Lacrosse memories: 2012

One of the advantages to having a personal lacrosse blog is that I can write an article about myself. It's rare, but here's one of them.

It's standard at the end of a year to go over the year and think about special things that happened during the previous 12 months. I had a few, the best of which were my wife's graduation from teacher's college and the birth of my niece Elizabeth. But this is a lacrosse blog, so let's take a look at some of my more memorable lacrosse-related events from 2012.

January 16: My first article for IL Indoor was published. It was very exciting to see my name on an article on that site, which I've been reading since it was NLL Insider. IL Indoor has a +/- voting system on each article, and this article has a +4 rating with 14 votes. After crunching the numbers (half the difference is the number of down-votes), we find that nine people read the article and then clicked while five people clicked . To the nine: thanks! To the five: Sorry to disappoint, and hopefully you felt that things improved throughout the season. Note that I have no idea how many people read the article without clicking anything but I would guess that it's the vast majority.

February 24: My first interview, done over email with Teddy Jenner, is published. With apologies to Delta Airlines, Teddy loves to talk lacrosse, and it shows.

February 26: The All-Star Game in Buffalo. This was my second NLL All-Star game (I was also at the one in Toronto in 2006), and despite the fact that it wasn't a "normal" lacrosse game (almost no penalties, very little defense, pretty much no hitting), I enjoyed it.

April 27: My interview with future NLL Hall of Famer Steve Toll is published. This was my first "real" interview as it was done over the phone, and not over email like Teddy's.

September 7: I attended Game 1 of the Mann Cup. The Langley Thunder defeated the Peterborough Lakers 13-12 in a bit of a surprising game. I don't really follow the MLS or WLA that closely, but everything I'd read said "Lakers in a cakewalk". That first game (and the second game which Langley also won) proved them wrong. The Lakers did win the next four to win it all, but it wasn't as easy as many said it would be. We were sitting only a couple of rows back from the glass, in the row behind John Grant's sister and her family. At one point, someone (not Grant) tried an over-the-shoulder shot but missed the net. I said "Who do you think you are, John Grant?". She smiled.

October 1: The NLL Entry Draft. This was my first time at an NLL event that wasn't a game, and I found it fascinating to see bits of the "inner workings" of the league.

October 31: My only non-Moneyballers article on IL Indoor was published, a story about Calgary's Scott Ranger and how he deals with Type 1 diabetes. I'm very proud of this article, which received 43 votes, 41 of which were 's.

December 18: The Toronto Rock's first-ever town hall meeting. Checking out the Rock dressing room at the new Toronto Rock Athletic Complex was very cool. I also asked a question which both Colin Doyle and Garrett Billings answered.

2013 NLL Predictions

As a lacrosse blogger, it is my solemn duty to post my predictions for all the major NLL awards. It's a responsibility that I take seriously, and so after at least 45 seconds of consideration per award, here are my choices.

Final standings

East

1. Rochester Knighthawks
2. Toronto Rock
3. Buffalo Bandits
4. Philadelphia Wings

West

1. Calgary Roughnecks
2. Minnesota Swarm
3. Colorado Mammoth
4. Washington Stealth
5. Edmonton Rush

 

Individual Awards

MVP: Dan Dawson. Runner-up: Garrett Billings

Goaltender of the Year: Anthony Cosmo. Runner-up: Aaron Bold

Defensive Player of the Year: Kyle Rubisch. Runner-up: Paul Dawson

Transition Player of the Year: Jordan MacIntosh. Runner-up: Paul Rabil. Yes, Rabil.

Rookie of the Year: Mark Matthews. Runner-up: Kiel Matisz

Les Bartley (Coach of the Year): Troy Cordingley. Runner-up: Joe Sullivan

GM of the Year: Curt Styres. Runner-up: Steve Dietrich

Presenting your 2013 Boston Blazers

One of my earliest articles on this blog was a list of players that would be playing in the NLL had the Blazers not folded. This list came from players who I thought were good enough to play in the NLL but were not on NLL rosters. Just like last year, this year's list includes players who were cut or appear on practice squads, but not those who are injured, are on holdout lists, or have retired.

Forwards

Alex Gajic
Derek Hopcroft
Cam Sedgwick - Oops, retired
Brett Hickey
Jamie Shewchuk
Brendan Thenhaus (interestingly, appeared on last year's list too before being picked up by the Rock)
Roger Vyse
Jeff Zywicki

Transition

Tom Montour

Defenders

Brendan Doran
Travis Hill
Ian Llord
Eric Martin
Kevin Ross

Goalies

Angus Goodleaf
Chris Seidel

NLL 2013 team previews in haiku

A list of my 2013 season previews of each team in haiku forum, along with links to the longer form for each.

Buffalo Bandits

Many new Bandits
Chugger's been a busy guy
JT's still here, natch

Philadelphia Wings

Rabil, no Dawsons
Transition – or midfielders?
This is box, not field

Rochester Knighthawks

Few changes, but big
With Powell and the Dawsons
The champs have improved

Toronto Rock

Who will protect us?
Pat Campbell retired, but
Scott Evans is here

Calgary Roughnecks

Dave Pym, Kaleb Toth
Both gone, but no one can get
Through the Poulin Wall

Colorado Mammoth

Grant is the leader
Last year was record-setting
Only one Gajic left

Edmonton Rush

Lost Williams, Wilson
But wait, help is on the way
Matthews is the man

Minnesota Swarm

Surprisingly good
Rookies did the job last year
Still getting better

Washington Stealth

Zywicki, Bloom: gone
Lots of rookies join the team
Return to glory?

2013 Preview: Toronto Rock

The 2012 season was a transition year for the Rock, as the first year of the post-Bob Watson era. As transition years go, finishing first in the East is probably a better result than fans had a right to expect. As the only East team that finished above .500 however, perhaps the Rock capitalized on weak years from the other East teams.

As it turned out, the Matt Roik era lasted just over 1/2 a season. I thought they gave up on Roik a little too quick, but I have to say I've been impressed with Nick Rose thus far. I've talked to a number of Rock fans who are concerned with the goalie situation for some reason, but Rose went 6-2 in a Rock uniform. The fact that Rose was both Goaltender of the Year and league MVP in the WLA this past summer may hopefully convince skeptical Rock fans that finding a "real" #1 goaltender is a problem that the Rock don't really have.

Roster changes

A number of changes here and there but the core is the same. Gone are Glen Bryan and Bruce Codd, as well as backup goalie Pat Campbell. Former Bandits captain Chris White joins the defense and rookie Kyle Belton, who played forward during the Edmonton scrimmage and scored three goals, is listed as a defender. Zac Boychuk looks like the backup goaltender, and if you're a Rock fan but not a WLA fan, you may be interested to know that the first-team and second-team WLA All Star goalies in 2012 were none other than Nick Rose and Zac Boychuk.

On the offense, Jamie Rooney was sent to the Bandits along with Bryan for draft picks. I liked Rooney – I thought he was a dynamic scorer and a welcome addition to the Toronto offense. The Rock also traded Aaron Pascas, who had a pretty good rookie season in 2011 but did not play in 2012. Dan Carey finally had to give into the concussion problems he's been facing for several years and retire. It's always unfortunate when a player has to end his career early because of injuries.

Shortly before training camp began, the Rock picked up Scott Evans, who was tossed onto the scrap heap by the Edmonton Rush after they benched him at the end of last season and throughout the playoffs. The message was clear – smarten up and don't play selfish or you don't play at all. Evans apparently didn't get the message and showed up to camp out of shape. I did think at the end of last year that the Rock needed more grit and toughness which Evans can provide in spades, but I'm still not sure about this signing. If Evans does smarten up and provides some offense (and doesn't expect to be the #1 forward – he'll be #6 at best), it might be OK. But if he's contributing two points and six penalty minutes per game, he's not worth it. I'd keep Evans on a short leash. That said, he did score four goals in the Rock's pre-season game in Montreal.

There's been no word on the status of Phil Sanderson, who missed six games last season due to a concussion. There were rumours that his injury was career threatening though the Rock said back in November that he's "expected to be ready for camp". He did not play during the scrimmages with Edmonton or Rochester, and begins the season on the IR.

Burning question

My burning question for the Rock concerns Nick Rose, but it's not "Can Rose be the guy?" because I believe he can. Rock fans were lucky to have seen Bob Watson, possibly the best box lacrosse goalie ever, for so many years. The problem is that they got used to having him back there and now any goalie that plays for the Rock is compared to him. Having a goalie that's not as good as Whipper isn't a glaring weakness, it just puts the Rock on a par with other teams. The burning question: will Rock fans come to realize this and get behind Rosey?

Prediction

Second in the east.

Haiku

Who will protect us?
Pat Campbell retired, but
Scott Evans is here

2013 Preview: Rochester Knighthawks

The Knighthawks won the NLL Championship in 2012, so obviously they don't need major changes to their team in 2013, right? Well, what if they add two of the last four NLL MVPs? Have they just made a very good team better, or have they messed too much with the chemistry of a team that was already successful?

