IL Indoor

Uncategorized

Jamie Batley hopeful to finish what he started in Toronto, plus the links

Toronto Rock head coach Jamie Batley (Photo: Dave Sanders)

In the wake of yesterday’s resignation of Mike Kloepfer in Toronto, many are now wondering who the Rock have on their short-list of possible replacements for their general manager role.

2009 Rock head coach, Jamie Batley, is hopeful it’ll be him.

“I think that’s a natural progression for me,” Batley told The Peterborough Examiner after news broke of Kloepfer stepping down yesterday. “I’ve done it in Chicago for two-and- a-half years. It looked like we were coming into success until the team folded. Having done that job in Peterborough the last six years now I’ve proved I can do that.” READ MORE »

Uncategorized

National Lacrosse League Playoffs: Let the games begin.

Finally the NLL playoffs are starting after the ridiculous momentum killing by-week. I suspect that the week off was to help avoid potential arena conflicts because I can’t see any other good reason waiting 14 days before starting the playoffs. READ MORE »

Rookie Report

Top 15 NLL Sophomores to Watch during the 2009 NLL Playoffs

Can Cory Conway be a force this post-season?

Boston and San Jose dominated the rookie watch-list. Going up against the league’s most experienced team in Buffalo, the Blazers also have a ton of sophomores to keep an eye out for. San Jose’s first-round opponent is young, too, with a number of second year players who jumped to the pro ranks early. READ MORE »

Uncategorized

NLL Insider Is Proud To Introduce the Guess-O-Matic 3000

Welcome to the 2009 NLL Guess-O-Matic 3000 Play-off simulator. After countless hours studying stats, tables, weather patterns, tarot cards, cumulative zodiac signs and a little eye of newt we have been able to establish the winners of the opening round of the 2009 post season. We ran the numbers through the machine and it spit out a match by match score line until there was only one left standing. Let’s have a peak at what’s to come in the next few weeks. —– If you don’t want to know who takes the next step to hoisting this year’s Champions’ Cup, avert your eyes…. READ MORE »

Uncategorized

National Lacrosse League Playoffs: The beasts of the East are ready to rumble

Matt Vinc and the Titans are no longer post-season wildcards, they're favourites in '09. (Photo: Dave Sanders)

After breaking down how the West might shake-out last week, today we’re taking a peek at the highly competitive Eastern Division, which saw New York, Buffalo and Boston knotted at the top of the standings before the tie-breakers came into play.

Is Boston too inexperienced to win it all? Can the Bandits shake off this recent two game slide to be the NLL’s first back-to-back winner since the Toronto Rock? Can New York end Rochester’s season for the second straight year, or are the Hawks good enough this year to actually go all the way?

Find out the answer to those questions and more, right after the jump. READ MORE »

Uncategorized

National Lacrosse League playoffs: A look ahead

Rested? Ready? Rarin’? Good, because so are the National Lacrosse League teams that qualified for the playoffs, which get started this weekend. What’s going to make the difference for your team? Will it be experience? Will it be a lucky streak? Or will the numbers and stats actually bear out and bring us the winners and losers? So many questions surrounding the four games this weekend, which get started with two games Friday night, then one each on Saturday and Sunday. So slap on the gear, stretch out and let’s get this party started. READ MORE »

Inside the Numbers

Canadian and Iroquois Players in the NCAA: April 29th Check-In

Jason Donville, a coach with the Edge Ontario program and one of the folks responsible for bringing an MLL franchise to Toronto for 2009, has been keeping track of the Canadian presence in the field game so far this season, and will be filing regular dispatches on how our friends from up north are doing in ‘09.

With the NCAA regular reason only a week and a half from season-end most teams are focusing on one of two issues. Many are trying to win their conference championships and therefore qualify for an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament while the rest are trying to earn their way into the final 16 with a strong later season surge. READ MORE »

Uncategorized

National Lacrosse League Playoffs: Special Teams & First Round Matchups

Can Cory Bomberry help ignite the Bandits' power-play in the playoffs? (Photo: Dave Sanders)

Former National Lacrosse league head coach, and current NLL Insider contributor, Jeff Dowling, takes a look at the first round of this year’s playoffs, and what to expect from each team’s special teams and some interesting one-on-one matchups in the first round.

THE WEST

(1) Calgary Roughnecks vs. (4) Colorado Mammoth

Calgary has the best PP in the league, scoring on 60% of their chances. READ MORE »

Uncategorized

Toronto Rock Director of Lacrosse Operations Mike Kloepfer resigns

The Toronto Rock failed to make the playoffs for the second straight season. (Photo: Tania Garshowitz)

The Toronto Rock have announced that the team’s Director of Lacrosse Operations, Mike Kloepfer, has resigned from his role with the team, just weeks after the Rock failed to qualify for their second straight post-season.

“I would like to thank Mike for his efforts over the past three years,” said Rock President Brad Watters in the team’s press release sent out earlier this morning. 

“He has done a commendable job of dealing with our lacrosse operations and the organization wishes Mike well in his future endeavors.” READ MORE »

NLL Girls

National Lacrosse League Girl of the Week: Matchup 8 is Gina vs. Doris

Popular is the word we’re looking for today. These Girl of the Week matchups are proving to be quite popular the last few weeks as more than 2,700 votes were cast in last week’s National Lacrosse League Girl of the Week matchup that saw Marie cruise to an easy win over Kirsten. The week before that, more than 14,000 votes were cast, so it’s gonna be pretty interesting to see what happens with our next matchup: Gina vs. Doris. Gina comes to us via the Boston Blazers and Doris via the New York Titans. Possible playoff preview? Anything’s possible in the Girls of the Week contest. READ MORE »