Several of the game’s most talented players, including Gavin Prout, make up the Rochester Rattlers squad that will take on the Denver Outlaws on Saturday night.
Prout, the beloved captain of the National Lacrosse League’s indoor Colorado Mammoth team, is joined by John Grant, the NLL’s MVP in the 2007 championship game.
The top defender in the sport, Brodie Merrill, also plays for Rochester, along with Major League Lacrosse stars Casey Powell and Colin Doyle, and former Outlaw Jeff Zywicki.
Prout, Powell, Doyle and Zywicki are new to the Rattlers (1-2).
After winning MLL titles with the Baltimore (now Washington) Bayhawks in 2002 and 2005, Prout, a native Canadian, sat out the 2006 MLL season, in part, to prepare for the world championships.
In the 2007 supplemental draft, Rochester acquired Prout with the third overall pick.
Although Prout was not available for comment, Mammoth teammate and Outlaws midfielder Josh Sims opined that it will be strange for Prout to play against a Denver team.
“It’ll be interesting,” Sims said. “I think the fans will still support him. It’s definitely a different situation. It is tough on a fan.”
On the mend
Sims (shoulder) is questionable for Saturday’s game at Invesco Field at Mile High. He was sandwiched by two Los Angeles Riptide players, then was hit from behind, resulting in an awkward landing on the turf last weekend.
“It is jammed up,” Sims said Thursday. “No one knows what to call it because I didn’t break anything. It has felt better every day, but it is not 100 percent.”
Better balance
The 2006 Outlaws won the Western Conference on the strength of midfield scoring, along with Matt Brown’s 38 goals from the attack position and a late-season surge by attackman Brendan Mundorf, who scored 22 goals in nine games.
While the midfield remains potent, led by Jeff Sonke’s 11 goals, the attack has been bolstered by the accuracy of Matt Hanna and the addition of rookie Drew Westervelt.
Hanna, a Regis High School administrator and lacrosse coach, is shooting 57.1 percent and has scored eight goals in three games, well ahead of last season’s five-goal total in six games.
Westervelt, the reigning MLL rookie of the week, scored four goals on 80 percent shooting, and made three assists in his MLL and Outlaws debut, an 18-15 victory over Los Angeles.
“Adding Drew to the mix cements our attack,” goaltender Trevor Tierney said. “It takes the pressure off Brendan Mundorf and Matt Brown.”
Footnotes
Brown is also shooting with precision at 58.3 percent. … Sonke and Grant lead the MLL this season in most goals in a single game with six. … Powell ranks second all-time in MLL point totals with 320. His brother, Ryan Powell, the leading scorer for the San Francisco Dragons, ranks third with 307 points.
