NLL Insider

Major Series Lacrosse, WLA

K-W downs Brampton & other Senior A results

After clinging to a lead for the first two periods, the K-W Kodiaks managed to hold off a Brampton Excelsiors comeback on the strength of a pair of goals from Kevin Ross. His last-minute regulation marker sent the game to overtime where he scored the game-winner with six minutes remaining. Mike Flemming had the insurance goal with 20 seconds left.

Ross had four goals and two assists on the night, Flemming and Ryan Benesch had one and two each, and Jamie Rooney, Dylan Llord and Rob Marshall had one goal and one helper apiece. Aaron Wilson had a natural hat trick for the Excelsiors while Colin Doyle had one goal and five helpers. The Kodiaks are now the only undefeated team remaining in MSL.

Elsewhere in Ontario, the Peterborough Lakers raised the 2007 Mann Cup banner and then went on to dump the Six Nations chiefs 18-8. Scott Evans had two goals and seven assists, Cory Vittarelli had three and three and John Grant had four goals and one helper. Craig Point notched four goals for the Chiefs.

In the third MSL game of the night the Barrie Lakeshores downed the Brooklin Redmen 11-8.

In BC last night the New Westminster Salmonbellies stayed unbeaten with a 10-4 win over the Langley Thunder. Chris Gill, Jordan McBride and Pete McFetridge scored two each in the win. Tyler Richards made 29 saves. Graedon Cornfield had two goals for the Thunder.

Major Series Lacrosse, WLA

Coquitlam and Brooklin win close ones in Sr.

It wasn’t easy, but a five-goal third period with a game-winner scored in the final five minutes of regulation earned the Coquitlam Adanacs a 9-8 comeback win over the Langley Thunder last night. With the win the Adanacs improve to 5-1, while the Langley Thunder fall to 2-3.

Tim Campeau led the Adanacs with two goals and two assists, while Jason Wulder and Steve McKinlay had two goals and one helper each. Dane Reelie had the unassisted game-winner. Brandon Atherton and the Adanacs defense kept the Thunder quiet in the third, limiting them to just one goal. Tom Johnson led Langley with three goals.

Langley is back in action tonight vs. the undefeated New Westminster Salmonbellies. Up next for the Adanacs is another undefeated team: they’ll face off with the Victoria Shamrocks Saturday night.

With time ticking down in regulation and the score tied 11-11 it looked like the Brooklin Redmen had earned an overtime period against the Six Nations Chiefs after battling back from a few big deficits, trailing 5-0 to start the game and 9-6 after the second. Apparently Derek Suddons had other plans.

With less than 30 seconds remaining the Chiefs yanked Ken Montour from his spot between the pipes in favour of an extra attacker, setting up one final scoring attempt. In a move straight out of a made-for-TV movie, Suddons scooped up the looseball after the unsuccessful Chiefs attempt and shot from just past half to bury the game winning goal in the empty Six Nations net with one second left on the clock.

Jason Mainer and Steve Hutchins had three goals each for the Redmen, including two from Mainer and one from Hutchins in the pivotal third period. Shawn Williams had one goal and four helpers. Dean Hill had four goals and two assists for the Chiefs.

Major Series Lacrosse, NLL

Between the pipes or in the class, Cosmo’s a standup guy

Anthony Cosmo is a lacrosse goalie and a Grade 7 teacher, but that doesn’t mean he’s finished with his learning.

Whether he’s tending goal for the National Lacrosse League’s San Jose Stealth or the Brampton Excelsiors of Major Series Lacrosse, Cosmo’s intent on finding ways to improve his game and skills. His reward? Thursday night, he’s set to receive an award as the Athlete of the Year at the Mississaugua Sports Award Dinner. And speaking of skills, it’ll be real interesting to see how Cosmo pulls this one off because on the night he’s scheduled to receive the award, his unbeaten Brampton Excelsiors are also on the schedule to play the unbeaten Kitchner-Waterloo Kodiaks. Hmmmm … dinner in the crease, anyone? We’re sure that scheduling conflict will be resolved somehow, but when it comes to the contributions of Cosmo on and off the rug, it’s not up for debate. He’s one of the best. “Sometimes I feel I’m living two lives,” Cosmo tells The Mississaugua News. “Not Superman, I’m a regular guy. Maybe, Peter Parker and Spiderman — more low key.”

The upcoming weekend in MSL could be interesting, to say the least. In addition to the big Brampton-KW matchup in which the winner will be left standing as the only unbeaten club, the Barrie vs. Brooklin tilt’s also gonna give us a team of distinction: With both clubs winless, the loser of this matchup will be the only winless club on the circuit.

