Justin Ivey, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Standings:
Shawn Palmer 8-2
Justin Ivey 7-3
Chris Vale 5-5
Stephonya Hunter-Penner 4-6
Finally, every team in the NLL has played a game! Georgia handled Philadelphia handily last week as we all expected. New England crashed Saskatchewan’s home opener winning their second straight road game to start the season. Vancouver defended home turf against the expansion New York team, and Toronto bounced back to win at San Diego. With the holidays smack in the middle of this week, there are only two games this weekend.
Rochester Knighthawks (0-1) at Halifax Thunderbirds (1-0)
Saturday, December 21 at 6:00 PM EST
Rochester will win games this year and this could be the first one. They visit the old Knighthawks (moved to Halifax for this season) who look to be hitting their stride early this year. Shawn Evans can be a game changer and if he can get the offense going, Rochester has a good chance. On the other side, it is the second home game for Halifax and the arena was rocking against New York. The fans are behind the team and the players want to keep that up!
My Pick: Halifax
Stephonya Hunter-Penner: Halifax
Chris Vale: Halifax
Shawn Palmer: Halifax
Colorado Mammoth (0-1) at Calgary Roughnecks (1-0)
Saturday, December 21 at 9:30 PM EST
Colorado lost a one goal game to Saskatchewan to open the season and neither team scored above 10 goals. Calgary rode into Vancouver and ran the building, scoring 12 and winning by five. Colorado sometimes struggles to find offensive flow, a problem that showed up a few times last season. Calgary has Curtis Dickson and Dan Dobbie who always seem to find a way to get the ball in the net. This game should be a goalie battle though. Dillon Ward, the established veteran for Colorado, versus Christian Del Bianco, the promising young star for Calgary.
My Pick: Calgary
Stephonya Hunter-Penner: Colorado
Chris Vale: Calgary
Shawn Palmer: Calgary