IL Indoor

Shanny's Power Rankings

National Lacrosse League Power Rankings: Week 17

Well that’s it. The 2012 NLL regular season is over and its time for the playoffs. It was a record breaking season and congratulations go to John Grant Jr. for breaking the all time points record with 116. Even more special is the fact that Grant only played 14 games this season, the same number of games that John Tavares played when he set the record in 2001. Toronto’s Garrett Billings also had a spectacular season and finished just two points behind Grant in the scoring race but set a new assist record with 82 on the season. Congrats also go to Washington’s Bob Snider for setting a new record for faceoff wins in a season with 319, bettering the old record of 318 held by his brother Geoff and retired Wing Peter Jacobs.
Next week a new season begins. It might be the time for Calgary or Colorado to continue their great seasons or it could be a time of redemption for teams like Buffalo or Philadelphia.

Let’s check out the Power Rankings for the last time this year. READ MORE »

IL Indoor, National Lacrosse League, Rochester Knighthawks

Knighthawks’ season-ticket holders to get free tickets for Friday’s NLL playoff game

Season-ticket holders can get free tickets to see Chris Schiller and Wings return to Rochester. (Photo: Ward Laforme Jr.)

The Rochester Knighthawks have sent letters to season-ticket holders, announcing that they will receive free tickets to Friday’s National Lacrosse League playoff game against the Philadelphia Wings to thank them for their loyalty. Friday’s game starts at 7:30 p.m. If you’re a season-ticket holder, the free tickets are good for your regular seat. If you’re not a season-ticket holder, you can purchase tickets to Friday’s game for $10 in the best available seating area. It’s the first playoff game the Knighthawks have hosted since 2007, the year of their last NLL championship. If you’re a season-ticket holder and have already purchased tickets for Friday, the payment can be applied to season tickets for next year, or a refund can be issued.

Colorado Mammoth, IL Indoor, National Lacrosse League

Help the Colorado Mammoth raise funds for Sean Pollock and his wife Jenna, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer

Jenna Pollock, right, wife of Mammoth forward Sean Pollock, was diagnosed with breast cancer. (Photo: Colorado Mammoth)

The lacrosse community, indoors or outdoors, prides itself on the bond. It’s that bond that compels us to help when it’s called for and today, it’s called for. Jenna Pollock, wife of Colorado Mammoth forward Sean Pollock, was diagnosed on Thursday with breast cancer. So the Mammoth are making Saturday’s home playoff game a forum for a silent auction that will help raise money for the Pollocks. “My thoughts and prayers are with Sean, Jenna and the Pollock family during this trying time,” Mammoth president & general manager Steve Govett said in a statement. “Our team considers itself to be a family, and our whole family is hurting right now. Everyone within the organization is determined to do everything in our power to support Sean and Jenna.” John Grant Jr. has donated the jersey he wore in this year’s All-Star Game and the ball he shot to score his 116th point this season — that set the NLL single-season scoring record — also will be auctioned. The auction for the ball, on eBay, starts Tuesday and can be found by typing in the key words “John Grant Jr. 116.” The silent auction on Saturday will include items from every Mammoth player and will start when the doors open at 4:30 p.m. (local time) and run through halftime at Section 114 on the main concourse.

IL Indoor, Inside the Numbers, National Lacrosse League

Money Ballers: Keogh is the weekly winner, but John Grant Jr. wins overall season title

Colorado's John Grant Jr. is this year's overall Money Baller champion. (Photo: Ward Laforme Jr.)

This has been a banner year for John Grant. He eclipsed both 1,000 points and 500 goals in his career, made the starting roster of the All-Star game, was Offensive Player of the Week four times, Player of the Month by himself twice and tied with Garrett Billings once, won the scoring title, led the Mammoth to their best record since 2007 (and third-best ever), and set a National Lacrosse League single-season scoring record with 116 points in only 14 games. It’s probably just me, but I think Grant is making a serious case for an MVP nomination. But that’s not all –- you can add yet another title to that impressive list: Money Baller Champion. Grant only  got half a MB point this past weekend, but it was enough to fend off Brendan Mundorf and Dan Dawson, his only real competitors in the final weekend. Grant finished the season with 52 MB points. READ MORE »

Fight Club, IL Indoor, National Lacrosse League

Video: Rookies Bilic, Coates throw down

Normally we’d provide a poll to let you pick who won a National Lacrosse League fight, but this tussle between Minnesota’s Nik Bilic and Colorado’s Dan Coates is pretty one-sided. Check it out, from Saturday’s game in Minnesota.

