Player Spotlight

Player Spotlight highlights the finer details and elements while supplying insight to the fans on what a player's thought process may be pertaining to a certain play, game or situation. It brings the intensity, passion, and inner most thoughts of the individual player that otherwise may not be felt or heard.



01/11/03

Blaine Manning -- Toronto Rock

The Prairie Dog had a career game this past week, pouring in 5 goals and 8 assists in Toronto’s tough, physical 17-13 win over the Buffalo Bandits. That’s a new team scoring record and – obviously – a career high. And all this after he picked up a painful charleyhorse getting belted from behind late in the opening quarter. The powerful post man, coming off an NLL rookie of the year season in 2002, talked it over with PLPA correspondent Ben Knight after the game.


Question Thirteen points! What the heck was happening out there tonight?
Answer I don’t know. The ball was bouncing my way, I guess. Just a lucky night.


Question You got a lot of goals from in close or just off the post. How do you get in position to do that, because they’ve got a pretty tough defensive corps?
Answer They have a big defence, but they’re over-aggressive. Sometimes they slide out of control, and you can get inside on them.


Question Obviously, you were feeling that the goals were going in, but all those assists mean you were still looking to make plays.
Answer I like to handle the ball and distribute it. I always look to pass first and shoot second. Once I started scoring, though, I was looking to shoot a bit more, which I don’t normally do, but apparently it worked today.


Question This is second time around for you. You had a really good rookie season, but it’s a big transition coming in the first time. How does this league look different to you in your second year? Are you seeing the game better, or is it about the same?
Answer I think I’m seeing it a little bit better. I’m also getting more attention. Last year we had Danny Stroup and Kim Squire, so we had lots of guns that other teams had to look after. But every game is more experience, and every game I play I feel more confident.


Question You score a lot of goals on really sudden, decisive, quick shots. The overtime winner against Washington last spring, for example. But you seem to like it from the post, you seem to like it out in the slot, do you have a favourite spot to shoot from?
Answer I like it in tight, actually, I like to get in on top of the goalie. That’s how I scored the majority of my goals last year. But this year I’m not getting as many shots inside, and now I have to take over more of an outside shooting role, which seems to be working all right so far.


Question Tell me the theory of scoring from the post. Obviously it’s easier if you get the fast crossing pass and the goalie’s still over on the other side. But if the goalie’s standing right there, he’s huge and you’ve got no angle.
Answer Yeah, it’s tough. Goalies play their angles well. There are a couple of spots on the net that you want to try to hit. Sometimes I try to shoot across the goalie’s body to the far corner. You’ve got to change it up. You’ve got to keep goalies guessing. If a good goalie plays his angles properly, he’s going to be tough to beat.


Question How do you find time to run through a series of fakes with big defenders closing in on you?
Answer I don’t have quick enough hands to fake. I just try to shoot the ball.


Question The team has just come through two tough games in two nights, and emerged with a couple of wins. There have been a lot of changes and injuries. What’s the feeling on this team now with these two wins?
Answer We’re a confident group. We lost a couple of games early to some good teams, and we’ve got some new, young guys in the lineup who maybe were a little overwhelmed, but no one’s a rookie anymore. The young guys are steeping in and doing their jobs. We’ve got a couple of important games ahead of us, and hopefully we can keep on winning.


Question How about that goal Tom Montour scored tonight, falling away from the net?
Answer Ah, Tommy’s the man! He got hit and he was falling, and he stuck in a low-to-high shot, which is the hardest goal to score in lacrosse. He buried it! It was a really nice goal.


Question There’s been a sort of going-back-west exodus from the Rock, with Chris Gill and Dan Stroup going home to Vancouver. As an Alberta boy, do you have any desire to play for the Calgary Roughnecks one day, or are you happy right where you are?
Answer This is the best place to play in the league. I have no desire to go back to Alberta, although I do love it. I’m extremely happy in Toronto right now.


PLPA Correspondent

Ben Knight is a columnist for Sportsnet.ca, and a regular contributor to Total Lacrosse.com and the Outsider's Guide to the NLL. He lives in Toronto, and is a passionate Six Nations Arrows fan.