NLL Insider

RMLL

Fish out of water No. 2: Keeping your head up

A lacrosse season is always difficult yet always the same. Almost every player comes to that first day of practice so ready for lacrosse to begin but each season ends in a big sigh of relief. A season can take a grueling toll on the players and the coaches. Each season comes with its ups and downs which affect everyone in different ways. The downs are mostly the losses the team goes through during the year which can be very detrimental to the team as a whole.

Although I have only been here for a few weeks, the Jr. Raiders are halfway through the schedule and without a win. Players begin to get down on each other picking out the mistakes in one another’s game, the coaches begin to scratch their heads but one things still remains the same: we are still a team together. READ MORE »

The Beat

Look out, world

First the Peterborough Lakers get the go-ahead to replace their patchwork, war-torn lacrosse carpet, and now Alberta Jr. A lacrosse looks like they’re soon going to have an updated and fully-functioning website. If anyone spots the third and fourth horsemen of the apocalypse, let me know.

Q&A

5 Questions with CLA President

Thanks for the email questions about the Canadian Lacrosse Association (CLA). I posed some of them to Joey Harris, CLA President. This quick five question Q&A is largely centered around rule structures and the marketing presence of the CLA.

READ MORE »

Major Series Lacrosse

Six Nations is on a major roll

So you think you had a good weekend? The boys of Six Nations may beg to differ.

Last Thursday, the Chiefs walked into their arena with a 1-7 record in the Major Series Lacrosse standings. And by the time they were done playing lacrosse for the week ending on Sunday night, they’d reeled off three victories to move into a three-way tie for second place with 8 points (4 wins, 7 losses.) But that’s not the end of the good news. Over the weekend, the Chiefs announced they’d signed Sid Smith, perhaps the premier defender in lacrosse today who is fresh off of winning an NCAA championship with the Syracuse Orange. “Our players have more commitment towards practices and games now,” the Chiefs’ Craig Point told the Brantford Expositor after Sunday’s 17-11 win over Barrie. “We’re making ourselves more available and it’s helping out.”

READ MORE »

The Beat

What to Watch: Sunday Edition

Lazy Sunday? Not exactly. With two of the top teams out west facing off for the second consecutive weekend, a possible preview of Alberta’s Minto contenders, and the number one Northmen trying to stay on top after news of their major trade deadline deal, if you’re looking for excitement today, lacrosse has you covered. Read on for the whats, whens and wheres of the biggest games going. READ MORE »

Ontario Junior A

Orangeville stacks up with Keogh and Hosmer

As the Ontario Junior A trade deadline approaches, the Orangeville Northmen have pulled off a deal that may have the team booking a trip to the Minto.

The Orangeville Northmen have obtained the Jr. A playing rights of Stephen Keogh and Todd Hosmer from the Toronto Beaches in exchange for the Northmen’s 2010 1st and 2nd round draft picks as well as monetary compensation for their services for the remainder of the 2008 season.

Orangeville General Manager Bob Clevely is understandably “very excited to have them on board with the Northmen organization.”

The Northmen were reportedly one of five teams vying for Keogh and Hosmer as the Beaches made the class-act decision to trade two of their star players to a definite contender in their final year of Junior lacrosse. In nine games this season, the NCAA championship-winning Keogh has racked up 26 points while Hosmer has 24 points in 12 matches. Through 14 games the Northmen are in first place with a record of 13-1.

The Beat

Fan bans, NHL draft picks, and the Gildersleeve Cup

Mid-week we started hearing the news out of Winnipeg that in order to curb abuse of officials the Red River Lacrosse Association had banned fans. Referees had had enough. They were sick of being threatened and followed to their cars. They weren’t going to keep reffing if the league didn’t do something. So the league did: they instituted a ban on spectators…for all of 24 hours. The ban was lifted after the league received a huge backlash from parents, who apparently did not enjoy being disrespected.

A big congratulations goes out to Steve Stamkos, Zach Bogosian, and all of this weekend’s NHL draft picks that once contributed their notable skills to the great game of lacrosse. (Bonus: Bogosian’s picture in that article looks like something out of a 1980’s SNL parody commercial.)

