thestealthdragon.com

San Jose Stealth Forward
Frank Resetarits

How many other pro sports have players be a part of every practice only dress once in a two months span and then have that same player come out and score 3 goals with 2 assists in a one and done playoff game?  I’m guessing zero.

I’ve personally said that Frank needed to stay on the bench because he had not been producing and I appreciate Frank proving me wrong.  Resetarits rested up during the regular season and really took it to the Lumberjax on Friday night.

So here’s to Frank Resetarits!  In my opinion, he defines the ultimate “team player” after this effort.

Tags: Frank Resetarits, NLL, Resetarits, Stealth

I’ve gathered together my super squad of West Division friends and foes to give me their playoff predictions.  Without further ado, here are the predictions from Wingszone forums members and Lumberjax fans laxinoregon and Smackem, Mammoth fan Mtn_Scott and Stealth fans Zmystere, Zeboim and myself.  I’m sorry I haven’t included anyone from Calgary, but I haven’t really interacted or met with any of them yet.

Laxinoregon:
Colorado @ Calgary. The 1 vs 4 seed. The #1 hasn’t faired in recent years, however, I expect Calgary to buck that trend with a landslide win, 15-9. Calgary’s offense is clicking and everyone’s healthy, defense is aggressive and plays within itself harrassing the opponents scorers. Only weakness is in the transition which unfortunately for Colorado they aren’t suited for. The only way at an upset will be if both Prout and Langtry score early and score often, I don’t see that happening.

San Jose @ Portland. The 2 vs 3 seed. San Jose has a few things going for them in this game. Renewed aggression on the defensive end, pay back for last years home playoff loss, and two guys by the name of Doyle and Zwyicki. Portland counters the dynamic duo of Batman and Robin with The Butcher (Alexander) and The Playboy (Codron) and The Wall (Disher). These two teams hate each other, plain and simple and I expect nothing less than a war on the floor, a few fights, a few lead changes, a penalty shot to send the game into overtime, and a Jax victory 12-11 in said OT. Or it could be a masacre of epic porpotions with a 17-9 San Jose win, but nah, my first predicition has more drama. Jax 12-11.

Smackem:
I hope my Homer instincts don’t kick in too quickly so I’ll start with Colorado vs. Calgary. As much as this one seems to be a lock for Calgary I would offer some caution. If Leyshawn gets some early stops and builds his confidence he could keep Colorado around, but I’m doubtful that will happen with the injuries the Mammoth defense has suffered. Guze was a nice story of giving his all, but his 15 minutes of fame is over. No way anyone knows better than a Jax fan how much Langtry seems to rise to the occasions of away games, but it will be too little too late. Should Colorado get it going early I think Calgary will make a quick switch of goalies. Campbell and King have both played well and I believe either one could step in and stop the bleeding. Calgary puts this one away early, but I’m holding out hope for the Mammoth (homerism demands it).

Portland vs San Jose. This one is keeping me up at night. These 2 teams met 3 times and the Jax won twice. The problem I’m having is that Eric Martin absolutely handed one of those games over by taking horrible penalties at terrible times. I believe Peter Morgan has to play great and Disher has to be healthy enough to go the distance for the Jax to win. The Stealth seem to be getting it together and gaining momentum at just the right time. The question will be how do their rookies, particularly Duch, handle playoff pressure. I’d love to see the Jax quicken the pace on transition and see if it forces some rookie mistakes (this is where Rabil’s lack of box experience could hurt). What frightens me the most about the Stealth is undoubtedly Colin Doyle! I’m not sure if there is any one player out there I’d rather have than Doyle if you needed someone to will you to a win, he can flat out get it done. I know Dawson is incredible in the playoffs, but the Jax were just 6-10 with Dan. For an entire season I actually think I’d go with Doyle. OK, homer time. The Jax defense with Disher behind them can make any offensive players’ life miserable. If the refs let them play physical, and I think in playoff atmosphere with the home crowd they will, the Jax are going to escape with a hard fought narrow victory.

Zeboim:
Calgary vs Colorado — winner Calgary

Calgary is really hot right now. The entire team is playing like they want to win. The Roughnecks offense is really clicking. On defense, Calgary is swarming to the ball. Seriously, this team is playing so well that I expect them to represent the west in the Championship Cup this year.

This Colorado team is not the same as we have seen in past years. They have many injuries, resulting in no continuity on the floor on defense or offense. Also, they are playing uninspired lacrosse right now. The Mammoth seem to regret having Gavin Prout as their captain. He provides no leadership and has been a very selfish player this year.

