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Inside Lacrosse Magazine, NLL

NLL Insider 2009 Team-By-Team Preview: No. 4 New York Titans

Casey Powell returns to lead the Titans (Martin Allinson)

After a slow start to last season, kicking off the year with a rough 1-4 record, the New York Titans came together mid-season for a second half that vaulted them into that insane four way knot-up for first in the East.

Casey Powell became an MVP contender. Matt Vinc turned into one of the league’s most clutch keepers. Jordan Hall had a Rookie of the Year type year even though voters felt otherwise. And Adam Mueller did his best Tony Resch impersonation en route to a Coach of the Year nod, which sadly then turned into an unexpected retirement during the off-season.

Expectations are high in the Big Apple this year and simply just making the playoffs probably won’t be enough to put a smile on too many faces this season. READ MORE »

NLL Top 50

NLL Insider Top 50: Lewis Ratcliff #12

Previous to 2008, Lewis Ratcliff had beefed up his stats every year since entering the bigs in 2003 (45-71-86-91-104-92).

It was a steady progression until last season, when Ratcliff fell short of the ridiculous 104 points he posted in 2007. In his defense however, not only is 104 a tough nut to crack every winter, he wasn’t exactly finding himself in the healthiest of O situations either. 

Ratcliff played 12 games in 2008 for a Calgary team that was hampered by the loss of captain Tracey Kelusky and keeper Steve Dietrich, both sidelined with concussions, and an offense that struggled to find its groove with high profile healthy scratches sending fans into a rage mid-season. READ MORE »

NLL Top 50

NLL Insider Top 50: Geoff Snider #13

Yeah Geoff Snider is the unofficial pro fight champ right now, but if that’s the only aspect of his game you see on the court, you’re missing out large on one of the NLL’s most high impact guys in the game right now.

He’s also by far the league’s most entertaining non-offensive guy too, getting fans outta their seats as many times during a game as John Grant or Dan Dawson do.

Snider is also probably the lone non-O player that team’s totally change the way they play in order to counter his presence. READ MORE »

Inside Lacrosse Magazine, NLL

NLL Insider 2009 Team-By-Team Preview: No. 5 Toronto Rock

Bob Watson is a solid backstop for Toronto (GA)

Since the Toronto Rock traded Colin Doyle during the off-season leading up to the 2007 season, the team has also seen names like Josh Sanderson, Aaron Wilson, Jim Veltman (as a player), Matt Shearer, Pat Merrill, Phil Sanderson, Ian Rubel and a host of others pass through the doors at the ACC, all eight of those guys Cup winners with the franchise in 2005.

Instead of building through the draft like rivals Minnesota or Philadelphia have done over the last few seasons, the Rock have either signed or traded for the likes of Cam Woods, Peter Lough, Luke Wiles, Jason Crosbie, Craig Conn and Stephen Hoar, coming into the 2009 season with some serious buzz for the first time since Doyle donned a Rock sweater.

Will the massive veteran changes made over the last two years be enough to get Toronto back to the final? Find out after the jump. READ MORE »

Inside Lacrosse Magazine, NLL, NLL Insider

NLL Insider 2009 Team-By-Team Preview: No. 6 San Jose Stealth

Colin Doyle looks to lead the way for the Stealth in ‘09 (Jarred Chandler)

The San Jose Stealth went through some pretty wholesale changes again this off-season, most notably shipping out high profile names like Luke Wiles and Anthony Cosmo and in return gaining Matt Roik and a trio of first rounders headlined by Paul Rabil.

With a new coaching staff led by Jeff Dowling and Chris Hall and a host of new bodies all over the rug, will the Stealth find the chemistry and depth needed to take a serious run at the Cup? Find out after the jump. READ MORE »

NLL Top 50

NLL Insider Top 50: Anthony Cosmo #14

At ‘his best’, Anthony Cosmo is ‘the best’ tender on the planet.

He has the size, athleticism, angles and vision to be the absolute best keeper in today’s NLL.

We saw that from Cosmo during the summer, when he not only won a Mann Cup with the Brampton Excelsiors, he was named the Mike Kelly winner too (aka Mann MVP), but he was a bit behind the pace from what we saw from him in the NLL in 2007, when he was named the pro game’s top keep. READ MORE »

Inside Lacrosse Magazine, NLL, NLL Insider

NLL Insider 2009 Team-By-Team Preview: No. 7 Rochester Knighthawks

The faces in Rochester may not be new, but they’re certainly familiar (20 Toe Photo)

The Rochester Knighthawks are on the tail-end of an off-season that made even Amy Winehouse look semi-sane.

First former head coach Ed Comeau leaves the Hawks for a new gig in New York, which was followed by an array of rumours for most of the summer of who his replacement would be. Long time GM, Jody Gage, was pushed out of his role with the team to concentrate solely on the AHL’s Rochester Americans, who are currently second to last in the 29-team league. READ MORE »

NLL, The Beat

Knighthawks name Paul Gait coach

Gary’s back in the National Lacrosse League and now Paul is too.

The Rochester Knighthawks on Friday named Paul Gait their new head coach, reports Rochester’s Democrat and Chronicle. He replaces Paul Suggate, who resigned on Wednesday before ever coaching even a single game for the Knighthawks. Paul Gait was part of the inaugural 1995 Rochester Knighthawks team and helped the Knighthawks win the 1997 title as the league’s MVP that season. “I’m looking forward to a great season and to have a great start to my coaching career,” Paul said in an interview posted on the team’s Web site. “To be back involved with players again is a great situation for me. I’ve missed it a lot.” Paul will be coaching is brother Gary, the forward who was lured out of retirement to play for the Knighthawks and help offset the loss of star scorer John Grant Jr., who will miss the 2009 season due to injury.

READ MORE »

NLL Top 50

NLL Insider Top 50: Scott Self #15

There’s few pure defenders in the NLL today that are as consistent as Scott Self.

No knock on Anthony Cosmo, but from speaking to some teams leading up to the Chicago Dispersal Draft, they claimed they woulda taken the defensive leader first overall if they had the chance, and pass over the guy that everyone was apparently drooling over.

That first overall grab was not the no-brainer some “experts” had you believe it was, and the reason for that was Scott Self. READ MORE »

NLL, NLL Insider

NLL Insider 2009 Team-By-Team Preview: No. 8 Philadelphia Wings

Athan Iannucci is always a scoring threat for the Wings (Martin Allinson)

With 50 goals looking to be replaced via the losses of Jake Bergey, Jamie Rooney and Jason Crosbie, coupled with league scoring champ Athan Iannucci likely on the shelf for the first bit of ‘09, the Wings will definitely have some growing pains to start the year, a vastly different scenario after starting last winter 6-0.

Can the Wings regroup quickly enough before they get buried in a stacked Eastern Division? Who will step-up on O to keep the previously high scoring Wings at the top of the league’s charts?

Find out  the answer to those question and others after the jump, straight from the pages of Inside Lacrosse’s NLL Preview issue, on newstands now. READ MORE »