And over in the Peterborough Examiner, Elwood Jones takes us on a horse and buggy ride down memory lane, back to a time when the Gildersleeve Cup was the most sought-after trophy in Ontario lacrosse.

Ontario Junior A

Friday night in Ontario Junior A

Peterborough Lakers 6 Brampton Excelsiors 4 Matt Crough put up two goals and one assist while Jesse Guerin added one goal and four helpers and goaltender Kalvin Thomas made a ridiculous 62 saves to lead the Lakers to their ninth win. Dylan Evans and Jeff Johnson took care of the Brampton scoring with two goals apiece.

St. Catharines Athletics 10 Mississauga Tomahawks 2 Corey Small (4g, 2a) and Joey Resetarits (3g 2a) teamed up to help thump the Tomahawks last night. Zack Boychuk earned the win in net. Simon De Sousa and Mike Dawson scored for Mississauga.

Orangeville Northmen 14 Orillia Rama-Hammond Kings 3 It was a lopsided game in Orillia as well, as Matt McLeod led his Northmen with four goals. Nick Rose made 40 saves in the win, and Derrick Gordon turned away 49 in a losing effort.

K-W Braves 11 Whitby Warriors 3 Rounding out the big wins of Friday night was K-W getting their sixth win of the season.

THURSDAY, JUNE 19th
Orangeville Northmen 11 Toronto Beaches 6

Major Series Lacrosse

THURSDAY, JUNE 19th
K-W Kodiaks 8 Brampton Excelsiors 7
Six Nations Chiefs 11 Barrie Lakeshores 7

WLA

New West and Victoria eke out wins

Two games in the Western Lacrosse Association last night, each one ending in a narrow 8-7 final.

The Victoria Shamrocks edged out the Langley Thunder, with Teddy Jenner scoring the game-winner with less than three minutes remaining. Other Victoria goals were scored by Jamie Roy (2), Ryder Bateman, George Westwood, Kyle Morwick, Curt Morwick, and Nolan Heavenor. Aaron Bold made 38 saves in the win. The Shamrocks were without leading scorer Lewis Ratcliff. Jamie Lincoln had two goals and one helper in the loss.

In other WLA action the New Westminster Salmonbellies stayed perfect with their 8-7 win over the Burnaby Lakers. Jordan McBride snapped in three goals and added an assist to lead the Salmonbellies, while Kerry Susheski’s three goals and two helpers kept the Lakers close. Ron Schibild had 36 saves in the win.

THURSDAY, JUNE 19th
New Westminster Salmonbellies 10 Coquitlam Adanacs 8

B.C. Junior A

THURSDAY, JUNE 19th
Burnaby Lakers 5 South Fraser Stickmen 4

NLL Insider

Revisiting the Draft: ‘02 Edition

As part of our draft coverage, like I mentioned a couple weeks back, we’d be looking at a lot more than just some of the prospects available this year.

Wanted to take a quick peek back at past draft years and rehash some of the winners, losers, surprises and busts.

First draft we’ll loot at… Pat Merrill and the ‘02 draft class. READ MORE »

Can-Am

Greywolves giving it a great run

Not that lacrosse needs help in pointing out any of the tons of reasons it’s so cool, but I’m gonna do it anyway: It’s year-round!

No doubt about it, when it’s not National Lacrosse League season, it’s Major League Lacrosse season. Or, it can be the high school season or the college season. And this time of year, we’ve also got the Can-Am game workin’ and lemme tell ya, that stuff’s a blast. I’ve been able to get a couple of Rochester Greywolves games this season already. The Greywolves are an expansion team, sorta. They’re actually a reincarnation of a team that played back in the 1930s and in various forms through the years, but last year, a fella by the name of Craig Marvin got the notion to put the Greywolves back on the floor and he’s done a fantastic job. With help from Ansley Jemison, Marvin’s put together a solid club made up of mostly local guys who have crafted a very respectable 5-7 record and have six games left this season.

Just two of those are home games though, so if you’re in the Rochester, N.Y., area and haven’t been out to see game yet, make haste and get thee there! The club plays at Genesee Valley and tonight, the Newton Golden Eagles are in town. You won’t be disappointed. Whether the Greywolves win or lose, you’ll see a game that gives you that grassroots feeling for the game. Tickets are affordable, the grub at the food stand is salty and greasy, the goalies are monsters and the overall passion for the game is top-notch.

