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…
NLL expansion is coming and the Arena Lacrosse League is preparing its players to move on up to the big leagues. Now in their second season, the ALL has seven stable teams and competition is at an all-time high. The game is fast and exciting. After three weeks of play, the defending champion Oshawa Outlaws lead the league with a 3-0 record. The much-improved Peterborough Timbermen, last-place finishers in 2017,…
Buffalo Bandits’ captain Steve Priolo captivated the (lacrosse) world this past summer when he chose to live in his van while he played for the Victoria Shamrocks of the Western Lacrosse Association. It’s winter now, and he’s still living in it. Sometimes. For those unfamiliar with Victoria, B.C., its climate is pretty hospitable. Because it’s on the ocean, there aren’t usually too many days of extreme temperatures. It’s a better…
Saturday night the Saskatchewan Rush (3-0) defeated the defending champion Georgia Swarm (1-3) 13-9 in front of 3,714 fans at Infinite Energy Arena. With the victory, Saskatchewan joins Colorado as the only undefeated teams left in the league. In 2017 both Saskatchewan and Georgia had very high-powered offenses, so a quick start and a high-scoring game seemed to be in the cards, but that was not the case in…