Rochester did win the title in 2012, but that doesn't mean they were the best team. Remember that the Knighthawks finished the regular season 3rd in the East with a 7-9 record, and only won two games in a row once during the regular season. I suppose they did win three in a row when it counted – in the playoffs – but they were not nearly as dominant a team as, say, the Knighthawks team that won the 2007 championship.

Roster changes

Similar to my Philadelphia report, I had this section all done, saying that other than Powell and Rabil, the Knighthawks haven't made all that many changes. Then they made the Rabil deal and that all changed. On offense, they're adding Casey Powell and Dan Dawson and losing… nobody. On transition, they added Joel McCready, but lost Jarrett Davis in the first Rabil trade and Jordan Hall, Joel White, and Robbie Campbell in the second. On the defense, Pat McCready retired but Paul Dawson replaces him. Goaltending, Vinc and Henhawk, is unchanged from last year.

Burning question

Take a decent team and add Casey Powell or Dan Dawson and they'll be better. That's almost a given. But what happens when you add both? In addition, the Knighthawks were better than decent, and already had a legitimate number one scorer in Cody Jamieson.

By taking a good team and adding (or attempting to add) two superstars, Curt Styres may have been trying to re-create the "Shaq-Kobe" Lakers or "LeBron-Wade-Bosh" Heat. But the Boston Blazers had "the Big Three", including both Powell and Dawson, and did not bring a championship to Boston. In fact, they never even won a playoff game. My burning question for the Knighthawks is whether Cody Jamieson is still the offensive leader of the team, or does he step back for Dawson?

Prediction

Not sure how I can predict anything other than first in the East for the Hawks.

Haiku

Few changes, but big
With Powell and the Dawsons
The champs have improved

2013 Preview: Philadelphia Wings

Over the first sixteen years of the Philadelphia Wings' existence, they missed the playoffs only once, and won five championships. But in the ten years since then, they have only made the playoffs twice, and lost both games. The Wings are no longer top of the heap when it comes to attendance – they haven't had over 12,000 at a game since 2007. The long-suffering Wings fans have been thinking "Finally, this will be our year!" for almost ten years, only to be disappointed yet again. Keep that up for three more decades, Wings fans, and you'll get a taste of what it's like to be a Toronto Maple Leafs fan.

In 2012, things started to look like they might be turning around for the Wings. In fact, two thirds of the way through the season, things were looking really good. They were 7-4, in first place in the East, and had beaten the Rock and Bandits twice each. Kevin Crowley was having an excellent rookie season and Dan Dawson was right near the top of the scoring race. And then things fell apart. They lost their last five games and only made the playoffs by virtue of the NLL's generous playoff format (as someone put it on the Wingszone message boards: "72 games to eliminate 1 team followed by 7 games to eliminate 7 teams") before being dispatched by the Knighthawks.

As I mentioned in my 2012 post-season report, "The decade-long rebuild of the Wings continues."

Roster changes

I wrote most of this section a while ago and had it all ready to go, saying that the Wings hadn't made many big changes. Then they went and made one of the biggest trades in NLL history. Gone are the Dawson brothers, in are a whole bunch of transition players. The day of the trade, the Wings had 8 forwards listed, one of whom was Dan Dawson, and 3 transition players. But Chris Schiller was listed as D, and he's arguably another tranny. Add the four acquired from Rochester (Rabil, Hall, White, Campbell), and we have 7 forwards and 8 transition players.

I'm not sure how the Wings expect to make up the offense they've lost. They brought in Kevin Ross, who will certainly help. Rabil will probably score more than your average transition player, but he won't make up for Dan Dawson. They traded Mike Hominuck and acquired Kevin Buchanan – call that a wash unless Buchanan reverts to his Boston / Minnesota form – his point total dropped by half last season. Add to that the fact that Brendan Mundorf will likely miss most of the season, and the Wings are down 133 points from last season.

Now, maybe Drew Westervelt will have a breakout season and score 90 points. Maybe Crowley will see the departure of Dawson as his opportunity to lead the offense and he'll score 90. Maybe Ned Crotty and Rabil will finally take to the box game and they'll score 50 each. OK, that last one may be a bit more of a stretch but either of the first two is possible. Remember how the Roughnecks were going to suck once they traded Kelusky and Sanderson away?

On the D, the Wings traded Paul Dawson and David Brock and lost Tom Hajek to retirement, and replaced them with… nobody. They had a few transition guys like Brodie Merrill, Max Seibald, and Chris Schiller; they traded for Kyle Hartzell; and they just got four more. Most of those guys will likely spend time on the defense as well, so it's not like they have nobody to play back there.

Backup goalie Kurtis Wagar signed with the Bandits, leaving the Wings with Brandon Miller and Kevin Croswell. Miller was a workhorse last year, with only 3 goalies in the league playing more minutes, but didn't have a great year, finishing 13th in GAA and 12th in save percentage.

Burning question

Will the Wings' obsession with American field players finally pay off?

Prediction

Nope. Fourth in the east.

Haiku

Rabil, no Dawsons
Transition – or midfielders?
This is box, not field

2013 Preview: Buffalo Bandits

The 2012 season started off just fine for the Buffalo Bandits. They hosted the rival Toronto Rock and beat them 14-10. The next week they travelled to Rochester and beat their other rivals 12-9. Then the troubles started. Five weeks later, they were 2-6 and their coach was calling them stupid, a bunch of bush leaguers, and questioning their heart. This was a lack of success with which the Bandits organization was unfamiliar, at least lately. The Bandits hadn't finished below .500 since 1999, and finished first or tied for first in the East in four of the previous six seasons.

Still, after all the drama they went 5-3 in the second half and ended up tied for second in the East (dropped to fourth due to tiebreakers). Anthony Cosmo allowed a mere 7 Toronto goals in the division semi-final, but Nick Rose only allowed 6, ending what was not likely Darris Kilgour's favourite NLL season. After the season, I predicted "There will be lots of changes coming for the Bandits this offseason" and lo and behold, I was right. Not that this was a particularly Earth-shattering prediction.

Roster changes

Steve Dietrich has only had the Bandits GM job since July but he's been one of the busiest GMs in the league since then. Gone are Kevin Buchanan and Jeremy Thompson (both traded), Darryl Gibson and Mike Thompson (both retired), Brandon Francis, Travis Irving, Tom Montour, Ian Llord, Angus Goodleaf, and Roger Vyse (released), and former captain Chris White (signed with Toronto). A whole pile of new faces will don the orange and black in 2013, many of whom, strangely, are former Toronto Rock players. This list includes former Bandit (and Rock) Shawn Williams, Aaron Wilson, Jamie Rooney, Mike Hominuck, Glen Bryan, and Derek Suddons. Even Dietrich himself was the backup goalie in Toronto for one season, and goalie coach for one more. There are a few non-former-Rock additions as well: David Brock, Nick Cotter, and Kurtis Wagar.

There are also three rookies on the Bandits roster. Last year the Bandits had two Thompsons, this year they have three Smiths – all defenders. Billy Dee returns for his tenth season in a Bandits uniform, and his cousin Dhane was Buffalo's first draft pick (5th overall) in the entry draft. Hayden was Buffalo's second round pick, 13th overall, and is not related to the other two Smiths. The other rookie is Carter Bender, a forward who was taken 18th overall in the draft.

But even given the number of new faces on the team this year, some things never change: John Tavares, who has never played for the Rock (nor any NLL team other than Buffalo), returns for his eleventy-millionth season.

Burning question

Darris Kilgour the GM is gone but Darris Kilgour the head coach remains. Did the Bandits keep the right one?

Prediction

Third in the east because half the team is new, and it will take time for them all to gel together. But if they do that quickly and the Powell/Dawson/Jamieson experiment doesn't work out, the Bandits could win the east.

Haiku

Many new Bandits
Chugger's been a busy guy
JT's still here, natch

2013 Preview: Washington Stealth

After winning the Championship in 2010 and going to the finals again in 2011, the Stealth finished dead last in 2012, the only team out of the playoffs. Safe to say that nobody saw that coming. Head coach Chris Hall missed about six games at the beginning of the season but when he returned, nothing changed. Jeff Zywicki missed five games in February but when he returned, nothing changed. Tyler Richards missed three games in February and March but when he returned, nothing changed. The offense was struggling and they traded Paul Rabil for Athan Iannucci, but nothing changed. Things seemed to be turning around in March, when they beat Toronto, split a home-and-home with Colorado, then after losing to the Rush they scored 20 against the Swarm. I started to wonder if maybe the Stealth would gain some momentum at the end of the season and even if they didn't make the playoffs, go out with a bang. But the bang turned to a whimper as they lost their last four.

