NLL Insider

The Beat

Edge vs. FCA - Battle of the Border at U of T’s Varsity

With a long weekend hitting most of Canada this weekend (jealous much Nunavut & NFL), anyone near the GTA has a great opportunity to check out some of the best up-and-coming Canadian and American ball players in the sport today, during the Edge versus FCA Challenge at U of T’s Varsity Stadium.

Last year’s inaugural event was held at Hobart College and churned out some stellar ball.

For those not aware, Edge Lacrosse is an Ontario based elite level lacrosse program that helps some of the top studs in Southern Ontario showcase their talent in an attempt to land a scholarship in the US. All six of Edge Lacrosse’s teams, from U12 to the Senior squad, will be playing this weekend. READ MORE »

NLL

NLL’s Blazers bring local boys home

The Boston Blazers struck a pair of deals this week that bring Sean Morris and Jack Reid back to their stompin’ grounds while sending Devan Wray and Tom Johnson back to where they were.

On Wednesday, Boston sent defender Kyle Laverty (picked up in the July 24 expansion draft) to the Rochester Knighthawks for Reid. The defender was a first-team All-American at UMass and helped lead the Minutemen to the 2006 NCAA championship game. In Thursday’s deal, Reid is reunited with Morris, who was an attackman at UMass. Bottom line? The Blazers picked up Morris, along with defender Steve Panarelli, in a three-way deal that lands Wray back in Calgary and Johnson and defender Travis Gillespie back in San Jose.

READ MORE »

Road to the Mann Cup

7 games in 11 days!

So there I sat, immersed in a bowl of 5-spice Edamame beans from The Local Kitchen (my favorite restaurant in Victoria), enjoying my ritualistic night before game meal when the bartender, a buddy of his and I got onto the topic of sports. The buddy had mentioned he played rugby and the bartender said he ‘would never put his body through that’! I had to agree with him. Rugby players are some of the toughest athletes out there and I have a ton of respect for them and no way would I want to be at the bottom of one of those rucks! So the friend asked me what sport i played and I said I played lacrosse for the Shamrocks. Almost immediately he shot back with, ‘I’d never put my body through that!’ I laughed but thought to myself, ‘man, if rugby guys think that about us, hell we must be doing something right’! READ MORE »

B.C. Junior A

Lakers eliminate Adanacs in semi-finals

Despite being one of the most consistently highest-ranked teams in Canada and having a line-up that looked like it had been assembled specifically for a trip to the Minto, last night the Coquitlam Adanacs’ season ended in the exact manner that it started: a 4-3 loss to the Burnaby Lakers. The Lakers, led by an impressive goaltending tandem, completed the three-game sweep of the BCJALL regular season champs.

Scott Lowe started the game in net for Burnaby, making 18 saves and shutting out the Adanacs for the entirety of the first period and six minutes of the second before receiving a game misconduct for illegal equipment. Tom Wray stepped into the game, making 22 saves on 25 shots and keeping the Adanacs from completing their third period comeback. READ MORE »

NLL

Blazers’ Roster Shaping Up

We made it through the Arizona Dispersal Draft and last Thursday’s National Lacrosse League Expansion Draft.  The 09 Blazers’ Roster is starting to take shape.  We still have a few loose ends to tie up, but I feel good about where we are and where we are headed. 

Let’s take a look at what we know.

Dan Dawson.  What can I say about Dan? He is one of the most impactful players in the game today.

READ MORE »

National Ranking

National Junior A Ranking: Week 10

Last week the big question out west was, what kinda attitude were Coquitlam and Victoria gonna come out with after having to watch the first round of the post-season from the sidelines?

We speculated they’d either come out guns a blazin’ or as weak as TIm Sylvia’s chin. Both kinda happened.

Victoria took their series by the, well, by the you know whats, and have a commanding 2-0 lead on what looked like a surging New West team. In the other series, Burnaby turned up the heat and chased the Adanacs straight outta the kitchen, taking a two to zilch series lead themselves. Think you can probably figure out which one of ‘em came with their game intact and ready to go balls out from start to finish. READ MORE »

WLA

WLA: Battle for third

Two key games are on tap tonight in the Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) as we enter the last week of the regular season. Third-place Burnaby (8-7-2) is at Langley and fourth-place Victoria (8-8-1) hosts Nanaimo.

The playoff schedule is not online yet, but will begin in two weeks time. The first best-of-seven series is scheduled to kick off on Tuesday August 5, with the second series starting a day later. Each series will have a game every other day.

