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NLL Goal of the Week fan poll: Week 16

Shayne Jackson, here celebrating a tally against Washington, had one of the goals of the week for the Swarm in their loss to Colorado. (Photo: Scott Pierson)

The NLL season has all too quickly come to an end, and after 16 weeks of incredible goals why would anyone expect the last week to be any different?

The Colorado Mammoth clinched a playoff spot in the final week of the NLL season in Minnesota. The Mammoth owe much of their success in the heated battle to Adam Jones, who had a monster 5-goal, 3-assist performance. Jones had two especially remarkable goals Saturday night. Jones rode Swarm transition man David Earl hard while Earl tried to work the ball out of the zone. Jones’ defensive effort translated into an offensive opportunity, as he eventually stripped Earl and went on the breakaway for a goal. Jones wowed all 12,243 fans at the Xcel Energy Center again later in the game. With just under a minute left in the third quarter, Jones, coming off the bench on a partial break, dove through the crease and deposited the ball over the shoulder of Tyler Carlson. READ MORE »

IL Indoor Fan Poll, NLL Fan Poll, National Lacrosse League

NLL Fan Poll: Goal of the Week

Johnny Powless connected with Cody Jamieson for a beauty that makes this week's poll. (Photo: Larry Palumbo)

Intensity is picking up as the fast-approaching playoffs loom over National Lacrosse League teams. Fortunately for fans, the added sense of urgency is translating into some fantastic moments.

Toronto locked up first place in the east this weekend with a thrilling 10-9 win over Rochester. Garret Billings put the rock up by three early with a stunning backhand from medium range. Billings on the power play wound up and pivoted his body to fire a ridiculously fast backhand past Matt Vinc. Keeping up, the Knighthawks answered in the second with a nifty goal of their own. Cody Jamieson, moving off a pick, hit a streaking Johnny Powless who brought Nick Rose to his toes, then floated a ball over Rose back by the right post. Despite the valiant effort, it was not enough to take down the Rock. READ MORE »

Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, IL Indoor Fan Poll, Minnesota Swarm, NLL Fan Poll, National Lacrosse League, Philadelphia Wings, Washington Stealth

NLL Goal of the Week Fan Poll

Matt Gibson had one of the prettiest goals of Week 13. (Photo: Minnesota Swarm)

Only three weeks remain in the NLL season, and the tight standings are treating fans to playoff lacrosse in March. Tight games and high stakes make every goal that much more important, and the nice goals that much nicer.

Week 13 kicked off in Minnesota, where the Swarm laid a beating on the Wings. Drew Westervelt had the first beauty of the game, a one handed dunk into an off net after a huge save from Evan Kirk. Even though Philly ended up at the wrong end of a smack down, Kevin Ross danced his way around a double team to pull the trigger to put Philadelphia up by one in the third. But the fourth belonged to the Swarm. READ MORE »

IL Indoor Fan Poll, NLL Fan Poll, National Lacrosse League

NLL Fan Poll: Who will lead the National Lacrosse League in scoring?

Can Garrett Billings catch Shawn Evans and take the 2013 NLL scoring championship? (Photo: Larry Palumbo)

On Saturday, we broke down the scoring race and laid odds on who would win the 2013 National Lacrosse League scoring title. Then the two leading contenders went out and pulled away from the crowd with a pair of big individual nights, Shawn Evans as his Calgary Roughnecks team pulled out an overtime win and Garrett Billings as his Toronto Rock were downed by the Edmonton Rush. Now Evans holds a 3-point lead with 4 games to play, sitting at 82 points while Billings has 79. Today, we’ll let you have your say on who you think will be sitting atop the table four weeks from now, when the regular season comes to a close. We’ll leave other three contenders on the ballot for those of you who like underdogs, but we fully expect this to be a tight battle between the top two guns after Week 12.

READ MORE »

IL Indoor, IL Indoor Fan Poll, NLL Fan Poll, National Lacrosse League

NLL Goal of the Week Fan Poll: Week 12

Half of Curtis Dickson's 4 goals Saturday night turn up in the goal of the week poll. Will one of them outdo teammate Shawn Evans' no-looker and the rest of the candidates? (Photo: Brad Watson)

With just three games this week, you’d only expect a few highlight reel goals. But a big time victory from Edmonton over Buffalo and a crazy come from behind win for Calgary treated fans to a whole lot of great scoring.