Roster changes

I said in my west division wrap-up last year that "it wouldn't surprise me if the 2013 Stealth isn't significantly different from the 2012 Stealth" which is a confusingly-worded way of saying that I didn't expect any huge changes. But I didn't expect them to do almost nothing. Cam Sedgwick and former captain Jason Bloom both retired and joined the coaching staff, and Kyle Hartzell was traded to Philadelphia. That's it. Veteran Jeff Zywicki was also cut during training camp, but he's been battling injury problems for a couple of years; he missed a bunch of games last year and most of 2011.

Burning question

This team isn't really as bad as they looked last year, are they?

Prediction

No. I think they can battle Colorado for the middle of the pack in the west, but they won't catch the Swarm or Roughnecks. Fourth in the west.

Haiku

Zywicki, Bloom: gone
Lots of rookies join the team
Return to glory?

2013 Preview: Minnesota Swarm

I don't think it's a stretch to say that the 2012 Swarm season went beyond any but the most optimistic expectations. I picked them to finish last in the West last year (as did others), but a third-place prediction wouldn't have been completely crazy. But third best offense in the league? Two rookie goaltenders, one of whom ends up with the best GAA and save percentage in the league? Third best defense in the league? Taking out the mighty Colorado Mammoth in the playoffs? Did not see that coming.

Roster changes

I was going to describe the roster changes as "nothing huge", but Richard Morgan is huge. He's off to Colorado, Kevin Ross to Philly, and Brendan Doran to Buffalo. But the most important changes aren't who's gone, but who's arriving. The Swarm had the number 2, 3, and 4 picks in the draft, and all three are expected to be on the floor (at some point – Brock Sorensen starts the year on the IR) for Minnesota this year. Sorensen, one of the most coveted players in the draft, is a big defender, Kiel Matisz (I believe that's pronounced like "Kyle muh-TEES" – pronunciation is important to me) is a big forward, and Shayne Jackson is not a big forward – at 5'9" he's eight inches shorter than Matisz or Sorensen – but if you send your big Rich Morgan-type defenders out to cover Matisz, Jackson will just run between their legs.

I wonder if now that teams have had a full season's look at Evan Kirk, some might have figured him out, at least to some extent. Is he headed for the dreaded sophomore slump? Maybe, but having Tyler Carlson as a #1a goaltender makes that less critical. If they both struggle the Swarm may have trouble, but they have both shown they can start in the NLL. It's hard to predict that Kirk will have a better season than 2012 (best GAA and best save % among goalies with >150 minutes), but even a small drop would still leave Minnesota with possibly the best goalie combo in the league – if Kirk's GAA was 15% higher than it was, he'd still be in the top 5.

Burning question

Did the 2012 Swarm overachieve, or are they really that good?

Prediction

I think they are. And if their new crop of rookies perform as well as last year's crop, 2012 might have been the first of a number of great seasons for the Swarm. Second in the west.

Haiku

Surprisingly good
Rookies did the job last year
Still getting better

2013 Preview: Edmonton Rush

At the end of the 2012 regular season, the Rush were the least likely team to make the finals (other than the Stealth). Despite a strong second half of the season, they were 6-10, had lost two in a row, and faced the 12-4 Calgary Roughnecks in the first round. But the Rush found a way to not only pull off a win against the Riggers, but they did it convincingly, winning 19-11. The next game was even more convincing, a 15-3 drubbing of the Minnesota Swarm which put them in the Championship game for the first time in franchise history. The final game started off looking like it would be more of the same for the Rush, as they led the Knighthawks 5-1 at halftime. But the 'Hawks scored 8 of the last 9 goals, including 7 in a row, to pull off the comeback. The Rush got farther into the playoffs than they ever had before but I imagine they are still disappointed with the result.

Only one team gave up fewer goals than the Rush in 2012, but nobody scored fewer. Their top two scorers, Shawn Williams and Ryan Ward, were 16th and 28th in the league respectively.

Roster changes

So if your team is struggling offensively but sparkles defensively, what do you do? I know! Trade your top scorer and another veteran scorer who had an off year and bring in transition guys! Sounds dumb, right? Well, maybe not. Yes, losing Williams will hurt, but Wilson wasn't the offensive threat they expected him to be. Wilson scored just over half the points he had in Minnesota in 2011 and just over a third of what he had in 2010. Scott Evans was also released, though he missed the last few games of the season and the playoffs anyway. But they did get Cory Conway from Calgary, so that will replace some of the offense.

And then there's Mark Matthews.

The hype around this guy is unreal, and it seems that some people are expecting Matthews to look like John Grant right out of the gate. Obviously that's a bit unrealistic, but 60+ points is almost expected, and an Adam Jones / Kevin Crowley-type rookie season (75+ points) would not be out of the question. The Rush have also added Alex Turner, who didn't play last year but picked up 39 points for the Wings in 2011, and rookie Curtis Knight (along with Matthews) has previously played for Rush GM and head coach Derek Keenan in his role as coach of the Whitby Warriors.

The Rush lost Derek Suddons (traded) and Steve Toll (CLax) but gained Jarrett Davis and Jeremy Thompson so defense and transition still look good, and Aaron Bold and Brodie MacDonald form one of the better goalie tandems in the NLL, so no problems on that end.

The loss of Paul Rabil means nothing, since neither he nor the guy he replaced, Athan Iannucci, played a single game for the Rush last year.

Burning questions

Should we just give Mark Matthews the Rookie of the Year award now?

Also, will the Rush come back down to Earth after their rise to the Championship game, or did their strong play in the 2012 playoffs give them the confidence the team has lacked for years?

Prediction

By the numbers, Conway + Matthews could offset Williams + Wilson + 3/4 of Evans. But trying to set your offense up to be better than that of the 2012 Rush is not that lofty a goal. As good a goal-scorer as Shawn Williams is, he's one of the best passers in the history of the league. Can Matthews or Conway or anyone else step up and be that guy?

I'm just not sure about the Rush. Anywhere from first to fifth in the west is possible, but my uncertainty keeps pushing them down. Calgary will be great, Minnesota and Colorado really good, and I don't think Washington is as bad as last year make them look, which leaves Edmonton. I don't really see them as a last-place team but someone has to finish last, and I'm just less unsure about the other teams. I'm going to have to say fifth in the west.

Haiku

Lost Williams, Wilson
But wait, help is on the way
Matthews is the man

2013 Preview: Colorado Mammoth

The 2012 Colorado Mammoth season may be one of the biggest turnarounds in recent memory. It isn't a "worst-to-first" story, since they weren't in last in 2011 nor were they in first in 2012. But going from a .313 season to a .688 season in one year is pretty impressive. Of course, John Grant having one of the best offensive seasons ever will help, as will rookies scoring 76 (Jones) and 46 (Lincoln) points. Just how good would this team have been if Mac Allen had played more than 3 games?

Roster changes

No huge trades for the Mammoth. They acquired Richard Morgan from the Swarm and signed free agents Chet Koneczny and Matt Roik. They did trade Derek Hopcroft, who has a very promising rookie season, to the Bandits though he didn't actually make the team. Oddly, just as they get Joel Dalgarno back after he missed 2012 entirely due to firefighter training, they will lose Ian Hawksbee for 2013 for the same reason. Transition guy Jed Prossner retired, Scott Stewart was signed by Buffalo, and both John Orsen and Jarett Park begin the season on the PUP list.

Two surprising cuts during training camp were forwards Jamie Shewchuk, acquired from the Swarm mid-season last year, and Alex Gajic.

Burning question

Is this John Grant guy for real? I mean really, one pretty decent season and people are all "best player ever"…

Prediction

Third in the west.

Haiku

Grant is the leader
Last year was record-setting
Only one Gajic left

2013 Preview: Calgary Roughnecks

The Roughnecks will have almost exactly the same team team in 2013 as they had in 2012, when they led the league during the regular season but flamed out (Ha! Calgary joke) in the playoffs. One of the few changes they did make was to fire head coach Dave Pym after three successful regular seasons (finishing second in the West once and first twice) but a total of one playoff win. Pym is now a western scout for the Rock (although strangely, has retained his "RiggerCoach" twitter handle); obviously the Philadelphia Wings missed my article saying that he'd be a good fit there. At least this way, Pym didn't have to move from Alberta.

So Curt Malawsky will shuffle down the bench to become the head coach of the Roughnecks after being an assistant coach (under Pym) for three years. Malawsky ran the offense and will likely continue that role, while former Roughneck Bruce Codd, who played for the Rock last year, has retired to become the defensive coach.

Roster changes

On the floor, the biggest changes are the addition of Aaron Pascas from the Rock, the departure of Cory Conway to the Rush, and the retirement of veteran Kaleb Toth. Toth scored 50 or more points in nine of the previous ten seasons, and only missed seven games (playing 179) in his entire career before 2012. But he was frustrated by injuries last year and picked up only 8 points in 7 games. Toth is well-respected throughout the league, particularly in Calgary, but will always be remembered by Rock fans as the kid who scored The Goal, the last goal ever scored at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Pascas only has one year under his belt, while Conway has played 5 seasons, averaging twice the points per game that Pascas picked up back in 2011, so this is a bit of a drop in production. But if any team can handle a bit of a production drop it's Calgary – only the Mammoth outscored Calgary last season, and they only outscored them by one.

