IL Indoor

Ryan Benesch finished the 2011 regular season leading the NLL in points and goals after Week 16. (Photo: Dan Brodie)

With only two regular season games in Week 16, IL Indoor’s 3 Star Challenge scaled back the amount of stars handed out to reflect the shrunken regular season schedule.

First Star (50 Points)

Ryan Benesch – Minnesota
The Swarm’s MVP contender factored in on as many Minnesota goals (3G, 5A) as the the Colorado Mammoth’s scoreboard finish in Minny’s second seed clinching 12-8 win over the recently very hot Mammoth. The Week 16 stat haul allowed Benesch to push past Lewis Ratcliff for the point scoring crown with 95-points, also leading the NLL in goals (46). Even his 49 end-of-season helpers ranked him tied for fifth overall. Really impressive stuff from Benesch, who before landing in Minnesota was struggling to find a leading role in Toronto and Edmonton.

Second Star (30 Points)

Cody Jamieson - Rochester Knighthawks
While most were debating between Curtis Dickson and Kyle Rubisch for Rookie of the Year Honours, Jamieson quietly snuck up on the rookie scoring crown this past weekend, finishing a single point ahead of Dickson thanks to his 7-point effort against the Buffalo Bandits. Coincidentally, last year’s rookie points lead was decided by just a one point different as well, Garrett Billings finishing with 83-points to Rock teammate Stephan Leblanc’s 82. Last year’s points runner-up, Leblanc, won the ROY award.

Third Star (10 Points)

Matt Vinc - Rochester Knighthawks
Know the league handed Nick Patterson this week’s defensive performance of the week and so hard to like one over the other, but we’ll give this last nod to Vinc, who matched Patterson’s 37-stops while in a hostile HSBC Arena on Saturday night, finishing the year with 585 saves total. It was Vinc’s third straight season leading the NLL in that column, which had only been done once before (Steve Dietrich). “It’s an honor. I look at it the way we played down the stretch. A lot of those saves were easier to make,” said Vinc on knighthawks.net. “Our defense tightened up and played a lot better in the last half of the year. A lot of those saves were compliments of them.”

Jeff Shattler or Ryan Benesch?

With Benesch’s points picked up in IL Indoor’s 3 Star Challenge this week, he is now tied with long time leader Jeff Shattler. In order to crown a winner of this year’s 3 Star Challenge, we’ll leave it up to a fan vote. Below, select if Shattler or Benesch deserves to be named this year’s winner, polls closing next week. Casey Powell won 2010’s 3 Star Challenge en route to also being named the NLL’s MVP while suiting up for the Orlando Titans.

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