IL Indoor

Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Edmonton Rush, IL Indoor, National Lacrosse League, Rochester Knighthawks, Toronto Rock, Washington Stealth

IL Indoor Awards: Shawn Evans is named Offensive Player of the Year

Shawn Evans (left) is the unanimous winner of IL Indoor's Offensive Player of the Year. (Photo: Brad Watson)

It’s hard to reach unanimity when you have 10 people voting for awards based on largely subjective criteria. But unanimity is just what IL Indoor’s staffers wound up with when it came to the voting on the National Lacrosse League’s Offensive Player of the Year. Shawn Evans just had that good of a season and that big of an impact.

His 112 points was the fifth-most in NLL history. His 80 assists is one of the all-time great set-up seasons as well.Evans is so impressive because he is so difficult to stop. He’s small, but it’s nearly impossible to pound him out of his game with big defenders; he’ll just hit somebody in the mesh with a flip pass as you’re knocking him to the ground. If you leave him room to shoot, he’ll bury a bounce shot or rip a low to high under the cross-bar. Let him come out from behind the net and he has the best spinning release in the game. READ MORE »

Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Edmonton Rush, Minnesota Swarm, National Lacrosse League, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, Toronto Rock, Washington Stealth

NLL 2013 All-Pro Teams Announced

Callum Crawford earned his first NLL All-Pro nod after a big 2013 campaign.

The National Lacrosse League has announced the NLL All-Pro Teams for the 2013 season. Six of the 12 players honored are first-time selections, four teams had two All-Pros and three honorees will play in the 2013 NLL Championship Game presented by Reebok this weekend.

The 2013 NLL All-Pro First Team consists of Toronto Rock forward Garrett Billings, Washington Stealth forward Rhys Duch, Calgary Roughnecks forward Shawn Evans, Minnesota Swarm transition player Jordan MacIntosh, Edmonton Rush defenseman Kyle Rubisch, and Rochester Knighthawks goaltender Matt Vinc. READ MORE »

Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Edmonton Rush, Minnesota Swarm, National Lacrosse League, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, Toronto Rock, Washington Stealth

IL Indoor Roundtable: What were the weekend’s surprises other than the Swarm, and what’s going on with the Rush?

Callum Crawford and the Swarm will hope to capture the same magic they had last week. (Photo: Graig Abel)

Ahh, the playoffs. The first weekend saw four games with plenty of storylines. Matt Vinc continued his run of dominance as the Knighthawks downed the Wings to return to the East Division final. Out west, Colorado looked good for the first half and really not good for the second half against Calgary, as the Roughnecks rebounded from last year’s first-round loss to get back to the West Division final. Washington had a remarkable comeback to down the Rush. But the story that sticks out like a sore thumb is the surprising domination of the Rock by the Swarm. What other surprises did the IL Indoor Roundtable group of Bob Chavez, Teddy Jenner, Ty Pilson and Stephen Stamp see? Also, whither the Rush? What do we think of their flirtations with Saskatoon? Make the jump to find out. READ MORE »

Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Edmonton Rush, IL Indoor, National Lacrosse League, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, Washington Stealth

NLL playoffs: Roughnecks, Stealth and Knighthawks move on to division finals

The Roughnecks and Stealth will face off again in the West Division final after the two top seeds won their semi-final games Saturday night. (Photo: Brad Watson)

Both of Saturday night’s National Lacrosse League West Division semi-finals were decided largely from the results of 5-minute major penalties in the third quarter. Washington took advantage of Jeff Cornwall’s second major of the game—a checking from behind call at 14:12 of the third to score a pair of fourth-quarter power play goals that gave them just enough to hold on and grab a stunning 12-11 come-from-behind win over the Edmonton Rush. In Calgary, the Roughnecks turned that tale on its head. They opened the second half with a pair of shorthanded goals while Curtis Dickson watched with relief from the penalty box. They pulled away from a 7-7 halftime tie and never looked back in a 15-10 win that means they’ll host the Stealth in next weekend’s West final. Rochester downed Philadelphia 10-8 in Saturday’s East Division final. READ MORE »

Behind the Scenes, Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Edmonton Rush, Minnesota Swarm, National Lacrosse League, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, Toronto Rock, Washington Stealth

Let the Playoffs begin: three games tonight, one Sunday in National Lacrosse League post-season opening weekend

It’s playoff time in the National Lacrosse League. Everything is amplified just that little bit. Every goal seems bigger. Every save seems more important. Around the NLL, final preparations are being put in place for the opening weekend of playoffs. Judging by Facebook and Twitter comments, it’s hard to say who’s more excited between the players and the fans. So today, we’ll help you get ready with a giant-sized helping of press releases and stories from around the league to whet your appetite for the games in Calgary and Washington tonight then tomorrow’s Sunday matinee in Toronto. There’s going to be a lot of ink spilled below, but we’ll break it down by game so you can navigate your way through. Feel free to scroll down to the coverage of your favourite team’s game. And if you make it all the way through, kudos. Enjoy the coverage and the games. It’s playoff time in the NLL and we can hardly wait for the games. READ MORE »

Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Edmonton Rush, IL Indoor, Minnesota Swarm, National Lacrosse League, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, Staff Pick 'Em, Toronto Rock, Washington Stealth

NLL Divisional Semifinals – Staff Picks

Defending champs, the Rochester Knighthawks host the Philadelphia Wings as the 2013 playoffs commence Saturday night (Photo: Larry Palumbo)

There are no strangers as the National Lacrosse League divisional semifinals kick off on Saturday evening; Minnesota and Toronto have met twice previously and all others have faced off three times in 2013.

You don’t need to love stats as much as I do to find the previous match-ups between these playoff pairings oddly fascinating.  The K‘hawks have doubled up twice on the Wings; in each of the three Rush-Stealth games, the losing team scored 10 goals; when Colorado and Calgary met, the home team scored 12 goals; and in both Swarm-Rock games, the winner scored 13 and the loser 12. READ MORE »

Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Edmonton Rush, IL Indoor, Minnesota Swarm, National Lacrosse League, Philadelphia Wings, Pick 'Em, Rochester Knighthawks, Toronto Rock, Washington Stealth

Who Ya Got? Divisional Semifinals Fan Picks

League leaders Toronto Rock host Minnesota Swarm in the Divisional Semifinals on Sunday afternoon (Photo: Graig Abel)

There were three teams fighting for the two remaining playoff berths last weekend in the National Lacrosse League.

In front of a record-breaking 19,070 fans, the Buffalo Bandits dropped their 10^th game this season and missed the post-season for the first time since 2002 as the Rochester Knighthawks defeated the Bandits last Saturday night.  Scoring seven fourth quarter goals secured the Mammoth’s spot in the playoffs as Colorado beat the Minnesota Swarm for the second time this season.  READ MORE »

Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Edmonton Rush, Minnesota Swarm, National Lacrosse League, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, Toronto Rock, Washington Stealth

National Lacrosse League adding a third ref for playoff games

The National Lacrosse League will be hoping that six eyes are better than four for the playoffs this year (this is where the ref baiters can feel free to make their 12 eyes versus six jokes). The league announced Monday that it will add another assistant referee to help out the crew chief for the 2013 playoff run. The NLL’s release pointed out that “The third referee is not a technical referee used under the previous three-man system. In adding the third referee, the NLL is following the playoff model of Major League Baseball, which adds two umpires for post-season games.”

The playoffs kick off at 5 pm ET Saturday with Philadelphia visiting Rochester. Two more games follow on Saturday night with Edmonton at Washington facing off at 7:30 ET and Calgary playing host to the Colorado Mammoth at 9 ET. The first weekend of the playoffs wraps up Sunday afternoon when the Minnesota Swarm cross conferences to play the East Division champion Toronto Rock at 3 pm ET at the Air Canada Centre.

Business Time, Colorado Mammoth, National Lacrosse League

2013 NLL Regular Season Attendance Numbers, Colorado and Buffalo atop again

Featuring reigning MVP John Grant Jr., the Colorado Mammoth took the NLL's attendance crown in 2013, averaging 15,761 fans per home game. (Photo: Mammoth)

Buffalo Bandits, who posted the NLL’s top attendance numbers from 2009 through 2012, were a close second this year as they averaged 15,620 fans and drew a record regular season crowd of 19,070 for their final home game of the year. READ MORE »

Buffalo Bandits, Calgary Roughnecks, Colorado Mammoth, Edmonton Rush, Minnesota Swarm, National Lacrosse League, Philadelphia Wings, Rochester Knighthawks, Toronto Rock, Washington Stealth

NLL playoffs: Knighthawks and Mammoth are in, Bandits are out, Swarm head east

Johnny Powless and the Knighthawks squeaked into the playoffs to defend their NLL championship, edging Buffalo 10-9. (Photo: Larry Palumbo)

The Rochester Knighthawks won their do-or-die showdown with the Buffalo Bandits to reach the National Lacrosse League playoffs, edging Buffalo 10-9. The Colorado Mammoth downed the Minnesota Swarm 16-14 to earn the fourth seed in the West. They’ll face the Calgary Roughnecks in the first round of the playoffs after Calgary beat Edmonton 12-11 in overtime to win yet another West Division regular season title. And Washington clinched home playoff dates for themselves and Rochester by beating Philadelphia 15-11. And with all that, perhaps the biggest winners were the Swarm, who–thanks to Buffalo missing the playoffs and Minny owning the Bandits pick that will now be first overall in the 2013 entry draft–won the Logan Schuss sweepstakes. READ MORE »