Burning question

Was Dave Pym the problem? Or will the Roughnecks continue their ongoing San Jose Sharks impression of kicking butt in the regular season and underachieving in the playoffs?

Prediction

The current NLL record for most consecutive seasons with 10+ wins is held by both Toronto and Buffalo with five. 2012 was Calgary's fourth in a row, and I don't see any reason why they can't tie the record in 2013. Their offense is outstanding, defense is great, and Mike Poulin is the reigning goalie of the year. First in the west.

Haiku

Dave Pym, Kaleb Toth
Both gone, but no one can get
Through the Poulin Wall

Toronto Rock town hall meeting

On December 18, the Toronto Rock held their first-ever town hall meeting, where season ticket holders were invited to come to the new Toronto Rock Athletic Complex in Oakville and ask questions about the facility, the franchise, or the team itself (or some other team, as you'll read later) and have them answered by Rock executives and players. This was a great way for the fans to feel more connected to the team and more importantly, listened to by the team. Of course, not every suggestion will lead directly to a change, but owner Jamie Dawick seemed very sincere in his desire to hear what the fans have to say. That was, after all, the whole point of the meeting. All the top brass were there – Dawick, GM Terry Sanderson, Head Coach Troy Cordingley, and players Colin Doyle, Nick Rose, and Garrett Billings.

I attended this meeting and even brought a notepad with me, but for some reason I didn't think to write down the questions and answers as they were asked, so I'm going by memory here. To readers who were also there, please feel free to leave a comment on this article if I've missed something or you remember something differently than I do.

As we walked in the door, we were directed into the Rock dressing room, where all the players' equipment and jerseys were neatly laid out:

I tried to figure out what order the players were listed in but couldn't – it wasn't alphabetic, it wasn't by jersey number, it wasn't by length of time with the team. The goalies were all together in one corner, and each goalie locker was twice the width of the regular ones. Here are a couple of pictures to illustrate the difference in size between Colin Doyle's locker and that of goalie Tyler Glebe:

After perusing the dressing room, we made our way onto the practice floor. There was a table set up for distributing season tickets, and another selling Rock merchandise. In the middle of the floor, there was a stage and chairs set up, and shortly after 7:00pm, they got things started.

Dawick talked for a little while, just explaining the purpose of the town hall. He talked, almost bragged (justifiably!) about the new practice facility and how it was the new home of the Rock – not only where the team practices and trains (the gym overlooks the floor and is run by Sean Holmes, the Rock's trainer), but it's also the company headquarters. Colin Doyle piped up at this point to echo Jamie's comments about how this was a professional facility and the best he's seen anywhere. Rose and Billings also agreed and one of them (don't remember which) said that they were spoiled and almost felt sorry for members of other teams. Doyle finished this part by saying "It's way better than San Jose." 

Once Jamie finished talking, they opened the floor for questions for him. Most of the questions for Jamie involved things like advertising and taking advantage of the NHL lockout, the in-game experience, and games on TV. He mentioned that there is a potential ownership group in Montreal, though he didn't expand on that. He was asked about the anthem singers this past season and how all but one or two of them were terrible. I don't remember them being all that bad, except one which he did specifically mention. Without making excuses for Josie Dye, he said that they do have an audition process and don't just let anyone get up and sing, but singing in front of a handful of people in an audition is very different from singing it in front of 15,000 people at the ACC. That said, they have hired a full-time anthem singer for the upcoming season.

Jamie also said that there will be a TV deal with TSN/TSN2 this year, for ten games. He couldn't remember if it was 6 home 4 away or 5 of each, but this is great news. He said that getting on TV was very important to them, and getting national coverage is even better.

The next set of questions were aimed at Terry and Troy. They only got a few questions, none of which I can remember. This is why I'm a blogger and not a reporter.

The final group of questions were for the players. There was one about balancing your lacrosse career with your "regular" job. Colin Doyle is a teacher (though he admitted that he thinks of himself as a lacrosse player who also teaches, not the other way around) and both Billings and Rose work for the Rock.

There was one about how to get lacrosse into the schools, and Colin responded saying that they've had a program like this for years. A player or two will come to the school with sticks and balls for a class (which the school keeps), and then spends a period showing them the basic skills. Colin said he'd been told by a number of kids that it was the best gym class ever.

Another question, more of a comment, was aimed at Nick Rose, from a guy whose son is a midget lacrosse goalie. He mentioned a few tips that his son had received from his coaches, things like “Keep moving back and forth so shooters have nowhere to shoot”. I'm sure Nick, who has several years of NLL and WLA experience; is one of nine starting goaltenders in the highest-level indoor lacrosse league in the world; and was the WLA goaltender of the year and MVP this past summer, appreciated the goaltending advice.

Someone asked why we never see Rock forwards crashing the net and getting in close anymore, and Colin explained the pressure defense that most teams are using now. He said that Troy and Darris Kilgour basically invented it in Buffalo a few years ago and almost everyone uses it now. (He mentioned that Colorado and Philly do not but Rochester, Buffalo, Edmonton, and Calgary do.) Garrett said they’ve basically taken away the pick-and-roll and gave a specific example – something like “If Kasey Beirnes sets a pick for me in the middle and then tries to get inside for me to pass it to him, I know he’s going to get destroyed.” Troy, who won three championships in four years using this method, just said “Sorry.”

I even asked a question myself. The Knighthawks had a definite #1 offensive guy last year, and now they’ve added two superstar offensive players, possibly dropping Jamieson to #3. How might that affect team chemistry? I think I worded it badly, because in retrospect it kind of sounded like "How do you think the Knighthawks will do this year?" which is not what I meant at all. I should basically have asked "Is the concept of team chemistry a real thing, or by the time you get to the NLL level is that not really an issue?" Doyle didn't answer the second question directly (since I didn't ask it directly), but indirectly I'd have to take it as a "yes, it's a real thing". Doyle said that we saw something similar in Boston which didn’t work, but they definitely have to take the Knighthawks seriously because it might. Garrett Billings then chimed in and just said “I hope they tank.”

Thanks to Jamie, Terry, Troy, Nick, Garrett, and Colin (plus the Rock cheerleaders, Rock PR dude Mike Hancock, and the rest of the Rock staff involved) for creating this great event. I imagine this will be a once-a-year thing, though maybe they can hold another at the end of the season, so the fans can talk about what they liked and didn't like while it's still fresh in our minds. It could pay off for the Rock as well – maybe there'll be someone there who can give Terry some advice on being an effective GM.

NLL 2013 rosters: Who's in, who's out

Here is a complete list of the changes in rosters from the end of the 2012 season to the roster lists just announced. Players on the Holdout, Physically Unable to Perform (PUP), or Injured Reserve (IR) lists may be moved to the active roster before the season begins. Note that not all teams listed players on the PIP or IR lists so some may be missing.

Names for each list are in alphabetical order.

Buffalo Bandits

In: Carter Bender, David Brock, Glen Bryan, Nick Cotter, Steve Dietrich (GM), Mike Hominuck, Mike McNamara, Jamie Rooney, Dhane Smith, Hayden Smith, Derek Suddons, Kurtis Wagar, Shawn Williams, Aaron Wilson
Out: Kevin Buchanan, Brandon Francis, Darryl Gibson, Angus Goodleaf, Travis Irving, Darris Kilgour (GM), Ian Llord, Tom Montour, Jeremy Thompson, Mike Thompson, Roger Vyse, Chris White
IR: Jordan Critch, Mat Giles, Jamie Rooney
PUP: Jimmy Purves
Holdout: Joe Smith, Scott Stewart
Practice Squad: Kevin Brownell, Craig England, Derek Hopcroft

 

Philadelphia Wings

In: Kevin Buchanan, C.J. Costabile, Kevin Croswell, Ethan Farrell, Tom Hajek (defensive coach), Will Harrington, Kyle Hartzell, Jake Lazore, Mike Manley, Paul Rabil, Kevin Ross, Brian Tueber, Joel White, Chad Weiedmaier
Out: David Brock, Dan Dawson, Paul Dawson, Dan Deckelbaum, Steve Fryer, Tom Hajek (player), Mike Hominuck, Brendan Mundorf (injured), Jordan Sealock, Joe Smith, Kurtis Wagar
IR: Matt Alrich, Jordan Hall, Dan Hardy, Eric Hoffman, Steve Grossi
PUP: John McFadyen, Brendan Mundorf
Holdout:
Practice Squad:

 

Rochester Knighthawks

In: Dan Dawson, Paul Dawson, Matt Hummel, Joel McCready, Casey Powell
Out: Ryan Cousins (injured), Jarrett Davis, Jordan Hall, Travis Hill, Pat McCready, Tim O'Brien, Joel White
IR:
PUP: Ryan Cousins
Holdout: Kyle Laverty
Practice Squad: Ian Llord, Cody McLeod, Tom Montour

