Cutting-edge NLL and boxla coverage
It’s tough to get a handle on the league’s true scoring leader most years.
With early and multiple bye weeks, some teams playing twice in a weekend and a home and away sked that can sometimes be as unbalanced as “famed” and “respected” actor Gary Busey’s sanity (fyi if you’re 11 and ever near Busey, turn the other way and run), like I said, hard to know exactly who’s leading the charts. READ MORE »
Another tough week for our Dance Team Pick’em participants. Many of our ladies put their money behind Rochester in their matchup with New York last week, but a Titans’ upset put almost all our dancers at 3-3 or a 2-4 record for the week. One dance, Emily from the Philadelphia Angels, went with the Titans, and that has made her the overall percentage leader as well as the most wins picked leader. I don’t think Allison from the Minnesota Performance Team, who had been the leader up until this point, will be too happy. But, remember folks, this is a friendly competition here. Picks will start heat up and fluctuate as we round the halfway point of the season and head into a tough second half.
Here, now, are your Week 10 picks: READ MORE »
Week 10 of the season recognizes the NLL’s Hall of Fame Class of 2008. The week also features five games, one on Friday and four Saturday night.
Schedule (All times Eastern)
Friday, February 29
New York at Philadelphia – 8:00 PM
Saturday, March 1
Calgary at Toronto – 7:00 PM
Philadelphia at Buffalo – 7:30 PM
Rochester at Chicago – 8:00 PM
Edmonton at Portland – 10:30 PM
Game previews after the jump. READ MORE »
With just five games on tap for the weekend, it looks like the only game some of us will be able to catch on TV is the Calgary at Toronto matchup Saturday night. Should be a good matchup as both are running middle of the pack in their respective divisions, with the Riggers bringing a 3-5 mark to play the 4-3 Rock.
Now here’s the confusing part: How to figure out Canadian TV. The game’s scheduled to be broadcast on Rogers SportsNet Ontario. Apparently, though, this is a regional thing with a few different channels and there is the possiblity that you can view the game if you’re outside the Ontario region. Still confused myself, I did what any American would do: I asked someone else to figure it out for me.
And here’s what colleague Paul Tutka had to say: The game will be live to viewers in Ontario on SportsNet and live to the rest of Canada via SportsNet Ontario depending on the digital cable or satellite package that you have. If you’re still not sure what’s going on, says Tuts, check out the SportsNet Web site to see what’s up.
Tonight is big night for four very deserving men.
Sal LoCasio, Johnny Mouradian and Tony Resch will be inducted into the NLL Hall of Fame, while my colleague at The Canadian Press – Neil Stevens – will be honored for all his hard work and column inches of print covering the league over the years.
Personally, I’ve not spoken to Sal or Tony during my time covering the NLL but Johnny has always treated me with great respect and made himself available to talk shop or provide quotes whenever I called.
And while some may feel media folk deserve no honor associated with the Hall, trying to convince editors that the NLL deserves main-stream coverage and fighting for it, as Neil did, is often tougher than dropping the mitts with Geoff Snider or trying to go one-on-one with Brodie Merrill.
Tonight marks the third year of Hall-of-Fame festivities for the league. So, time for a quick history lesson. Skip ahead if you already know all this.
In 2006, the inaugural and likely greatest-ever-when-all-is-said-and-done class was inducted. Gary and Paul Gait were joined by Russ Cline, Chris Fritz and the late Les Bartley as the league finally formed a shrine to honor the greatest players, coaches, builders and, to a lesser extent of course, media who helped shape the league and make it what it is today.
Last year, Darris Kilgour, Tom Marechek and Mike French joined the list along with another scribe, Tom Borelli of the Buffalo News. READ MORE »
So are The Money Ballers makin’ any sense now?
I know there was a bit of concern if this system would actually spit out the year’s top clutch scorers, but from lookin’ at our weekly top 15, at least for me, it’s tough to argue with who’s on there.
