It’s been a hot summer for lacrosse in the City of Peterborough. The Sr. Lakers are in game 7 of the Major Series Lacrosse finals tonight, the Jr.A’s lost in the Ontario finals and the Jr.C’s won their first ever league championship. Winning isn’t a new trend for this historic lacrosse community, but for the ‘borough based Trent University Excalibur, it’s been awhile since they’ve been deemed winners. With all…
If you build it, they will come. The famous quote from the baseball movie “Field of Dreams” has been proven over the history of professional sports. Just a little over a century after many of today’s pro leagues were formed, professional sports have reached a peak in popularity. The four major sports, along with college football and basketball, have become multi-million—in some cases billion—dollar operations. In an age of constant…
School has started, or is about to start, for all the colleges and universities fielding Division I lacrosse teams and the anticipation is growing for the 2016 season already. It is an exuberant time to be on campus, with new faces joining the crop of seasoned veterans. There are some points of emphasis for teams coming into the fall season with hopes of reaching Memorial Day. Coaching Philosophy As a…
As the final seconds ticked off the clock in the 2014 Baggataway Cup final, Head Coach of the McGill Redmen Tim Murdoch could only think to himself, “Why didn’t we play like we did in the final 10 minutes for the entire game?” In those final eight minutes, the Redmen scored seven unanswered goals to close an 11 goal gap, but unfortunately for McGill it wouldn’t be enough as the…
The Rochester Knighthawks announced today that they have re-signed forward Joel Matthews to a one-year deal. The Knighthawks are bringing back the feisty forward after he posted career numbers in 2015. “It’s the best feeling. There is nowhere I would rather play,” said Matthews. “Playing with the Knighthawks last year was above and beyond my expectations.” Last season, the 24-year-old notched career highs in goals (4), assists (9), points (13)…
Last week, the Major League Lacrosse Twitter account tweeted, “How many games were won by a single goal?” The answer was 18 games, accounting for 31 percent of games during the 2015 Major League Lacrosse season. That tidbit effectively sums up the MLL season. Ever since the league’s inception in 2001, games have typically been very close, but competitiveness went to another level this summer. The best example is June…
For the first time in program history, the Brock Badgers had a senior class graduate without ever hoisting Baggataway Cup. For most programs, that five year drought may not seem like a big deal, but for the Badgers, it’s an epidemic. Coach Justin Kennedy isn’t ignoring the fact the championship dryspell has taken a toll mentally on the players, but he still has great faith in his team. “The pressure…
The Vancouver Stealth announced Friday that the team has re-signed veteran Ilija Gajic and free agent Keegan Bal to one year agreements pending league approval. Ilija Gajic (Burnaby, BC) is coming off one of his most productive NLL Seasons in 2015 scoring 11 goals and adding 17 assists for a total of 28 points. The six year veteran also collected 87 loose balls and played in a variety of roles…
In the last 13 months the National Lacrosse League has had a lot of paperwork moving across their desk. In July of 2014, news breaks of the Philadelphia Wings leaving Philadelphia after 28 years to relocate to the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. Then we had rumors of the Minnesota Swarm moving to Georgia, and Edmonton Rush going to Saskatchewan. Both of these came true. On May 22 the Swarm announced…
The Calgary Roughnecks released faceoff man Geoff Snider last week, to the surprise of lacrosse followers everywhere. While the move was rather quiet, it created a stir in the lacrosse world. After a story from the Calgary Sun this weekend, it seems we finally have an explanation. “I was going into the third year of my contract and they didn’t want to pay what I was making and had offered…