International

Aleš Hrebeský Memorial Tournament: The All-Star evening, championship game and thinking about next year already

The Boston Megamen enjoying the spoils of victory at the 2012 Aleš Hrebeský Memorial.

[Editor's note: Sean Gibson has twice represented Ireland at the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships. He blogged daily from the Aleš Hrebeský Memorial tournament in Prague.]

For those of you who have not attended the Aleš Hrebeský Memorial you are completely unaware of what you’re missing. Whether you are a player, avid fan or lax addict, the Aleš Hrebeský Memorial is an experience you have to put on your lax bucket list.

Despite the smooth organisation, planning and professionalism of the host LCC-Radotin club, it normally takes the third night before you understand how much work really goes on. The third night of the tournament is the All-Stars vs Czech Nationals played under the lights. READ MORE »

IL Indoor, National Lacrosse League

Washington Stealth rally was inspiring, but not enough in NLL season finale; plus links

Brett Bucktooth and Washington staged a nice rally on Saturday, but came up short in OT. (Photo: Ward Laforme Jr.)

The Washington Stealth may be the odd man out when it comes to the 2012 National Lacrosse League playoffs, but they went into the offseason with a game to remember. Saturday night’s game started with a tribute to retiring veteran forward Cam Sedgwick, then concluded with a wrenching loss in overtime, a 17-16 decision against the Buffalo Bandits. Lewis Ratcliff scored a game-high 7 goals for the Stealth, who outscored Buffalo 6-2 in the fourth quarter to force the extra time before John Tavares sealed it for Buffalo with 5:05 left in OT. But for the Stealth, the offensive surge was a long time coming. “Where has all that stuff been?” Stealth coach Chris Hall asked The Everett Herald after the game. READ MORE »

NLL Fan Poll

NLL Fan Poll: Game of the Week for Week 17

Garrett Billings led the Rock in their win over Edmonton.

With the regular season drawing to a close, so does our Game of the Week fan balloting. This week you get to choose among games that saw the single-season scoring record fall, the same record come close to falling just a couple of hours later, a team leapfrogging its opponent to set up a rematch in next week’s division semi-finals and two teams prove that no game is meaningless as they battled into overtime to finish the year on a winning note. Next week, we’ll compile the winning games from the season and start narrowing them down to the game of the year. Make the jump to choose the top contest of Week 17. READ MORE »

National Lacrosse League

NLL regular season wraps up with overtime thriller in Washington, plus the links

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Rochester beat Philadelphia 9-7 to snatch a home playoff game from the Wings’ hands as the National Lacrosse League season wrapped up last night. Stephen Keogh led the Knighthawks with four goals and two assists and Matt Vinc stopped 35 of 42 shots to earn the win that means the same two teams will be back in back in Rochester next Friday for the East Division semi-finals. Rochester led 6-5 after three quarters, scored the first three goals of the fourth to pull ahead by four then held on to the win, earning second place in the East.

Craig Point had two goals and a helper while Cody Jamieson added four assists for the Knighthawks. Brendan Mundorf was in on every Philadelphia tally, scoring four times and adding three assists. Kevin Crowley had four assists for the Wings. Dan Dawson scored twice and had one assist to finish the season with 78, four behind Garrett Billings in the race for the new single-season assists record. READ MORE »

IL Indoor, National Lacrosse League

The King is dead, long live the King: Grant breaks scoring record

John Grant squeaked past John Tavares to become the single-season scoring leader in NLL history. (Photo: Bill Wipper)

The National Lacrosse League has a new single-season scoring record-holder and it happened in dramatic fashion last night. John Grant, Jr. entered Colorado’s game against Minnesota needing six points to pass John Tavares to break the record. He had just two points in the first half of the Swarm’s eventual 16-13 win and only three, all assists, through three quarters. Grant then set up an Adam Jones goal and scored his first of the night just 30 seconds apart to tie the mark at 6:49 of the final frame. Then, with 4:22 to play, Grant scored to put himself alone at the top with his 116^th point of the season. Fittingly, in a season in which his and the team’s success has relied so much on integrating the play of the all-time great with his young teammates, the record-breaking goal was set up by rookies Jamie Lincoln and Derek Hopcroft. READ MORE »