Edmonton bullied Buffalo on Saturday night, doubling the Bandits score and seeing a few highlight reel goals from some familiar names. Zack Greer danced his way around his defender and from midrange launched a blistering rocket over the shoulder of Kurtis Wagar. Soon after, Mark Mathews scored his second goal of the night and it was something special. A cutting Mathews kept his feet outside the crease, launched himself off the turf, and in midair brought the ball back short side over the shoulder of Wagar. READ MORE »

NLL Fan Poll, National Lacrosse League

National Lacrosse League Goal of the Week

Jordan McBride scored four goals, but he gets into the Goal of the Week poll for an assist. (Photo: Colorado Mammoth)

Eleven of 16 weeks have gone by so far this NLL season. Playoffs are weighing on everybody’s mind, and the standings are starting to solidify as every game of the season becomes more and more important. Fortunately for us fans, the more tense games become the more great moments they seem to produce. This week saw a variety of those great moments. Mark Mathews produced two of these moments in week 11. Mathews launched a shot from two feet outside the restraining line to beat Matt Vince for his 28^th of the season. Normally outside shot goals aren’t that special, but Mathews’ cannon from around 45 feet out deserves some exception. Mathews’ other highlight marker came off a slick, one-handed, cross crease pass from Cory Conway, leaving Mathews to pop in the quick stick goal. READ MORE »

IL Indoor Fan Poll, NLL Fan Poll

Who’s the top transition team in the NLL?

Everyone knows Mark Steenhuis can score in transition, but did you know the Bandits score a higher percentage of their goals in transition than any other team? (Photo: Larry Palumbo)

You’ll hear the argument often, if you hang around National Lacrosse League coaches, players and general managers: it’s important to score some transition goals because it’s so hard to score 5-on-5 against today’s outstanding defences. The belief that transition is critical colours decisions about personnel, systems and risk vs reward analysis. How true is it? Well, just over half of the goals scored in the NLL this season have come in basic 5-on-5 play. Teams have scored 22% of their goals in 2013 on the power play and almost as many–19%–in transition. (Note: numbers are through Week 10 and do not include a couple of games that are not available to view in the NLL archives and therefore can’t be analyzed) READ MORE »

IL Indoor Fan Poll, NLL Fan Poll, National Lacrosse League

NLL Goal of the Week Fan Poll: Week 10

Dane Dobbie makes a pair of appearances in this week's Goal of the Week poll. (Photo: Brad Watson)

Ten weeks have come and gone this NLL season and Week 10, like the weeks before it, was full of great goals. First we go to Calgary where the Roughnecks and the Swarm played a game that saw 34 goals scored. Six of the 34 belonged to Dane Dobbie, and whenever Dane Dobbie scores six goals, you can bet a few of them will be pretty. Dobbie’s fourth of the night found him all alone in front, with just enough time to throw some fakes and reach all the way around Evan Kirk for the marker. Dobbie’s fifth is one of those goals that can only make you feel bad for the defender. Jeff Gilbert squared up to Dobbie, did everything right, but Dobbie persevered to the cage for a goal he had no business getting. Dobbie wasn’t the only one scoring, though. Ryan Benesch made two nice moves to beat two defenders, and then made one more nice move to fake out Mike Poulin to pot the ball short side. READ MORE »

IL Indoor Fan Poll, NLL Fan Poll, National Lacrosse League

NLL Fan Poll: Goal of the Week

Cody Jamieson shows off some of the athleticism that helped land him in this week's top goal poll. (Photo: Larry Palumbo)

If close games are what you like, you must’ve loved the ninth week of NLL action. Four of the five games saw teams separated by three goals or less, and one overtime thriller in Buffalo. Even with teams in such tight battles, fans were treated to some spectacular scoring displays. For example, Athan Iannucci, with his first of four against Minnesota, rolled underneath his man, barrelled toward the crease and dove far side to sneak the ball just past the foot of Tyler Carlson. Similar to Iannucci, Cody Jamieson had a four-goal game this week, and keeping with the similarity, Jamieson’s first goal was one of the best of the night. Jamieson spun off a pick then spun past another Mammoth defender to get some time alone in front, threw a few fakes, and put Rochester’s first of the night on the board. READ MORE »

IL Indoor Fan Poll, NLL Fan Poll

NLL Fan Poll: Goal of the Week for Week 8

Athan Iannucci scored one of the few non-diving goals in this week's poll, but it was a still a beauty. (Photo: Dan Brodie)

Week 8 was business as usual in the National Lacrosse League: five action-packed games with a lot of great goals. Goals like Jordan Macintosh, showing poise beyond his years, beating two guys in tight to dive through the crease and go short side on Aaron Bold. Apparently, Callum Crawford saw Macintosh dive through the crease, and thought, “I can do that too” this time beating his man clean with a swim move, and diving through the crease to rip the ball low. It wasn’t just Swarm players diving through the crease to treat us to amazing goals this week. Drew Westervelt had a nice dive, showed far side, but ultimately brought it back short side on Matt Vinc. As if his goal in Rochester wasn’t acrobatic enough, Westervelt vaulted off the turf, this time on a break-away, to bring one back short side on Dan Lewis against Colorado. READ MORE »