IL Indoor

IL Indoor, North American Lacrosse League

NLL Week 15: Video highlights

We’re heading into Week 16 of the National Lacrosse League with a few things that have yet to be decided. Chief among them are the final 2 playoff berths and with 3 teams still battling for those 2 spots, this final weekend of the regular season promises to include some intensity. Rochester, Buffalo and Colorado make up the trio and of the 3, perhaps Rochester has the most riding on the line. The Knighthawks are the defending NLL champs are while no team wants to be the one looking in from the outside, you especially don’t wanna be that team if you were just holding up the Champion’s Cup about a year ago. So as we head into the final weekend, let’s check out some of the video highlights from last weekend. Our aim is to have video highlights like these the rest of this season, so let’s enjoy the week that was. READ MORE »

Boston Rockhoppers, IL Indoor, Kentucky Stickhorses, North American Lacrosse League

Boston Rockhoppers win NALL title

The Rockhoppers are the 2013 NALL champions. (Photo: DJSportsphotos.com)

The Boston Rockhoppers topped the Kentucky Stickhorses 25-13 last Saturday to capture the North American Lacrosse League Championship and the Chase Championship Cup. Boston’s Mike Stone scored three goals in the first quarter and was named the Championship MVP. “I want to congratulate the Rockhoppers on winning the championship and never relinquishing their first-place position the entire season,” said Anthony R. Caruso, Esq., League Counsel and Acting Commissioner. “I am very proud of the effort put forth by all of our teams and the high level of indoor lacrosse they brought to lacrosse fans throughout the winter.” Boston finishes the season with a 7-1 record, while Kentucky wraps up its season with a 2-5 mark.

Editorial, IL Indoor, MSL, National Lacrosse League, North American Lacrosse League

Dirty Dozen: Is bigger better for defense? Ratcliff situation could be a wake-up call, and the Knighthawks beef up their defense

The Edmonton Rush defense is regarded as one of the NLL's best, but is it the biggest? (Photo: Scott Pierson)

Is bigger always better? Depends on who you ask, but in the context of the National Lacrosse League, it’s worth a look. Especially when we’re talking about defensemen, the big bruisers of the team who throw the lumber and drop body checks for a living. So we took a look at each NLL roster to determine which team is fielding the biggest defense by average height and weight. The math includes the changes that came with the trade deadline, but some of the rosters could change before the roster freeze kicks in later today. And because the position of transition can be so vague, we didn’t include any tranny players and went strictly with the guys listed as defensemen according to the rosters at NLL.com. READ MORE »

Boston Rockhoppers, North American Lacrosse League, Rhode Island Kingfish

Rockhoppers down Kingfish in much different game than their last meeting

Just over a month ago the Boston Rockhoppers beat up on the Rhode Island Kingfish 20-7. It was a much different story Saturday night as the teams battled to the end in a hard fought game with the Rockhoppers coming out on top, 15-14 before well over 1,500 fans at the New England Sports Center in North American Lacrosse League action.

The Rockhoppers got off to a hot start scoring the first three goals of the game and ultimately leading 4-1 after the first quarter. Rhode Island fought back, scoring the first two goals of the second quarter, and then the last two of the quarter to only trail 8-6 at halftime. READ MORE »

Baltimore Bombers, Behind the Scenes, Business Time, North American Lacrosse League

NALL: Baltimore Bombers close the hangar

ore_bombers_logo

The travails of starting a new league have claimed yet another victim–at least for now. The North American Lacrosse League’s Baltimore Bombers have announced that they are shutting down with just two games left in their season. Baltimore posted a message on their Facebook page from owner and Head Coach Hunter Francis, who was clearly disappointed that it didn’t work out in Baltimore but sounded a hopeful note for the future of the league and box lacrosse in the US in general. He said, “Today the future of box lacrosse in the US seems unclear. Yet I remain optimistic the roots we have planted will flourish and in good time we will be crowding into rinks to watch the college stars of yesterday become the undisputed stars of tomorrow.” READ MORE »

CLax, IL Indoor, National Lacrosse League, North American Lacrosse League

This Weekend: Mammoth and Swarm trying to work their way up the NLL standings

The Swarm have lost 3 games by 1 goal this season and hope to reverse that trend in Calgary tonight. (Photo: Larry Palumbo)