 

Toronto Rock

In: Kyle Belton, Zak Boychuk, Scott Evans, Rob Hellyer, Brandon Ivey, Cody Jacobs, Chris White
Out: Glen Bryan, Pat Campbell, Dan Carey, Bruce Codd, Steve Dietrich (goalie coach), Scott Johnston, Jamie Rooney, Brendan Thenhaus
IR: Mike Lum-Walker, Phil Sanderson
PUP:
Holdout:
Practice Squad:

 

Calgary Roughnecks

In: Bruce Codd (coach), Jackson Decker, Matthew Dinsdale, Curt Malawsky (head coach), Aaron Pascas, Joe Resetarits, Brad Richardson
Out: Cory Conway, Mike Kilby, Ryan McNish, Dave Pym (head coach), Kaleb Toth
IR:
PUP:
Holdout:
Practice Squad: Barclay Hickey, Darren Kinnear

 

Colorado Mammoth

In: Colton Clark, Joey Cupido, Joel Dalgarno (did not play in 2012), Chet Koneczny, Richard Morgan, Matt Roik
Out: Alex Gajic, Ian Hawksbee, Derek Hopcroft, Jed Prossner, Jamie Shewchuk, Scott Stewart
IR:
PUP: Tye Belanger, John Orsen, Jarett Park
Holdout:
Practice Squad: Alex Demopoulos

 

Edmonton Rush

In: Mitch Banister, Mike Burke, Cory Conway, Jarrett Davis, Curtis Knight, Mark Matthews, Jeremy Thompson, Alex Turner
Out: Scott Evans, Jesse Fehr, Eric Lewthwaite, Derek Suddons, Steve Toll, Shawn Williams, Aaron Wilson
IR:
PUP:
Holdout: Tyler Codron
Practice Squad: Dave Marrese

 

Minnesota Swarm

In: Matt Gibson, Shayne Jackson, Pat Smith, Alex Crepinsek, Michael O'Brien, Kiel Matisz
Out: Todd Baxter, Joe Cinosky, Brendan Doran, Matt Kelly, John McClure, Richard Morgan, Kevin Ross
IR:
PUP: Brock Sorensen
Holdout:
Practice Squad: Zach Higgins, Ryan Masters, Tyler Tanguay

 

Washington Stealth

In: Jason Bloom (coach), Kyle Buchanan, Tyler Garrison, Tim Henderson, David Joyce, Mitch McMichael, Patrick O'Meara, Nick Patterson, Justin Pychel
Out: Jason Bloom (player), Kevin Croswell, Kyle Hartzell, Peter Jacobs, Eric Martin, Kyle Ross, Cam Sedgwick, Chris Seidel, Jeff Zywicki
IR: Billy Hostrawser, Drew Snider
PUP:
Holdout: Mitch Jones
Practice Squad: Brett Hickey, Mike Mallory, Justin Salt

Guest blogger Jack Goods at Bandits open practice

We have a special guest blogger today: Jack Goods, who has written for both IL Indoor and In Lax We Trust. Jack was at the Buffalo Bandits' open practice this morning, and filed this report which I am happy to provide here on NLL Chatter.

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Bandits Open Practice Recap
By Jack Goods

The Bandits held their annual open practice today at the First Niagara Center and used the occasion to help unveil their new uniforms. The first primary uniform change in over ten years from the team, this year’s jerseys have a more modern feel. Many design aspects are similar to the All Star Jerseys worn in Buffalo last season. A few players, including John Tavares, Mark Steenhuis, Shawn Williams, Jay Thorimbert, and Scott Self were wearing the full uniforms which including name plates and numbers.

Of course the main event for fans was the actual practice and the chance to see many of the new Bandit players in action. After undergoing a pretty big overhaul this offseason many of the names on the roster handed out to fans were different than they names they saw last year. That added even more excitement to a day that usually gets the diehard fans in Banditland pumped up. A few players were notable in my eyes.

Derek Hopcroft showed off his skills quite nicely in both the drills and the scrimmage. One goal in particular stood out, a behind the net goal with his off hand. He showed lacrosse intelligence that many players just seem to lack. A young player who scored 15 goals last season for Colorado, Hopcroft could end up being a solid player on this year’s roster.

Nick Cotter, another new name, seemed to be on his game today as well. Although he sat out last season he doesn’t seem to have lost a step. He appeared to be one of the fastest and most in shape players out there, maybe due to playing with the Charlotte Copperheads of the PLL this fall.

This was the first chance for fans to see this year’s draft picks in their Bandits gear, and one thing jumped right out at me. Guys like Dhane Smith and Carter Bender are huge. The Bandits had issues with size recently but seem to have answered them. Dhane Smith made a few moves today that caught my eye and I noticed he is very fast for his size.

Marty Hill, Joel Matthews, Jimmy Purves, Jamie Rooney, and Scott Stewart all did not practice due to injuries. Although both currently on the physically unable to perform list, both Steenhuis and Self participated in practice. Steenhuis did take a Dhane Smith shot to the head early on, but returned after a short time.

This is a very good team this year; Bandits fans should be very excited. I look at this roster and think there are probably 27 players who could easily be on this team. Deitrich has brought in solid competition, winners, and a good mix of experience and youth. Although the Knighthawks have to be thought of as the front runners (especially since the Dawson trade) the Bandits shouldn’t be a push over this season.

The Lou Marsh committee snubs John Grant - and lacrosse

Christine Sinclair, captain of Canada's national women's soccer team, was named the winner of the 2012 Lou Marsh award this past Monday. This award is given to Canada's outstanding athlete of the year, as chosen by a group of sports reporters and broadcasters. Sinclair had an outstanding year, breaking her own record for goals (23), setting an Olympic record with 6 goals, and factoring in on over 65% of her team's scoring. Without question, she is deserving of the award.

Also deserving, in my opinion, is the Colorado Mammoth's John Grant. Grant set a new NLL record for points in a season and was named league MVP. Then his Chesapeake Bayhawks won the MLL championship, and to cap it all off his Peterborough Lakers won the Mann Cup. Not a bad year for one of the best lacrosse players in history. But how much consideration was he given for the Lou Marsh? None, apparently, as National Post writer, Lou Marsh committee member, and twitter aficionado Bruce Arthur revealed to me in an exclusive interview. OK, I'll put "interview" in quotes. In actual fact, we had a short twitter exchange:

@GraemePerrow: @bruce_arthur Were you on the Lou Marsh committee? Was John Grant (lacrosse player) given any consideration?

@bruce_arthur: @GraemePerrow he wasn't, to be honest.

@GraemePerrow: @bruce_arthur Too bad. One of the best lacrosse players ever with one of his best seasons ever, 3* years after life-threatening surgery

@bruce_arthur: @GraemePerrow I'll look him up. Thanks.

* – it was actually four years. I misspoke.

"I'll look him up." Not only was Grant not given any consideration at the meetings, but Arthur has never heard of him.

I wish I could say that this reflects badly on Arthur or the Canadian sports media in general, but unfortunately for the lacrosse community, it's par for the course. I'm sure this is frustrating for fans of a lot of sports – who was Canada's best rugby player in 2012? Did he deserve to be mentioned? I have no idea, but rugby isn't Canada's national summer sport. Lacrosse is.

Should Grant have won the award over Sinclair? There's certainly an argument to be made for it. More non-soccer fans heard about Sinclair this year than non-lacrosse fans heard about Grant, thanks to the Olympics. That said, it doesn't seem fair to punish Grant for having an outstanding year in a "fringe" sport.

But I think it's more than fair to say that Grant deserved to be in the conversation. Someone in that room should have said "Hey what about this John Grant guy? Won championships in two different leagues and was MVP of a third." With a little research, they could have discovered that Grant had had knee surgery in 2008, which was not just career-threatening but life-threatening. There was talk of amputation, and Grant was told he'd never play again. Four years later, he's the best player in the NLL. Again.

If someone in the room had brought that up and after some thought, it was decided to give Sinclair the award, I'd be fine with that and this article would never have been written. I might disagree with their decision, but they have their opinion and I have mine. But not to have Grant's name even mentioned is a travesty.

Unbelievably, 2012 wasn't even Grant's best year. In 2007, he won the NLL Championship and the Mann Cup. He was named MVP of the NLL, the NLL Champions Cup game, the MLL, and the Mann Cup, and was also Offensive Player of the Year in the MLL. And since that wasn't enough, he also won the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship as part of Team Canada. But did he get any consideration for the Lou Marsh award that year either? As far as I can tell, nope.

