Stephen Stamp from IL Indoor has released his Three Stars of NLL Week 14 following a season-high eight games around the National Lacrosse League this past weekend as the regular season hits the homestretch. Find preview below and follow the link for the full story on Inside Lacrosse.
“The busiest weekend of the National Lacrosse League season saw plenty of performances worthy of consideration for the IL Indoor NLL 3 Stars,” Stamp writes. “In the end, a few players definitely rose to the top; well, actually there were four that stood out, creating a rather difficult choice for the third slot. Take a peek below the picture to see how it all turned out.”
Second Star
Shawn Evans, Calgary Roughnecks
3 goals, 13 assists
Evans had a remarkable night in Calgary’s 14-9 win over Colorado, having a hand in 12 of the goals. He scored three himself and assisted on nine others. Evans now has 105 points on the season, meaning he needs to score 12 over Calgary’s final four games to break John Grant Jr’s record of 116. Given that he has yet to score fewer than four points in a game this season and four times has scored 10 or more, it’s hard to imagine him not hitting the mark. He’s already surpassed his previous season high of 32 goals with 36 this year. At his current pace of almost five assists per game, he’s also likely to shatter Garrett Billings record of 82 for a season (Josh Sanderson is also on pace to break the record, though he is scoring about a tenth of an assist per game less than Evans).
Third Star
Zack Greer, Edmonton Rush
8 goals, 5 assists
It almost came down to a coin toss between Greer and his teammate Robert Church. The deciding factor was Greer’s overtime winner on Friday against Vancouver. It was his fourth goal of the game, a total he would match the next night as Edmonton won much more handily. Greer has already achieved career highs in goals assists and points with his 33/29/62 line through 15 games.
Honourable Mentions
Robert Church (Edmonton): 7g, 8a. To think Minnesota gave Edmonton solid defender Nik Bilic so the Swarm could take Cam Flint ahead of Church in the 2013 draft. Church is 12th in the league in both goals and points…Corey Small (Vancouver): 7g, 4a. A pair of hat tricks to lead the Stealth on the weekend…John Grant Jr (Colorado): 6g, 1a. Is just 3 goals behind Gary Gait for second all-time…Daryl Veltman (Calgary): 6g, 3a. Came up big for the Roughnecks in a win they absolutely had to have…Kasey Beirnes (Toronto): 3g, 1a. Was the only player clicking for Toronto’s offence Friday…Patrick Saunders (New England): 4g, 5a. Just three points from catching Kevin Crowley for the Black Wolves scoring lead…Ryan Benesch (Buffalo): 5g, 2a. You know a player is good when other players rave about him, as they tend to do about Benesch…Mark Matthews (Edmonton): 5g, 6a. Has almost gotten himself into John Grant territory where you just expect this kind of production and anything less is a disappointment…Callum Crawford (Minnesota): 4g, 4a. Scored against Matt Vinc Saturday; that alone was almost enough of a feat to get in here…Logan Schuss (Vancouver): 3g, 8a. Paying immediate…
Click here for First Star and honorable mentions from Three Stars of NLL Week 14 by Stephen Stamp on IL Indoor.
