NLL Insider

In case the change from fall to winter hasn’t been depressing enough, you can take heart in the fact that some members of the fraternity we call lacrosse got to spend a good chunk of the past month out in sunny Hawaii, where Crease Monkeys took home the title at the Hawaii Invitational.

Why should I care about this fact as an NLL-loving sports fan, you ask? Well, the USA selection left the elite squads looking to fill some holes and – go figure – they reached out to a couple of your favorites to power up. Crease Monkeys alone had Zack Greer, Gavin Prout, Geoff Snider, John Grant Jr., Jordan Hall and Jeff Zywicki. (Read More…)

The National Lacrosse League (NLL) was extremely competitive last season. Each week it was hard to predict a winner, and with the league decreasing one franchise to 11 for the up-coming 2010 NLL season, parity should continue with every team having a legitimate shot at the Cup.

But how will one less team in the league impact offensive output? (Read More…)

Another contest, another winner. With more than 5,700 votes cast, our newest National Lacrosse League Girl of the Week contest winner is Amanda of the Buffalo Bandettes. Thanks one and all for the votes cast. And as for Amanda’s 3,882-1,905 win over Rochester’s Corina, it’s just one more bragging right for Buffalo over Rochester. We’re not trying to stoke that fire, as if it really needs it, but part of any healthy rivalry is notching a W and Buffalo fan has another notch in the belt when it comes to rubbing it in Rochester’s face. Is Buffalo going to have a victory parade for Amanda? Probably not, but Bandit fan always has this card to play. (Read More…)

A 5-11 record in 2009 left the Edmonton Rush outside of the postseason for a fourth straight season and in need of some serious changes – improving an anemic offense that scored fewer goals than any team in the league, igniting some sort of transition game and addressing a defense that allowed 12.5 goals per game.

Enter former Portland LumberJax head coach Derek Keenan, who was named the new head coach and general manager of the Rush in early July. Keenan added Brodie Merrill and Scott Stewart to the roster to take care of those transition issues and brought in Ryan Ward to add some athleticism to the offense. Now, Keenan and the Rush are about to embark on the 2009-2010 season with the start of training camp and Keenan’s message to set the tone for how things are going to be is pretty simple: Show up in shape or don’t show up at all.

Check out the whole story on the Edmonton Rush website.
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Blaine Manning (Photo: Graig Abel)

There are only two unmoved Toronto Rock players still with the franchise since that epic 2005 season, when the Rock finished the season 12-4, thumped the Arizona Sting in the Champion’s Cup in front of a spilling over Air Canada Center, and stuffed the top of the scoring charts with three players topping 100-points, all sitting within the league’s Top 5 point-getters.

Since then, well, we all know what’s taken place in TO since their last Cup win. But in brief… they’ve gone 8-8, 6-10, 7-9 and 6-10 respectively, have missed the playoffs the past two seasons, have traded franchise cornerstones like Colin Doyle and Josh Sanderson (who’ve broken records, won Cups, etc.. since departing), are onto their fourth head coach & staff, and have seen their once near perfect home record slip through their fingers. (Read More…)

Though not Canadian, Tyler Jewell will be spending plenty of time up there this winter, as the former lacrosse player at Boston College will be heading to Vancouver as part of the US Snowboard Team for the upcoming Olympic Games. (Read More…)

It’s time to take a look at the have-nots. There are a handful of National Lacrosse League teams out there who have come close, but haven’t quite experienced the thrill of winning it all. The Titans were runners-up last season and the rest of the teams, well, the rest of the have-nots that we’re thinking about have had some playoff experience. So while fans in Buffalo, Rochester, Calgary, Philadelphia Toronto and Colorado all know what it’s like to celebrate a title, today’s question is this: Which NLL team that has not won a league championship will be the first to do it? (Read More…)

When Scott Gabrielsen returned from traveling Europe following his graduation as an All-America midfielder from the University of Vermont, he confronted a pile of mail. In that pile was a letter from the Philadelphia Wings inviting him to a tryout for the team and 10 seasons later, he retired in 1998 as one of its most decorated and celebrated players in history. A captain, a leader and a fan favorite, Gabrielsen forged his role as a primary contributor for a Wings team that won five titles during his tenure in Philadelphia. Plenty of winning brings plenty of memories for Gabrielsen as he took some time to reflect on his days as a member of one of the National Lacrosse League’s most dominant eras. (Read More…)

The Gavin Prout trade story in the Durham Region News led with a hook on his reunion with Shawn Williams — but was quick to point out that neither is returning to the Brooklin Redmen in the MSL.

Check out the story with quotes from Prout and Knighthawks owner and CEO Curt Styres here.
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Alex Gajic stands 6-foot-4 and 225 pounds. He is the youngest of four star Gajic brothers that have come out of Burnaby Junior ‘A’ Lacrosse behind Milan, Nenad and Ilija. After the jump, read more on why Colorado is excited to have united three of those Gajic brothers in Colorado with last weekend’s big trade.

First, you have to understand the Gajics created a legacy in the B.C. Junior ‘A’ Lacrosse League (BCJALL). Each brother was a leader for the Burnaby Junior Lakers and captured the prized Minto Cup. In ‘04 and ‘05, Nenad and Ilija also respectively won Minto Cup MVPs. (Read More…)