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CLax, Canadian Lacrosse League, Durham Turfdogs, Iroquois Ironmen, Niagara Lock Monsters, Toronto Shooting Stars

CLax playoffs: Ironmen and Shooting Stars book tickets to today’s Creators Cup final

Kraig Maracle scoring the overtime goal that sent the Iroquois Ironmen to the Creators Cup final. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Iroquois Ironmen are back in the Creators Cup championship game for the second straight year after a thrilling 16-15 overtime win over the regular-season champion Niagara Lock Monsters yesterday in the Canadian Lacrosse League semi-finals. The Ironmen, who lost last year’s title game to the Ohsweken Demons, will meet the Toronto Shootings Stars in the final. Toronto also had to go to overtime but pulled out an 11-10 win over the Durham Turfdogs in the second semi-final.

Iroquois overcame a 5-goal Niagara run to the mid-point of the fourth quarter and a 5-minute major penalty that kept star forward Chris Attwood off the floor until the final 2:20 of the game to earn the win. Kraig Maracle scored the winning goal on a rocket from outside. READ MORE »

Barrie Blizzard, Brampton Inferno, CLax, Canadian Lacrosse League, Durham Turfdogs, Iroquois Ironmen, Niagara Lock Monsters, Ohsweken Demons, Toronto Shooting Stars

CLax: All-Star teams

First-Team All-Star Ben McCullough pins All-Rookie Team member John St. John to the boards. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Canadian Lacrosse League has announced the 1st and 2nd Team All-Stars for the 2013 season. Niagara Lock Monsters rookie goaltender Connor Danko and teammate Andrew Potter both earned CLax first team honours. In nine regular season games, Danko posted a 7-1 record tying the Clax single season wins record. He also finished second in the league in both goals against average (10.20 GAA) and save percentage (.809). After being selected first overall in the 2013 Clax entry draft, Potter finished second in league scoring registering 31 goals and 48 assists for 79 points. READ MORE »

Barrie Blizzard, Brampton Inferno, CLax, Canadian Lacrosse League, Durham Turfdogs, Niagara Lock Monsters

CLax: Caleb Wiles named Rookie of the Year and heads All-Rookie team

Caleb Wiles scoring one of the goals of the year in CLax. (Photo: Tim Prothero, VintageLax)

The Canadian Lacrosse League is pleased to announce Barrie Blizzard forward Caleb Wiles as the 2013 CLax Rookie of the Year. ”As a newcomer to CLax, Caleb proved to be one of the most dynamic and prolific scorers in our game,” said CLax Deputy Commissioner Jim Veltman. “Game in and game out he would produce highlight reel goals made of magic.”

In his first season, Wiles finished fifth in league scoring registering 63 points including 35 goals and 28 assists in 12 regular season games. He collected 10 power play goals and led the league with seven shorthanded markers. His 35 goals was also tied for the second highest in CLax history.

Wiles played his Junior A career with Orillia and has been a member of the Major Series Brooklin Redmen the past two seasons. The league also announced the 2013 All Rookie Team. READ MORE »

Brampton Inferno, CLax, Canadian Lacrosse League, Durham Turfdogs

CLax Playoffs: Durham Turfdogs pull out 11-9 win over Brampton Inferno

Shane Scott scoring the final goal of the night, his fourth, in Durham's playoff win. (Photo: Tim Prothero, VintageLax)

Last year, the Durham Turfdogs rode into their first Canadian Lacrosse League playoff games as the regular season champions after having won five straight games and seven of their last eight. Things weren’t nearly as smooth down the stretch this year and Durham entered the CLax quarter-final against the fourth-place Brampton Inferno as mild underdogs. While they lost that contest in 2012, though, the Turfdogs found a way to win when it mattered last night, scoring the last two goals of a back-and-forth contest to pull out an 11-9 win over Brampton to earn a spot in the Creators Cup final four weekend April 20/21. READ MORE »

Barrie Blizzard, Brampton Inferno, CLax, Canadian Lacrosse League, Durham Turfdogs, Iroquois Ironmen

CLax Players of the Week: Blizzard’s Wiles and Boucher, plus Saunders and Printup

Colin Boucher

The final weekend of the Canadian Lacrosse League regular season saw three games, all of which had the potential for playoff implications coming into the week.

The Iroquois Ironmen seem to be peaking at the right time as they won on back-to-back days clinching the final playoff spot. Their win over Brampton on Friday night also gave the Toronto Shooting Stars second overall positioning in the standings. Unfortunately it meant a game played for pride on Sunday in Barrie, but the Blizzard had their best game of the year in front of one of the loudest crowds in CLax history.

After the dust settled on the regular season, league officials combined with team coaches and general managers voted and selected the following as the Surge Apparel Players of the Week for week thirteen.