• NLL is looking to Vancouver for 2010: The Province

Major Series Lacrosse

It’s a weekend split for St. Regis

Athan Iannucci’s debut in Major Series Lacrosse wasn’t enough for the St. Regis Indians on Saturday night, but it was more than plenty on Sunday.

Nooch scored both of his goals Saturday night in the first quarter for St. Regis, which dropped a 6-4 decision to Brampton. Less than 24 hours later, though, the big guy came through with three goals and one assist to help the visiting Indians down Brooklin, 13-8. Yet Sunday’s performance for Nooch was just part of the bigger picture. John Tavares led everyone with three goals and four assists and Mark Steenhuis dropped in a pair of goals for the Indians, who blew the game wide open with nine goals in the second quarter. The weekend split helps St. Regis (2-2) keep pace with Kitchner-Waterloo, which downed Peterborough 7-5 on Sunday. So what, you say? Well, I say, it sets up a pretty cool weekend coming up with the Indians at K-W for games on Saturday and Sunday that’ll give us an early-season “important” showdown. K-W will be coming off a Thursday night tilt against first-place Brampton, so the Kodiaks definitely have their work cut out for them if they wanna remain in the top half of the standings.

Did you notice Steenhuis’s name on the St. Regis roster? So did I, and it was a pretty quiet trade that got him on the roster.

• Just in case ya missed Brampton’s Thursday win: Caledon Enterprise
• Barrie dropped its opener on Thursday: Barrie Examiner

Major Series Lacrosse, Ontario Junior A

Six Nations Jr. wins, Sr. loses, and KW tops Barrie

Well, you can’t win ‘em all, so for now Stephen Keogh will have to settle for an NCAA National Championship as his Toronto Beaches fell to the Six Nations Arrows 9-2 last night in the lone Ontario Jr. A game. Keogh scored both of the Beaches goals, teaming up with Branden Collins each time.

For the first place and undefeated Six Nations Arrows, Mitch Nanticoke turned in a five goal two assist game and Cody Jamieson hit the back of the net twice while assisting on three. Angus Goodleaf stopped 41 of 43.

The Six Nations Chiefs weren’t so fortunate, dropping a 12-10 decision to the Brampton Excelsiors in Major Series Lacrosse action. Brampton capitalized on a strong second period, outscoring Six Nations 8-3 to rebound from a slow start and build the two goal lead they’d end the game with.

Brodie Merrill and Dan Dawson had four points apiece for the Excelsiors, while Colin Doyle popped in three goals. Anthony Cosmo earned the win in net. For the Chiefs, Casey Powell had two goals and two assists and Cody Jacobs had one and three.

Elsewhere in Sr. A, the K-W Kodiaks beat the Barrie Lakeshores 7-6.

Major Series Lacrosse

Jamie Batley says Shawn Evans has been coddled for years

It’s been several weeks now that the rumours surfaced that Peterborough Lakers’ product, Shawn Evans, was interested in being dealt to the Six Nations Chiefs of the MSL, in what would be his first full year playing Sr. A lacrosse, after years of dominating the junior game.

And as NLL Insider reported last week, the deal some were calling as good as done in mid-May, is still not all that close to being finalized. Actually, “finalized” would imply a trade between Peterborough and Six Nations is on the horizon, but as the Peterborough Examiner reported earlier today, this thing’s so far from being on the horizon that the paper work for the trade is buried well behind a landscape of snow capped mountains.

Plus, it’s getting kinda ugly.

Peterborough Lakers’ GM and Head Coach, Jamie Batley, told the Examiner, “Our organization feels that (an Evans trade to Six Nations) would be a major mistake to trade someone of his calibre.” READ MORE »

Major Series Lacrosse, NLL

Rest? Who has time for that?

Know what I love about lacrosse? I love the love for the game.

We’re barely a week removed from the Buffalo Bandits winning the National Lacrosse League’s Champion’s Cup and who’s already got 5 goals and 6 assists in two games for his St. Regis Indians? Yeah, John Tavares. It’s no surprise, really, ’cause his skill is no secret. And yeah, I know he’s not the only NLL guy gettin’ his summer groove on, but ya can’t help but think of other pro athletes and how quick they’d be to finish a season with one league and jump right into a new season with the next league. And sure, money’s a factor but when you consider a vast majority of these guys still work full-time jobs while trying to adjust schedules to accomodate their NLL schedules in the winter and their MSL schedules in the summer, you gotta believe these guys are out there runnin’ and bangin’ just because they love it.

