IL Indoor

Was Rory Smith's blood boiling when Geoff Snider passed him over for Chet Koneczny? (Ron Matay)

Love it or hate it, fighting is part of the game.  If the league didn’t want fighting then they would expel players that drop the mitts.  Rather, the National Lacrosse League rules call for a 5 minute penalty when players fight.  There are additional penalties that can be handed out, and sometimes a referee will decide that it wasn’t much of a fight and call 2 minute roughing minors on combatants.  Almost every coach will agree that fighting has a place.  Momentum change is the biggest reason, but retribution isn’t far behind. 

When Boston visited Toronto a few weeks back, the first fight of the game saw Legit tough guy Paul Dawson against one of the league’s best players, Colin Doyle.  This rarely happens.  Tough guys usually fight tough guys and superstars don’t fight.  As it has been stated numerous times, Colin Doyle did not get jumped by Paul, he wanted to be part of this fight.  Doyle surprised me and most of the crowd I’m sure by holding his own.  I’m sure Tom Ryan was a little confused at the verbal assault that came his way via Troy Cordingley.  Ryan certainly didn’t send Dawson out to fight Doyle, they were both willing combatants, so why was Troy so livid?  Watching Troy foam at the mouth screaming at his defensive players I think everyone at the ACC knew as Teddy Jenner pointed out in his article, that there would be immediate retribution.  I have heard these words and have said things Troy would have said.  Well maybe not quite as colourfully as Troy does!  You do not say, Go fight!  It is phrased something like “Are you going to let them do that to your captain?”  Who is willing to stand up for your captain like he stood up for you?”  This past weekend, Scott Campbell quickly grabbed Shawn Evans, when it looked like Doyle was considering his fight request.  The Rock players are not going to let Doyle risk injury.

Tough Guys
Most teams have a tough guy, some teams are lucky enough that they have a guy that can throw ‘em and play the game as well.  Sometimes, you are waiting for the inevitable tough guy fight, when games are getting out of reach one way or another, teams need a change in momentum, players are taking liberties and are not getting called. 

When the fight doesn’t happen, fans of both teams chirp about their tough guy and how the other guy is avoiding him.  While this may be true, there are times when the player ducking the fight is doing it because he has been told not to fight.  This may have been the case in Orlando when Geoff Snider refused to dance with Smith.  The fact that Snider then fought Chet Koneczny, may add fuel to the fire of Titan fans like Roy that he was in fact ducking Smith.  Snider has been accused of this before, specifically against Toronto’s Tim O’Brien.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Wings coaches told him to stay away from Tim that game.  The Rock had promoted the possibility of a fight between the two rather than a lacrosse game.  It also seems that Geoff likes to put on the show at home.  The Philly fans love their tough guys and appreciate a good dust up.  I think we may see the Snider – Smith rematch February 6th! 

I’m not trying to pick on Geoff, I have told my tough guys in the past, that I don’t want them fighting a guy just for the sake of fighting.  I have also seen Tim O’Brien do the same thing.  He fought Ryan McNish in Toronto in 2005.  A good fight that was won by O’Brien, but put McNish on the map as a legitimate fighter.  It was McNish’s first NLL fight and he needed a bunch of stitches to the back of his head after the game.   The next year, Ryan challenged Timmy all game and Timmy said no.  I don’t think Timmy was ducking Ryan, but rather was told by his coach not to fight him that game. 

Timing
I mentioned momentum as one of the key factors of a fight.  Sometimes the players need a little encouragement, while others just know when the time is right.  I remember seeing Chris McElroy starting a fight off the face off after going down 3 or 4 goals.  On those Edmonton teams he was doing that fairly regularly.  Sometimes as a coach, you cringe when you see your guy starting a fight when your team is up.  Near the end of the 2007 season, Chicago was looking for a playoff birth and they were sitting in the last playoff spot with only a couple of games to play.  They were up 11-7 after 3 quarters when Drew Candy decided to challenge Geoff Snider.  Snider won the fight and it pumped up the crowd and the players and helped Philadelphia score 5 unanswered goals in the quarter to win by 1.

Relax
Before every Bandit fan jumps off the bandwagon, please bear in mind that the Rochester Knighthawks started last season at 0-4 and made the post season.  Like the Bandits they were missing their top player (John Grant who missed the entire season), but they were also missing their #2 goal scorer and for the first 3 games their starting goalie.  That being said, the Bandits need to show up to play against Minnesota this weekend. 

Steve Govett had a great weekend, going 2-0 in his first ever coaching gig.  He may want to get out now to keep the unblemished mark.  He joined Kurt Silcott as the only coaches to win at least 1 game, but lose none.

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