Offensive Player of the Week
Pat Saunders – Brampton Inferno
In Friday night’s loss to the Ironmen, Brampton found themselves clawing back all night long. It was often Pat Saunders scoring momentum-changing goals as he had five on the night to add to two assists. This is Saunders’ second weekly award. READ MORE »

Barrie Blizzard, Behind the Scenes, Brampton Inferno, CLax, Canadian Lacrosse League, Durham Turfdogs, Iroquois Ironmen, Niagara Lock Monsters, Ohsweken Demons, Toronto Shooting Stars

Blizzard debut blue turf in CLax season finale, beat Shooting Stars

Caleb Wiles, who, amazingly, scored on this play, and the Barrie Blizzard are 1-0 on their new blue turf. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Canadian Lacrosse League is preparing for the playoffs that start this Friday night when the Brampton Inferno play host to the Durham Turfdogs in the first quarter-final. The other quarter-final is a rematch of last year’s Creators Cup championship game when the Ohsweken Demons and Iroquois Ironmen meet at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena Sunday. Before the regular season passed into the rearview mirror, though, the final game held a new twist that CLax is excited about for next year. The Barrie Blizzard unveiled their new blue turf as they won their final game of the season, downing the second-place Toronto Shooting Stars behind a 6-point performance from Caleb Wiles (3g, 3a). The Blizzard, who finished last and will miss the playoffs, none the less played before an enthusiastic crowd reported to be 1,000 strong. The league will sport three of the blue turf floors in 2014, when it returns for its third season. First, of course, there’s the matter of crowning a 2013 champion. The semi-finals will be held Saturday April 20 at the ILA followed by the Creators Cup final the next day at the same venue. Niagara and Toronto, the top two regular season teams, will face the quarter-final winners on the Saturday.

CLax, Canadian Lacrosse League, Durham Turfdogs, Iroquois Ironmen

Ironmen book ticket for playoffs with 13-10 CLax win over Turfdogs

Shane Scott scored 5 goals but it wasn't enough as the Turfdogs fell to the Ironmen. (Photo: Tim Prothero, VintageLax)

The Iroquois Ironmen didn’t want to leave anything to chance, and they made sure they didn’t by beating the Durham Turfdogs 13-10 Saturday in Oshawa. The win ensured that Iroquois (4-10) will grab sixth place ahead of the Barrie Blizzard (2-11) regardless of the result of Barrie’s 2 pm contest this afternoon against Toronto. That sets up a rematch of last year’s Creators Cup final between the Ironmen and the third-place Ohsweken Demons (8-6) in the first round of the playoffs. That game will be played next Sunday, April 14 at 1 pm at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena that both teams call home. Durham (7-7), meanwhile, finishes fifth and travels to Brampton this Friday, April 12, for an 8 pm showdown with the fourth-place Inferno (8-6). READ MORE »

Barrie Blizzard, Brampton Inferno, CLax, Canadian Lacrosse League, Durham Turfdogs, Iroquois Ironmen, Niagara Lock Monsters, Ohsweken Demons, Toronto Shooting Stars

CLax: Iroquois Ironmen pull out 14-13 overtime win to bolster playoff hopes

Jerome Thompson was instrumental in the Iroquois Ironmen's 14-13 overtime win Friday night. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The Iroquois Ironmen made the Canadian Lacrosse League playoff race a lot more interesting last night by downing the Brampton Inferno 14-13 in overtime. Iroquois leapfrogged the Barrie Blizzard for the sixth and final playoff spot in CLax with the win, but both teams have one game to play. Iroquois can lock up the postseason berth by beating the Durham Turfdogs at 2 pm today in a game that can be seen live via JVI Video webcast. If they don’t, then the Blizzard can snag the berth back by beating the Toronto Shooting Stars at home on Sunday.

Toronto clinched second place and a first-round bye when the Inferno lost yesterday, meaning the playoff picture is almost set. The first-place Niagara Lock Monsters and the Shooting Stars receive a bye to the semi-finals, to be held April 20 at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena. The Creators Cup final is also there the following day. READ MORE »

CLax, Canadian Lacrosse League, Durham Turfdogs, Iroquois Ironmen, Ohsweken Demons, Toronto Shooting Stars

Croswell earns win in his first CLax start

Kevin Croswell gave up just 6 goals to earn the win in his first CLax start. (Photo: Tim Prothero, VintageLax)

It didn’t take Kevin Croswell long to get used to the Canadian Lacrosse League, at least if his performance was any indication. Croswell made his first start with the Durham Turfdogs Saturday and was named the first star as he led the club to a 7-6 win over the Ohsweken Demons. He was happy to get the win; in fact, he was happy just to be playing again. “I guess I haven’t really played since early in the summer. I had a little stint there with Philly, getting into a couple of games but no real minutes in the last little while. It felt good to get in there and get a win.”

Croswell said with no knowledge of the league, he had to “just go back to basics: step out, watch the ball and hope for the best.” He was a bit surprised by the calibre of play. “it’s good lacrosse. It’s better than I thought. There’s really good players. You look at that Ohsweken team, they’ve got a lot of players who have played in the NLL or can play in the NLL. So far, so good. We’ll see what next week brings and keep going.” READ MORE »

CLax, Canadian Lacrosse League, Durham Turfdogs, Toronto Shooting Stars

Durham Turfdogs add goalie Kevin Croswell to roster for playoff push

The Toronto Shooting Stars’ loss has turned into the Durham Turfdogs’ gain. When the Philadelphia Wings signed Stars’ goalie Angus Dineley just before the National Lacrosse League roster deadline, they released Kevin Croswell. The Wings had acquired Croswell from the Washington Stealth for a third-round draft pick before the season to serve as a backup to starter Brandon Miller. With Miller enjoying a strong year, Croswell had only seen 33:13 of playing time when he was released. Now he hopes to get into some games, finally, since he has joined the Turfdogs for the rest of the Canadian Lacrosse League season. Durham lost goalie Zach Higgins when he was added to the active roster by the Minnesota Swarm for the stretch run in the NLL. Turfdogs Head Coach Jonas Derks said he has not yet decided if Croswell will start today or if they’ll go with John Chesebrough.