What will be the toughest barn to steal a W in?
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These doors have been dishing out a lot of W's over the past five years, Toronto's ACC.
It wasn’t all that many years ago that pulling a W outta the Air Canada Center (Maple Leaf Gardens before that) in Toronto was one of the hardest things to do, regular season or playoffs, in the National Lacrosse League.
A win in Toronto over five years ago, and some left 40 Bay Street believing anything was possible. It truly was that valued and special.
Nowadays though, if all you leave the ACC with is a win in the standings, most feel pretty gypped (no offense to any gypsies reading today’s post) and are probably lookin’ for some free grub while passing by the Rock locker room in order to leave semi-satisfied.
The 20 total games the Rock have dropped at home over the past five years is the third highest amount of games lost at home since 2005, only the Minnesota Swarm (24) and Edmonton Rush (21), who were in their infancy five years back and building their expansion foundation, have lost more than the one-time unbeatable-at-home Rock.
Had we asked the titled question over five years ago, the ACC would be the first arena name coming out of most people’s mouths. Obviously not so much today, but with that said, what barn is the toughest to escape with a W in your back pocket in in 2010?
For us, it comes down to two courts.
Even with a couple so-so seasons after their epic Champion’s Cup win, Rochester’s Blue Cross War Memorial Arena is still one tough mutha to leave a W with. The K’Hawks have given up an average of just around two wins per year since ‘05, which includes ‘09, only losing twice at the Blue Cross last winter, which is pretty crazy considering they were two games under .500 after a full 16.
And then due to their packed house, dominating record and jacked fans, Buffalo’s HSBC is a backyard that had most pros NLL Insider spoke to (via 20Q) this past summer easily mentioning it as the toughest barn to play in. It’s an environment, both on-and-off the floor, like few others in the game today.
Check out the numbers below for barns we’ll be in in 2010 (minus Everett and Orlando who are currently riding a smooth .500 0-0 record at home), and then hit the Q below and let us know which arena in the pro game you feel is the hardest barn to win in in the year 2010.
| '09 HOME RECORD | PAST FIVE YEARS | |||||
| W | L | % | W | L | % | |
| Blue Cross Arena (Rochester) | 6 | 2 | 0.750 | 31 | 11 | 0.738 |
| HSBC Arena (Buffalo) | 6 | 3 | 0.667 | 36 | 14 | 0.720 |
| Pepsi Center (Colorado) | 4 | 4 | 0.500 | 30 | 14 | 0.682 |
| Pengrowth Saddledome (Calgary) | 8 | 3 | 0.727 | 27 | 19 | 0.587 |
| Wachovia Center (Philadelphia) | 4 | 4 | 0.500 | 23 | 17 | 0.575 |
| Air Canada Center (Toronto) | 3 | 5 | 0.375 | 23 | 20 | 0.535 |
| TD Garden (Boston) | 4 | 4 | 0.500 | 4 | 4 | 0.500 |
| Xcel Energy Center (Minnesota) | 2 | 6 | 0.250 | 17 | 24 | 0.415 |
| Rexall Place (Edmonton) | 4 | 4 | 0.500 | 11 | 21 | 0.344 |
| Note: Regular season and playoff records included | ||||||
What is the toughest barn to pull a win out of in the NLL?
- HSBC Arena (Buffalo) (50%, 239 Votes)
- Blue Cross Arena (Rochester) (23%, 108 Votes)
- Pepsi Center (Colorado) (15%, 73 Votes)
- Pengrowth Saddledome (Calgary) (7%, 35 Votes)
- Other (5%, 20 Votes)
Total Voters: 475
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