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Nll Three Stars: Week 6

Stephen Stamp from IL Indoor has released his Three Stars of NLL Week 6 highlighting the top player performances from a quiet yet entertaining weekend of National Lacrosse League action which saw both games decided in sudden death overtime. Find Stamp’s analysis below and make the jump to Inside Lacrosse for the complete list of notable performers.

“What a contrast between the two games in the National Lacrosse League this past weekend,” Stamp writes. “The first saw just 13 goals scored in total, a defensive struggle with both goalies stopping at least 85% of the shots they faced as Minnesota edged Rochester 7-6. In the second game, each team scored more than the combined total of the first game and the goalies, while they both made some tremendous saves and overall did creditable job, stopped only about 75% of shots. Of course, in the end the games were similar in one key and exciting facet. They both went to overtime. Further, both were won on shots from outside that were perfectly placed, by Callum Crawford for Minnesota and Hiana Thompson for Buffalo.”

Second Star
Shawn Evans, Calgary Roughnecks
2 goals, 6 assists
The season-opening losing streak is obviously frustrating for everyone in Calgary, but it can’t be more so for anyone than for Evans, who moved into a tie for the NLL’s scoring lead despite having played two fewer games than Ryan Benesch. Little Evy has 15 goals, 25 assists and is scoring a full point per game higher than his average in 2013, when he won the MVP and led the league by 12 points.

Third Star
Logan Schuss, Minnesota Swarm
3 goals, 1 assist
Schuss scored all three of the goals in the second quarter Friday night. Then, like all his teammates except Andrew Suitor, he was shut out of scoring completely in the second half. But then he made the pass to Callum Crawford for the shot that wound up being the game winner. A big night for both Schuss and the Swarm, who in beating the Knighthawks showed they’re for real and can’t be discounted in the playoff race.

Honorable Mentions
Chad Culp (Buffalo): 3g, 3a. Culp is a worker bee who can impact a game even when he’s not scoring. He’s intense and he doesn’t need a lot of shots to be happy. So it’s especially nice for the team when he kicks in with a 6-point night, especially since he got his hat trick on just 5 shots, including the beauty on which he reached his stick around a defender’s shoulders to sneak a shot in off the far post…Zach Higgins (Minnesota): 34 saves, .850 save percentage. Any time you win a defensive battle over Matt Vinc, you’re doing alright…Matt Vinc (Rochester): 42 saves, .857 save percentage. Especially when Vino is in this kind of form…Curtis Dickson (Calgary): 2g, 6a. Superman almost doubled his assist total—he had 7 through the first four games…Ryan Benesch (Buffalo): 2g, 6a. Benny is tied with Evans at 40 points (21g, 19a)…

Click here to see the First Star of NLL Week 6 along with a full rundown of honorable mentions on IL Indoor. Photo by Chris Fischbeck.

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