Archive for the ‘The Ballers’ Category


Lacrosse Links: Corey Small enters IL’s FanZone

Edmonton fans –

Want to know more about your first-round pick out of St. Catherines, Ontario by way of Albany NY? Well here’s your chance, as Corey Small will be IL’s guest in the FanZone this month. Fire your questions his way, and the best will be featured in a future edition of Inside Lacrosse Magazine (and most will be answered and posted over on InsideLacrosse.com.


Canadians turning to fitness and no longer just relying on skill

canadians-turning-to-fitness-and-no-longer-just-relying-on-skill

It seems like the day of the big, slow lacrosse player who shows up to camp to get in shape is over!

With the new fast paced brand of lax being played today more and more kids are buying into fitness and healthy living all year.

Being the co-owner of Crossfit Vancouver Island in Victoria I see this everyday. With so many opportunities available for Canadian laxers I think kids are realizing that hard work and dedication will really take them where they want to go. READ MORE »


Bonus Lacrosse Links: Jamieson wearing No. 22 at Syracuse this fall

IL has learned an interesting tidbit coming out of Syracuse today, as SID Mike Morrison confirmed the Six Nations star Cody Jamieson is wearing the famed No. 22 for the fall. The number, which has been an symbolic gesture towards the top offensive player for the Orange – from Dan Hardy a year ago through the Powell Brothers and back to Gary Gait in 1988, is not officially given until spring, Morrison says, but is Jamieson’s for the time being.


NLL Insider 20Q: Mike Hominuck

Toronto Rock and Brampton Excelsiors forward, Mike Hominuck
Toronto Rock and Brampton Excelsiors forward, Mike Hominuck

Mike Hominuck is one of the most wanted men in lacrosse.

Seriously.

Entering his seventh year in the National Lacrosse League come 2010, Hominuck will find himself on his fifth pro roster after getting picked up by the Toronto Rock earlier this off-season, but considered more than just your everyday, typical journeyman.

The former Minto (St. Catharines Athletics ‘01) and Mann Cup (Brampton Excelsiors ‘08) winner has been a regular 50-point scorer over his pro career, giving O depth to a Rock roster that is in need of consistency up front.

After the jump, check out Hominuck in NLL Insider’s 20Q, including video evidence of Mike’s favorite tilt. READ MORE »


NLL Insider 20Q: Rob Van Beek

Philadelphia Wings and Langley Thunder two-way baller, Rob Van Beek
Philadelphia Wings and Langley Thunder two-way baller, Rob Van Beek

During the NLL Insider 20Q’s so far this summer, we’ve been trying to get in touch with guys that are not only currently in the NLL (although, got a big name non NLLer potentially on deck that defintiely deserves some ink), but are having a big impact on games over the past couple months too.

One ball player that definitely fits the bill is Philadelphia Wings and Langley Thunder tranny stud, Rob Van Beek, who’s been a real sparkplug for a young and exciting Thunder team that have been grabbing headlines all summer.

Find out what UFC champ Van Beek, who helped ignite a near riot last week against the New Westminster Salmonbellies when he hit an out of the crease Matt Roik, thinks might look good on the boxla court, and what easy to make fave he wants in his belly before game time. READ MORE »


NLL Insider 20Q: Matt Leveque

Colorado and Langley defender Matt Leveque
Colorado and Langley defender Matt Leveque

During a season of inconsistency, mass injuries and post-season uncertainty in Colorado (all three closely connected to one another during ‘09), the Mammoth’s usually under-hyped but always performing defender, Matt Leveque, churned out another gritty, intense and aggresive NLL season, that gives the Mammoth one of the best under-25 pure defenders in the game today.

Although Leveque’s summer has been sidelined after going under the knife to fix a damaged wing (shoulder surgery), the former Surrey Stickmen stud is also part of a Langley Thunder team that currently sports some of the best up-and-coming soon-to-be pro talent in the country. The surging Thunder finished just behind league leaders Victoria and New West this year, greatly improving on last year’s last place showing in the WLA.