Ryan Ward and Craig Point still sit one and two. Yeah, they didn’t pick up many points this past weekend after getting snowed by Philly in the fourth, but just look at the amount of tying or go ahead goals these two studs have tossed back this year! The two have factored in on almost 20 goals each for the Swarm on goals that have either knotted things up or put Minny ahead. To me, those markers are as good as cold hard cash in the NLL, right? Isn’ that almost the defintion of what a clutch scorer is? A guy that has his stick on goals that are deciding the direction of a game? Many times being the ultimate decider in a game? READ MORE »
Just two days are left before the first whistle of the 2008 Face-Off Classic in Baltimore and judging by ticket sales, it’s gonna be THE place to be on Saturday.
The Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic presented by The Baltimore Sun is set for Saturday. Virginia (3-0) plays Syracuse (2-0) at noon, followed by Johns Hopkins (1-0) against Princeton (1-0) at 2:30. At least 14,000 tickets have been sold already for this incredible double-header. The tradition and excellence related to all four programs on the bill are common knowledge but for those of you who can’t get enough, check out the pile of stories, videos and previews over at InsideLacrosse.com to get you ready for the weekend.
And in case you’re wondering what to wear, bundle up. Sun is in the forecast, but temps are supposed to be in the mid 40s.
Tickets range from $10 (for groups) to $15 to $25. Order them today at faceoffclassic.com, Ticketmaster, or call the Baltimore Ravens box office at (410) 261-RAVE.
Unless Casey Powell doesn’t like winning games or being recognized by lacrosse peers, he really can’t complain this week. He should be sportin’ a huge sort of smile wherever he goes.
Check it: His 9-point night on Saturday helps the New York Titans embarrass the Knighthawks in Rochester. Wednesday morning, he’s named NLL Player of the Week and later that same day, he’s named an All-Star reserve for the East. Even sweeter, he’ll see brother Ryan Powell of the Portland Lumberjax at the March 16 game in Edmonton because Ryan was named an All-Star reserve for the West.
Not too shabby for a fella who a few short years ago took a lot of heat for not dominating the box the way he did on the field during his time at Syracuse. We all know the box and the field are two different games. Some make the transition better than others, some quicker than others. But as we watch the NLL today, there’s no question CP has found a groove for the indoor game that’s making teams pay attention to him. ‘Cause if they don’t, they’ll pay.
“His power play and five-on-five work speaks for itself, but he is also playing well on the face-off line and on defense when it presents itself,” says Titans coach Adam Mueller. “Teams seem to be focusing on him a bit more this season and he is learning to change with the defenses presented to be a major factor in our games.”
CP’s 48 points is second only to John Tavares in the league. His 19 goals rank seventh overall and his 29 assists are third.
To check out the rest of the All-Star reserves named, click here.
After the Lumberjax suffered an acute case of the dreaded sophomore slump, the ‘07 offseason became dedicated to finding an answer to the Portland faithful’s prayers. Enter the all-star, all-pro, all-excellent Dan Dawson. With the Jax on the upswing looking for their fourth win of the season, Dawson discusses team chemistry, the Portland Canadian embassy, and his goalie-turned-defenseman younger brother Paul.
The Jax got off to a bit of a rough start this season. What were you guys struggling with in those early games?
I think confidence and chemistry were the two biggest downfalls we had early on in the season. There’s a lot of new guys on the team and I didn’t think the chemistry was there in the beginning, like you said we got off to an extremely slow start. In a few games versus Colorado and Minnesota where we lost in overtime I think we were just happy to be in those games, we didn’t really believe we could win them. I think that last weekend versus a great Calgary team the confidence was there, and with every win we have it’s getting higher and higher. If you’re not confident you’re not going to be successful in this league.
READ MORE »
Regret is such a strong word, but after going under .500 for the first time this fantasy season, I’ve got a little.
Mostly that I’ve lost 3, and only won 2, but hey, things could always be worse – I could be in Shanny’s position at (0-5).
But digressing, I still think I’ve got a pretty solid team. However, after the loss to John Jiloty’s little people – his team name is the Gary Colemans – I wish I could just jump in the DeLorean, crank it up to 88, and make some beneficial draft moves.
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