Portland vs San Jose — winner Portland (come on Colin, prove me wrong!)

The Portland Lumberjax team identity revolves around their defense. The Jax defenders are big, strong, and fast. Tyler Codron is a shutdown defender who is extremely competitive and takes it as a personal challenge to stop whatever player the coach puts him on. Disher has been playing excellently this season, but I don’t know if he will be back at 100% for this game. Offensively, the Jax lack the firepower and leadership that Dan Dawson provided them with last year, but they manage to get enough transition goals from players like Brodie Merrill, Peter Morgan, and Scott Stewart.

San Jose has had a season that didn’t start off too strong. The team made a lot of changes from 2008, not all of them by choice. It is in games like these that the Stealth really miss Anthony Cosmo. The San Jose defense has improved with the addition of Shaydon Santos to the roster. Jeff Zywicki seems to be healed up, which will help out an already potent Stealth offense. Finally, and by no means least, Colin Doyle is an amazing team leader and he may just decide that I am full of crap and take this game into his own hands and lead the Stealth to a victory.

Zymystere:
Portland is not necessarily better than last year, because they had a damn good team last year.  But they are now full of confidence and have trust in Disher to make the big saves to keep them in the game.

San Jose ended the season with big wins.The offence is what we had hoped they would be, though the scoring is coming from Duch and Doyle, versus last being Wick and Doyle. Wick is always dangerous in the second season, but it will come down to goal tenders. The Ghost T-Rich is hot and will take this time to solidify his position on the team. T-Rich will be the diff.

14 - 9 San Jose wins.

Now for the CO, they are a Jeckyl/Hyde team. If everyong plays their best game, they can do well. Prout will try to carry the team and Langtry will get 7 pts.

CAL is the class of the West.Thought that they would falter as the season went long, but they held together. Campbell should get the start and is a solid tender. TK is just being TK and Dobbie is a threat to keep the boys energized and open the shooting lanes.
I see it being a close game, no more than a 1 goal differrential at the final whistle. Colorado will find a way to make up for a depleted D and sqeek out a win.

Colorado wins…barely!

Mtn_Scott:
Colorado @ Calgary
This is a very interesting game for quite a few reasons. On paper, this will be Calgary’s game to lose. Calgary’s offense and power play unit have been unstoppable all year. Fortunately for the Mammoth that plays directly into their strengths. Unfortunately, the Mammoth might start suiting up fans to play. In the final game of the season Rich Catton and Ray Guze both went down to injuries and status is uncertain. This adds to an already lengthy casualty list. The Mammoth’s best hope is the fact that this is a rivalry game, and games between these two teams always comes down to heart. I am not sure even a Mammoth size heart can overcome the pure talent differential. Calgary 12-8

San Jose @ Portland
This is another game of a great offense versus a great defense. Normally, I would take the defense on this, but not when the offense involves Colin Doyle. He is the most clutch player in the league during the playoffs. Portland has beaten San Jose Twice this season already, beating them a third time will be tough in this league. San Jose 13-12 in OT.

StealthDragon:
First up #4 Colorado @ #1 Calgary.  The previous two seasons the #4 seed in the West has walked in to the #1 seed’s barn and won.  In both of those games the #4 team had also beaten the #1 seed while playing at the #1 seed’s barn during the regular season.  This season Colorado beat Calgary 13-12 but it was not in Calgary.  I fully expect Calgary to break the curse of the #1 seed in the West losing in the first round.  Colorado has too many injuries on defense to stop Calgary’s offense and transition game.  Or Langtry scores 9 goals to keep it close, but Calgary still wins.

Now the big show #3 San Jose @ #2 Portland. The rematch of last season’s #4 over #1 upset in San Jose.  Most of the Stealth players were there last year and will have revenge on their mind.  The Stealth have defeated the Jax in Portland this year, so despite the season series being 2-1 in Portland’s favor this Stealth squad knows how to win in Portland.  Beating Portland goalie Matt Disher early and making him move will be key to the Stealth victory.  If Disher is hot then it could be a problem for the Stealth.  Jeff Zywicki is finally healthy and has been running around his defenders the past couple weeks after not driving to the cage and challenging defenders the first 3/4 of the season.  Brett Manney we’ll see you soon.
My wild card factor is Portland coach Derek Keenan, there’s a 50/50 chance that he develops the right game plan for a Lumberjax victory.  When he plans right the Lumberjax can be dangerous.  Thankfully Stealth coach Chris Hall is capable of adjusting on the fly, so if the Jax get out of the gates fast there will still be time to right the Stealth ship.