The Beat

A slightly belated Kyle Miller update

After winning one World Lacrosse Championship in 2006, Kyle Miller is understandably anxious to win a second. But with the next World Field Lacrosse Championship not taking place until 2010, for now he’ll have to settle for adding Olympic torch runner to his list of accomplishments.

On May 23rd, Kyle carried the torch for a half-mile route in and around Shanghai.

Kyle was selected as a torch runner thanks to an essay written by his older brother Josh Johnston. In it, Johnston had written that by fighting bone cancer and undergoing surgery to have his knee joint replaced and a titanium rod inserted in his leg and then returning to the lacrosse field, Kyle was “giving hope back to people who may have lost it by being a living example that with hope and determination, anything can be overcome.”

“It was awesome,” said Kyle. “I think for us as a family, and just everything that I’ve gone through, he never really told me how proud he was of me or anything like that. So just to read what he wrote, it was pretty cool.”

“It is an honor and a privilege to represent my country in front of the entire world. Carrying the torch in China was one of the proudest moments of my life.”

Major Series Lacrosse

Shawn Evans signs with Ptbo. Lakers

After a little bit of drama and a lot of anticipation the Peterborough Lakers are pretty pleased to announce that Shawn Evans has been signed to a contract.

Evans spent the latter part of the Major Series pre-season as well as the first few weeks embroiled in rumours surrounding an attempted move to the Six Nations Chiefs. Lakers coach Jamie Batley even went so far as to speak out about the situation in the Peterborough Examiner, but that all looks to be in the distant past with Evans set to suit up Sunday night to take on the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks.

Evans is entering his first full year of Senior lacrosse after winning back-to-back Minto Cups with the Peterborough Jr. Lakers and Six Nations Arrows. Evans also won a Mann Cup in 2006 with Peterborough, becoming the first player to win a Minto, Mann and NLL Champion’s Cup all within 12 months. Evans was awarded Best Junior Player three seasons in a row, which paired up nicely with the scoring title that he won each of those years. The Peterborough Lakers sans the youngest Evans earned a record of 3-4, nestled in with Brooklin in a tie for fifth place.

National Ranking

National Junior Player of the Year: Week 3

With guys heating up and some big name ballers putting in quality minutes, this weekly watchlist of the top junior players in the nation is gettin’ pretty tough to lay down each week.

And as many emails that rained in after week one’s rundown, last week’s list had even more people writing in, either biggin’ up their boy or tearin’ down someone we included.

It pained me to drop a few of the names that weren’t included this week, but gotta make room for guys that are equally deserving of some ink.

Anyways, after the jump, checkout this week’s ten who made the grade, complete with digits and skinny… READ MORE »

NLL Insider

Boston Celebrates Celtics’ NBA Championship Season

In the wake of the Celtics’ NBA Championship, Boston is once again celebrating.  The 2007 season saw the Celtics finish in last place with a 24-58 record. In the offseason, GM Danny Ainge brought in Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to join Paul Pierce as the Big 3.

Everyone knows that it takes more than superstars to win a title and hence it became head coach Doc Rivers’ mission to get his players to put aside their egos and buy into a team system.  The carrot being the one thing that all three perennial all stars lacked … an NBA Title.  If only the Portland LumberJax had upset Buffalo, I would have a perfect segue to make this all relevant.

This great story in sports history has unfolded in front of our eyes in the Boston Blazers’ new home the TD Banknorth Garden.  In a town that has become accustomed to Championships (Patriots ‘01, ‘03 & ‘04 and the Red Sox ‘04 & ‘07), the word on the street is that the most important factor for gaining fan support come January is “winning!”

READ MORE »

NLL Insider, WLA

Take Your Mind to the Gym

Well the west sure just got a lot more interesting now didn’t it? As Shanny stated in his CLA rankings, just when you thought the west was a three team race, everything changes and you have no idea how it happened. Trust me, I can’t explain it either. If I could I’m sure my Victoria Shamrocks would be at the top rather than fighting our way back up!