In this week’s NLL Insider 20Q, check out what the recouping Mammoth and Thunder defender has to say, and what patent pending move he has on the horizon. READ MORE »


NLL Insider 20Q: Ryan Benesch

Minnesota Swarm and K-W Kodiaks forward Ryan Benesch.
Minnesota Swarm and K-W Kodiaks forward Ryan Benesch.

In last week’s biggest post-dispersal swap, former National Lacrosse League rookie of the year, Ryan Benesch, was moved to the Minnesota Swarm, reunited with K-W Braves alum like Aaron Wilson, Nick Inch, Sean Pollock and Andrew Watt, Inch and Watt two guys Benesch spent most of his Jr. A career with.

Benesch is currently lighting it up in the summer loop in Canada, sitting fourth in MSL scoring with the K-W Kodiaks with 69-points, also throwing down an insane 45-points in just six starts for the defending Presidents Cup champs, the Owen Sound Woodsmen.

This week we check in with the Swarm’s newest forward in our NLL Insider 20Q session, where Benny chats about where he sees his former Toronto Rock heading, who was a difference maker during his career and yes, more fight vids included. READ MORE »


NLL Insider 20Q: Lewis Ratcliff

Toronto Rock and Victoria Shamrocks forward Lewis Ratcliff.
Toronto Rock and Victoria Shamrocks forward Lewis Ratcliff.

Toronto Rock forward Lewis Ratcliff is currently running a fat (and yeah, phat would also apply) 21-point lead in the WLA’s scoring race, playing for the league leading Victoria Shamrocks as they look to return to the Mann Cup after a two year absence from the big show.

Ratcliff’s 151 combined points, and counting, during the winter and summer loop’s regular seasons rank him as one of the highest scoring snipers in the game today, scoring nine points in a single game four times for the Shamrocks since early June. His four game winning snipes also lead the league.

This week, like we did with Boston Blazers’ defender Paul Dawson, we fired off the same 20 questions at the former Champion’s Cup and Mann Cup winner, ranging from lax to food to why vid replay wasn’t always his best friend this past winter. His answers, after the jump. READ MORE »


NLL Insider 20Q: Paul Dawson

Boston Blazers and Brampton Excelsiors defender Paul Dawson.
Boston Blazers and Brampton Excelsiors defender Paul Dawson.

One of the best quick reads in any issue of Inside Lacrosse is always Jon Brand’s Shooting from the Hip segment, where Brand fires off a handful of quickie questions at college ball players, and well, they answer them.

Trust us, it’s always a good read and one of the first pages we flick to when a new rag hits the mailbox.

We’re gonna run the same game this summer with our new NLL Insider 20Q segment, where we rifle off the same 20 questions at guys, and let you know exactly what they think on lacrosse related stuff, some personal and some game-wide.

So, after the the jump, check out the questions we threw at Boston Blazers and Brampton Excelsiors defender, Paul Dawson, and see what bounced back. Pretty good fight vid in there too, for the few that like that kinda stuff. READ MORE »


Canadian and Iroquios Players in the NCAA: Final Four Check-In

Jason Donville, a coach with the Edge Ontario program and one of the folks responsible for bringing an MLL franchise to Toronto for 2009, has been keeping track of the Canadian presence in the field game so far this season, and will be filing regular dispatches on how our friends from up north are doing in ‘09.

The next week will arguably be one of the most exciting of the year for fans of field lacrosse in Canada. This excitement stems from three factors. First, the NCAA Championships will be played next weekend in Boston and three of the four finalist teams have Canadian and Iroquois players in their line-ups. Second, the Toronto Nationals of the MLL which feature many former NCAA stars will play their first home game at BMO Field this Friday after opening with a win in Washington against the Bayhawks over the weekend. Finally, lacrosse fans in Southern Ontario will be trying to keep track of the NCAA and MLL action while attending a very busy provincial championships weekend in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). READ MORE »