It was Week of the Rookies in the NLL. One of the most anticipated rookies this year made his debut on the weekend, another highly anticipated rookie (and a teammate of the first one) scored one of the best goals of the year, and yet another rookie had his second strong offensive outing in a row. I guess some non-rookies did good things too.

Awesome

Toron Eccleston

Last week he got an entry under Quickies, but two four-goal performances in a row gets you your own Awesome entry. And these weren’t just boring goals from a guy that the defense wasn’t paying attention to. Of course the Mammoth defenders need to be watching guys like Lyle and Miles, Bryan Cole, Shayne Jackson, and Seth Oakes, but after scoring four last week, they can’t leave Eccleston alone either. He looked comfortable near the net and made some nifty moves to get around or behind defenders, and one of his goals was a quick-stick where the ball was barely in his stick before it was in the back of the net. I’m sure he won’t keep up the four goals per game pace but it does put opposing defenders on notice – the Swarm has yet another strong offensive guy you’ll need to keep an eye on.

Michael Sowers

The PLL and NCAA star made his NLL debut with the Wings on Saturday. Some field guys, including Sowers’s Duke and Wings teammate Brennan O’Neill, can take a game or two to get familiar with the box game before they really show their stuff. But Sowers started his NLL career off strong. In the first quarter, he made a nice move around a defender before passing to Joe Resetarits who buried it, giving Sowers his first NLL point. Later in the first half he tried a cross-crease dive but hit Warren Hill in the chest.

Michael Sowers, suited up with the other Philly pro lacrosse team

In the third quarter, Sowers received a pass from Mitch Jones, dove beside the net, faked low and buried it high. His first goal in the NLL was a thing of beauty. His second, mid-way through the fourth, wasn’t so much. Sowers took a long shot that Hill stopped most of, but the ball’s momentum carried it through and it rolled slowly into the goal. But as we know, the ugly goals count just as much as the beautiful ones. Like Eccleston, opposing defenders are hereby notified that the Wings have another scoring threat, though Sowers is perhaps less of a surprise.

Brennan O’Neill goal

O’Neill has scored some pretty goals in his short NLL career, but this one might have been the prettiest, and definitely a candidate for the goal of the year. He snuck around his defender and headed for the crease where it was fairly clear he was going to take a diving shot; not to take away from how difficult and impressive a play like that is, but we’ve seen many players do this many times. But he only had one hand on the stick, the other one was trying to keep his defender away – and was actually being held back by the defender. So once in the air, his only play was to shoot a one-handed backhand shot underneath Warren Hill. The wrist strength required to not only take that shot but control where it goes is insane. One of the most incredible goals you will ever see.

🚨 GOAL OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE 🚨

BRENNAN O’NEILL JUST DID THAT.#SCtop10 @NLLwings pic.twitter.com/oiXgPEjQFr

— NLL (@NLL) February 8, 2025

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Halifax

When he’s on his game, Warren Hill is one of the best goalies in the league but consistency has been a problem over the last few years. He had a rough start to the 2025 season, losing his first two starts (though he only allowed nine goals in 67 minutes in the second one). He was then pulled in the next two games and didn’t play at all in the one after that. But he’s settled down and looked much better in his last few starts. He’s allowed ten, nine, and ten goals in his last three games, winning two of them. The Thunderbirds will need that kind of consistency from him if they want to dig themselves out of the hole they find themselves in and contend for the playoffs this season.

In addition to getting a good game from Hill, Halifax had a lot of other things working on Saturday. Their transition was everywhere, Theede, Withers, and Terefenko were strong, the offense was balanced, and rookie Mike Robinson had a hat-trick. Despite Sowers and O’Neill getting lots of well-deserved hype and the Wings continuing to press throughout the game, the Thunderbirds were in control most of the way. After an 0–3 start to the season, they now find themselves at 4–4 and in a playoff spot but we still have half a season to go.

Two big comebacks in the same game

After three strong games, the Toronto offense struggled again. Defenders Elijah Gash and Mitch de Snoo both scored in the first half but the actual offense only had one goal. San Diego’s offense wasn’t blowing the doors off of the Paramount Fine Foods Centre either, but the Seals led throughout the first three quarters. But early in the fourth, the Rock scored two within 25 seconds to get back within two. Then five minutes later, they scored another two within 21 seconds to tie the game. They completed the comeback just over a minute later, as Mitch de Snoo gave the Rock their first lead of the game.

They held that lead for almost six minutes but with 1:16 left in the fourth quarter, Rob Hellyer fired a seeing-eye shot that went through a crowd and hit a tiny little opening just over Rose’s left shoulder, and we were tied again. That was the Seals’ first goal in almost twenty minutes. Just 27 seconds after that, Seals captain Wes Berg took a shot on the run through a crowd that also beat Rose and the Seals had the lead again. This time, there were no last minute heroics on the Rock side.

Not Awesome

Wrong goalies announced

It’s a very minor oops, but when the goalies were being announced during the Seals/Rock game broadcast, the names of the Albany/Saskatchewan goalies from two weeks ago were displayed. Rest assured that Doug Jamieson was not in net for the Seals, and Thomas Kiazyk was not between the pipes for the Rock.