NLL Insider

I went to the New York Titans game Sunday at Madison Square Garden. Pretty exciting afternoon of lacrosse. New York went up, fell apart and then hung on to win in overtime on a Jordan Hall goal against Buffalo. HUGE win for New York.

I already voted for the All-Star Game but since you can vote once a day I might have to vote again every day from now until Feb. 28 to guarantee Jarett Park makes the East squad. I heard from my man Paul Tutka that Park got blown up last weekend in a fight against Jon Harasym, so I didn’t know if the former ’Cuse star would be a bit shell-shocked this week against the Bandits.

He was definitely the best athlete on the floor Sunday, and at times you could make a case that he was the best player too. Looseballs (a ridiculous 19 put him second to Brodie Merrill with 74 on the year), defensive takeaways, transition work, a sweet swim move on a fastbreak that led to a goal — he did it all Sunday. For any guy — let alone one with no box lacrosse experience — Park was impressive. The former Big East Rookie of the Year in soccer for the Orange, Park is one of the league’s fastest guys, and he’s shown that he’s learned how to play the indoor game. Let’s get this guy to the All-Star Game. He could be the next Jay Jalbert.

New York goalie Matt Vinc also looked tough. I kept looking up at the shot totals amazed that the Titans had more than the Bandits — it seemed like Vinc was turning away shot after shot by Buffalo. He finished with 34 saves.

It’s amazing that New York’s Greg Peyser walked out of MSG alive. He steamrolled Buffalo ’tender Mike Thompson on a fastbreak in the first quarter, almost inciting a riot. As my buddy John Barchitta, attending his first live lacrosse game, astutely noted, “With all that padding, the goalie could have gotten run over by a car and been okay”, but Thompson did not return after the quarter and Ken Montour played the rest of the game. We all know you don’t touch the opposing goalie in the NLL. The Bandits rushed in and pushing and shoving ensued — and New York wound up with a penalty shot on the play because Buffalo had too many men in the box. Only in the NLL can you run over the goalie and wind up with a free shot on net, which Casey Powell finished for the Titans.

In terms of the crowd, Sunday at 12:30 p.m. is a tough draw, but I was still hoping to see a lot more fans there. A few observations from the stands: there were a lot of good-looking women there. A lot. As hot as the Titans’ dance team is (very), the scenery in the stands was also impressive. And so was the music: Skid Row and Steel Dragon?? How awesome is that?

There were also a lot of kids, which is always a good sign. The team does an autograph session afterward and I think every attendee was on the floor to get signatures from the players and even the coaches. I’m going to guess that occasional NLLInsider.com contributor Paul Stewart (“sporadic” might be too generous) doesn’t sign too many autographs, but I did witness him sign for a Titans fan after the game.Most importantly, however, I saw a sweet father-son mullet team two rows down. Pretty nice. These two were like the Bobby and Pat Knight of mullets. If I was more of a heartless jerk, I would have snapped a pic on my phone and posted it.Mikey Powell and the Villain’s Trust played before the game during warmups. Kind of a weird setup for a band to be playing during pregame as the teams are warming up, but I thought they did a great job. They definitely have a fresh, engaging sound that sticks with you. Mikey and big bro Casey did some stick tricks for the camera earlier that morning: look for that on InsideLacrosse.tv this week.

Buffalo was without Mark Steenhuis (3G, 3A in their win over Calgary on Friday), which definitely didn’t help. The Bandits need some help on offense if they’re going to turn things around. New York was the worst defensive team in the league last year, and while I think guys like John Orsen and Jamie Hanford looked strong on Sunday, Buffalo should be scoring more than nine goals, especially after ringing up 17 against Calgary on Friday. Kevin Dostie is really heating up for Buffalo — that’s turning out to be a huge pickup for the Bandits.

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