So the MSL is off and runnin’ with Brampton and St. Regis notching wins on Saturday. St. Regis played again on Sunday, though, and ended up splitting its weekend series after losing to the Peterborough Lakers, 11-9, Sunday afternoon. Seven different Lakers scored, led by Josh Gilliam’s three goals and two assists, while Andrew Lazore had two goals and three assists for St. Regis, followed by Pat Maddelena with 2-2 and Tavares with 1-3.

• Blazers to share home with Celtics, Bruins: Boston Globe
• Marecheck to join US Lacrosse Hall of Fame: SUAthletics.com

Major Series Lacrosse

MSL kicks off with St. Regis and Brampton wins

Major Series Lacrosse is officially underway and the St. Regis Indians have started things off with a 9-5 win over the defending Mann Cup champion Peterborough Lakers.

John Tavares got the Indians off to a 2-0 start with a pair of goals in the first ten minutes, going on to register four goals and three assists on the night. A 3-2 score in the second period was as close as Peterborough would come. In addition to Tavares’s seven point effort, the Indians were led by Scott Thompson with two goals and three assists and Kevin Dostie with one and four. Jason Clark and Josh Gillam had four points apiece for the Lakers.

In other MSL opening night action the Brampton Excelsiors defeated the Six Nations Chiefs 10-7. Colin Doyle, Dan Teat, Jeff Shattler and Sean Holmes had three points apiece for the Excelsiors, with Anthony Cosmo backstopping the way to a win. For the Chiefs, Tom Montour and Billy Dee Smith had one goal and one assist each.

Shawn Evans, the subject of rumours surrounding a signing with Six Nations, was not suited up for the Chiefs or the Lakers. Athan Iannucci was also MIA, but it’s worth noting that Rob Van Beek had two assists for the St. Regis Indians.

Major Series Lacrosse, WLA

Iannucci, Evans, and Roik still up in the air

With the WLA already more than a week deep and the MSL ready to kick-off their season this weekend, a number of high profile players are still being linked to a number of rumours that will likely see them switching teams in the near future.

As NLL Insider reported a couple weeks back, it still doesn’t appear that New Westminster Salmonbellies’ forward Athan Iannucci has officially made a move to the East, whether that be to St. Regis or one of a number of other Ontario based clubs that have apparently shown interest in the NLL MVP.

The Cornwall Standard reported today that Iannucci is still on the Indians’ radar and that a potential signing is still being discussed but is not yet finalized. The paper also reports that Steve Toll, Pat Maddalena, Peter Jacobs, Joe Hall and Lee Thomas have all committed to St. Regis this year, joining a cast that already sports players like John Tavares, Kevin Dostie, Brett Bucktooth and keeper Mike Thompson. READ MORE »

Major Series Lacrosse, WLA

Reports of Athan Iannucci inking a deal are very premature

NLL Insider has learned that recent reports out of BC that have Athan Iannucci signing a deal with the MSL’s St. Regis Indians are very much premature.

Iannucci, who it still New Westminster Salmonbellies property, has reportedly been approached by a number of Ontario based teams, but the Philadelphia Wings’ sniper has still apparently not signed with anyone as yesterday’s reports indicated.

Although sources say it is very likely that Iannucci will be signing with an eastern based club in the next while, NLL Insider learned first hand that yesterday’s article on BCLocalNews.com jumped the gun when they announced that Iannucci had already swapped sweaters.

Although St. Regis does appear to be one of the clubs interested in Iannucci, there have been no contracts signed with them or anyone else in the MSL as of Monday night.

• Brian Beisel says why wait for ‘09. Jr. Excels ready for a run this year: The Independent
• Casey Powell comes back to play in Canada for the Chiefs: NLL Insider

Major Series Lacrosse

Casey Powell signs with MSL’s Six Nations Chiefs

NLL Insider has learned that the MSL’s Six Nations Chiefs have inked American lacrosse icon, Casey Powell, to a contract that will have him in a Chiefs’ sweater this summer.

Powell is fresh off one of his most dominating NLL seasons to date, once again solidifying himself as one of the elite box lacrosse players on the planet today.

“Arguably the best outdoor lacrosse player in the world, Casey has developed into one of the premier box lacrosse players in today’s game,” said Six Nation’s GM Duane Jacobs. “We look forward to Casey helping our team in our quest for the Mann Cup.” READ MORE »