Cutting-edge NLL and boxla coverage
Just lookin’ at the selection order the NLL released earlier this week and was wonderin’ what teams were settin’ themselves up the best to have a good draft day.
As we’ve seen in the last two draft reviews, both 2002 and 2003, the first two rounds in the NLL is usually pretty golden. After that last pick in the second round, team’s are usually fishin’ and hopin’ they luck out with a gem of a pick. READ MORE »
We’re just one full week away from kicking off the event that will put the future stars of the game we love on display.
The Ontario Lacrosse Festival is set to kick off next Friday, August 1, at Iroquois Park Sports Centre in Whitby, Ontario. More than 4,700 participants on 260 teams are scheduled to partake in the event, which wraps up on Sunday, August. 10. This 10-day event features the provincial championships of the Ontario Lacrosse Association for three age divisions: Tyke (7-8), Novice (9-10) and Pee Wee (11-12). There’ll also be a few All-Star games, including one for Junior A and the U15 girls field provincial championships. On top of the competition, there’s a Festival Fun Zone set up and plenty of merchandise exhibits. So if you haven’t already, check out the Ontario Lacrosse Festival Web site and make your plans to get there so 10 years from now, you can brag about seeing that player back when they were just a kid.
In the Major Series Lacrosse quarter-finals the Brooklin Redmen took a 2-0 lead last night in their best-of-five with the K-W Kodiaks, winning by a score of 10-8. In the Chiefs-Indians match-up, Six Nations took the first game 11-10 and St. Regis took the second 12-7 for a series that stands at 1-1. In Ontario Sr. B semi-final action, the Owen Sound Woodsmen are up 2-1 on the Wellington Aces, and the Brooklin Merchants lead the Norwood Nitro 2-0. READ MORE »
NLL Insider is proud to announce the nominations for our inaugural National Jr. Player of the Year Awards.
Today we’ll be nominating our final ten players in the running for the National Jr. Player of the Year nod, given to the junior player in the country we deem to be “the best”. The player we feel is the pound-for-pound best player during the regular season. Reputations are completely out the window, we’re deciding solely on what players did this summer during the season, and only this summer during the season.
We are also announcing our final top five finalists for Defender, Goaltender, Rookie and Coach of the year.
Then, during the week leading up to this year’s Minto Cup in Calgary, we’ll be announcing our winner for each category, as well as our First and Second All-Canadian Teams. READ MORE »
Mann Cup and Champion’s Cup winning coach, Chris Hall, who spent the 2008 NLL season contributing weekly to NLLInsider.com, has landed an assistant coaching role with the San Jose Stealth for the 2009 season.
Hall spent almost six full seasons with the Calgary Roughnecks and rejoins recently named San Jose Head Coach, Jeff Dowling, with the Stealth, who also announced today that Art Webster will remain on the bench as the team’s defensive coach, while Joe Romano will also stick around as the franchise’s goaltending coach.
“I’m very excited to join the Stealth organization,” said Hall. “I think we have a great team and I’m anxious to get started on helping to win an NLL Championship for San Jose.” READ MORE »
In the matter of minutes, maybe even seconds, the 2008 Boston Blazers Expansion Draft was completed earlier this afternoon, with Toronto Rock keeper, Mike Poulin, going first overall.
The rest of the ball players taken? Mitch Belisle, Matt Lyons, Klye Laverty, John Gallant, Jake Bergey, Devan Wray, Kyle Ross, Tom Johnson, Matt Holman, Mike Kilby and Cam Bergman.
Do not expect to see all the guys selected today in the Blazers camp over the next couple weeks. Not cuz they won’t be willing to play for them (well, maybe in some cases), but with a guy like Gallant, that calls Denver home these days and is also one of the best pure D guys in the game, you better believe Tom Ryan and Steve Govett have already figured out an automatic swap before Gallant was even left unprotected. Like we’ve seen in so many years before this off-season, you’ll see the Blazers dealing some of those guys for a pair of players or maybe even a combo of ball players and picks.
The Dan Dawson trade rumours have also heated up again, with the Edmonton Rush definitely still sounding like the strong front-runner to pull off a bit of a blockbuster with Boston. Stay tuned.