The Lou Marsh trophy was first awarded in 1936. Since then, 12 hockey players have won it along with 9 figure skaters. There have been runners, skiers, baseball players, golfers, swimmers, and now a soccer player. There have even been two wheelchair racers. But in 76 years, zero lacrosse players. Lacrosse has been one of Canada's national sports since 1994 and was Canada's only national sport for well over a hundred years before that, but the best lacrosse players in the world don't seem to be considered for this award. This needs to change, but if John Grant can have the seasons he had in 2007 and 2012 and not even get mentioned, it doesn't look like it will.

Pre-season game report: Edmonton 12 Toronto 8

The NLL is back! After seven months of NLL withdrawal, NLL fans were treated to three pre-season games on Saturday night as the teams get ready for the 2013 season. Only one of the three games actually took place in an NLL venue, as the Rochester Knighthawks held off the Minnesota Swarm 11-10 at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester. The NLL returned to the Vancouver area for the second straight year as the Calgary Roughnecks beat the Colorado Mammoth 20-11 in a high-scoring affair, while the Toronto Rock hosted the Edmonton Rush at the new Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville. This was pretty convenient for me, as the TRAC is about halfway to the ACC from where I live.

Edmonton took an early 2-0 lead before the Rock got their first goal, but 2-1 was as close as the Rock would get as the Rush led the rest of the way, winning 12-8. Considering this was the first game of the pre-season, both teams played pretty well with a few missed or dropped passes but no obvious signs of rust. None of the goalies were spectacular but all played well. The Rush defense, unsurprisingly, was the star of the game, frustrating the Rock offense by not letting them get good looks. Blaine Manning looked really good, and Josh Sanderson got back on defense a couple of times, which surprisingly did not make me cringe. If there's one thing that future Hall of Fame lock Sanderson is not known for, it's his defense but he seemed to be playing with a new intensity – and even got a penalty while he and Leblanc were preventing an attempted incursion into Rock territory. Great to see.

This game was the NLL debut of Edmonton's first-overall draft pick Mark Matthews, and he certainly did not disappoint. I don't have any stats on the game, but Matthews picked up at least three goals and a few assists as well. Matthews looked comfortable on the floor, and seemed poised to take control of the Edmonton offense, similar to the way Cody Jamieson did with the Knighthawks a couple of years ago. The Rock were without many of their big offensive players, with Colin Doyle, Garrett Billings, Dan Carey, Kasey Biernes, and Phil Sanderson all sitting out. There were a bunch of new names (Belton, Andrews, Caravello, Ivey) as well, though a couple of notable absences were draft pick Bradley Kri and the newest Rock Scott Evans. As is frequently done in the pre-season, some of the Rock players only played the first half (Nick Inch, Cam Woods, Chris White) while others only played the second (Damon Edwards, Stephen Hoar), and both teams swapped goalies a couple of times.

Aaron Bold started against Nick Rose – at least I'm pretty sure it was Bold; Edmonton must have forgotten their Twitter handle jerseys at home and played with practice jerseys with no names. Edmonton brought out Brodie MacDonald (who didn't even get a practice jersey – his was just plain gray with no number or logo or anything) to start the 3rd quarter while the Rock countered with rookie Zac Boychuk. Rose came back in the fourth, and another rookie, Dave Marrese, finished the game for the Rush.

Part of the reason for these pre-season games is to give the rookies time to show their skills, and both Kyle Belton and Dustin Caravello took full advantage of this. I wouldn't be surprised if Caravello played more minutes than Leblanc. I was pretty impressed with both but especially Belton, who looked like a Josh Sanderson-type "floor general", controlling the offense and setting up plays. Caravello, on the other hand, was more of a Kasey Biernes type, sneaking around (or through) the defense to get shots from in close. I'm pretty sure Stephan Leblanc did not score, though I think he had an assist or two. I wouldn't say he looked lost, but I didn't see the improvement in play that I was hoping for. He seemed to have a lack of confidence last year, and I saw that again here.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the venue itself. This was my first visit to the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre, and it was pretty impressive. There are two rinks, one with turf and one without. The turf one has bench seating for about 700 along one side, similar to your local hockey rink. There are also offices upstairs. Make no mistake though, this is not a hockey arena where you can play lacrosse once the ice is removed – I confirmed (with a security guard who seemed to know what he was talking about) that there is no ice-making equipment – this is a lacrosse facility.

Other game notes:

• It was very cool to see Bob Watson at the game. I heard some guys a couple of rows behind me talking shortly after Whipper walked by, and one said "I will always have time for Bob Watson. As good a goalie as Watson was, he was a better person." I have never met the man personally, but this is consistent with everything I've ever heard about him.
• My son and I were sitting right next to the Edmonton dressing room – you can see us during Derek Keenan's interview before the game. My son (green baseball cap) waves at the camera. I noticed Chris Corbeil standing around before the game while the rest of the team was practicing, but it wasn't until much later that I noticed the cast on his right foot. No idea how serious his injury is.
• Watching the Calgary-Colorado game, there were five or six "illegal equipment" calls because of loose chin straps. This is apparently something they're going to be calling more this season, but obviously nobody told the refs at the Toronto-Edmonton game. Edmonton players lost their helmets at least three times.
• They also did stick checks during the second quarter, and I believe Jeremy Thompson was caught. The ref handed his stick to a Rush trainer, and then signaled to either Thompson or Derek Keenan that there was a problem, though this was on the other side of the floor so I couldn't tell what he was saying. Thompson immediately left the bench, ran to the dressing room, and returned a minute later with a new stick. There was no penalty assessed.
• The first goal of the night was scored by Edmonton, but announced as "Jesse Gamble from Mike Hobbins and Brendan Thenhaus" all of whom are Rock players. Someone was looking at the wrong list. The rest of the goals were fine, but there was no correction on the first one.
• Phil Sanderson, Garrett Billings, and Colin Doyle were up in the "owner's box" with Jamie Dawick, except for halftime when Billings and Sanderson were on the floor taking shots. Terry Sanderson, usually behind the bench, was also up in the box.
• Overheard: "The Rock goalie, what's his name? Pete Rose?"
• While Brodie MacDonald was in net, someone near me was yelling "five hole!" every time the Rock had the ball in the offensive zone. Sure enough, MacDonald's five hole was half the net. But I guess that's what happens when you're 6'7".
• One lesson I learned from this game is not to tweet updates constantly on my phone. More than once I was tweeting about one goal only to miss the next one. If I had had my laptop with me it would have been easier, but I feel that I missed half the game because I was tweeting about the other half.

Upcoming NLL milestones

Here are some statistical milestones that may or may not be reached during the 2013 NLL season. Of course, all of these numbers are completely arbitrary – does anyone discount Tom Marechek's achievements because he "only" scored 399 goals in his career and didn't get the elusive 400th? Of course not, but people seem to like nice round numbers, so here are a few that we may see this coming season.

Players

A few players are close to some significant targets this season. Nobody will hit 1000 points unless a new single-season points record is set – Gavin Prout needs 119 points to reach 1000, and Dan Dawson needs 129. The closest points milestone would be 800, which only ten NLL players have ever reached, and which Mike Accursi will reach with only 15 more points.

John Tavares has reached more than his share of milestones over the years, and 2013 may feature yet another height to which nobody else has climbed. JT is already the only player in NLL history with 700 goals, and with 35 this season, he would reach 800. Tavares had 41 in 2012 so this is not out of the realm of possibility. To put this milestone in perspective, John Grant is the only other active player with over 500 goals, and Junior would need six more 50-goal seasons to reach 800.

Colin Doyle could join Tavares and Grant in the 500-goal club by scoring 42. Doyle has only reached 42 goals in one season three times and not since 2006 so this is a bit of a long shot.

Potential candidates for the 400-goal club include Lewis Ratcliff (needs 20), and Josh Sanderson and Mike Accursi, each of whom needs 32. Tracey Kelusky needs 43, but seeing as he's only scored 32 in the past two seasons combined, this is even more of a long shot than Doyle.

A few almost-sure things are the three likely new members of the 300-goal club: Aaron Wilson needs 3, Blaine Manning needs 4, and Gavin Prout needs 7.

Just as John Tavares is the only player to reach 700 goals, he is also the only player to have reached 800 assists, and Tavares needs just 38 more to reach 900. Colin Doyle would need an 80-assist season (which has only been done once, right Mr. Billings?) just to reach 800. But only four players have ever reached 600 assists, and both Gavin Prout and John Grant are likely to join that club this season. Prout only needs 12 to get there, while Grant needs 26.

In terms of loose balls, no previously unobtained milestones will be reached this season. Or the next. Or even the one after that. Jim Veltman's record of 2417 is safe for quite some time – John Tavares is the only player within eight hundred of Veltman, and Tavares would have to play for 3 1/2 more seasons (at his career average of 97 LB) to get there. But if anyone can reach Veltman's astronomical total, Brodie Merrill and Geoff Snider are the most likely candidates, and each of them could reach the 1500 loose ball total this season. Merrill only needs 129 (he's never had fewer than 157), and Snider needs 208, a figure he's only failed to reach twice in six seasons. But assuming Merrill and Snider keep up their current paces (12.4 per game for Merrill, 14.5 for Snider) and play 16 games a year, Geoff Snider will become the new all-time leader 13 games into the 2017 season. I wrote about this once before and stated it wouldn't be until 2018, but Snider's 232 LB in only 14 games last year increased his average.

