Photo Credit: NLL Top Photos

The National Lacrosse League is heating up. We’re headed into a very busy Week 10, where every team will be taking the floor over the weekend – that’s a box lacrosse fan’s dream.

With a jam-packed slate of games coming up, let’s get right into the good stuff. Here is the latest edition of By the Numbers!

12 – # of Regular Season Meetings Between Toronto Rock and Colorado Mammoth

Many great developments have come from the NLL’s decision to move to a unified standings. One of which is that every team in the league plays each other at least once each year. Because of this, formerly unfamiliar foes have now become regular enemies in battle.

The league’s new format was introduced ahead of the 2023-24 NLL Season. Last season, the Colorado Mammoth faced off against the Toronto Rock for the first time in more than five years. It was also the first time that the Mammoth had played against the Rock on the road since 2018. For what it’s worth, the Rock beat the Mammoth 12-7.

That 2024 matchup was only the 12th regular season game these two had played against each other since the Mammoth came to Colorado in 2003. That’s only 12 games in 21 years. In the first 10 years, these two clubs squared off, they saw each other very infrequently. They played twice in 2003 but then didn’t duel again until 2007. After that one game, they didn’t see each other again until 2012. Then From 2013-2018, they saw each other a total of six times. 

Despite the lack of history, we should be in for a thrilling matchup this weekend. The Mammoth are having their best start to a season since 2022 – the year they last won the NLL Cup. The Rock are as healthy as they’ve been all year, and they’re riding a two-game win streak. You won’t want to miss this 13th matchup between the Rock and Mammoth on Saturday.

1 – # of Assists Curtis Dickson and Ryan Keenan Need To Reach Key Assist Milestone

Last weekend, the Calgary Roughnecks’ Curtis Dickson and the Saskatchewan Rush’s Ryan Keenan had big assist games. Dickson tied for the game-high with 5 assists against the Rock, and Keenan had a game-high 7 assists against the Albany FireWolves. For perspective, the last time Keenan had a 7+ assist game was December 2023, and the last time Dickson had a 5+ assist game was February 2024.

Dickson and Keenan’s big games jolted them to the precipice of notable assist milestones. Dickson is 1 assist shy of becoming the 27th player in NLL regular season history to reach 500 career assists. He would also be 1 of 8 players in NLL history to reach 500+ goals and 500+ assists. It feels like a pretty good lock that Dickson will hit that milestone this weekend, as he’s only been without an assist in a regular season game ten times in his last ten seasons. 

Keenan is 1 assist away from reaching 300 regular season career assists. By reaching 300 assists, Keenan would be only the third Rush player in franchise history to reach that milestone. The others to accomplish this feat are his teammate, Robert Church, and his former teammate, Mark Matthews. Keenan averages slightly more assists per game in his career than Dickson (2.43 compared to 2.33), so we can also say it’s a safe bet that Keenan will hit this assist milestone this weekend.

12.66 – # of Goals Toronto Rock Averaging Over Last 3 Games

The Toronto Rock offence is rolling again. 

The Rock have been riddled with key injuries all over the floor this season, so scoring has been a battle.

Offensive juggernauts Tom Schreiber and Mark Matthews have missed ample time (Matthews is out for the season). Face-off superstar TD Ierlan, whose job it is to win possession and get the ball to the offence missed more than a month. In transition, both Challen Rogers and Latrell Harris have missed more games than they’ve played. 

But, with the names mentioned above re-joining the team in recent weeks, the goals have started to come in January.

In the opening four games of the season, the Rock averaged 7.25 goals per game. They scored less than 10 goals in each of their first three games and hit a season-high of 11 goals in their fourth contest of this campaign. Since the turn of the new year, the Rock offence looks to be back in high gear.

On January 10th, the Rock offence tallied 13 goals against the stalwart veteran Buffalo Bandits defence and their legendary goaltender Matt Vinc. They followed that performance with 11 goals against the Saskatchewan Rush defence and Frank Scigliano and then put up a season-best 14 goals against the Calgary Roughnecks at the Saddledome.

All in all, the Rock have averaged 12.66 goals in their last 3 games, almost doubling their goals per game from their first 4 games of the season. They are gaining confidence and finding their rhythm, which is excellent news for the Rock and not-so-great news for the teams that will play them for the remainder of the season.

11.79 – Zach Higgins’ NLL Leading Goals Saved Above Average 

The Ottawa Black Bears’ Zach Higgins has been elite all season long. 

Higgins has played well enough that I think it’s fair to say that the Black Bears could be, nay, should be, 6-1 instead of 4-3. His 9.25 Goals Against Average (GAA) and 81.2% save percentage both rank 2nd-best in the NLL. 

When it comes to Goals Saved Above Average (GSAA), a stat that essentially tells us how a goaltender has performed (looking at goals allowed) compared to the league average, Higgins ranks at the top of the list. His 11.79 GSAA is notably higher than the Buffalo Bandits Matt Vinc’s league 2nd-best 9.62 GSAA, and almost double that of Vancouver Warriors’ Aden Walsh’s 6.77 GSAA.

Plenty of lacrosse remains to be played this NLL season, but if the season ended today, I think Zach Higgins has earned the NLL’s Goaltender of the Year honour. I’m not disappointed about that, as Higgins was my IL Indoor preseason pick for GOTY.

45.3% – Jake Withers’ Face-Off % Against Rookies At The Dot This Season

Jake Withers has not been himself this year at the face-off dot. 

During the season, Withers won 53.0% of his face-offs. For context, the worst face-off win percentage Withers has had over the course of a season is 66.9%, and that was his rookie year. His career average at the dot is 72.4%.

Even more noteworthy is who he is losing face-offs to this season, and the rate at which he has lost face-offs against certain players. Withers has faced NLL rookies at the stripe in three of the five games he’s played this season. Two have come against the Rochester Knighthawks’ Mike Sisselberger, while the other was against Jake Naso. 

Of those three games, the only one where he won more than 50% of the draws was the January 18th games against the Knighthawks (Withers won 56.5% of his draws that night). As a whole, Withers has a combined face-off win percentage of 45.3% against rookies this season. 

Withers will be battling a rookie at the dot again in Week 10. He will be going up against the Vancouver Warriors’ Alec Stathakis, who has won 63.2% of his draws this season – not bad for a rookie American. 

This will be the next intriguing face-off battle for Withers this season. Let’s see how he does.

44 – # of Goals Jack Hannah Is On Pace To Score This Season

Simply put, the Las Vegas Desert Dogs Jack Hannah has been one of, if not the most electrifying goalscorer in the NLL this season. 

Hannah has 17 goals in 7 games. good for 12th most in the league. But it’s the way he scores which is so impressive. Almost every goal he’s scored so far this season is highlight-reel-worthy.

The numbers are impressive too. He’s on pace to score 44 goals this season, which would not only be a career high, but a Desert Dogs single season record. If he continues on his pace of 2.43 goals per game, he will narrowly eclipse Casey Jackson’s record of 41 last year.

The Desert Dogs are hosting the Georgia Swarm at Lee’s Family Forum this weekend, which may not be good news for Hannah’s goalscoring pace. He’s only played the Swarm once in his young NLL career and was held off the score sheet. He’s only been held scoreless in 8 of the 43 career NLL games he’s played in.

Let’s see if he can get his first career goal against the Swarm and keep the ball rolling.

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