IL Indoor

Free Agent Frenzy NLL Style begins tomorrow- who’s available, who’s not and a complete list of players eligible as UFAs, RFAs, holdouts and potential RFAs

As teams continue to throw a few extra dollars at their future franchise players today, the 2013 Free Agent day is upon us (August 1) and while there aren’t a ton of players available to be signed, the list is a loaded with talent. Longer than the list of  talent available is the length of guidelines that teams and players have to abide by to make sure they are dealing with the players properly.

To be eligible as an unrestricted free agent (UFA) a player must be 32 years of age or older during the 2012 calender year and have played a minimum of 6 indoor professional lacrosse seasons or part of and are not under contract for 2013. Much like we see in the other pro leagues especially the NHL, free agency can be a very busy day with teams trying to pick up a key piece to the puzzle but don’t expect massive deals worth loads of money as the current and newly signed, 1 year CBA may put a damper on any major moves.

After the jump, check out the lists that teams can pick from in hopes of taking a run at the 2013 NLL Champions Cup, then hit the boards and let it be know who you think your team should go after. READ MORE »

Edmonton Rush name Ryan Ward and Aaron Wilson as franchise players

Ward and Wilson Franchised for 2013 Season

Edmonton, AB–Edmonton Rush General Manager/Head Coach announced today that club has designated franchise tags on forwards Ryan Ward and Aaron Wilson for the 2013 Season.

National League Lacrosse teams have until midnight tonight to put the franchise tag on a maximum of two players.  The franchise tag is used by a team to secure the rights of a player on the roster who qualifies to be an unrestricted free agent.  By using the franchise tag, a team retains the player’s rights for the 2013 season, as they would otherwise be an Unrestricted Free Agent when the Free Agent Signing Period opens tomorrow (August 1).  In return, the franchise-tagged player is guaranteed a contract for 2013 that pays him the veteran maximum salary plus an additional 25 percent. READ MORE »

Toronto Rock designate Colin Doyle and Josh Sanderson franchise players

COLIN DOYLE AND JOSH SANDERSON HANDED FRANCHISE TAG BY ROCK
Rock Greats Set To Return For 2013

Toronto – Toronto Rock forwards Colin Doyle and Josh Sanderson have been designated as Toronto’s two franchise players for the 2013 season General Manager Terry Sanderson announced on Tuesday.

Doyle and Sanderson are each in their second tours of duty with the Rock.  Doyle returned to Toronto in 2010 and Sanderson in 2012.

“Colin Doyle has brought so much to this franchise and this city with six championships but also just so much more to the game of lacrosse,” said Sanderson.  “He is our captain and he’s a really special player, one that doesn’t come along often.”

Doyle is the franchise’s all-time leader in goals (371), assists (527) and points (898).  Sanderson, meanwhile, is fourth in Rock history in those same three offensive categories and is just one point shy of 400 points for his Rock career. READ MORE »

MSL 3 Stars: A matched set–goalie, defender and forward earn the honours

This week’s Major Series Lacrosse 3 Stars selection includes the transition from regular season to playoffs. Six Nations and Brooklin don’t have players included for a simple reason: they didn’t play enough. The Chiefs didn’t hit the floor at all and the Redmen had only one game. So while Shawn Williams (4 goals, 2assist) and Derek Hopcroft (2g, 4a) had excellent games as Brooklin clinched first overall and home floor advantage if they make the MSL finals, they won’t appear among the stars. Players on more active teams simply had more opportunities to make an impression. Before we get to the honoured players, though, a quick shout-out to defender Alex Crepinsek, who is emerging as a shut-down D for Ajax. He almost single-handedly kept John Grant Jr. from making this week’s 3 Stars. That is a feat in itself. READ MORE »