But the world of lacrosse is filled with peaks and valleys and it comes down to how you deal with them. Chris Hall always used to say ‘what’s next, what’s next, what’s next!?’ We used to joke about it when he said it but now I’m starting to realize that he wasn’t just emphasizing the fact that you have control of what happens, but he was also forcing us to remember that what has happened has happened and you can’t do anything about it. You have to forget about the last play and move on to the next. Get back to the face-off circle and do what you have to do for the team. READ MORE »

NLL

NLL’s Knighthawks set to sign new lease deal with city of Rochester

That big woosh of air you just heard is out of the city of Rochester. As in, a HUGE sigh of relief.

The news out of Rochester today is that the National Lacrosse League Knighthawks are set to sign a new lease deal with the city of Rochester, news that Knighthawks fans have been pretty anxious to hear. The Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester reports that there’s a news conference scheduled for Thursday afternoon to announce a deal that’ll keep the Knighthawks at Blue Cross Arena, along with the American Hockey League Rochester Americans. The newspaper reports that AHL president Dave Andrews was directly involved with negotiations to help hammer out the details. Scheduled to attend the announcement is NLL commissioner Jim Jennings, new Knighthawks and Amerks majority owner Curt Styres and his business partner Lewis Staats, along with AHL management and Rochester Mayor Robert J. Duffy.

So it appears Knighthawks fans can finally rest easy with the announcment after months of reports of a shaky financial foundation for the team, which has played at Blue Cross Arena since its inception in 1995. The club’s been a consisitently strong draw for Rochester and the NLL so now that we know the team’s locking up a barn in which to play, work can finally get started on selling season tickets packages along with advertising deals.

• Knighthawks announce news conference: 13WHAM-TV
• News conferences in Rochester on Thursday: WHEC.com
• New lease to be announced for Knighthawks: RochesterHomepage.net
• Lacrosse is “blowing up” in Prince Albert: Daily Herald

Inside the Numbers

The Money Ballers: JR A Edition

Like last week, the top guys on The Money Ballers leaderboard just aren’t putting in the clutch performances we were seeing from them earlier in the year.

For the third straight week, Peterborough’s Jesse Guerin has his name at the top of the charts, his half point earlier in the week giving him a slim two point lead over New West’s Max Gallant.

The guys that made some noise this week? READ MORE »

WLA

WLA: Salmonbellies continue to roll

New Westminster (8-0) remains undefeated this season with wins last weekend over Maple Ridge (2-5) and a one goal victory over Nanaimo (1-7-1). They’ll host Coquitlam (6-2) in a rematch of last year’s WLA final match-up, this Thursday in New West.

The Salmonbellies will host a Family BBQ before the Coquitlam game, one of three planned BBQs for the season. They then hit the wooden floor for a 7:45 PM start.

READ MORE »

NLL

NLL’s Jennings loves the field, too

Let us here at NLLInsider.com send big props to Joel Van Der Wal. Van Der Who?

Never heard of the kid? Well, he is just 16 but if his progress is any indication, you’ll all be hearing more of him down the road. The sophomore at North Warren Regional High School in Blairstown, N.J., which is about 65 miles west of The Big Apple, was recently named The Express-Times Player of the Year after piling up 101 points (49 goals, 52 assists) to lead his crew to a 17-3 record. Those are some pretty solid numbers, but why is this news here on NLLInsider? Check out one of the first people to receive thanks from the youngster. “My dad’s friend, Jim Jennings, came to my dad about starting up a program,” he told The Express-Times. “It’s a lot more high-paced action than baseball. The contact also adds a lot to it.”

Yeah, it’s THAT Jim Jennings. The big boss of the National Lacrosse League grew up in Blairstown, which never had a high school lacrosse team. Jennings got the ball rolling about 5 years ago and now there’s more than just a team, there are some legit DI players coming outta the area. Van Der Wal first picked up a stick in fourth grade at the behest of Mr. Jennings and as is the case at a lot of schools around this great land, baseball’s loss is lacrosse’s gain.

• Calgary’s McBride dubbed an “eligible bachelor:” NLL.com
• Wrapping up the Shamrox season: NLL.com
• Season review of the Rush: NLL.com