As Shanny summed up in this week’s CLA Power Rankings, both Burnaby and Victoria are looking to win out tonight in order to try and avoid the New Westminster Salmonbellies (16-1) in the first round. READ MORE »

Major Series Lacrosse

Brampton-Brooklin kicks off tonight; Peterborough-St. Regis on Sunday

We’re all set and all updated.  The dates, sites and times for both Major Series Lacrosse semifinal rounds have been set and it all starts tonight with Brooklin at Brampton.

Brampton’s top seed gives it the home-floor advantage for its series against No. 4 Brooklin and faceoff for Game 1 of that series is at 8 p.m. It’s a best-of-seven series and the winner there advances to play the winner of the No. 2 Peterborough vs. No. 3 St. Regis series, which kicks off Sunday night. Game 1 of this series begins at St. Regis with a 7 p.m. faceoff.  Peterborough gets to host Games 2 and 3 and, if necessary, Games 5 and 7. So before either one of these series gets underway, check out Shanny’s Senior A Rankings as you try to guess which teams are gonna do what.

• Double-duty for Ratcliff: The Province
• Hamley to enter Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame: Sun Times

Senior A

CLA Power Rankings: Week 10

The preliminary playoff round is over in the OLA playoffs so we are down to the final four and in a few days the WLA regular season will end so we’ll be down to the final four out there as well. Maybe the WLA should also consider adding a preliminary round in the future because it would at least give some drama and hope for the bottom three teams who have been “out of it” for weeks, if not months. READ MORE »

NLL

Boston Blazers swap Kyle Laverty for Jack Reid

Selected fourth in the expansion draft just last Thursday, Kyle Laverty probably hadn’t yet adjusted to the idea of being a Boston Blazer. No matter. Today the Blazers sent the veteran defender back to upstate New York, this time as a member of the Rochester Knighthawks. In return, the Blazers receive former All-American defender Jack Reid.

In two seasons with the Knighthawks, the 24 year-old Reid played in 16 games, scooping 56 looseballs. The 6′3″ 220 lb. U-Mass alumnus is currently playing for the Rochester Rattlers of the MLL. Having grown up in Glastonbury, CT, Reid will likely be a big draw for local lacrosse fans. Laverty will be joining his Peterborough Laker teammates Shawn Evans, Scott Evans, Pat O’Toole, John Grant and perhaps Cory Vitarelli during the NLL season. A veteran of two Champion’s Cup games with the Buffalo Bandits (including one championship win) Laverty brings eight years of NLL experience to the Knighthawks defense.

RMLL

RMLL Playoff Update

With just four teams in the Alberta Junior A league, when it comes to be playoff time these guys get right down to the serious business: semi-finals. Regardless of how hapless their regular season records may have been, each team earns a spot in the post-season and the right to battle it out in a best-of-five for a shot at the finals. And like we’ve already seen in game one of the Eclipse-Raiders series, whatever happened in the regular season can be thrown right out the window come crunch time. With each series already two games in, here’s a look at who’s fighting for their playoff lives, what team was handed their first loss of 2008, and what else we can expect from the boys in Alberta. READ MORE »

Ontario Junior A

Orangeville thumps Akwesasne 17-3

After narrowly earning the game one win in overtime, the Orangeville Northmen figured they’d had their share of the dramatics and buried the Akwesasne Indians by a score of 17-3 last night. It was a nearly non-stop Orangeville barrage from the opening minutes of the game, with Stephen Keogh scoring five, Adam Jones scoring two and assisting on four, Sean Gillies with two and three, and Jeff Ivey with four helpers. The Orangeville D held Akwesasne to just 33 shots and allowed Nick Rose to take the third period off while back-up goaltender Dillon Ward posted a shut-out 20 minutes. Akwesasne goals came from Mark Kirby, Peter Jacobs, and Lyle Thompson, who also assisted on the other two. The Indians will be looking to bounce back in game three on Thursday at home in Akwesasne, 8:00 PM EST.

CLA

UVic Lacrosse in the works

Despite the fact that Victoria has been a lacrosse hotbed, producing legends the likes of Gary Gait and Tom Marechek, the city has never had a collegiate field lacrosse program.

Brian Potter is attempting to change that by establishing a men’s and women’s field lacrosse program the University of Victoria (UVic). Read more with the University’s paper.

The University of British Columbia (UBC) is also looking to field a new team. They had a few throw arounds last year and are looking to recruit new players and sponsors this season. For more information, email dreelie@hotmail.com.

READ MORE »

Inside the Numbers

The Money Ballers: JR A Playoff Edition

This is turnin’ out to be a serious race for second and everything after that, cuz Cody Jamieson is just workin’ over the charts like, well, I guess kinda like he did during the regular season too.