Western Lacrosse Association playoffs kick off tomorrow night

The playoff race went right down to thewire in the Western Lacrosse Association with the Burnaby Lakers gaining the final berth when the New Westminster Salmonbellies lost the last game of the regular season. Now the hunt to determine the WLA’s representative in the 2012 Mann Cup is ready to begin. The best of seven semi-finals get under way tomorrow night with the Langley Thunder playing host to the Lakers. Victoria and Coquitlam kick off their series Saturday night.  Make the jump to see the full schedule for both series. All game times are listed as 7:45 pm. READ MORE »

Last night: Brampton Excelsiors are getting that old feeling back, and it’s bad news for other teams

Just try to get the Brampton Excelsiors to panic. It appears to be almost impossible. They played the regular season with a cobbled together roster, entered the playoffs with callups from Senior B and Junior, and took some beatings that suggested the glory days were fading into memory. But taking their cue from the calm presence of Head Coach Mike Hasen behind the bench, the Exclsiors just keep getting it done when they need to. Their first-round playoff series with the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks is a perfect example. After blowing a lead in the third period to lose Game 1, they fell behind 6-3 through two periods of Game 2. READ MORE »

Former NLL goalie and current Bandits GM Steve ‘Chugger’ Dietrich to be inducted into NLL Hall of Fame

The National Lacrosse League has announced that Steve Dietrich has been voted into the league’s Hall of Fame, Class of 2012. The mainstay goaltender played nearly two decades in the league and continues to serve the game past his playing career, first as a goaltending coach and now as a general manager.

Dietrich played 18 seasons of professional lacrosse, with stops in Baltimore (1992), Detroit (1994), Rochester (1995-2001), Buffalo (2002-2007), Calgary (2008), Edmonton (2009) and Toronto (2009-2010). He won a league championship in 1997 with Rochester, and was named Championship Game Most Valuable Player in the 15-12 win over Buffalo.

In 2006 he won the League’s Most Valuable Player Award, becoming the first and still the only goaltender to ever win the award. He had one of the best statistical individual seasons for a goaltender in league history that year, posting a save percentage of .808 and a goals against average of 9.97, leading Buffalo to the Championship Game. READ MORE »

Superman flies again: Curtis Dickson drops a sock trick on non-playoff Salmonbellies

The New Westminster Salmonbellies miss the Western Lacrosse Association playoffs and there’s a pretty simple reason: Curtis Dickson is healthy. A tweet from IL Indoor’s own Teddy Jenner captured the essence of how good Dickson was last night for the Maple Ridge Burrards in their 12-6 win over the Bellies: “I know it’s the last game of the @WLALacrosse season and he’s only played 2 games but can we add @CurtisDickson17 to the MVP list? #unreal”. Dickson scored six goals, including two on the power play and one shorthanded, as the Burrards denied New Westminster a playoff spot. READ MORE »

Six Nations Arrows advance, Orangeville Northmen take another step

The Six Nations Arrows booked their tickets for the Ontario Junior A finals and the Orangeville Northmen moved to within one win of joining them last night. The Arrows rode Warren Hill’s goaltending and withstood a third-period surge to edge the Peterborough Lakers 9-8 and sweep the best-of-seven semi-final. Hill stopped 46 of the 54 shots Peterborough directed at him. The Lakers scored the last four goals of the game, three by Turner Evans, to get within one but once again came up just a little short. Peterborough scored eight goals in each game of the series. Randy Staats, Seth Oakes and Wenster Green each scored twice for Six Nations.  Evans and Josh Currier (two goals) had five-point nights for Peterborough.  READ MORE »

Last night: Peterborough Lakers use speed to overcome Ajax Rock 13-9

The Peterborough Lakers wanted to get faster, younger and more dangerous in transition this season, so they made additions to the team like Jim Purves, Andrew Suitor and Jamie Lincoln. All three scored transition goals last night, with Purves getting two, to help propel the team to a 13-9 win over the Ajax Rock and a 2-0 lead in their first-round Major Series Lacrosse playoff series. It wasn’t just the youngsters providing transition excitement for Peterborough, though. A pair of veteran speedsters played a major role, as well. Mark Steenhuis scored twice and Brad Self was the star of the game with four goals and an assist on one of Steehhuis’ markers. READ MORE »