NLL Insider

The Life

One Magical day in ‘98

 I remember telling my parents that I didn’t want to go to Baltimore that summer because I wanted to celebrate my 19^th birthday at home with my friends and at the same time legally walk into a bar for a beer. The year was 1998 and my brother Fred and 25 other guys were making their way across the border for the World Field Lacrosse Championships. I had already witnessed my brother play in the 1992 under19 field games in New York, so I figured I wouldn’t be missing much. Besides, Canada hadn’t won since before I was born!

 Man, was that a bad decision! Not only was my 19^th birthday totally average and uneventful, I missed what many lacrosse enthusiasts have called the greatest lacrosse game ever played; indoors or out!

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NLL Insider

NLL in Florida: 2009 Regular Season Game to Expansion Franchise?

The National Lacrosse League (NLL) will play its first ever game in Florida on Saturday, January 3, 2009, when the New York Titans play to host the Toronto Rock. The game will start at 8 p.m. at the Bank Atlantic Center, home of the National Hockey League (NHL) Florida Panthers.

Tickets for the game will be on sale starting Friday, September 26. Check FloridaLacrosseCup.com for more info.

The game is being used as a dry-run to test possible NLL expansion into Florida says Kevin Finneran, a former player who is part of a Florida Group interested in NLL investment. A press conference is scheduled for later today, but NLL Insider already talked to Finneran about the up-coming game, league and expansion. READ MORE »

NLL Insider

NLL Leaders: Air Miles , Anthony Cosmo.

 Anthony Cosmo just had about 50,000 miles knocked off his annual travel schedule when he got traded from the San Jose Stealth to the Chicago Shamrox last month. Actually there is one player in the NLL has traveled more than Cosmo in the last 4 years but  the accumulation of Air Miles will slow down considerably for Cosmo in 2009. READ MORE »

The Beat

The NLL’s very own Knight Rider

Anyone who ever laid eyes on the Six Nations Arrows Express truck at Minto 2006 had to figure it was only a matter of time until this happened. Donner is way out, Styres is way in, and the Rochester Knighthawks have pimped the hell out of their ride.

What you see here is a Ford F-650, half K-Hawks, half Amerks, all beast. All that’s missing is Troy Bonterre’s mug painted across the hood. Love it or hate it, after all the uncertainty Knighthawks fans had to endure last season you can’t deny that it’s nice to see some promotion going on already. And imagine, won’t you, the marketing-mobiles this could inspire a few of the other NLL teams to roll out. READ MORE »

Inside the Numbers

One Goal Games in the NLL

You hear it all the time in the NLL.

“If only we won some of those one goal games, we woulda made the post-season.” Or something like that, right?

Rochester, who dropped five one goal games in 2008, finished 8-8 last year, but could have just as easily gone 13-3, right?

Same with Minnesota on the other side of the table. The Swarm went 5-0 in games decided by one, with their 10-6 end of regular season record potentially being more like something in the ballpark of 5-11.

After the jump, check out who excelled when things were close and who coulda had a whole different season if they coulda posted one or two more in 2008. READ MORE »

NLL

Shamrox ready to turn it around

It’s kinda tough to win when, in your first seven National Lacrosse League games, you have games where your defense gives up 19, 18 and 17 goals.

That’s a big reason the Chicago Shamrox got off to a 1-6 start in the 2008 season but just as the Shammies were being written off, something happened. Something clicked, and “it” started to come together. Matt Roik gave Chicago a solid presence in goal. Brad Self sparked the transition game, and Cody Jacobs lit it up on offense. That’s the combination that helped the Shammies score a surprising win over the defending champion Rochester Knighthawks and the confidence that fueled a 4-game win streak put the Shamrox in playoff contention with a 5-7 record.

But then, something else happened.

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NLL Top 50

NLL Insider Top 50: Billy Dee Smith #48

There’s no in-between with Billy Dee Smith.

You either love the Buffalo Bandits defender or hate his guts. Most probably hate ‘em, but it’s part of what makes Smith so great.

The World Lacrosse Champion, Minto Cup, President’s Cup, and Champion’s Cup winner is the epitome of the kinda guy you hate to play against but love to have runnin’ in your own crew.

Smith has a first-step and blinding speed you almost never see from Canadians and is a guy a lot of NCAA coaches probably see now and wonder why they never offered him a scholarship.

Billy Dee’s hard hitting, take no prisoners attitude has got him in a bit trouble with the league in recent years (this year getting nailed with a multi-game suspension for making contact with an official during a dust-up with Blaine Manning) but that same style has also added an element to Buffalo’s D that makes them so hard to beat in their own end. READ MORE »

From the Stands

Fan Poll: The Best Player of “This” Generation

With all the talk of John Grant potentially never being able to play the game again, there’s been a lot of discussion about who really is the best player of “this” generation?

Names like Gary and Paul Gait, John Tavares, Jim Veltman, Tom Marechek and a few others dominated the hell outta the 90’s, there’s no doubt. But who’s been doin’ what those legends did, over the past ten years or so in today’s NLL?

That’s what we’re asking you.

Originally, we were gonna leave JT off the list, since he definitely belongs to that core group from the 90’s, but after lookin’ at what he’s done since say 2000, there’s no denying Tavares’ game, which in 2009 will reach 18 seasons, spans more than just one generation.

Anyways, after the jump, check-out the ball players we feel are the best of “this” generation and let us know who leads the pack. READ MORE »

The Beat

Hey JT, has anyone asked you about retirement yet?

You’ve got questions and he’s got answers: this month in the IL Fan Zone John Tavares will be telling you everything you want to know about his NLL championships, leading the league in all-time scoring, his six Mann Cups, dealing with young Toronto Rock fans at his day-job, not laughing at Mark Steenhuis’s hair, and whatever other aspect of his record-breaking career you can think to ask about. Submit early, submit often, and check back for the answers both online and in an upcoming issue of the magazine.

• And from the imagine if it was Shanny that said this files, Tracey Kelusky opened up about his good friend and summer ball teammate John Grant to the Calgary Sun, noting that ‘we’re losing our Crosby for a long time’.
• Got a few extra minutes? Head over to vote in the Inside Lacrosse LAXIE Awards
• Got a few extra dollars? See what you can do for Savilla Eliuk

Inside the Numbers

Keepers at Their Best When the Heats On

Behind the NLLInsider.com scenes this summer, there were a ton of emails going back-and-forth with readers and a few NLL GM’s, and myself, in regards to what actually makes a good keeper?

It actually got pretty in-depth, heated and at times, ridiculous, but it definitely got me thinking (which some might say is a rarity).

With teams at all levels playing different systems and styles, some breading low scores (see the Toronto Rock during their prime) and some high (see teams like the Minnesota Swarm and Philadelphia Wings today), it’s pretty tough to measure a tender’s skill based solely on stats or even W’s cuz of the kinda ball their crew plays. READ MORE »