The National Lacrosse Season is at roughly the halfway point after this weekend’s action, so we’re getting a good picture of what crowds are looking like for the 2017-2018 season. Disappointingly, they are way down from last season. After two years of slow but steady improvement, this year’s average per game attendance is 8,519 fans, well down from last year’s 9,152. If this number holds up, it will be the…
Backed by another solid goaltending performance from Christian Del Bianco, the Calgary Roughnecks defeated the Colorado Mammoth 13-9 on Saturday night at Scotiabank Saddledome. “It’s a little extra special at home and it’s awesome to get the job done,” said Del Bianco. “Overall we were all clicking. We’re a team that when we’re playing happy, playing confident, it shows. I think we’re just executing and the end result shows.” Del…
2011 wasn’t all that long ago, but in the world of professional sports it might as well be a lifetime. Physical activity is hard on the body, so even athletes in peak physical condition sometimes retire from the game they love in their mid-30s to early 40s. It gives them little time to achieve everything they want to, which in the NLL, is winning the Champion’s Cup. For the Toronto…
There is so much talent available in the NLL that when teams make trades it often evens out. A straight-up player-for-player swap returns equal value to each team. Teams also don’t have a long time to build a winner, so if something isn’t working they have to fix it fast. That’s what brought Thomas Hoggarth to the Buffalo Bandits (4-3) from the Vancouver Stealth (1-7) this week in exchange for…
They knew it couldn’t last forever, but it sure was nice to dream about. After four games averaging 20+ goals per game, the Toronto Rock ran out of gas as they fell 16-8 to the Calgary Roughnecks on Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre. Calgary and Toronto always play each other hard no matter where they are in the standings. Calgary, losers of four in a row, came into…
For the last 11 years, Calgary Roughnecks fans have been accustomed to watching a tenacious 5’9 lefty running up and down the turf at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The kind of player you love to have on your side and opposing teams hate to play against. A throwback player, not motivated by statistics or personal achievements, but a player determined to do whatever is needed to push the team to victory….
On a night that saw Dane Dobbie pass Jeff Shattler to become the all-time Calgary Roughnecks leading scorer, it was the Saskatchewan Rush that spoiled the occasion with a 13-12 victory in overtime. The win was especially sweet for the Rush, as it looked like they were destined to repeat the outcome of last week’s comeback win for Buffalo. However, for the Rush and their bus loads of fans in…
This past Wednesday, Major League Lacrosse held its annual supplemental draft with former Florida Launch goaltender Benny Pugh going first overall to the Boston Cannons. Teams can only protect 19 players prior to the start of the season, so the supplemental draft helps teams re-stock their rosters to the allowed 35 players. At this point, it’s safe to say that the MLL talent pool more resembles a waterpark in size…
It’s a snowy Wednesday night in southeast Calgary, but a group of young lacrosse players are busy working up a sweat as they run through an hour-long training session. Among the instructors is an unassuming, relaxed looking Wesley Berg. However, when Berg speaks, he instantly commands the attention of the players. At age 24, few people have amassed the kind of resume that Berg possesses, and the kids relish the…