Anyways, with games played kinda being outta whack because of the pretty different ways both Ontario and BC figure out their champ (IE. byes, five game series versus seven games, fewer series played, etc…) we also broke-down what guys are doin’ on average too, so teams like Victoria and Coquitlam could be included. The result? Jamieson is still kickin’ ass hardcore. READ MORE »

Major Series Lacrosse

MSL semifinals: locked and loaded

St. Regis and Brooklin each did what they wanted in the Major Series Lacrosse first round and now it’s time for a game of hurry up and wait.

Brooklin swept Kitchener-Waterloo with Saturday’s 9-5 victory, and St. Regis wrapped up its series Sunday afternoon with an 11-9 decision over Six Nations. The Redmen and the Indians each know who they’re playing in the semifinals, they’re just not sure when. As the No. 4 seed, Brooklin will play top-seeded Brampton and as the No. 3 seed, St. Regis will knock heads with No. 2 Peterborough. The Redmen are gonna have their hands full playing a Brampton squad that’s unbeaten on the road this season won the season series, 3-0, between the teams, while the Indians take on a Lakers squad that won 2 of its 3 regular-season matchups against St. Regis.

READ MORE »

Road to the Minto Cup

Two B.C. teams on brink of elimination, Ont. semis underway

In two semi-final games last night both the Coquitlam Adanacs and New Westminster Salmonbellies fell to 0-2 in their series, with Coquitlam losing 9-8 in OT to the Burnaby Lakers and New West falling 5-3 to the Victoria Shamrocks. In Ontario, both semi-final series got started with the Orangeville Northmen taking a 1-0 lead in their match-up thanks to a 10-9 OT win over the Akwesasne Indians, while the St. Catharines Athletics started off on the right foot against the Six Nations Arrows, winning 10-6. READ MORE »

Major Series Lacrosse

Brooklin bounces K-W from playoffs, St. Regis up 2-1

The Brooklin Redmen grabbed the lead in the first three minutes of last night’s game and didn’t let go until they’d successfully swept the K-W Kodiaks three games to none, game three ending with a 9-5 Redmen win. Shawn Williams added another eight points to his playoff totals, scoring three and helping out on five, and Derek Hopcroft added two goals and two assists. Mike Miron earned the win in net. For the Kodiaks—who were missing Kasey Beirnes, Jamie Rooney and Rob Marshall—Ryan Benesch led with two goals and two assists. It remains to be seen who Brooklin will face in the semi-finals. READ MORE »

B.C. Junior A

Victoria up 1-0 on New West

The Shamrocks struck first last night in what promises to be an explosive best of five between Victoria and New Westminster. Victoria topped New West 7-5 in a back-and-forth game one at the Bear Mountain Arena. Shamrocks keeper Matt Flindell stopped 38 of 43, including nine saves in a shut-out third period. Cory Conway led the team in points with one goal and three assists, and Cayle Ratcliff added two goals and one helper. New West goaltender Sean Tessarolo stopped 40 of 47, and captain Curtis Manning scored two and assisted on one.

Game two of both B.C. Junior A semi-finals is tonight, with Victoria visiting New West at 5:00 PM PST, and Coquitlam travelling to Burnaby for a 7:00 PM PST start. Burnaby leads that series 1-0.

Road to the Minto Cup

Akwesasne advances, Burnaby wins game one

The winner of the final Ontario quarter-final was decided last night as the Akwesasne Indians topped the Burlington Chiefs 8-6. Kyle Buchanan and Jerome Thompson had five points apiece—each scoring one and assisting on four—to lead the Indians to a semi-final match-up vs. Orangeville. Peter Jacobs and Miles Thompson each added two goals. Joe Tallis made 28 saves. For the Burlington Chiefs, Kiel Matisz, Chris Moulson, Jordan MacIntosh and Scott Johnston each contributed two points, while Gary Muzzin stopped 39 shots. The Akwesasne-Orangeville series begins Sunday night, 8:00 PM EST at the Tony Rose Arena.

Over in B.C. the semi-final between the Burnaby Lakers and Coquitlam Adanacs kicked off last night, with the Lakers winning the first one 6-4. Scott Lowe made a ridiculous 51 saves on 55 shots to gift-wrap his team the win, while Alex Gajic led the team in points with one goal and two assists. Kelly Kilpatrick had two goals for the Adanacs.

The Beat

In other news

• The Owen Sound Woodsmen’s revamped line-up was too much for the Wellington Aces, who were eliminated in the Sr. B semi-finals last night: Guelph Mercury
• The Arrows-A’s series starts on Sunday: Brantford Expositor
• The Shamrocks-Bellies series starts tonight: Times Colonist
• The Orillia Rama-Hammond Kings aren’t on the playoff schedule, and this guy thinks that maybe they don’t belong in the Junior A loop. Just because he’s never cracked a wall with his head! Amateur: Courier-Herald