Everyone knows how big the world is but in actuality, it’s relatively small. With the advancement in travel you can get to the other side of the world in less than a day and send emails in seconds to family and friends in Australia or China or Russia. The world of sport is even smaller and more so than ever thanks to Right To Play. READ MORE »
Even with two Ontario teams winning their best-of-sevens in the last two days, all eyes were probably on the situation in Burlington as the Chiefs and Indians took time out of their regularly scheduled series to replay the much-contested game two last night. On Tuesday night prior to game six—which the Burlington Chiefs won 10-7—a three-man panel of OLA executives overturned the original ruling (which was that the game two win should be awarded to the Chiefs because of Akwesasne’s use of two ineligible players). Though the exact reasoning for Akwesasne winning their appeal hasn’t been made clear, it does seem to have something to do with Burlington GM Glen Little not trying hard enough to be a mind reader. So last night, game two was replayed and Akwesasne walked away with the 9-4 win. With the series now tied 3-3, game seven will take place Friday night in Akwesasne. READ MORE »
Even though they’ve had issues against the Brampton Excels in Round One, we’ve still got the Orangeville Northmen sittin’ at the top of the charts, givin’ ‘em the slight edge over the Coquitlam Adanacs, who’ve been hibernating as they waited for Burnaby to dust off Port Coquitlam. It’s time to wake up though and nab that picnic basket for both Coquitlam and Victoria. It’s go time!!
Actually, there wasn’t all that much movement on the National Jr. A Ranking this week, outside of the west coast Lake Show takin’ over that ten spot from the Lakers in the ON. Peterborough mighta got dropped against Six Nations in six, but with only two guys graduating and a whole host of their top draws coming back next year, the Borough ain’t lookin’ too shabby for 2009 (plus no U19’s to get in the way). READ MORE »
Nanaimo had a slim shot of making the ’08 Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) playoffs last week, but Victoria tied Coquitlam 11-11 last Wednesday to punch their ticket into the postseason along with New West, Coquitlam and Burnaby.
Check back next week for your WLA Playoff Preview.
Victoria and Burnaby still have to settle the seeds and that will likely happen this weekend. The two clubs are battling for the third and fourth spots, and are in key games this week that could very likely preview how the post-season schedule sets up. READ MORE »
“Win or lose, we drink the booze.” Hard to go wrong with that philosophy, no matter what the game is. Tongue-in-cheek as that motto may be, the Fann Cup that’s descending on Rochester this weekend is all about the fun.
The seventh edition of this non-contact, co-ed indoor lacrosse tournament, featuring fan clubs of various National Lacrosse League teams, is also all about the charity. The event has raised more than $50,000 for designated charities and this year is raising funds for the Finger Lakes Regional Burn Association and the RocE6 Inner City Youth Lacrosse Camp. On Saturday, the tournament kicks off at 8 a.m. and includes teams from Rochester, Toronto, Chicago, Philadelphia and Buffalo. To boot, the Rochester team has a goalie coming in from San Diego and a forward coming in from North Carolina. If you’re in the Rochester area and want more info on the event, check out the Fann Cup Web site, or the discussion over at WingsZone, and then make plans to get to the Sports Garden for what promises to be a pretty cool day.
If you can make your opponent pick a poison, your odds of winning fly right off the charts. And that’s exactly what Six Nations did Tuesday night, getting four points from three different players to notch an 11-10 victory over St. Regis in the opening game of the Major Series Lacrosse playoff series.
Cory Bomberry (2 goals, 2 assists), Dean Hill (1-3) and Cody Jacobs (1-3) led the way for the Chiefs, who beat the Indians for the first time this season when it counts most. Delby Powless and Roger Vyse each added a pair of goals for Six Nations, which takes a 1-0 series lead into tonight’s Game 2 at 7 p.m. at St. Regis. And while a one-goal loss isn’t reason to panic, the Indians were put on notice that they’re gonna need more than MSL regular season scoring champ John Tavares and Mark Steenhuis to keep from falling into a 0-2 hole in this series. Also tonight, the Brooklin vs. Kitchener-Waterloo series kicks off with Game 1 at 8 p.m. in Brooklin.
The regular season is done in the East and even though there is still one week left in the WLA the only thing to be determined is who will take third place, Victoria or Burnaby. In the East, only Barrie is out while Brampton and Peterborough have earned first round byes. READ MORE »
The playoffs are time when a team develops a new purpose.
