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Here’s a few more picks on this weekend’s National Lacrosse League (NLL) Champion’s Cup game from members of our usual Pick ‘Ems team.
Tutka and Jenner provided previews below, with Tutka later stating for this post he’s goin’ out on a limb… Portland wins 14-12.
Kevin Fixler, Lauren Ward and Chris Hall are going the opposite way and taking the Buffalo Bandits. Fixler’s predicting a 13-9 Final.
In the 5 years since 2004, the NLL Championship game has included either the Buffalo Bandits or a Dan Dawson team. And in each of those games, when the final buzzer ended, neither the Bandits nor Dawson have held coveted Champions Cup. Tonight will be the third attempt for the Bandits in 5 years. It will also be the third attempt for Dan Dawson. Tonight something has got to give and one side will end 5 years of frustration. READ MORE »
May the best team win! Well, so the saying goes.
However, for some lax fans the debate is: if the Jax win, will that statement be justified? We’ve all been over this a few times already, but if a team is good enough to get to the final, then more power to ‘em!
Nobody said the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team didn’t deserve to be there ’cause they were a bunch of college kids!
Start the cliche train! You don’t know who’s gonna win till the final whistle, it’s not over till the fat lady sings, and my personal favourite: Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbour? Hell no! … And it ain’t over now. ‘Cause when the goin’ gets tough the tough get goin’! Who’s with me? Let’s go!
Think I mighta been the only person on the planet to have given the edge to Portland last week, well, outside of anyone from Portland that is.
I really like the way they’re playing right now and even though Buffalo should definitely be a good three point favorite, I gotta tell ya, I wouldn’t count-out the one time written-off Jax too quickly. READ MORE »
Although it went a bit under the radar with all of this week’s Champion’s Cup hype, the NLL handed down a number of suspensions to players from the New York Titans yesterday.
The multi-game sit-downs stem from altercations in the Titans’ 19-12 loss to the Buffalo Bandits in the East Division Final last weekend. It was a game in which both teams accumulated a total of 130 PIM, most of which came from a heated fourth period. READ MORE »
It was only two years ago that the Buffalo Bandits were in a similar place. In 2006 they had the best record in the NLL (at 11-5) and were meeting a team Western team (Colorado Mammoth) whom they had just beaten late in the season. I worked that Championship game for ESPN that year and I remember that the Bandits were very loose heading into the game. They weren’t cocky or arrogant but practices were open to the media and they were working hard but having fun. In my opinion they were ready for a championship. READ MORE »
Exactly, who will win the Champion’s Cup, right?
In the year of the dawg (and to my Chinese fans, cuz I do know you are out there, I do in fact know that 2008 is The Year of the Rat) it could be anyone’s guess.
So I thought I’d ask the players their guess on who’ll take the cake on Saturday night.
Obviously, by that spiffy image I pieced together, you can see the boys hit the Bandits vote hard, with 71% of the guys going with Buffalo. Not really all that close, huh?
As with their previous two meetings in the post-season, it looks like Portland will be tagged as the heavy dawg, which in 08, might not be such a bad thing. READ MORE »
I was reading Bob Matthew’s column in the D&C earlier this week and was kinda thrown by a comment he made (and kinda has been making all year).
He said, “The Portland Lumberjax, 6-10 in the regular season, will play at the Buffalo Bandits on Saturday night at HSBC Arena in the National Lacrosse League championship game. Portland winning would be an appropriate conclusion to a NLL season to forget.” READ MORE »
Much has been said about Dan Dawson’s heroics in helping the Jax make the National Lacrosse League’s Champion’s Cup Final. Although all accounts conclude that the Bandits are the better team, Portland has the ultimate X Factor in ageless goalie Dallas Eliuk.
The 17-year pro is the oldest player in the NLL at 43, and his stats would suggest that his best playing days may be behind him. But his performance last weekend helped lift the LumberJax to this weekend’s final. Those of us that have been around the league for a few years are familiar with Dallas’s past and know that anything is possible Saturday night in Buffalo.
Despite chopping two big West Division opponents down to size, the Portland LumberJax are getting little respect for their unexpected post-season surge.
I’m betting there are few folks outside of Oregon giving them any chance to beat the Buffalo Bandits this Saturday at the HSBC Arena in the Champion’s Cup final.
Let’s face it, the optics aren’t good: The No. 1 seeded Bandits vs. The No. 4 seed Jax; Buffalo went 10-6 during the regular season, the Jax 6-10; The Bandits were 7-2 at home during the regular season, the Jax 3-5 on the road.
On the other hand, this is a new season. Both teams are 2-0. Buffalo has scored 33 goals in wins over Philly and New York while Portland has scored 34 goals in upsets over San Jose and Calgary. READ MORE »
I know the script writers thought that a Calgary-Buffalo final would make a great story with Steve Dietrich, Kyle Couling, and coach Troy Cordingly making their returns to the place where they played for so many years but Dan Dawson, Brodie Merrill and coach Derek Keenan had other plans. And why not? Dawson and Merrill are two of the NLL’s marquee players and even though its been over 15 years since he played there, Portland Coach Keenan started his NLL career as a Buffalo Bandit as well. Here are a few observations on Saturday’s games.
The Portland Lumberjax in the 2008 National Lacrosse League championship game? You would have seen long odds in Vegas not so long ago. Nevertheless, with their convincing victory over the Calgary Roughnecks at the Pengrowth Saddledome on Saturday night, the NLL final is exactly where the ‘Jax will find themselves this weekend.