In my opinion, it’s a good night and the Stealth win 13-8 like they did in late March.

Final Tally:

Calgary is picked 5 to 1 while the PDX/SJ meeting is split 3 picks each.  Bring on Friday!

Go Stealth!

Tags: Lumberjax, Mammoth, NLL, Playoffs, Roughnecks, Stealth

The hype is building towards the Doylermaker breaking the NLL’s single season points record of 115 points held by Buffalo living legend John Tavares.  Colin Doyle has 106 points this season with one game to play.  Ten points sounds like a lot, but he’s within striking distance of the record, he just needs a little help.

San Jose Stealth Captain Colin Doyle

Here’s my opinion on the subject.  The Stealth have locked up their position in the playoffs, no matter what happens in Toronto, the Stealth are playing in Portland the first round of the playoffs.  So the players can find motivation this weekend in going out and rewarding the player that got them there, their captain Colin Doyle.  Without the Doylermaker the Stealth may not have gone to the playoffs these past three seasons.  Now the team can reward him for his efforts by getting him the scoring record.  Colin is great, but a 10 goal game may not be in the cards, I think he’s still exhausted after the OT Colorado game last weekend.

This is also the Stealth’s first ever trip to Toronto and Colin’s first return to Toronto after playing on the Rock and winning five(!!!!!) NLL Championships with them.  The fans remember and miss him dearly, the opinion in the Wingszone forums is that the fans will be cheering for Colin as much, or more than, the Rock.

Here’s my plan of attack for the offense.

• If you just received a pass from Doyle you have the green light.  SHOOT AND SCORE.
• If you just received a pass not from Doyle, but he made the previous pass, you have the green light.  SHOOT AND SCORE.
• If you just received a pass and it nor the pass before it was from Doyle then pass it to Doyle.  PLEASE DO NOT SHOOT AND SCORE*.

That should do it. Three simple rules to play by.  Have a great game everyone.  I’m confident the Rock fans will love it every time Colin gets a goal or assist and cheer you guys on for more more more.

Good luck and thank you Colin!  Go Stealth Go!

* And yes this is a joke (but not entirely).  The Stealth would not be where they are right now without Doyle, I think this is a great opportunity for the team to give him this record as recognition of his leadership and contributions.

Due to the nature of the league, players have to live were they work and play wherever the game is that weekend. In San Jose it’s possible for the players to live in market during the whole season if they don’t have a day job that requires them to be in their home town during the week.

Q: How do you tell the two types of players apart in San Jose?

A: The white legged players typically fly in.

San Jose Stealth Defender Mike Kirk's pasty white legs

Tags: Kirk, NLL, Stealth

San Jose Stealth

I think the Stealth coaches’ biggest obstacle this season has been picking which players are the right 18 to go out on the floor and win every game.

I think the Sunday game against the Jax and Friday night game against the Swarm had possibly the best 18 for the Stealth on the floor.  The vast majority of the players and positions aren’t in question, but here is what I see as the final fine tuning of the roster.

Offense:

San Jose Stealth Forward
Tom Johnson

First up, on offense playing Tom Johnson over Alex Turner is an upgrade.  Alex has scored in the games he’s in when he’s playing the two man game.  But TJ can create his own scoring opportunities driving to the net and finishing.  Alex will be a good player in the NLL, but as a rookie, he is in the same spot as TJ last year.  Now in his second season, TJ is more adjusted to the NLL game, giving him the confidence to take it to the net.

Second on offense, is a debate between Peter Veltman and Frank Resetarits on the left side.  Veltman’s Canadian experience leads to better screening for Wick and Duch than Frank provides.  I don’t know if the Reebok heads are causing Frank issues, but in the last game I saw him play in Newark he missed a couple shots near the crease that the Stealth needed him to make.  If the NLL were bigger and Veltman still played in Arizona, then Resetarits would be on the floor.  But today, there’s not enough spots available and Veltman is outperforming Resetarits.

The other offensive players - Colin Doyle, Jeff “Mack Truck” Zywicki, Rhys Duch and Cam Sedgwick are all locks week in and week out.  The defenses can make plans based on these guys being in the lineup, but it won’t help.  Colin wants the Stealth to win and he’s going to get his points to ensure that happens.

Defense:

San Jose Stealth Defender
Eric Martin

Now on to defense.  This has been a huge issue for the Stealth this season.  Personally, I’d like have Steve Holmes on the floor, but that likely means sitting another defenseman.

The easy choice could seem like the “new” guy, Biers - but he hasn’t been messing up on D, so I can’t pull him.  Good job Biers.

