NLL Insider

Face-Off Classic is upon us

You waited and waited and now, it’s time.

Saturday’s Face-Off Classic in Baltimore is all set for a noon start, pitting Syracuse (2-0) against Virginia (3-0) at noon, followed by Johns Hopkins (1-0) against Princeton (1-0) at 2:30 p.m. The count is up to 15,000 tickets sold, but you’ve still got time to buy yours. Go to faceoffclassic.com,  Ticketmaster, or call the Baltimore Ravens box office at (410) 261-RAVE to get yours. Prices range from $10 to $25. 

The weather forecast hasn’t changed, so don’t forget to pack your favorite hoodie and catch some fantastic lacrosse at M&T Bank Stadium.

To get yourself ready for the afternoon, check out all the preview stuff at Inside Lacrosse, including an update on Virginia’s Ben Rubeor, a Tewaaraton Finalist last year, who says his knee is feeling better and expects to play.

Face-Off Classic fast approaching

Just two days are left before the first whistle of the 2008 Face-Off Classic in Baltimore and judging by ticket sales, it’s gonna be THE place to be on Saturday.

The Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic presented by The Baltimore Sun is set for Saturday. Virginia (3-0) plays Syracuse (2-0) at noon, followed by Johns Hopkins (1-0) against Princeton (1-0) at 2:30. At least 14,000 tickets have been sold already for this incredible double-header. The tradition and excellence related to all four programs on the bill are common knowledge but for those of you who can’t get enough, check out the pile of stories, videos and previews over at InsideLacrosse.com to get you ready for the weekend.  

And in case you’re wondering what to wear, bundle up. Sun is in the forecast, but temps are supposed to be in the mid 40s.

Tickets range from $10 (for groups) to $15 to $25. Order them today at faceoffclassic.com,  Ticketmaster, or call the Baltimore Ravens box office at (410) 261-RAVE. 

Get your Face-Off Classic tickets

Yeah, it’s still February and thoughts of field lacrosse aren’t exactly center stage, but if the lineup for the 2008 Face-Off Classic doesn’t fire you up, nothing will.

The Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic presented by The Baltimore Sun is set for Saturday, March 1, in Baltimore and it’s not a place for chumps. Virginia plays Syracuse at noon, followed by defending NCAA champ Johns Hopkins against Princeton at 2:30. It’s all going down at M&T Stadium in Baltimore and 11,000 tickets have already been sold. Translation? If you don’t have your tickets yet, get them now because the sooner you buy, the better your seat.

What’s Syracuse gonna do after a forgetful 2007 season? Does Hopkins have what it takes to defend its title? Are the Bratton twins gonna live up to the hype in Virginia? What do Bill Tierney and Princeton have up their sleeves? All legit questions and the best way to get your early answer is to get your tickets today.

Tickets range from $10 (for groups) to $15 to $25. Order them today at faceoffclassic.com,  Ticketmaster, or call the Baltimore Ravens box office at (410) 261-RAVE. 

Another Take on Fighting

From time to time at NLLInsider.com we’ll drop an old-school Inside Lacrosse Magazine piece on you. Why? Well, because we can. Because we think some of the stuff we’ve done over the years is pretty good. And because we think it’s still interesting to read.

We’ll probably never go older than this piece. I wrote this story in the fall of 2001. To add to the old-school flavor, I even uploaded this classic pic of Tom Ryan about to take on Shawn Williams, who, because of the angle, looks like he might be shorter than me. This literally looks like Sasquatch vs. a Smurf.

What amazed me when I wrote this was how divided the NLL community was on the topic of fighting. It was either a critical part of the keeping players honest, or an evil, ugly element that could destroy lacrosse.

I would have written an update to this subject but I think my man Geoff Snider did a great job covering the topic on his first blog yesterday.

For the record, I think fighting has a place in the NLL. I can see exactly where these guys come from when they talk about policing a game and protecting their players. As long as these fights remain isolated and under control, they remain a necessary part of the game.

What do you think? Go to Wingszone.com to throw down.

Toronto or San Jose: Who came out on top?

It is pretty much 24- hour hockey for Canadian’s this time of year so when the ticker on my television screen announced that the Toronto Rock had traded Colin Doyle to San Jose this afternoon, you know it’s a big deal. My first guess was that Toronto had made a trade for goaltender Anthony Cosmo. It’s not that Toronto needed Cosmo - Bob Watson is still one of the best goalies in the world – it’s just that like Colin Doyle, Anthony Cosmo is a world class player and he had requested a trade from San Jose last summer. I also thought of Luke Wiles, a great young talent who scored 17 goals and 49 points in his rookie year last season. Wiles is from Orillia, Ontario (one hour north of Toronto) and helps run the family business in Orillia. Maybe San Jose had agreed to trade him so he could play closer to home.

I was shocked when I saw that Toronto had traded the NLL’s 5th all-time leading scorer with 685 points for three players who have amassed a total 63 points in their three combined seasons. In return for Colin Doyle, Darren Halls and a 2007 first round pick, Toronto gets third year player Chad Thompson (46 career points), sophomore Kevin Fines (17 career points) and rookie Ryan Benesch (San Jose’s number one draft pick) and San Jose’s first round picks in 2008 and 2009.