Yet, if you ask Portland GM/Head Coach Derek Keenan if he thinks he’s living some sort of dream, his likely answer is hell no. I had a chance to chat with Jammer back in early March in Portland prior to their league game against Edmonton (which by the way they lost), and I never forgot what he told me. He said: “You know CH, in spite of how we’ve been doing to date, I really like our team”.
And as the Jax lumbered forward in the season, he liked it enough to hang on to his Sting rental players despite a raft of questioning. He liked it enough to tweak his roster at the trade deadline by acquiring goalie Matt Disher. Now, he looks like a genius. Never mind the questions about next year. The future is clearly now and Portland has its chance to hang a banner at the Rose Garden. Just one more win.
I know last week is history but before I talk about the division finals I’ve got to go back to last week’s San Jose Portland game. I was shocked, along with the coaches of both teams, that the Lumberjax and Stealth abandoned defensive lacrosse in this playoff matchup. READ MORE »
Did not do all that bad in last week’s look at the first round. Tied my hombre Ty Pilson in his picks.
Think this weekend’s Division Finals offer some pretty interesting match-ups that will no doubt dictate how both those games go. After the jump, checkout how I see ‘em playin’ out, and more importantly, why. READ MORE »
Wherever it’s gonna be played, the National Lacrosse League Champion’s Cup game has got some TV love.
“The Score” will broadcast the title game on Saturday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m. for fans all across the lovely country of Canada. Details are still being worked out for a U.S. television deal, so stay tuned to catch that announcement. “We are thrilled to be back on The Score for our fans in Canada,” Commissioner Jim Jennings told NLL.com. “It’s a great network, and we’re pleased to air the championship game on a network that reaches across the country.” The winners of the Buffalo-New York and Calgary-Portland will play for the title on May 17, and the game will be played in either Buffalo or New York.
As for games this weekend, there doesn’t appear to be any television coverage. So plan on plugging into the B2 network. Or, if you’re gonna be on the road near Buffalo, you can catch the Bandits-Titans game on WGR (550-AM). Sirius also will have the game, on Ch. 161.
The lacrosse world is so huge that you could walk down a street in Cape Town, South Africa, see somebody wearing a lacrosse t-shirt and be able to strike up an immediate conversation with them. You can show up to any lacrosse game and talk with any fan and immediately bond with that person over just sheer love of the game.
But the best part about the game of lacrosse is everyone that is involved has a true passion for the game that goes beyond competition and the scoreboard.
With the 2008 National Lacrosse League division finals right around the corner, all the talk has been about “will the Bad-Ass Bandits punish the slick Titans O” and can the “High Flying ‘Necks continue their hot streak while containing the most lethal Offensive weapon left in the playoffs -Dangerous Dan Dawson?” Highly discussed water cooler topics for sure but, the one topic that has gone under the radar a bit has to do with one of our own here at NLLInsider.com.
Yeah I know we’ve got three games of playoff ball to go, but with summer lacrosse already a few weeks deep in most cities and a full slate of post Champion’s Cup coverage also on the docket, I wanted to find out what the boys thought this year’s top stories were now before getting too inundated with everything else.
I gave ‘em about 20 options and also let ‘em write in anything they felt was newsworthy this year, but am only gonna post their top ten responses, or else I’d be here all day.
Anyways guys, from ten to one after the jump, based on what story received the most votes, along with a quick blurb from yours truly in-case you forgot what happened. And definitely hit up the boards with your choices for this year’s top stories that rocked the NLL in 2008. These guys have taken a lotta shots to the dome this year, so maybe ya think they’re off on their picks a bit. READ MORE »
As the National Lacrosse League playoffs kicked off this past weekend, I sat by the the Le Pavillon Pool in New Orleans celebrating the 39th Annual Jazz and Heritage Festival. The Fest takes place at the Fair Grounds Race Course. We went Friday to catch Zigaboo Modeliste, John Butler Trio, Trombone Shorty and the first couple songs of Stevie Wonder.
Saturday and Sunday we opted for pool over fest to rest up for the nightly shows. This was my 8th time to Jazz Fest and it reminded me of a trip back in 2001.
In MLL’s inaugural year of 2001 … training camp started the weekend after the NLL Finals. On Friday night, we defeated the Toronto Rock at the ACC and proceeded to celebrate until my flight at 6 a.m. I was the volunteer assistant for the Loyola women and we had a huge game against Maryland Saturday afternoon. I got back to BWI and crashed in my car for a few hours before driving to College Park for the game at noon.
Three out of four ain’t bad.
That’s 75 percent, for those of you math-challenged like me. Not exactly enough to get you on the honor roll but an impressive feat when it comes to picking winners in National Lacrosse League games.
Especially this season. Especially in the playoffs. With the word parity getting more use this year when it came to describing the pro indoor game than an average NFL broadcast, it’s never been tougher to pick who will beat who on a given week.
Well, here we go again. The New York Titans will play the biggest game in franchise history yet again this Saturday night in Buffalo. The chance to win an Eastern Conference Championship in year two is something we are very proud of but everyone in the organization knows there is work to be done.
Buffalo is a great team that will have home field advantage with a loud HSBC crowd. The Titans have the utmost respect for the Bandits franchise and in no way do we plan on giving them any bulletin board material — I know I won’t in this article — which may be boring but that’s the way things should be.
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