National Lacrosse League Power Rankings Week 7

February 22nd, 2010 by Brian Shanahan

I just got back from Edmonton where the Rush won an exciting game against the Toronto Rock. The loss in Edmonton means that the Rock were swept in Alberta. It reminds me of the 1980’s when Alberta was a fruitless road trip for most NHL teams seeking to gain a point against Gretzky’s Edmonton Oilers and Lanny MacDonald’s Calgary Flames. There were many stars in the game but Toronto must be hoping that Ryan Powell’s 8 points will not be a preview of brother Casey who comes to Toronto next week. As far as the rest of the NLL goes it appears that the pack is catching up with the leaders. A few weeks ago I said that Washington, Toronto and Orlando were in a league of there own. That’s no longer true. Lets check out the Power Rankings.

1 (1)	Washington Stealth 6-2 2nd loss in a row, this time to the hot Calgary Roughnecks. Travel to Boston next week.
2 (2)	Toronto Rock 6-3 Swept in Alberta. Suddenly next week’s home game against Orlando is critical.
3 (4)	Calgary Roughnecks 4-3 They look a lot more like the Roughnecks of 2009.
4 (3)	Orlando Titans 3-2 Lost the OT thriller to Boston. I wish these guys would get some more games.
5 (6)	Rochester Knighthawks 5-3 Win their second road game of the season. If win against Edmonton next weekend, combined with a Toronto loss, would propel the Knighthawks into first place.
6 (5)	Boston Blazers 4-4 Double Overtime victory keeps the Blazers in the hunt.
7 (7)	Edmonton Rush 4-3 Huge victory against the Toronto Rock halts a potential three game slide and keeps them in the race for a home playoff date. Travel to Rochester next week.
8 (8)	Minnesota Swarm 3-4 Dominant performance against the Mammoth give the Swarm two wins in a row. Next week they travel to Colorado where they should expect a better battle.
9 (9)	Buffalo Bandits 2-5 Another week of rest for John Tavares. They host Philly next week.
10 (11)	Philadelphia Wings 1-6 Terrible second half against the Knighthawks. The Wings are going nowhere this year.
11 (10)	Colorado Mammoth 2-5 Looked terrible against the Swarm who they face in Denver next week. Maybe they can take a page out of Edmonton’s book and rebound with a big home effort.

A longtime TV analyst for lacrosse, Shanny calls games for TSN and Versus. Shanny won five Mann Cups as a player and is the voice of boxla in Canada. Email him at brian.shanahan@nllinsider.com or go to ShannyLacrosse.com.

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