But what about Eric Martin?  Yes, Meat’s been scoring in the games lately and picks up lots of loosies, but he also can get called for tons of penalties by the referees.  Penalties can cost the team games, like the Saturday Lumberjax game.  Chris Hall’s first game as head coach he actually sat Meat and the Stealth only had 2 penalties called all game.  That can be attributed to the refs for the night as much as Meat, but in the two Portland games he got 5 min majors in each game which leaves the team in the hole.  So the question for me becomes, is Meat’s scoring and loose balls worth more than his penalties?

My final option to get Holmes on the floor is sitting rookie defender Kyle Hartzell.  It’s not that Hartzell is performing poorly, it’s just that he doesn’t have as much experience as Holmes and experience in close games at the end of the season is more important than raw athleticism.  Hartzell will get that experience over time (hopefully this summer in Vic). Holmes used to be in the same spot that Hartzell is now and in a year or two Hartzell will be the guy taking time away from the next rookie.  This is a decision Coach Hall has to make and I don’t envy his position.

Since I started writing this up Meat has been suspended by the league for two games, so he’s going to be sitting out the last couple regular season games. I’m going to presume this means we’ll get to see Steve Holmes in the lineup in place of Meat at Colorado and Toronto.

To complicate matters for me, in the Stealth victory over the Swarm last weekend Meat played and did not receive a single penalty, a complete opposite of his play against Portland, and he was productive.  So Meat can play a clean game and be productive (he did it for several years before this year), but when things aren’t going his way it’s very hard to watch him collect the 5 minute majors.

Just to clarify here, I would pick a 2 penalty minute or less Eric Martin over Steve Holmes who’s only played in two games this year and can’t be counted on to be in game shape.  But if the refs are conspiring against  Meat *and* Meat is all jacked up and cross checking guys high, it’s enough to give the fans ulcers and I don’t want ulcers from watching Stealth games.

Just like the offense, the defensive locks are (in numerical order) Brett Manney, Curtis Hodgson, Kyle Sorensen, Shaydon Santos, Mike Grimes, Andrew Biers, Mike Kirk, and Paul Rabil.  If I had to say there is any changes in this group it would be Steve McKinlay coming in for Kyle Hartzell if Veltman is needed for something other than face offs or otherwise unable to go.  I’d love for Eric Martin to be in this group, but the penalties scare me too much right now.

Goalies:

San Jose Stealth Goalie
Tyler Richards

The last position on the floor is of course goalie.  I don’t know if there is going to be any controversy, everyone is being very professional about it, but Tyler Richards has stepped up the last two games and played as good in goal as could be asked of anyone in the league.  Personally, I’d leave T-Rich in cage the rest of the way.  Roik has more experience playing in tandem with T-Rich than Bold, so unfortunately after a couple of years being the #2 goalie Bold has been pushed back to #3.  I really hope there is no NLL expansion this year because I don’t want to lose any of these guys.

I think tomorrow night against the Mammoth the Stealth will dress the same 18 as against the Swarm (aside from the required subbing of someone for Eric Martin) and whoop the Woolies.  I’m very much looking forward to seeing the 18 continuing their momentum of the previous two games and locking up a playoff spot.

Go Stealth Go!

Tags: NLL, roster, Stealth

Cue The Beatles for Stealth forward Jeff Zywicki’s (as well as one of my nephew’s) birthday today.

Who’s a big hitter?

Jeff, the smallest Stealth, is a big hitter!

Tags: NLL, Stealth, Zywicki

Last weekend turned in to the best weekend of lacrosse so far this season for us.  Good games and good times were easy to find.

Friday night we watched the Stealth take it to the Swarm 18-8.  It was 14-1 at one point.  Domination is the best adjective for the game.  But then the fun really came after the game when we were able to go the official post game venue for the Stealth, The Brit in San Jose, and close down the bar with the team.  Due to our travel schedule this was the only time we’d been able to go to The Brit after a game this year and it was amazing.  Talking to the players is so much fun, you get some extra game insight as well as seeing their personalities.  Rhys Duch is excited to take the Rookie scoring record from Gavin Prout next weekend, once we realized he was only five points away *and* playing in Colorado next weekend his eyes kinda lit up.  Rhys has a killer instinct and I did not know that, he is primed to dominate in this league for years to come.  Kyle Sorensen was also really fun to talk with and after making his initial rounds talking to the team Kyle took the time to come sit and talk to us for about 30 minutes.  Brett Manney wears a powder blue sweater instead of a suit jacket and went to school with Joe Flaco.  If you’re not already listening to it, Paul Rabil does his “Nine Minutes with Rabil” podcast on Inside Lacrosse.  It’s well worth your time to learn more about the big guy.  After the bar shutdown it was off to a Taqueria for a some greasy food to soak up the alcohol.  By this point it was 3am, we went to the hotel, saw a few more Stealth players winding down the night and we crashed out because we had to get up at 6:45am for our flight to PDX.