The 1000 loose ball mark is reachable by a few players: Gavin Prout only needs 27, Josh Sanderson 57, and Bill Greer 76.

Teams

The Colorado Mammoth have three upcoming team milestones, two of which are very obtainable while the third will be close. The easy ones first: the Mammoth are 43 goals away from 2000 regular season goals, and they are 80111 people away from a total of 1.5 million in attendance, including both regular season and playoff games. An average of just 10013 per game in their 8 home games will attain that mark – and the Mammoth's smallest crowd ever was 12537. The slightly more difficult milestone: 10 regular season wins will give them 100.

The Philadelphia Wings' first loss of the 2013 season will be their 150th regular season loss in their history. This is far and away the most losses for any NLL team, and nobody else is even close. Of course, they've played at least five more seasons than anyone else. But consider this: in the last ten seasons, the Wings have only reached .500 three times (and only exceeded it once). The fact that they are still above .500 all-time is a testament to how good they were in the 1990's. There were only 8-12 games per season, but the Wings had seven straight seasons over .700. In fact, regardless of how they finish this season, they will still end up above .500. Even going 0-16 this season will put them at 169-165.

The Calgary Roughnecks' first home game will be their 100th, and the Riggers could reach one million in regular season attendance this season as well. They are 66896 away from that mark, an average of 8362 per game. The 'Necks averaged 8313 per game in 2012, so just an extra 50 people per game will do it.

The Edmonton Rush should have a much easier time reaching their attendance milestone than the Roughnecks. The Rush only need 19201 to reach the half-million mark. Other than a slight bump from their first season (2006) to their second, the Rush's average attendance has dropped every season. But unless it drops by over 30% from 2012 to 2013, they should hit the half-million target in game 3.

League

This is a fact that I first pointed out on my personal blog back in 2008, and then reposted on The NLL Blog in 2010 (and have since seen mentioned elsewhere as well): The last time the NLL began a season with the same teams in the same cities as the previous season was 1993. Barring last-minute foldings like the Ravens in 2005, 2013 will end the 19-year streak. If you're looking for stability in a league that's shown anything but for almost two decades, this might be the biggest milestone of all.

IL Indoor article on NLL star and diabetic Scott Ranger

I recently saw a tweet by Calgary Roughnecks forward Scott Ranger in which he said something about being a diabetic. This struck a nerve with me, since both my wife and father-in-law are diabetic. Also, back in 2010 I spent two months in the hospital (and three more months at home) recovering from pancreatitis, a condition which could have left me diabetic myself. In fact, I was told by a nurse during my hospital stay that I was diabetic, since a blood glucose test came back with some astronomically high value. A subsequent test showed that the first test was messed up and I was fine.

Anyway, I asked Scott if he would be interested in talking to me about his diabetes and how he deals with it as a pro athlete, and he eagerly agreed. We talked over email a few times and Scott was very forthcoming with his answers. He gave me lots of great information and I did a fair bit of research on my own as well.

Because diabetes is a topic that is meaningful to me, I wanted to get the message out to as many people as possible and quite honestly, my lacrosse blog is not the way to do that. So I made use of (you could argue "exploited") the fact that I write for IL Indoor during the NLL season and contacted my editor, Bob Chavez. He was happy to oblige and agreed to publish my article on IL Indoor, where it will likely reach far more people than on my little blog. In fact, Bob made it sound like I was doing him a favour by giving him something to publish during what is lacrosse-wise the quiet part of the year.

Here is a link to the article, called Challenges of Type 1 diabetes can't keep Calgary's Scott Ranger from thriving. Many thanks to Bob for agreeing to publish it and of course to Scott for talking to me.

Harry Potter and the Shop of Photos

Photoshop expert aficionado wizard (ha!) Dan Shirley created this awesome picture of the gang from my Harry Potter article from last season:

From the left we have Geoff Snider (Sirius Black), Connor Martin (Ron Weasley), Kevin Crowley (Harry Potter), Troy Cordingley (Mad-Eye Moody), and John Tavares (Professor Dumbledore).

Goals per game in the NLL

When hearing someone describe the NLL to a non-lacrosse person, you tend to hear the same things over and over:

• played in a hockey rink with the ice covered with artificial turf
• similar rules to hockey, but with the shot clock and over-and-back rules of basketball
• high-scoring, average of about 25 goals per game

But how accurate is that "25 goals per game" number? On the surface, it seems about right – games like 14-10 or 13-12 are pretty typical, 18-15 is a little on the high side, and 11-7 is a little low. But if we actually crunch the numbers, what do we find?

Amazingly, we find that this number is almost exactly correct. Taking into account the 1,633 games (regular season and playoffs) from 1987 up to and including the 2012 season, the average number of goals scored per game is 24.99. But the breakdown by season is surprising:

The first ten years or so were pretty unpredictable, ranging from 22.6 in 1990 to 29.1 only two years later. The extremes: the highest scoring season was 1992, when 29.1 goals were scored per game. 2011 was the lowest scoring season, with an average of only 21.7 goals per game. The first six seasons were interesting – two seasons in the mid 27's, two low-scoring seasons of 24 and 22, then the two highest ever, 28.2 and 29.1.

The obvious trend is that from 2000 until 2011, the number of goals scored dropped pretty steadily, from 28.2 in 2000 to a low of 21.7 in 2011. The NLL increased the width of the nets from 4'6" to 4'9" in 2002, and one of the first games of the 2002 season featured the Montreal Express defeating the Calgary Roughnecks 32-17. Fans wondered if that would be the norm with the new nets, but in the end it made little difference; the average actually dropped about half a goal from 2001 to 2002, and then down over a full goal the next year as goalies adapted. However in 2012, a number of rule changes were made in an attempt to speed up the game, and seemed to have the (possibly unintentional) effect of increasing scoring as well. After the lowest-scoring season ever in 2011, scoring rebounded in 2012, jumping 2½ goals per game to 24.2.

Why did the rule changes increase goal scoring? Here's why:

• The 8 second rule (instead of 10), the "immediately drop the ball on possession changes" rule, and the fast starts all meant that there were more transition chances, and many of those were converted.
• In addition, the faster the transition, the more likely that an offensive player will get stuck on the floor playing D, and some offensive players are just not the two-way players of old. They're not all as skilled at their own end of the floor as at they are the other end, and so playing five top offensive players against four defenders and one O guy playing D gives the offense a bit of an advantage.
• Defenders were also forced to give up their longer 46" sticks for 42" sticks, obviously making it harder for them to stop the John Grants and Dan Dawsons of the league.
• Finally, on a five-minute power play, three goals are now required to allow the penalized player out of the box instead of two. I don't think this rule came into effect all that often, but it did mean that some 5-on-4's lasted longer in 2012 than they would have in 2011.

The 2012 NLL Entry Draft, from a fan's point of view

Other than the eligible players and their families, it's probably safe to say that the majority of people who attended this week's NLL Entry Draft had been to previous drafts. Most of the GMs, coaches, scouts, and executives have likely been to many of them. Some are former players and were drafted themselves. But as a lacrosse outsider, this was my first time. Some of the event went as I expected, and there were a few surprises as well. For others out there who have never been to a draft, here are some of my observations. These are all serious, unlike the goofy thing I posted yesterday.

The draft took place at the Westin Harbour Castle in downtown Toronto, one of the most well-known and swankiest hotels in the city. Coincidentally, this was where my high school prom was held, back in (OMG) 1987 when it was the Harbour Castle Hilton. I arrived around 6:40pm, and the draft was scheduled to begin at 7:00. There was a stage at the front with a big "NLL DRAFT" banner behind it, as well as banners on each side with all of the team logos. To the left of that was a table where the commentators Andy McNamara, Stephen Stamp, and Randy Mearns sat, and directly in front of the stage were a number of long tables, one per team. I couldn't see all of them, but the Rochester and Calgary tables were at the back. Edmonton was in front of Rochester, and Buffalo in front of them. Minnesota was in front of Calgary.

I sat in the front row, off to the left behind the Rochester table.  Looking around the front of the room, I saw a who's who of NLL people – at one point without even moving my head I could see Curt Malawsky, Bob McMahon, Jamie Dawick, Terry Sanderson, Darris Kilgour, Steve Dietrich, Curt Styres, Bob Hamley, and George Daniel. A number of people from the Rochester scouting staff, including NLL legends Chris Driscoll and Paul Gait, were sitting in the row just down from me.

