IL Indoor

Colorado Mammoth, NLL Fan Poll, NLL Girls, National Lacrosse League, Rochester Knighthawks

NLL Girl of the Week: Amy vs. Kayleigh

We kick off the NLL Girl of the Week with Amy from the Rochester Knightingales vs. Kayleigh of the Colorado Wild Bunch. Have at it, fans.

What’s the greatest part of the National Lacrosse League? The goals? The hits? The fights? Nope, it’s the dance teams. With the NLL season well underway it’s now time to bring you everyone’s favorite lacrosse feature, The NLL Girl Of The Week fan vote.

Each week we will pick two ladies who will square off to take home the honor of NLL Girl of The Week. The winner of each week will then be entered into the NLL GOW playoffs for the bragging rights of NLL Girl Of The Year.

Without further adieu (yes that’s French for all my French Canadian indoor players) we will kick off Week 1 of NLL Girl Of The Week between Amy of the Rochester Knighthawks and Kayleigh of the Colorado Mammoth.

Check it out after the jump. READ MORE »

Calgary Roughnecks, MSL, Minnesota Swarm, National Lacrosse League, Peterborough Lakers, Washington Stealth

Sorensen, Suitor and Cornwall hit the airwaves on Boxla Beat

Kyle Sorensen is back by popular demand on Boxla Beat tonight, live on the Lacrosse Radio Network from John  Grant Jr.’s Montreal House pub in Peterborough. His future Lakers teammate and current Minnesota Swarm captain Andrew Suitor will also appear, along with Calgary Roughnecks’ first-round draft pick Travis Cornwall. To hear the show either live or archived, go here.

IL Indoor, National Lacrosse League

Dirty Jobs, National Lacrosse League edition

Aaron Pascas didn't lead Toronto in scoring last year, but his role was critical and today, it's missed. (Photo: Toronto Star)

Lately, we have seen the ups and downs of some of our premier National Lacrosse League offensive teams. While some like Colorado seem to be firing on all cylinders, others like the Toronto Rock were recently finding it tough to get in a groove, even on the power play. The Rock have added Dan Carey and Josh Sanderson to their left side for 2012 while subtracting Aaron Pascas. Colin Doyle was posting his regular points-per-game until he went down early Friday night and Stephan LeBlanc managed a goal in each of two weekend games after suffering without a goal though his first two NLL contests. The Rock power play was a horrid in those same two games but returned with a vengeance to catapult the team to a victorious weekend. So while many may say that the Rock have figured out the offensive formula and are now on track I say hold on just a second. READ MORE »

IL Indoor, NLL 3 Stars

NLL Three Stars of Week 4

Garrett Billings had 3 goals and 4 assists in each of Toronto's weekend wins. (Photo: Larry Palumbo)

It’s a cliche, but when one or more of your star players go down you need other people to step up. Given the concentration of talent in this year’s National Lacrosse League, everybody’s got plenty of other players who are capable of doing so, but that doesn’t make it any less true or important. So when the Toronto Rock lost Blaine Manning to a broken collarbone and Colin Doyle to a lower-body injury in consecutive weeks, they were looking for a spark. They got one from each side of the floor. The toughest part of picking this week’s first star was which Rock forward to go with. To find out who got the nod, make the jump and see the top three players of the week and honourable mentions. READ MORE »

Grassroots, IL Indoor, Minnesota Swarm, National Lacrosse League

You’ve come a long way, baggataway

Future NLLer? A young player with some Brian Langtry-esque flow has a go at a London youth introductory lacrosse clinic. (Photo: John Matisz, London Community News)

The game the First Nations believe they received from the Creator as a means of healing has seen a lot of changes over the centuries, but it still plays a central role in Native culture. The Minnesota Swarm are doing their bit to help remind everyone of that role with a program they run year-round. Part of the program got lost amidst the kerfuffle that erupted at half-time when First Nations goalie Mike Thompson of the Buffalo Bandits gave a Swarm player a shove to the chest that dropped him to the floor as both teams were heading for their dressing rooms. Saturday was Native American Heritage Night in Minnesota. They had pre-game ceremonies and a traditional-style match during halftime, with about 30 members of local tribal communities roaming the Xcel Energy Center floor. READ MORE »

IL Indoor, Rookie Report

NLL Week 4 Rookie Report: Swarm keeper Tyler Carlson drops epic debut in victory

Jamie Lincoln (44) got back on track with his scoring, dropping a hat trick against Rochester on Saturday. (Photo: Ross Prohaska)

