly inactive to close out the year, it shouldn’t take away from the fact that Dish was on a whole nother level for most of ‘09, one few have even come close to over the past 365.

Even though Disher played part-time down the stretch, making way for prospects Matt Flindell and Joel Weber to get some minutes in relief, earlier in the year he was on pace to break the league’s single season saves record (currently owned by Rob Blasdell when in Albany in ‘02). Had he not spent that time to heal up, the record would have undoubtedly been his by the end of the year. Matt Vinc, who played almost 200 more minutes than Disher, led the league in both stats in ‘09.

To put those numbers into a bit more prespective, check out the stats below, which show how many shots per minutes played tenders (included only the top 15 in the saves column in the search) fielded last year. Only Kenny Montour, who nabbed keeper of the year honours, outdid Disher.

	Saves	Minutes	Saves/Min
Kenny Montour	451	652	0.69
Matt Disher	502	733	0.68
Brandon Miller	377	570	0.66
Rob Blasdell	256	390	0.66
Matt Vinc	609	916	0.66
Chris Levis	386	596	0.65
Bob Watson	525	821	0.64
Kevin Croswell	331	519	0.64
Andrew Leyshon	468	752	0.62
Pat O'Toole	475	777	0.61

Edmonton GM, Derek Keenan, ended up re-grabbing Dish in the Jax dispersal draft, now coaching the exact same team he originally picked Disher up the first time around. It was a deal many felt he got fleeced on, but funny how things work out in the NLL.

Can Disher, who’ll be entering his 13th pro season at the ripe age of 33 (which actually isn’t all that old by NLL tender standers), reproduce what he did last year? Not only did Dish register a pretty impressive amount of saves, the part that doesn’t show up on the stats page, is he made the ones that really matter. The Rush will need that this winter, especially if their D is on the floor as much as they were in ‘09.

Fact: Although it seems like Disher has been living and playing in BC since birth, Matt is actually from Arthur, Ontario, playing almost all of his junior lacrosse with the KW Braves in the mid-90’s, usually backed up by two-time NLL champ, Phil Wetherup.

# (last year)
45 (NR) Matt Disher, Edmonton Rush
46 (23) Ryan Ward, Edmonton Rush
47 (NR) Kyle Ross, Boston Blazers
48 (NR) Matt King, Calgary Roughnecks
49 (NR) Mac Allen, Rochester Knighthawks
50 (NR) Nick Inch, Minnesota Swarm