Another game, another flight, another delay and another missed connection. I love flying from Ottawa (sarcasm). Usually I deal with these issues on my own as I never fly with anyone from the team. This time I’m lucky enough to have my brother Ian who’s coming in for the game to fly with. That means he get’s to take all my pissing and moaning, complaining and terrible attitude. We get…
Week 6 of the NLL season was another light one, as there where just two games on the schedule. None the less, five rookies saw action this past weekend. Shane MacDonald saw his return to the Minnesota Swarm lineup, as the Swarm pulled off the upset of the defending champion Rochester Knighthawks. Connor Goodwin and Jerome Thompson continued their stellar starts to the season with the Bandits, and Miles Thompson continued his offensive assault…
After the bye-week, the Rush are getting ready to kick off a home and home series this coming weekend against divisional rivals, the Colorado Mammoth. With a strong 3-1 record, the Mammoth sit in first place among the West Division. The Edmonton Rush trail close behind with a respectable 2-2 record leaving them in second place. This series of games could be very telling for the future of the West…
As the NLL season approaches the one third point, it’s time to have a look at who is off to a great start and who is off to a not-so-good start. Underachievers 1. The Calgary Roughnecks—Who would have imagined that the Roughnecks, who came within minutes of winning the Champion’s Cup last year, would be in dead last after five games, with an 0-5 record. Granted, three of their losses have…
Ten years after playing his final game for the Rochester Knighthawks, Casey Zaph will return to Connors & Ferris Field at The Blue Cross Arena. On Saturday, February 28th, the Knighthawks will honor “Zapher” by enshrining him into the team’s Hall of Fame. “I wasn’t sure it would ever happen because it has been 10 years,” said Zaph, who will become the Hall of Fame’s 13th member. “I really appreciate…
The retirement of Lewis Ratcliff last week capped a great 14-year NLL career that included 472 goals in 212 career games. Ratcliff was going on his sixth year as part of the Stealth organization and his play with the team including time spent in both Washington and Vancouver. The 33-year-old lefty is one of the more prolific scorers the NLL has seen over the last decade (he scored 50 in…
With only two games on the schedule this week a lot happened. Both games were exciting from beginning to end and both went to overtime. The Swarm buzzed into second place with an overtime win at home over Rochester, and Calgary is still winless as they fell in overtime again, this time to Buffalo. This weekend we have seven games, some teams playing twice. A lot can change after Valentine’s…
The recent addition of “the Kitten” Corey Small may not completely correlate with the offensive explosion the Stealth have experienced upon his arrival. The trade for Small has however signalled a change in offensive philosophy after Lewis Ratcliff retired earlier this week. With a home-and-home series with the floundering 0-5 Calgary Roughnecks on the horizon and a chance to really stake a claim in the Western Division’s playoff picture, Small…
We had two games this past weekend, and not a single team had a winning record. Actually the combined record of all four teams was 7-11, but don’t let that fool you. Both games went to OT, and there was enough excitement for a whole slate of games. Three Stars: Week Six 1—Dhane Smith (Buf) 5G/5A Exploded on Saturday night and helped keep the Roughnecks winless. Smith scored five of the…
The Calgary Roughnecks were in another back and forth affair, which time and time again this season they were unfortunately on the losing end extending the team record losing streak to 0-5 to begin the season in front of 10,312 disappointed fans. With the team struggling early again the Roughnecks took a early penalty—which they did last home game as well—to which Dhane Smith took the opportunity to capitalize early…