The top 2 scoring rookies heading into the weekend of National Lacrosse League action were a bit down in production, but both of their teams won so the guess here is they’re not crying too hard. Especially when 1 of those victories was Philadelphia’s big road win in Buffalo. Kevin Crowley still contributed there, and Adam Jones was as active as ever in Colorado’s home win, but they weren’t the only ones. The talent and diversity of this year rookie crop continues to shine and has even surprised, like with Minnesota goalkeeper Tyler Carlson coming out of nowhere to shut down the Buffalo Bandits. Who else did what this weekend? READ MORE »

Buffalo Bandits, Colorado Mammoth, Rochester Knighthawks, Washington Stealth

Week 3 of Paul Stewart’s ILIndoor Mailbag

Billy D Smith gave Paul Stewart an earful after Stewart picked the Knighthawks over the Bandits in Week 3. Stewart is keeping his word on owning up to miscalculations. (Photo: Larry Palumbo)

Welcome to Week 3 of the IL Indoor Mailbag. Sure, we’re actually just past the fourth weekend of action. So, first of all I would like to start with a technical bulletin. While I am no tech genius, it has come to my attention that if your laptop suddenly starts playing the tune to Silent Night, it is going to cost you.

Second, as I stated in Week 1, I am aware that I am going to be wrong from time to time and stated that when this occurs and it is pointed out to me I will admit it. If you are one of my 6 or 7 Twitter followers (@PStew17), you will already know that my choice for National Lacrosse League Defender of the Year, Billy Dee Smith, gave it to me for picking Rochester to beat Buffalo. I promised him if I was wrong I would apologise on here, so to all you so-called ‘ballot stuffing’ Bandit fans: I am sorry for not having more faith. It turns out the entire Buffalo D spent a few nights at Billy’s sister Vanessa’s house chasing the five kids she has with fellow Bandit Mark Steenhuis to simulate playing Rochester’s new youthful O, which apparently worked!

On to the show. Check it out after the jump. READ MORE »

IL Indoor, Inside the Numbers

Money Ballers: We’ve learned to expect the unexpected so far this season in the NLL

Garrett Billings isn't just scoring goals for the Rock, he's scoring Money Baller goals this season. (Photo: Larry Palumbo)

As Ty Pilson so succinctly put it on Twitter on Saturday night, “we learned tonight the true meaning of parity!” Washington got blown out by Edmonton and Minnesota delighted its hometown crowd by demolishing the Bandits, neither of which were in the cards as seen by many lacrosse writers, including the ILIndoor crew. Not one ILIndoor writer picked the Bandits to lose even one game this weekend, never mind two. And with such parity comes exciting games and some unexpected results. And with some exciting games, though not all, there are lots of Money Ballers points to be had. READ MORE »

Buffalo Bandits, IL Indoor, Minnesota Swarm, Philadelphia Wings

ILIndoor.com: Buffalo Bandits drop to 2-2 after back-to-back losses over the weekend

After a strong 2-0 start and some solid lacrosse, top to bottom, the Bandits were handed back to back losses by the Philadelphia Wings (13-10) and the Minnesota Swarm (19-11). The things that Buffalo did so well in week one eluded them this past weekend. Defensemen looked just a tad slow on their slides, the offense lacked a bit of chemistry and Philly and Minnesota were the aggressors on most 50/50 loose balls. READ MORE »

IL Indoor, National Lacrosse League, WLA

Washington Stealth try to sort out 0-3 start but say there’s no panic, plus the links

Not much is going right for the Washington Stealth in their 0-3 start this season. (Photo: Dan Brodie)

When the Toronto Rock were 0-2 after 2 National Lacrosse League games, they swore it wasn’t time to panic. Today, the Washington Stealth are 0-3 and saying the same thing. “It’s not quite time to push the panic button, but something has got to change,” forward Rhys Duch told the Everett Herald after Saturday’s 16-5 home loss to the Edmonton Rush. Heading into Saturday’s game, coach Art Webster acknowledged the team’s offensive struggles, but he admitted after Saturday’s loss that even he didn’t see the defensive collapse coming. “All of the sudden our D goes sideways. I thought T-Rich was strong. He let in a couple and I couldn’t leave him in there any longer because I could see the direction that we were headed.” READ MORE »