If necessity is the mother of invention, then the Colorado Mammoth and Minnesota Swarm are channeling their inner Albert Einsteins this weekend. Because both need wins, and Colorado coach Bob Hamley pulled no punches about that. He came right out and said his team needs wins, and the Mammoth have the chance to log 2 of them this weekend with a game tonight in Toronto and Saturday in Buffalo. In Minnesota, there’s anger and the Swarm might do well to pack that anger and find a way to use that as fuel for their game against the Roughnecks. All that and more, with CLax games and NALL games, are part of this weekend’s lacrosse action that ILIndoor has broken down for your perusal. READ MORE »

Boston Rockhoppers, Kentucky Stickhorses, North American Lacrosse League

Rockhoppers continue mastery of NALL with 16-13 win over Kentucky

The Kentucky Stickhorses hosted the North American Lacrosse League leaders, the Boston Rockhoppers, at Freedom Hall on Saturday night.  Boston entered with the best record in the league and strong momentum after their recent win in Baltimore, and Kentucky looked to restore momentum after a loss to Baltimore last week. After trading goals to start the game, Boston pulled away to a 4-1 lead by the end of the first.

The Stickhorses offense roared to life in the second quarter, posting 6 goals including a spurt of 3 goals in a span of 1 minute, 22 seconds.  But Boston managed to answer, never letting the lead slip, and going into halftime up 8 to 7.
The score remained tight throughout the remainder of the game, but with Kentucky never managing to claim the lead. READ MORE »

CLax, IL Indoor, North American Lacrosse League

This Weekend: Battle of Alberta resumes in NLL; busy CLax schedule includes 6 games

The Mammoth are trying to get their defense on track as Rochester visits on Saturday night. (Photo: Dan Brodie)

There are 5 National Lacrosse League games this weekend and 4 of them are in-division games. Three of them have tiebreaker possibilities for season series, and at least 1 of them has a boatload of pride riding on it. Buffalo’s win over Toronto last night kept the Rock from clinching that season series and set up an all-important rubber match in Toronto on March 29. Tonight, the winner of the Philadelphia at Buffalo game can clinch that series as the teams have already split their previous games. On Saturday, Edmonton is at Calgary, which has already clinched that series for the season. But the Rush are eager to snap a funk that dates back to 2010 in the regular season against their biggest rival. And on Sunday, the Stealth will be trying to tie their season series with the Swarm. For CLax, it’s a busy weekend with 6 games on the docket. The Durham Turfdogs have a pair of games, both against first-place teams, while Barrie and Iroquois both continue the search for their first win. Who is playing when and where, after the jump. READ MORE »

IL Indoor, North American Lacrosse League

NALL: Video recap of Baltimore’s victory

The Baltimore Bombers carded a 12-10 North American Lacrosse League win over the visiting Kentucky Stickhorses on Sunday, pushing the Bombers’ record to 4-3. Chazz Woodson made his debut for the Stickhorses and scored a goal, but it couldn’t keep the Stickhorses (2-4) from losing for the third time in 4 games. The Bombers snapped a 2-game losing streak with the win and get a rest until March 10, when they travel to Kentucky for a 3 p.m. game.

CLax, IL Indoor, National Lacrosse League, North American Lacrosse League

This Weekend: NLL doubleheader between Edmonton, Minnesota highlights schedule

Goalie Tyler Richards is in top form for Washington, and he'll need that form against Calgary. (Photo: Dan Brodie)

It’s a quiet weekend, relatively speaking, for the National Lacrosse League that is Week 8 of the season. There are no matchups of division leaders, but taking center stage is the home-and-home series between the Edmonton Rush and Minnesota Swarm. Both teams head into the weekend with momentum; the Rush with the right kind as winners of 2 straight and the Swarm with the not-so-right kind as losers of 2 of their last 3. In the CLax loop, the Toronto Shooting Stars share first place with 2 other teams, one of them being the Ohsweken Demons. And those teams square off in a big Sunday matchup. There are a total of 10 lacrosse games to choose from this weekend, and it all starts tonight in the NLL. READ MORE »