IL Indoor

Behind the Scenes, Rochester Knighthawks, Toronto Rock

Toronto’s Colin Doyle featured on MTV Cribs

Above check out Toronto Rock captain Colin Doyle on an upcoming episode of MTV’s Cribs and click here for his thoughts on Sunday’s East Division semi-final game against the Rochester Knighthawks, plus pre-game words from Stephan Leblanc and Head Coach Troy Cordingley. The game will be broadcast live (3:30PM ET) on TSN2 in Canada and online on the NLL Network. After the jump check out Rochester rookie Cody Jamieson, who was one of several impact rookies for the Knighthawks in 2011, talking about the much anticipated clash with the Rock. READ MORE »

Pick 'Em, Staff Pick 'Em

National Lacrosse League Playoff Picks

The 2011 National Lacrosse League playoffs kick off this weekend as Boston travels to Buffalo in the first game of the weekend. Colorado heads to Calgary and Toronto hosts Rochester on Saturday night and Washington and Minnesota square off wrap up the weekend on Sunday afternoon.

The fan picks were pretty decisive this week save for the Washington-Minnesota game, which was decided by two votes.

Check out the staff and fan picks after the jump.
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Inside the Numbers, Rochester Knighthawks

Around the Horn: Team defense, offense; Rochester Knighthawks rolling

Jamieson was one of several new faces in Rochester in 2011, helping get the Hawks back into the playoffs. (Larry Palumbo)

With the NLL regular season in the books, the stats paint the picture of a defensive-minded East Division, with a run-n-gun, offense-first West Division. And while the Edmonton Rush actually increased their penalty minutes over the last few weeks, the last-in-the East Philadelphia Wings finished as the league’s least penalized team – not exactly admirable stuff for a team that owns a record six Champion’s Cup victories, but has only sniffed the playoffs twice in the last decade. Additionally, Chris Schiller of the Rochester Knighthawks tells us that change is a good thing. Check it out after the jump. READ MORE »

Buffalo Bandits

Francis suspension reduced to 3-games after arbitrator ruling, available for Cup final

Francis would be available to the Bandits this year only if they play in the Champion's Cup final. (Photo: Buffalo Bandits)

IL Indoor has confirmed with the National Lacrosse League that Brandon Francis‘ 4-game suspension has been reduced to 3-games after today’s arbitrator ruling.

Francis was originally handed a 4-game suspension for an incident he was involved in during the Buffalo Bandits 16-9 Week 15 loss to the Boston Blazers, a central piece of a scrum in front of the Blazers’ bench. The 4-game sit-down came from a combination of Francis’ actions that night as well as an accumulation of game misconduct calls picked up over the 2011 season. READ MORE »

Boston Blazers, Buffalo Bandits

Bandits fined for apparent replay hijinks vs. Blazers, is video replay really the solution?

Already engaged in a heated rivalry, did recent off-floor actions add more fuel to the Blazers vs. Bandits feud? (Larry Palumbo)

Brandon Francis and Jason Duboe, who were suspended for a combined 5-games by the National Lacrosse League due to an incident during the Buffalo Bandits’ and Boston Blazers’ recent regular season tilt, were not the only ones disciplined for their actions in that Week 15 game at Buffalo’s HSBC Arena.

IL Indoor has learned that the Bandits organization itself was also reprimanded by the league past what happened on the floor on Saturday April 16th, Buffalo handed a fine for an undisclosed amount due to apparent errors made by the team’s video replay technician. READ MORE »

Ontario Junior A, Ontario Junior B, Ontario Junior C

Washington Stealth: ‘We really feel we have something to prove,’ plus the lacrosse links

How much will the return of Jeff Zywicki mean for the Stealth as they try to defend their title? (Photo: Stealth)

We’re a day closer to the National Lacrosse League playoffs getting started but the talk about what may or may not be wrong with the Washington Stealth started long ago. Forgive us if that sounds rude, but when the defending champion returns pretty much intact and cards an 8-8 regular season, the questions are sure to be there. And they are. Even the Stealth are wondering how they ended up with a .500 record for the regular season. But come Saturday night, it’s time to answer the questions. “We really feel we have something to prove,” Stealth forward Rhys Duch told The Seattle Times. “Certainly 8-8 is unacceptable. Our biggest challenge now is mental.” The other challenge is the Swarm, host of Saturday’s game. READ MORE »

Business Time

NLL: 2011 Regular Season Attendance Numbers, Buffalo averages over 17,000

Bandit Land was packed this year. (Photo: Larry Palumbo)

Overall, the league’s average attendance numbers are up from last season, since the 2011 averages exclude the now defunct Orlando Titans who lasted just one season in Florida.

The Buffalo Bandits once again led the league in attendance numbers with an outstanding average of 17,096 fans, topping the 17K mark for the third time in franchise history thanks to promotions like ‘Pack the House’ (300 level tickets from $12). Three times the Bandit sold-out the 18,690 seat HSBC Arena.

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The Ballers

Off the Crosse-Bar with Insider Stephen Stamp- year in review edition

It’s just a couple days until the 2011 NLL Play-offs get under way and this week, Stamp and I discussed some of the hot topic stories from the past 4 months. The disappointing play of the ‘Big 3′, why Brad Bannister can’t keep his mouth shut, Our MVP choices, Could 4 road teams win all 4 games this weekend and Concussions in the NLL. While we may not be the “Experts”, we tend to know what we are talking about 95% of the time, the other 5%, it’s just cause we like to hear ourselves talk. Four games to decide who will throw down in the NLL Semi-finals. Enjoy the games and enjoy this week’s Off the Crosse-Bar Podcast! READ MORE »

Uncategorized

Georges St. Pierre & UFC go head-to-head with National Lacrosse League playoffs

Will Tracey Kelusky's Cup winning vet experience help the Buffalo Bandits get past the Boston Blazers? (Larry Palumbo)

The only thing more frightening than facing the red-hot Rochester Knighthawks right now is trying to go head-to-head with the UFC in a straight-up fight.

For any sport, except the NFL perhaps or maybe the NHL playoffs here north of the border, it’s a no-win battle to take on the MMA grappling empire.

But, that’s exactly what’s happening this Saturday night. READ MORE »

Calgary Roughnecks, Inside the Numbers

Mike Poulin established but still post-season unproven, far from the only one, plus the links

Mike Poulin helped guide the Roughnecks to the best record in the NLL. Can he do the same in the playoffs? (Martin Allinson)

Last year Mike Poulin shared the starting backstop spotlight in Calgary with a then recent Champion’s Cup winner Matt King. After King was moved to the Colorado Mammoth over the off-season, that spotlight was predominantly shifted to Poulin in 2011, guiding the Roughnecks to a first place finish in the National Lacrosse League’s West Division and even league-wide this past season. But now comes the playoffs, a place the 25-year-old Poulin has under an hour of minutes logged and no victories after dropping last year’s post-season appearance to the Edmonton Rush. READ MORE »