Throughout the season, it’s tough to have the playoffs come into perspective, until they are on top of you. It is now the end of the year and the playoffs are about to be in full swing. Playoffs beards and mohawks can be seen on almost every sideline as teams across the country fight for a berth to their respective Cup tournaments. With the playoffs going haywire in B.C. and in Ontario, things are about to get interesting in Alberta. With only four teams in the province, everyone plays for a Minto Cup birth, and with the Jr. Mounties hosting this year, it leaves three teams playing for that birth.
READ MORE »
The NLL officially announced today that this summer’s Entry Draft will take place in the Boston Blazers’ backyard at TD Banknorth Garden during the weekend of September 6-7.
There’ll be a total of 76 players drafted on the night, with the Blazers currently holdin’ down the first overall selection, although the rumours are still makin’ the rounds that that first pick will be moved prior to the weekend, maybe or maybe not involving Dan Dawson. Plus, make sure to stay dialed into NLL.com this Thursday when Boston dips into the talent pool during the ‘08 Expansion Draft, with more wheeling and dealing expected on the day (Note: maybe).
For players that wanna be included in this year’s Entry Draft, make sure to checkout the links below or at NLL.com.
Had I a chicken wing for everytime I’m asked about how cool it is to cover the lacrosse world for a living, I’d be a fat, fat man. OK … so maybe I can’t use chicken wings for the current state of my fitness, but when it does come right down to it: it does not suck to have this job, but it all balances out.
Sure, I may not have to buy tickets to games and I get parking passes, but when the games are finished and you’re out downing pints at the watering hole, I’m still in a locker room that reeks of sweat or up in a press box trying to write a story as the arena lights are being turned off. That’s the part you don’t see. But like I said, it all balances out. So when I got a call from the Rochester Rattlers of Major League Lacrosse to be a judge in a chicken wing contest here in Rochester, I answered the call of duty for my profession and prepared to devour some of those greasy thangs.
When the curtain fell on the Major Series regular season, it left a pair of familiar teams on top and four more to fight it out in the quarter-finals. While Peterborough and Brampton can go ahead and relax for a little while, the quarter-final action begins tonight with the St. Regis Indians hosting the Six Nations Chiefs, 8:30 PM EST. For a look at the first-round match-ups, what they’ve done against each other already, and what the boys on a bye have to look forward to in the semis, read on. READ MORE »
With Sunday night’s convincing 9-2 win over the Nanaimo Timbermen, the New Westminster Salmonbellies became the first team to win their quarter-final series. Sean Tessarolo stopped 32 of 34 in the win, and Alex Turner scored three. The Bellies took out the Timbermen three games to one in their best-of-five. As a reward for their troubles, New West will be facing the Victoria Shamrocks in the semi-finals beginning Saturday at Bear Mountain Arena.
The second Jr. A elimination happened last night as the St. Catharines Athletics doubled up on the K-W Braves 8-4 to end their series at four games to one. Joel McCready and Corey Small scored two apiece in the win while Zack Bowen made 38 saves.
In the other Ontario Jr. A game last night, the Brampton Excelsiors staved off elimination by topping the Orangeville Northmen 9-7. READ MORE »
The Canadian Women’s National Lacrosse Team will be holding an open tryout August 1-3 at Harvard University.
Athletes who have a Canadian affiliation are eligible to try out for the team, which will compete at the International Federation of Women’s Lacrosse Associations (IFWLA) World Cup in Prague, Czech Republic in June 2009.
Those interested in trying out can register on the official Web site of the Canadian Women’s Lacrosse National Team Program at www.teamcanadawomenslacrosse.com. READ MORE »
Man, those Junior A playoffs really snuck up on me last week. Got burned real bad today trying to compile all those Money Ballers digits from a slew of games already in the books since last week.
Of the 30 or so guys that made the grade during this heated first round of the post-season, 15 of ‘em were also on our last regular season edition of The Money Ballers.
The usual names, guys like Cody Jamieson (who of course is leading the pack), Jesse Guerin (who’s provin’ his Money Ballers dominance was no fluke during the regular season) and Corey Small (who’s factored in on every A’s game winner so far in their series), are all there again, but we also have a host of guy’s that have stepped it up and are postin’ those clutch points that we didn’t really seem ‘em doing during the season. READ MORE »
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
Inside Lacrosse Inside Lacrosse Blog Central TSN News Feed NLL.com
