Brampton Excelsiors - Brampton recieved a first round by, by finishing first in the regular season
standings. They will play the winner of the Brooklin Redmen Vs KW Kodiaks series unless, Six Nations is able to pull of the
upset of St Regis in the other quarter final. Brampton clinched 1st place this season with not much of a problem. A few losses
along the way but them finishing in 1st place was never really in doubt. Like Peterborough there roster was wildy inconsistent,
although the core group of guys that they had play the majority of the games was a great group, which is probabley why they
didnt have problems when missing guys like Colin Doyle, Brodie Merrill, Blaine Manning and Josh Sanderson.
Peterborough Lakers - Peterborough also recieved a first round by finishing the season in 2nd place. Peterborughs
lineup was wildly inconsistent throughout the season, which may be part of the reason why the team struggled at points of
the year. But going into the playoffs with a more steady roster and all the players back with the team after taking time off,
the Lakers look like they could be the team to beat even though they didnt capture 1st place in the regular season this year.
(3) St Regis Indians Vs (6) Six Nations Chiefs
St Regis very well could of came in 1st place this season if not for an injury
to there newest edition Athan Iannucci, they were ripping apart the opposition with there new big three in John Tavares, Mark
Steenhuis and of course the NLL's leading scorer Athan Iannucci. But then Iannucci went down and that seemed to take
the spark away from the team as the went on to play average lacrosse after that. Tavares and Steenhuis finished the season
1-2 in league scoring which is no surprise really. The St Regis D is finally shaping up that seemed to be there problem in
seasons past, they would have a great on and a sub par D now they have great O and a great D which is lead by Veteran Steve
Toll. When you look at there goaltending you see Mike Thompson and your impressed with the overall look of the team, but if
Mike Thompson were to go down St Regis is the only team without a top tier backup, which is really St. Regis only downfall.
Now you look at Six Nations who had a late season surge to just
barley get into the playoffs, but with the amount of firepower they could throw out there on any night this series can go
either way. Six Nations has the players signed its just weither or not the players wanna play. Casey Powell should be in the
lineup for the playoffs, along with Cory Bomberry, Craig Point, and all there other big guns. There D is shaping up nice
with the late season signings of Veteran Defensemen Regy Thorpe, and former Arrows Captain Sid Smith. To go along with these
two the Chiefs also have Billy Dee Smith on there back end, who is a top tier NLL defender. They have a top 1-2 punch in goaltenders
on this team in NY Titans starter Matt Vinc and the Buffalo Bandits Ken Montour. Both of these guys have the capability of
winning a game on there own, which is what the Chiefs may need to get through the 1st round. O ya did i mention the Chiefs
have the ability to call up Jr Sensastion Cody Jamieson at any given time. When comparing these teams you have no idea what
your gonna get because you dont no whos gonna be in the lineup for the teams. If the Chiefs dress there best an St Regis dresses
there best this series will go 5 games. Basically the winner is gonna be decided by whoevers team has players willing to play.
Prediction:St Regis in 5
(4)Brooklin Redmen Vs (5) KW Kodiaks
The Brooklin Redmen were able to snag the fourth spot an home floor in the 1st round with a late
season winning streak. Although they closed the season out losing 2 of 3 there record was still good enough for fourth an
the home floor which may turn out to be the difference in this series as both of these teams are relativley the same when
you comapare them. There both young, with a few veterans, there offenses can go goal for goal with each other and there defenses
are no weak point. If you look at even the goaltenders your probabley gonna see a matchup of Mike Pouling for KW and Kurtis
Wagar for Brooklin. Both of these guys are young Pros and NLL Backups. But lets start of with the Redmen, the Redmen decided
to go young this year, so they would have a consistent roster, the way they were doing it before just wasnt working. The Redmen
brought in young guns Jason Mainer from Orillia, Derek Hopcroft from the Beaches an Whitby Warriors Grads, Ian Crashley, Steve
Hutchins and Kyle O'Brien. All of these young guns have been producing at the offensive end of the floor minus Crashley who
has been out all season with an injury. The Redmen offense was once again led by Shawn Williams who put up 80+ points this
season, good for 3rd in the league. The surprise on this team was Derkek Hopcroft who finished top 10 in league scoring as
a rookie. Hopcroft was not even drafted into the NLL in last years draft which is the surprising thing. Another plesasnt surprise
for the Redmen was the emergance of Kurtis Wagar, Wagar proved he belonged in net as the Redmen starter in many game this
year, expecially through out there winning streak. The Redmen have one of the best D's in the league an there gonna
need to lean heavily on the D to alow 10 or less goals a game because although the Redmen rookies posted good regular season
numbers the playoffs are completley different.
KW was the early season surprise taking games from Peterborough, Brampton and St
Regis, but then it started to fall apart as the rest of the league got there big guns back. KW doesnt really have many big
guns other the Toronto Rock Star Ryan Benesch. Although the lack of star power the Kodiaks have a great young team, they have
up in coming NLL players like Brendan Theanhaus, David Brown and Rob Marshall. The Kodiaks Offence led by Benesch can do some
damage if there all clicking but thats if there all clicking there have been nights were the offense didnt look that great
at all and pretty much lost the game for the team. There D is pretty solid not really any big names on there defensive end
either. Although there all hard workers and grinders i guess you could say which is what counts the most come playoff time.
Mike Poulin in net has been solid all year long, look for that to continue throughout the playoffs. Although KW had the better
start an seem like they may have the upper hand im gonna have to go with Brooklin in this series.
Prediction: Brooklin in 5