Mucho gracias to all the Stealth for your hospitality.  And I think I owe Tyler Richards some drinks because I we both had tabs at the bar and the same first name. So when I told the bar tender it was “for Tyler” and only had a $41 tab at the end of the night I think he got stuck with a couple of our drinks.  Whoops.  Tyler, I’ll take care of you next time we’re out with all you guys.

Now we’re up to Saturday, after getting up on 3.5 hours sleep we headed back to PDX to get cheer on the Jax against the Mammoth.  (I decided a Mammoth loss was most beneficial to the Stealth, so Go Jax!)  In what is becoming known as “The Sweet Caroline Game” the refs helped the Jax win an OT thriller by gifting the Jax a goal in the 4th quarter that the Mammoth had properly challenged but some how did not have the goal over turned.  Off the top of my head, this was the best crowd I’ve seen in my two years with tickets there.  Despite the Jax having a real stinker of a 3rd quarter and the crowd losing some steam the comeback in the 4th quarter got everyone on their feet and they were loud.  With just over a minute left and the game tied everyone stood up and didn’t sit down again.  They were in the game and fed the players some much needed energy.  After the game there was a good celebration at The Tap Room and we talked to Tyler Codron’s parents who were “blending in to the crowd” by wearing his old jerseys.  We learned from Tyler’s dad that not only do all these players basically live in the same town, they live on the same *street*.  Apparently Dan Stroop live 3 minutes away from Codron and Mammoth rookie Tyler Crompton is 5 minutes away.  There’s definitely something in the water up there.

The end result of the weekend for the teams is a log jam of San Jose, Colorado and Minnesota at 6-8 behind the Portland team that is 7-6 and not even locked in to the playoffs.  The last two weeks are  going to be very exciting.

Go Stealth Go!

Tags: Lumberjax, NLL, Stealth

The Stealth have a great weekend ahead with home and home series against the Portland Lumberjax. So we’ll be cheering hard in SJ and PDX for the Stealth to win both games.

But there’s other action that is important to the Stealth this weekend and cheering in those games will help out too.

Saturday at 4:30 Pacific Time the Colorado Mammoth play at the Philadelphia Wings. A Mammoth loss is good for the Stealth, so let’s all do a  W! I! N! G! S! WINGS!

Thirty minutes after that the red hot Calgary Roughnecks play at the Minnesota Swarm. The Swarm are in fourth place and the Stealth want to take that spot from them. A Roughnecks victory is needed on Saturday to help the Stealth out too.

Go Stealth Go! Go Wings and Go Roughnecks! Yep, go Roughnecks. Wait until next week when I’m cheering for Stealth on Friday night and the Lumberjax on Saturday April 4th to beat the Woolies. I may even wear plaid, I’m putting it in the car just case.

Finally, big CONGRATULATIONS to Paul Rabil on winning the NLL Tranny of the Week award for his effort against the Edmonton Rush. Paul’s been very comfortable working out the back door lately. Makes me wonder if Kevin Huntley would have won any NLL Weekly awards this season if he’d come out to play.

Tags: NLL, Rabil, Stealth

Push when season is in jeopardy

For me it was the end of the 2nd quarter when the Mammoth lead 7-5 with one minute to go until the half and then it was 9-5 sixty seconds later. Pretty much sums up the defense for the whole season.

Tags: NLL, Stealth

While we were in Boston we were able to attend the Stealth practice on Friday night and I took some videos with my new mini camcorder. I’m not trying to go in reverse order, but the first two here are from the end of practice when Paul Rabil and Eric Martin took the time to do some extra shooting. It helped Rabil during the weekend but didn’t appear to help Meat that much. So here they are.

And in case your interested in the camera I used, it’s a Kodak Zi6. It’s a little bigger than an iPod but shoots HD video at up to 60 frames per second which is helpful when trying to track a lacrosse shot. The video quality isn’t like watching a movie and it has very little zoom, but it’s easy to carry around and easier to use. If you’re in the market for a camcorder check it out, it is only about $150.

Kodak Zi6 HD Pocket Video Camera

Tags: Martin, Rabil, Stealth