San Jose Stealth 2009 Offense Preview

January 8, 2009
Author: tfitch

In: Rhys “The Mustard” Duch*, Alex Turner, Michael Doneger

Out: Gary Rosyski (18g, 22a) Luke Wiles injury shortened (20g, 34a)

The 2009 San Jose Stealth offense has gone through another round of tweaking in pursuit of the NLL Champion’s Cup. Original Stealth Gary Rosyski (18g, 22a) and young stud forward Luke Wiles (20g, 34a in an injury shortened season) have left the team. Rosy signed a free agent contract with the Colorado Mammoth and Luke Wiles was traded to the Toronto Rock on Draft Day in a three way trade with the Rochester Knighthawks.

The new Stealth forwards in 2009 are rookies. The number 3 overall draft selection Rhys Duch from Victoria, BC, 3rd round selection Alex Turner from Kamloops, BC and Michael Doneger from Hewlet, NY. Rhys already produced some stunning results with 3 goals and 3 assists in the Stealth’s preseason scrimmage at Colorado last month. Rhys looks ready to step in and fill Luke Wiles position on the left side. Alex had one assist in his time on the floor in Colorado. Playing with Colin Doyle, Cam Sedgwick and Tom Johnson will take the scoring pressure of Alex and he’ll have a year to adjust to the NLL game conditions. Tom Johnson was in this exact same position last year, took the year to learn the NLL game from the best and produced a hat trick and an assist in the Colorado scrimmage. Michael Doneger is an unexpected surprise on the roster out of Johns Hopkins University. Doneger is a field player convert who took four shots during his time in the Colorado scrimmage in what I’m sure was an eye opening experience.

The returning Stealth forwards are All Stars, Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) award winners and solid veterans. Colin Doyle and Jeff Zywicki are All Stars and the team’s leading scorers. Cam Sedgwick is the two-time defending WLA MVP. Second year player Tom Johnson was the 2007 WLA Rookie of the Year and a top ten scorer in the WLA playing with Cam Sedgwick in Burnaby last summer. So Cam and Tom have played the entire year together between San Jose and Burnaby which is a great thing for the Stealth. In the Colorado scrimmage Cam only played the second half and still had a goal and five assists. Tom had three goals and assist in the scrimmage. Peter “(according to Brian Shanahan) Ankles of a 50 year old” Veltman will see time on the left side with Jeff Zywicki, Rhys Duch and second year player Frank Resetarits who scored 17 goals with 17 assists in only 13 games of his rookie year. Resetarits was a little bit of a slow starter as he adjusted to the pro indoor game, but was a valuable asset by the end of the season. He scored 2 goals with 2 assists in the playoff game against Portland. Depending on Peter’s availability I suspect him or Michael Doneger to be the fourth righty in the line up.

On the bench, two new faces will be running the show, head coach Jeff Dowling and assistant coach Chris Hall. In 2008, Chris Hall ran a great series of articles explaining detailed aspects of the game like the two-man game and man up and man down (a.k.a. Raggers and Chasers). I wish I could find a link to just the articles by Chris Hall, but I couldn’t find such results on NLL Insider. A search for his name will return the proper results. Chris Hall and Jeff Dowling were both previously head coaches for the Calgary Roughnecks, but I don’t recall if Dowling was ever an assistant on one of Hall’s coaching staffs or if this is the first time they’ve worked together. But I’m holding Dowling responsible for the results at the end of the season. He was brought in to replace a winning coach, so Dowling needs to win more than Walt Christianson did!

The Stealth offense is poised to give the defenses of the NLL fits as scoring will come from each of the offensive players. Defenses that focus too much on one or two players will be burned by one of the many talented Stealth offenders. The Stealth have the potential to be the opposite of the Portland Lumberjax who will rely on their defense to win games. As I look at the Stealth they should simply outscore people no matter what kind of night the defense is having and that is a good thing.

The Mustard is not Rhys’s actual nickname, he can blame Ted Jenner for its use here.