The indoor lacrosse landscape is dotted with leagues right now, each with its plusses and minuses, each competing to retain as much of the available talent as possible, and each fighting to survive in a sports world that barely knows lacrosse exists. The granddaddy of them all is still the National Lacrosse League, which is now more than a quarter century old and seems to be enjoying some much-deserved stability….
When the new NLL Collective Bargaining Agreement was signed over the fall, roster sizes were reduced, shrinking to 20 players from 23, with practice rosters expanding from three to four. Now that we are more than a third of the way through the schedule, it’s time to have a look back and see if the reduced rosters have affected the game. There are a couple metrics we can look at…
The Calgary Roughnecks exploded for a dozen second half goals to hand the Vancouver a decisive 20-9 defeat on Saturday night. The win improves Calgary’s record to 4-3 while Vancouver drop to 3-7. The Roughnecks had three five-goal runs over the course of the game, building their lead in bunches. The first run included two goals late in the first quarter to give Calgary their first lead, followed by three…
Saturday night, the Calgary Roughnecks (3-3) play host to the Vancouver Stealth (3-6). It will be the second of four meetings between these two clubs in the 2014 schedule and is critical to both team’s aspirations for the playoffs. The Roughnecks have had an up-and-down season so far, not yet finding enough rhythm to win consecutive games. They have, however, earned two of their three victories at home, so that…
John Grant Jr. of the Colorado Mammoth spends his summers playing in the MLL, currently with the Chesapeake Bayhawks. His teammate, rookie goaltender Dillon Ward, divides time between the MLL’s Hamilton Nationals (now the Florida Launch) and the KW Kodiaks of the MSL. Mark Matthews of the Edmonton Rush likewise divides his summers between the MLL’s New York Lizards and the WLA’s Langley Thunder. Many pro lacrosse players compete in…
In the last two seasons the Rochester Knighthawks have won the Champion’s Cup while playing excellent defense and managing to score just enough to get past their opponents. They have, in fact, scored just 20 goals between the last two Champion’s Cup games combined, against just 16 goals surrendered. This past weekend’s Super Bowl seemed to indicate that defense is more important than offense, but that doesn’t necessarily translate from…
The Calgary Roughnecks have moved forward Scott Ranger to the Practice Roster from their Active Roster and have replaced him with goaltender Pete Dubenski. At the start of the 2014 campaign, it appeared to be unlikely that Ranger would even play this year, as he was suffering from a jaw injury sustained during the offseason. As noted by Roughnecks head coach Curt Malawsky at the end of December, “He’s on…
Four games into the 2014 NLL season, the Rochester Knighthawks are sitting in second place in the East Division with a 3-1 record. It is still early in the 18-game schedule and lots can happen between now and the playoffs, but does it look like the Knighthawks can win an unprecedented third Champion’s Cup in a row? The early indicators are good. In spite of suffering their first loss of…
Photo Credit: Brad Watson/Calgary Roughnecks A behind-the-back shot by John Grant Jr. won the Colorado Mammoth a key 14-13 victory over the Calgary Roughnecks in overtime on Saturday night. The Mammoth (2-5) needed the win badly after losing four straight and were able to maintain a lead for most of the game. The Roughnecks (2-3) opened the scoring just 1:31 in, on a goal by Daryl Veltman. Athan Iannucci would…
When a team in the National Lacrosse League goes on the power play, the typical outcome is a goal. In 2013 the power play success rate across the league was 51.4 percent on 712 total attempts; so far this season, the league is at exactly 50 percent success rate on 184 power plays. With such high risks associated with taking penalties, getting into frequent penalty trouble can easily be the…