The topic of the mini game in the National Lacrosse League playoffs is a sure bet to spark a lively Twitter discussion. Both conference finals in the league this season needed a mini game to determine who would go to the Champion’s Cup.
Luckily for the league, it wasn’t a total disaster. The two top seeded teams, the Edmonton Rush and Toronto Rock, advanced. Fans can’t really complain that the better team didn’t win in most cases. The Rock were coming off of another win that night, and Rochester didn’t play great without Cody Jamieson from the start.
But mini games are still in the news as we head to the Champions Cup. Last season the Knighthawks took home the title over the Calgary Roughnecks in the mini game. That can’t be the case this season as the league has moved to a three game series format spanning over three weeks.
“Wow, those games are a complete crapshoot,” Edmonton head coach and general manager Derek Keenan was quoted as saying in Lacrosse Magazine.
t is what it is,” Rochester coach Mike Hasen added in the same article. “It’s what this league gives us. Ask me that last year and I’d say, perfect. Tonight it went the other way.”
That’s what this league is, it’s steps. We’re trying to grow this game and that’s a step this league wants to take.” For now.
Toronto head coach John Lovell mentioned that he liked the format, of course since his team is the one to advance.
The mini game in Toronto created all sorts of chaos in the lacrosse world. Rochester was going to lose the normal game two but were going to start the tiebreaker game (as the league now calls it) shorthanded. Many through social media harped for the Hawks to score on their own net to release the penalty, but the league rulebook states that the penalty would continue in that case.
Teams play games differently with a mini game in hand. If teams know that one is coming up, they treat their lineups in a different way than they would typically. There is no doubt they change the game.
Most of the complains about the mini game have not been due to results, but instead perception. Current and former players, coaches, and media figureheads have expressed their opinions since the rule was announced.
Just like we did a thousand times in the backyard when we were kids…won a 10 minute @NLL mini game!! #ontotheShip @TorontoRockLax
— brandon miller (@Bmill35) May 24, 2015
Man I hate the @NLL mini game format. Tough to have two seasons come down to 10 minutes.
— Lewis Ratcliff (@ratcliff42) May 24, 2015
This mini-game will last 10 minutes. The complaining about there being a mini-game will last the rest of the week. #NLL
— Kent Ridley (@RidleyScouting) May 24, 2015
We should use mini sticks and mini pads and mini me refs in the ” Mini Game” #letsgo @NLL how bout we don’t call it a mini game.
— Angus Goodleaf (@AngBang55) June 2, 2014
(The Goodleaf tweet is old, but excellent)
