I attended my first Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League game ever on June 19, to see the Lethbridge Barracudas take on the Red Deer Renegades. The first-place ‘Cudas handily beat the Renegades 14-7 in a game where both goaltenders played well and there was some rough stuff, as I think can be expected when you’ve got a bunch of teen boys banging into each other. Having never been to a Tier…
The Saskatchewan Rush are one huge step closer to repeating as NLL champions with last night’s 11-9 win over the Buffalo Bandits. The win puts Saskatchewan in the driver’s seat in the best-of-three series as the two teams head west to Saskatoon for Game 2. In spite of a combined 26 shots on goal in the first quarter, both goalies frustrated the opposition offenses with rock solid performances. Aaron Bold…
After earning a decisive win in Game 1 of the West Division Finals, the Saskatchewan Rush will seek to move on to their second straight Champion’s Cup when they take on the Calgary Roughnecks in Saskatoon tonight. Game 1 was tied 8-8 after three quarters, but the Rush went on a three-goal run to open the fourth and build up a lead the Roughnecks had no answer for en route…
The Calgary Roughnecks (8-10) take on the Saskatchewan Rush (13-5) tonight in the Scotiabank Saddledome in Game 1 of the NLL West Division Finals. This is the third year in a row that this matchup determines the West champion, with the teams splitting the previous two series. Saskatchewan has to be considered the favourite in this series by a pretty wide margin. They tied with the Buffalo Bandits for the…
After tying the game with less than 30 seconds remaining in regulation, the Calgary Roughnecks finally sealed the deal more than 11 minutes into sudden death overtime, defeating the Colorado Mammoth 11-10. The win advances the Roughnecks to the West Division Finals against the Saskatchewan Rush next weekend. For the Roughnecks, it was the eighth time they’ve beaten the Mammoth in the postseason, with their only playoff loss to Colorado…
After making the playoffs on the last weekend of the regular season, the Calgary Roughnecks travel to Denver to face the Colorado Mammoth in a one-game semi-final to determine who will face the Saskatchewan Rush in the West Division finals. For the second year in a row, the 8-10 Roughnecks were snake-bitten in one-goal games—they were just 3-6 in games decided by a single goal in 2016 after going 4-5…
Since 2005, the average attendance per game in the National Lacrosse League has dropped from 10,236 to a meagre 8,981, only 11 more per game than the 16-year low the league experienced last season. Years upon years of teams choosing to relocate to smaller venues rather than trying to rebuild in places where there used to be success has put the league in a tailspin, losing momentum steadily, even as…
The fourth-place Calgary Roughnecks (5-7) came from behind to defeat the first-place Colorado Mammoth (8-3) by a 13-9 final score Saturday night in the Scotiabank Saddledome. The win solidifies Calgary’s claim to the third and final playoff spot in the NLL West Division while Colorado’s lead on the second-place Saskatchewan Rush was reduced to just a half game. The Mammoth got out to an early 4-2 lead in the first…
The first-place Colorado Mammoth (4-1) head north of the border to face the Vancouver Stealth (1-3) tonight in a key West Division tilt. Although Colorado is coming off their first loss of the season—a 12-10 defeat at the hands of the Saskatchewan Rush—they are returning to the location of their biggest win of the season. Two weeks ago the Mammoth crushed the Stealth 14-5 at the Langley Events Centre. Adam…
Two teams that have been struggling to score found their offensive mojo on Saturday night, with the Calgary Roughnecks taking the 15-13 victory over the Vancouver Stealth. The Roughnecks improve to 2-2 on the season while the Stealth drop to 1-3. Calgary got out to an early lead, scoring the first two goals of the game and staking themselves to a 5-3 first-quarter lead. Vancouver would bounce back, however, outscoring…