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Garrett Billings leads all NLL rookies with 19 points. (Photo: Larry Palumbo)

We’re three weeks into the National Lacrosse League season and we’re starting to see some habits developing. As in Garrett Billings is one hell of a ball player. The Toronto Rock rookie tore it up again, notching 5 goals for the 2nd time in 3 games in leading the Rock to a 17-3 thrashing of the Rochester Knighthawks last week. So as the NLL’s top points man among rookies, Billings (11 goals, 8 assists for 19 points) maintains his spot as No. 1 among the rooks. Yet as dominant as he’s been, he’s not alone. There’s a rook out West with the Colorado Mammoth in Ilija Gajic (10-8, 18), who is just as impressive.

TOP 10

1. Garrett Billings, F, Toronto Rock: There really is no contest when it comes to who the top rook is so far. The right-hander leads the Rock with 11 goals and he’s forming quite the tandem with veteran Colin Doyle; 7 of his 11 goals in 3 games have been assisted by Doyle. After scoring the Week 2 OT winner against Boston, Billings responded with 5 goals and 3 assists in the 17-3 thrashing of Rochester, and he scored 4 of the Rock’s first 7 goals. And even more impressive is his shooting percentage of 42%, with his 11 goals coming on just 26 shots. He’s picking his shots with the wisdom and discretion of a vet.

2. Ilija Gajic, F, Colorado Mammoth: The left-handed forward is second on the team in scoring with 10 goals and 8 assists for 28 points after putting up 2 goals and 2 assists in each of Colorado’s wins last weekend. His second assist of Friday’s game set up Brian Langtry’s goal that forced OT in Minnesota, a game the Mammoth went on to win.

3. Alex Gajic, F, Colorado Mammoth: The right-hander had 2 assists in Friday’s OT win over Minnesota, then scored 3 goals against Philadelphia on Saturday, including the OT winner. He’s 5th on the team with 14 points and has scooped up 18 loose balls.

4. Matt Beers, D, Washington Stealth: He had 11 combined loosies in the 2 wins but most impressive was his tussle with Buffalo tough guy Brandon Francis on Friday. Beers jumped right in and held his own. The Stealth love this guy’s energy and with 5 rooks on the roster, Beers is the only one to play in all 4 games.

5. Stephan Leblanc, F, Toronto Rock: The lefty had 1 goal and 3 assists in the win over Rochester. He’s the Rock’s 3rd leading scorer and his 14 loose balls is tied for second among all Rock forwards. He’s got 18 points (5-13) to rank No. 2 in scoring among rookies.

6. Zack Greer, F, Minnesota Swarm: He’s the Swarm’s top-scoring lefty with 10 points (3-7), good enough for third-best on the team. He had 1 goal, 2 assists and 4 loosies in the OT loss to Colorado. His 28 shots are second-most on the team.

7. Chris Corbeil, D, Buffalo Bandits: He had 1 goal and 1 assist along with a combined 15 loosies in a pair of road losses over the weekend. His breakaway, unassisted goal early in the fourth on Friday cut Washington’s lead to 11-9, but the Bandits never got closer. His 32 loose balls are second-best on the team.

8. Sid Smith, D, Rochester Knighthawks: His stock falls a bit after just 1 loose ball in the team’s 17-3 debacle in Toronto. He’s not solely to blame, for sure, but when a team gives up 6 straight goals to start a game and trails 9-1 at halftime, the defenders have gotta take some heat.

9. Curtis Manning, D, Calgary Roughnecks: He had 1 assist and 7 loose balls in the Riggers’ loss to Washington. He’s the only rookie to play in all three games for the Roughnecks, bringing a mixture of solid D skills to the back end with the ability to quickly scoot up the floor after forcing a turnover.

10. Cliff Smith, T, Colorado Mammoth: The left-hander had 3 goals, 2 assists and 6 loosies in Colorado’s two-win weekend, helping the Mammoth right the ship after an 0-2 start.

Rookie notebook: In his first 3 games, Colorado defensman Brad Richardson won 45 of 84 faceoffs, but last weekend against Philly, he was schooled by veteran Geoff Snider and won just 4 of 22. Still, Richardson is 51-of-106 for the season … Toronto defenseman Anthony Lackey scooped 9 loose balls against Rochester, second on the team only to Pat McCready’s 11 … Edmonton Rush right-hander Corey Small has 2 goals in his 2 games … Philadelphia’s Kevin Huntley has played in all 3 games, but still is waiting for his first goal … Buffalo rookie goaltender Angus Goodleaf saw his first NLL action in relief of Ken Montour against Washington and was solid, making 17 saves on 23 shots … Defenseman Steve Priolo leads all Buffalo rookies with 5 points (5 assists) … Forward Carlton Schuss made his debut with Calgary last weekend and was held scoreless on just 1 shot … Three of the top 7 scorers for Colorado are rookies (Ilija Gajic, Alex Gajic and Cliff Smith) … Of Toronto’s 36 man-games (total games by total players combined), 14 are by rookies … Seven of the 10 rooks we’re ranking were first-round draft picks in 2009, one was a 2008 first-round draft pick and two were 2009 second-round picks … East vs. West? Seven of our top 10 ranked rooks are out of the WLA.

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