Most of the attention in the 2015 MLL collegiate draft went to the defending champion Denver Outlaws for having some outstanding picks. There’s also plenty of talk surrounding the Florida Launch and the excessively high number of offensive weapons now available to head coach Stan Ross. The team that I believe quietly walked away with one of, if not the, best drafts of the year is the Rochester Rattlers. In…
When Minnesota travels to New England, the Black Wolves lay their undefeated start on the line and hope to make it 3-0 in their inaugural season. It would be great for the franchise to open with three straight home wins to begin creating a fan base. This should be a fantastic game. With regards to styles, these teams match up well in that it should be an extremely fast paced…
Before the NLL season began, I looked into how year to year roster continuity affected on field performance (https://inlacrossewetrust.com/tracking-the-roster-stability-of-the-nll/). The quick summary is that while championship teams are slightly more stable from previous years, there is a very large range which does not indicate the presence of a statistically signification correlation. Rebuilding teams can also have immediate success unless they dip dangerously low into the range of about 30 percent…
The Rochester Rattlers are in an interesting spot heading into the MLL collegiate draft. They finished last regular season with the best record in the league and found themselves in the championship game. In the offseason, they only lost one regular player in Kevin Leveille. The biggest gaps in their roster are only due to NLL commitments as most of their players who also coach NCAA lacrosse did not have…
The Undefeated Teams After the first two weeks of action, New England, Toronto, and Colorado all sit at 2-0. Toronto had the most questions surrounding them while New England and Colorado were both overflowing with potential with the Black Wolves benefiting from very light outside expectations going into the year. Two weeks does not a season make, but these teams are going to be very interesting as the season progresses. Minnesota will be a…
The first week of NLL action had surprises across the league. The two that shocked the most may have been the New England Black Wolves winning their opener over the Buffalo Bandits and almost 400 miles to the east, the three time defending champion Rochester Knighthawks lost their opener to the Toronto Rock. In week two, these teams will see each other in another home game for New England. Regarding…
On December 17, the MLL held their Supplemental Draft, which gave teams a chance to build up their rosters ahead of the collegiate draft and training camp. Below is a quick look at how the teams fared. Trades: There were two trades on the day that are worth noting: Denver: G Charlie Cipriano and A Curtis Dickson to Florida for G Dillon Ward and 2 Supplemental Draft Picks (G…
We recently published the player pool for the upcoming MLL supplemental draft. Scrolling through that list of 856 can be pretty daunting, so I’m going to break things down to get a better idea of the players trying for a spot in the league. Age The birth years of those in pool span a huge range going from 1962 all the way up to 1994. Given the success of Casey…
Last weekend saw the first action of the 2015 NLL season as the first round of preseason games came and went. What did we learn from the action? Rochester Knighthawks: The Knighthawks packed the barn. While the tickets were free, it was a great way to get the 2015 hype going for the defending champs. Over 10,000 were in attendance for the preseason game against the Minnesota Swarm. They also…
If you look at the history of any major professional sports league, its past will be littered with franchises that have folded or moved. This is usually done for financial reasons as owners generally want to run a team that is (very) profitable. Sometimes where they are and the facility is the problem and sometimes the grass is simply greener on the other side. Lacrosse is absolutely no exception to…