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Trying too hard

Earlier this summer I got a phone call from a friend who wished to share some interesting news. She had stumbled upon the name of the NLL’s Chicago expansion franchise, before the news was public. I, of course, was all ears. And when she told me what it was, I was fired up. Shamrocks is a great idea. Finally an expansion team that got it. Finally a franchise that wasn’t going with some cheesy, manufactured nickname. Finally a team with some class and foresight.

Ever see the Victoria Shamrocks’ jerseys from the Western Lacrosse Association in British Columbia? Among the sweetest unis I’ve ever seen. And in a city where they turn the Chicago River green every year on St. Patrick’s Day, what a money idea.

Then she told me how it was spelled: Shamrox.

I was crushed. It was like your buddy talking up this beautiful, smart, hilarious successful girl, and then saying she’s married — to a Yankee.

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Inside out

As of press time in early May, it looked like the NLL will be expanding into the outdoor lacrosse business to complement its winter indoor league.

At least, that is if you believe NLL Commissioner Jim Jennings.

Of course, there already is a professional outdoor lacrosse league (Major League Lacrosse), which is owned by Jake Steinfeld and his partners. So far, MLL and NLL officials haven’t commented much publicly about the proposed NLL outdoor league. The MLL is taking a wait-and-see approach, while the NLL hasn’t officially said anything about an outdoor version.

All that Jennings has said publicly was a recent statement that addressed Gary Gait’s announcement that he isn’t playing in MLL this summer so he can help the NLL move forward with “the exploration of developing an NLL outdoor league.”

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The bigger picture

One of the topics among NLL insiders these days is the impending shortage of talent when the league expands. There are 11 teams in the league this year and with Chicago and New York confirmed for next season, we know that there will be at least 13 for 2007. (The league has not ruled out 14 if the right ownership group steps up.)

And there is no doubt that the league wants to continue to expand beyond next season. So many are asking if there is enough box lacrosse talent to equip 14 or possibly 16 teams in the NLL.

Will the league will be watered down if we add more teams? Yes, but so what?

In the early days of the Major Indoor Lacrosse League, there were no players with box lacrosse experience. Before the Gait brothers arrived in 1991, the Mann Cup champs would have beaten the MILL champs by more than 20 goals, easily.

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Shanahan summit

Scoring is down in the NLL. At press time, the average goals per game this season was 22.81, down from 25.11 last year and the lowest since 1991 when it was 22.29.

But if you think I’m going to call for my own Shanahan Summit to find out how to fix the game, you’re dead wrong. This might be the most exciting year in NLL history, as 10 of the 11 teams had realistic chances at first place two thirds of the way through the schedule.

When I was seven years old, I watched my first baseball game. The final score was 10-9 and I thought it was great. My uncle, a longtime fan, explained to me that the pitching was bad and the defense was porous. I guess I thought the defense was all right because when I played with my friends every dribbler hit became a home run. Years later I was able to appreciate the intricacies of a well-pitched baseball game, but as a new fan I wanted to see runs.

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Landing on their feet

The defending champion Toronto Rock are coming off another championship season. Picked by most experts as the favorite to win it all again, the champs surprise everyone with a 2-4 start to the new season. What happens next? The coaching staff is fired.

No, I’m not talking about Terry Sanderson and the 2006 Toronto Rock. I’m talking about coach Ed Comeau and GM Derek Keenan of the ’04 Toronto Rock. Actually, I should say interim coach Comeau and interim GM Keenan.

Shortly before the 2004 season, Les Bartley, the winningest coach in professional lacrosse, was diagnosed with colon cancer. Bartley handed the reins over to longtime assistants Comeau and Keenan so he could battle the disease that eventually took his life in May of ’05.

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Money well spent

In 1978, Canada defeated the U.S. to win the World Games. That was a significant event in Canadian lacrosse history, but because it happened in England, the average Canadian never heard about it.

In the late ’80s, the Gaits revolutionized NCAA lacrosse, but back in Canada there was no significant media coverage of their exploits. Again, this didn’t register on the radar of the average Canadian.

But in the Champion’s Cup final on May 6, 2000, Kaleb Toth blasted the winning shot past Rochester goalie Pat O’Toole with 1.1 seconds remaining to give the Toronto Rock a 14-13 victory. It was the last professional goal at Maple Leaf Gardens. More importantly, it was seen by more Canadians than any goal in the history of lacrosse.

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The Glory of the Mann Cup

When it comes to men’s lacrosse, of any kind, nothing compares to the history and drama surrounding the pursuit of the Mann Cup, the solid gold trophy annually awarded to Canada’a best men’s box lacrosse team.

Moments after the Toronto Rock won their first National Lacrosse League championship in 1999, in front of more than 15,000 fans (at the time, the largest audience in Canadian lacrosse history), all-star defender Pat Coyle said to me, “This is great, but it’s still not the Mann Cup.”

The purpose of this anecdote is not to diminish the importance of winning the NLL’s Champion’s Cup. Coyle was simply stating the fact that for him, and for most Canadian lacrosse players, the ultimate goal is to win the Mann Cup.

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