In this picture (click to enlarge), you see the Rochester table right in front of me. Owner Curt Styres is the guy with the braid. Andy McNamara and Stephen Stamp are sitting at the table on the far left. At the right edge is the left half of Calgary assistant coach Bob McMahon, and Curt Malawsky was sitting next to him (just out of the picture). You can also see Minnesota play-by-play man and scout (and last year's Tom Borrelli award winner) Jake Elliott on the right – the big bald dude who's seemingly looking right at me. Hi Jake! <waves>

The public seating was mostly empty when I got there, but there were a number of people milling about outside the room. Just before the proceedings began, I looked around again, and it had mostly filled up. There were a lot of young nervous-looking faces out there with girlfriends and parents. By the end of the night, many of those faces were smiling above brand new NLL jerseys.

Around 7:00, the event got underway. Andy McNamara, play-by-play voice of the Toronto Rock, was the MC for the evening, and introduced Stamp and Mearns as well. After a few words about what we can expect (including the exciting reveal of who the first player was going to be… not that we hadn't known for weeks already), Andy turned things over to commissioner George Daniel and VP of Lacrosse Operations Brian Lemon, who explained a few of the rules. Basically, the teams were free to choose whoever they wanted, but if a player turned out to be ineligible or a pick was otherwise illegal, the pick would simply be retroactively cancelled. Each team had five minutes to make their selection in the first round, and two minutes in subsequent rounds, and each team had two five-minute extensions that can be used anytime. I believe the Bandits were the only team to use an extension.

Before long, Daniel announced that the Edmonton Rush were now "on the clock", and the Rush brass panicked, since they only had five minutes to come up with… well, no, of course they didn't. The Rush announced a while ago that Mark Matthews was going to be their pick, so less than a minute later, Daniel was up on the stage again making the least surprising announcement of the night. Matthews came down to the front, was given his new jersey (complete with his name on the back), and had the obligatory picture taken. He then went back to the table with the the Rush people and sat there the rest of the night, presumably providing input about players he knew for future rounds.

Minnesota had the next three picks, and I expected them to make all three at the same time, but they treated them as three separate picks. Brock Sorensen, here's your jersey, take a picture. A couple of minutes later, Kiel Matisz, here's your jersey, take a picture. A couple more minutes, Shayne Jackson, here's your jersey, take a picture. This made total sense though; getting drafted is a big deal for these players, especially so high in the first round, so I'm glad that they didn't water it down for these players by combining the picks and jersey presentations.

After the jersey presentation and pictures, each player was interviewed briefly by TSN's Claude Feig, and most players ended up giving the same stock answers. It's a dream come true, I'm excited to join the team, I've heard great things about them, looking forward to training camp, that kind of stuff. Not that any of them weren't being genuine, and I imagine most of them are pretty new to giving interviews, but you did tend to hear the same responses over and over. It was amusing at the beginning when Feig talked to the first three picks and mentioned their height. They were all 6'4" or 6'5" – as tall as Feig himself who said later that it was "nice to have someone eye level to talk to." Earlier in the evening, I saw Stephen Stamp walking up to the front, and he looked even taller than Feig.

In between picks, Stamp, McNamara, and Mearns offered analysis of the picks and players, and what each player could bring to their new team. Offensive star, defensive specialist, big and strong, small and wiry, hard shot, great passer, even one guy they described as something like "a really annoying guy to play against", they knew something about everyone.

Despite the lower time limits, I didn't notice the second and subsequent rounds going any faster than the first. Actually, the whole thing moved along pretty quickly. Once we got into the third and fourth rounds, some of the people chosen were not present as we got into the "what the hell, let's take a chance on this guy" picks. At one point, I'm sure Chris Driscoll said "who?" as a name was read. There were only two trades on the night, both involving Minnesota and both picks for picks, no actual players involved. I was hoping for some obvious signs of talks going on, like seeing Terry Sanderson leaning over the Minnesota Swarm table saying things like "Sure, we can take Jordan MacIntosh off your hands", but first off there were too many people wandering around, and secondly I didn't recognize everyone up there, since there were GMs and assistant GMs and coaches and assistant coaches and scouts and owners and players (John Tavares was at the Bandits table) and possibly other people as well.

The only thing that was really different from what I expected was that George Daniel read out all the names of the players. For whatever reason, I expected each GM to come up and announce their pick, which is the reason I wrote the "behind the scenes" article as I did.

I enjoyed the draft and I'm glad I went, though I kind of wish I'd stuck around a little longer afterwards and introduced myself to some of the people I've talked to on Twitter a bunch of times but have never met in person. I know that some people had issues with the internet feed at the beginning, but as far as I could tell, the night went without a hitch. For a league that doesn't have anywhere near the resources of the NHL or NBA, I thought they did an excellent job – it certainly didn't look like a shoestring-budget kind of event. For those of us that are not lacrosse insiders, it was fascinating to see the inner workings of the league in action.

Behind the scenes at the NLL Entry Draft

The NLL entry draft took place this past Monday in Toronto, and was broadcast live on NLL.com. But the broadcast was just NLL commissioner George Daniel repeating the picks that the GMs gave him. The actual drafting process was a little different. I managed to record it, and I'm posting a transcription of the first round here so that other fans can see the real behind-the-scenes action that wasn't shown on the broadcast.

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George Daniel: Welcome everyone to the 2012 NLL Entry Draft. Many thanks to the Toronto Rock for hosting this year's draft and yesterday's combine, and good luck to the eligible players. Without further ado, let's get right to it! The first pick goes to the Edmonton Rush. Derek?

Derek Keenan: Thank you Commissioner Daniel, and thank you also to the beautiful city of Toronto and the Toronto Rock for hosting this year's entry draft. The management and coaching staff of the Edmonton Rush have been considering our first overall choice for some time now...

Daniel: Yeah, yeah, the Rush pick Mark Matthews. We've all known for months. Moving on - the Minnesota Swarm have the number 2, 3, and 4 picks. John?

John Arlotta: The Swarm pick Brock Sorenson, Kiel Matisz, Shayne Jackson, Dhane Smith, Joe Resetarits, Curtis Knight, …

Daniel: John, you only get three choices right now.

Arlotta: Oh right, sorry. Got carried away there.

Keenan: ...carefully examining our offensive and defensive positions,...

Daniel: Thanks John. Next we have the Buffalo Bandits. Steve?

Steve Dietrich: (talking quietly) Um, hi everyone. It's me, Steve. (whispering) Wow, that was a dumb thing to say. C'mon Steve, pull it together.

Daniel: Don't worry Steve, we know it's your first draft as a GM. No need to be nervous.

Dietrich: OK, thank you Mr. Daniel sir. Um, has Mark Matthews been taken yet?

Daniel: Yes, Mr. Matthews has been taken.

Dietrich: Well, then, I guess our pick here is, um, Dhane Smith? That's OK, right Darris?

Darris Kilgour: (headphones on, singing) Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy…

Keenan: ...judging the talent of the players available...

Daniel: Thanks Steve. Next we have Calgary. Mike, you have two picks.

Mike Board: How about Mark Matthews?

Daniel: Um, Matthews is gone.

Board: Yeah, figured as much. Thought I'd give it a shot just in case Derek forgot or something. Anyway, Calgary takes Joe Resetarits and Matthew Dinsdale.

Daniel: Thank Mike. Derek, we're back to the Rush for number eight.

Keenan: ...and so with the first pick in this year's National Lacrosse League entry draft, the Edmonton Rush choose, from the University of Denver and the Denver Outlaws, Mark Matthews.

Daniel: We got that one already, like twenty minutes ago. Who's your pick at number 8?

Keenan: Oh. Curtis Knight.

Daniel: Thanks. Oh by the way, the University of Denver teams are called the Pioneers, not the Outlaws.

Keenan: Yeah I know, I meant the MLL team.

Daniel: (blank look)

Keenan: The MLL? You know, Major League Lacrosse? The field lacrosse league?

Daniel: (blank look)

Keenan: Never mind.

Daniel: Moving on, Steve, I believe it's your turn.

Steve Govett: Mark Matthews is gone, right?

Daniel: (rubs forehead) Yes. Matthews is gone.

Govett: OK then. I like this Colton Clark guy. Colton. That's a strong name. Sounds like a cowboy or something. Good Colorado name. Hope he's a decent player.

Daniel: All right, for the last pick of the first round, we go back to the Minnesota Swarm.

Arlotta: The Swarm pick Alex Cresinpuck… Crepsnick… Crespo… Crensipick…

Daniel: Yeah, I was hoping he and that Matisz guy wouldn't get picked so I wouldn't have to say their names. I already spent half an hour getting Resetarits right. Anyway, that ends the first round. If someone can go wake up Doug Locker and Terry Sanderson, they are picking soon. And just let Styres and Mouradian sleep, they've got another round or two to wait.

Curt Styres: Hey, we're with ya, we're paying attention, aren't we Johnny?

Johnny Mouradian: (asleep, mumbling) Sure Kevin, you can have a sweater just like Brodie and Dan.

Styres: Oh….kay.

Mouradian: (still mumbling) The Wings choose Mark Matth–

Daniel: Don't even go there.