Two late-season losses to the Edmonton Rush were enough to put the Washington Stealth on high alert for tonight’s National Lacrosse League West Division final.
“Edmonton beat us twice late in the season and they were important games at the time,” Stealth head coach Chris Hall said. “We know that Edmonton is a formidable opponent that defeated the defending champions (the Calgary Roughnecks) last week.”
Edmonton (11-6) and Washington (12-5) face off at 7:30 tonight at KeyArena in Seattle. The winner advances to next week’s NLL Champion’s Cup against either Orlando or Toronto.
“There’s not a lot of secrets at this time of year between the two teams,” Hall said, “… so it’s just going to come down to a matter of who’s going to perform the best.”
After dispatching the Minnesota Swarm 14-10 in last weekend’s division semifinal, the top-seeded Stealth are well aware of third-seeded Edmonton’s capabilities.
The Rush defeated the Stealth twice during the regular season, each time by a score of 14-13. On April 2, Edmonton’s Ryan Powell scored the tying goal in regulation and the game-winner in overtime. Two weeks later, the Stealth fought back from a 7-3 deficit at Comcast Arena to take a 12-11 lead before two goals by Powell helped the Rush rally for the win.
Close games have been Edmonton’s M.O. of late. Three of Edmonton’s last five regular-season games went into overtime, and a fourth was decided by one goal. The Rush finished 3-2 to grab the No. 3 seed in the West.
“We do have a lot of guys that have experience in pressure situations,” Rush coach Derek Keenan said. “We do have guys that have won championships at every level. We feel comfortable in those situations, we’ve done well in close games.”
Tonight’s game is scheduled for KeyArena because the Stealth’s normal home, Comcast Arena in Everett, is playing host to a performance of Sesame Street Live.
Hall, for one, likes the idea of playing in Seattle.
“It’s going to be exciting to play in the ‘Key,’” said Hall, who is from Victoria, B.C. “I’ve grown up in the area. A lot of us have grown up in the area and I, of course, used to go down to watch the SuperSonics play and watch some of the great championship teams there in the NBA.
“It’s still a great building … it’s right downtown in front of the Space Needle. I think it’s going to be an exciting place, it’s only 25 minutes down the road from where we normally play, so I think it still affords us the comfort of feeling at home.”
Hall is counting on the Stealth’s fans to make KeyArena sound like home.
“Our home environment has been awesome this year,” he said. “I think if we have the lower-bowl atmosphere in (KeyArena), I think it should prove to be a similar-type atmosphere.”
If the Stealth win tonight, Comcast Arena will play host to the Champion’s Cup next week.
While Washington’s Rhys Duch, who racked up 11 points last week (six goals, five assists), Jeff Zywicki (five goals against Minnesota) and regular-season NLL goal-scoring leader Lewis Ratcliff hope to keep up their high level of play, the game could be decided in transition, where Edmonton’s dangerous Brodie Merrill, April’s NLL player of the month, averages 12 loose-ball pickups a game against Washington.
“I think he’s the MVP of the league,” said Keenan, who admitted being bias toward his own player. “If you look at the true meaning of what a ‘Most Valuable Player’ is, I think if you took him out of our lineup, our team certainly wouldn’t have finished the way it did and we probably wouldn’t have won last week. The leadership and intangibles he brings to a team (are) tremendous.”
Hall, who saw his team’s 6-1 first-quarter lead dwindle in the second period of last week’s game, said consistency is going to be more important tonight than early goals.
“It’s a game where you want to get off to a good start, but the task is to maintain that performance right through and try to avoid those momentum swings,” he said. “It’s a difficult thing to do because both teams are fighting hard and sometimes it’s a call here or a bounce there or a stroke of good luck somewhere along the line or bad luck that seems to change momentum.
“A good start is important, but I don’t think it’s the determining factor over 60 minutes.”
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