What does a franchise do to top winning its third championship in four years? That’s the question for the Saskatchewan Rush going into this season. General Manager/Head Coach Derek Keenan has continued to make moves designed to keep the Rush at the top of the standings for this year and beyond. Offseason recap Keenan has always been a defence-first guy and the offseason moves made by the Rush continued to…
In a three-way deal between the New England Blackwolves, Calgary Roughnecks and Toronto Rock, forward Johnny Powless has been sent to the fifth team of his brief career. The Roughnecks receive Dan Taylor from the Rock in the deal, while the Blackwolves get two draft picks from the Roughnecks. Taylor has some upside—and returns to his hometown—so the Roughnecks are likely happy to receive a secondary scorer who could evolve…
The NLL Expansion Draft for the San Diego Seals and Philadelphia Wings was held Monday afternoon, with each team taking a very different approach. While the Wings snapped up a lot of offensive weapons, the Seals opted instead to stock their roster with defensive assets. Perhaps not surprisingly, both teams chose to focus on players that live close by, with San Diego taking only west-coast players (with the exception of…
The 2018 season is probably one the Vancouver Stealth would just as soon forget. Winning a franchise-worst two games, the Stealth struggled all year long to find any momentum. Losing three one-goal games must have added to the frustration. Injuries plagued the team all season long, with players such as Joel McCready, Tye Belanger, Chris O’Dougherty, Travis Cornwall, Justin Salt, Peter McFetridge and Cliff Smith missing time along the way….
The Vancouver Stealth (2-14) got on the board first but that was the end of the good news for the last-place team in the NLL. The Saskatchewan Rush (13-3) responded by scoring nine straight goals en route to an easy 20-10 victory. The Rush started third-string goalie Adam Shute and after the shaky start—giving up a goal to Vancouver’s Tony Malcom just 35 seconds into the game—he settled in and…
On the night where the Colorado Mammoth retired John Grant Jr.’s jersey, the home team would have hoped to earn an easy win over the last-place Vancouver Stealth. Instead, the Stealth came from behind in the final eight minute of the game to steal the 13-12 victory. The evening opened on a high note as the Pepsi Center crowd was treated to the ceremony to officially retire Grant’s jersey and…
A high-scoring first quarter proved to be the difference in the game as the Colorado Mammoth edged the Calgary Roughnecks 8-7 on Saturday night. The win puts the 8-3 Mammoth solidly in second place in the West Division and clinches a playoff berth for them. The Roughnecks drop to 4-7 on the season, but remain 3.5 games up on the last-place Vancouver Stealth. Calgary opened the scoring when Holden Cattoni…
The National Lacrosse Season is at roughly the halfway point after this weekend’s action, so we’re getting a good picture of what crowds are looking like for the 2017-2018 season. Disappointingly, they are way down from last season. After two years of slow but steady improvement, this year’s average per game attendance is 8,519 fans, well down from last year’s 9,152. If this number holds up, it will be the…
After the Vancouver Stealth tied the game late in the third quarter, the Georgia Swarm went on a six-goal run to put the game out of reach, winning 16-12 in Vancouver on Saturday night. The win lifts the defending NLL champions to a 3-3 record on the season and a tie for third place in the East Division with the Buffalo Bandits. The Stealth fall to 1-6 after losing twice…
One bad quarter and too many powerplay goals surrendered resulted in the Calgary Roughnecks dropping an 11-7 decision to the Colorado Mammoth on Friday night. The loss drops Calgary to 1-2 on the season, good for third place in the West Division, while the Mammoth remain undefeated at 3-0, putting them a half-game ahead of the Saskatchewan Rush for the division lead. Ryan Benesch led Colorado with five goals (three…