IL Indoor

Brooklin Redmen, MSL, Peterborough Lakers, Road to the Mann Cup, Senior A

Gavin Prout can’t wait to get back on a lacrosse floor

Gavin Prout is a veteran willing to contribute however he can. Now he'll bring his game back to Brooklin. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

Gavin Prout was looking forward to returning to Major Series Lacrosse with the Peterborough Lakers this summer after a National Lacrosse League season that didn’t end the way he would have liked. Now, as it turns out, his return will be with the Brooklin Redmen, the team with which he won a Mann Cup when he was the MSL rookie of the year back in 2000. Prout was dealt, along with defender Mike Hobbins, to Brooklin in exchange for defender Stephen Hoar.

“I was pretty surprised myself,” the righty forward said of hearing that he’d been traded. “I was actually talking to [Peterborough GM Jamie] Batley about what my role was going to be on the team. I understand where he’s coming from. He has a couple of holes back on the defensive end with some of the guys who aren’t coming back with injuries and things and obviously that’s not my forte. He wanted me to potentially come and play a bit of a transition game but with Steve Hoar he’s made a good trade for what’s best for Peterborough and I thank him for my time in the Boro and we’ll go from there.” READ MORE »

Alberta Junior A, B.C. Junior A, Ontario Junior B, Road to the Founders, Road to the Minto Cup, Road to the Presidents Cup, Senior A, Senior B

Last night: Saints & James Gang remain perfect in OLA Sr B, plus all the scores

The St. Catharines Saints and Norwood James Gang both remained perfect, each posting their fifth straight win to open the OLA Senior B season Saturday, and they’re on target for a clash of the titans in two weeks. St. Catharines rode Corey Fowler’s 7-point night (3g, 4a) and a hat trick from transition man Jay Thorimbert to a 16-9 thrashing of the Owen Sound North Stars. Norwood blanked Sarnia 3-0 in the third period to pull out a gritty 6-4 win over the Beavers to keep pace.

The James Gang gave up the first goal to Sarnia but then replied with a trio of their own to lead 3-1 after the first period. Chad Evans got Norwood’s first two goals on outside shots then Greg Reilly buried a beautiful touch pass over a pair of defenders from Gavin Barrie. READ MORE »

Burnaby Lakers, Coquitlam Adanacs, Nanaimo Timbermen, Ontario Junior A, Ontario Junior B, Road to the Founders, Road to the Mann Cup, Road to the Minto Cup, Senior A, Victoria Shamrocks, WLA

Last night: Shamrocks and Timbermen win Western Lacrosse Association openers

Defender Ben McCullough was named third star of Victoria's season-opening WLA win.

The Victoria Shamrocks have been loading up for a run at the Mann Cup this year. The early returns are positive—in the form of a 10-6 season-opening win over Coquitlam in which they outshot the Adanacs 63-39. The Shamrocks ran out to a 4-0 lead after the first period and only high save percentages by Nick Rose (.833 in the first period) and Adam Shute (.846 the rest of the way) kept the margin of victory from being bigger.

Scott Ranger scored a hat trick and Cory Conway assisted on 7 of the Shamrocks’ 10 goals. Corey Small scored once and added 4 assists to help Victoria’s cause. Shamrocks’ goalie Matt Flindell posted the exact same numbers as Shute did—33 saves on 39 shots—to earn the win.

Coquitlam’s scoring was spread around with six different players scoring goals. Eastern import Jesse Guerin was their points leader with a goal and 2 assists in his WLA debut. Guerin finished second in Major Series Lacrosse last year with 22 goals and 37 assists for 59 points in 14 games. READ MORE »

CLA, IL Indoor, Inside Lacrosse, Road to the Mann Cup, Senior A, The Buzz, WLA

The WLA will allow fighting as long as it’s not staged or involves an instigator

As we all know, the Canadian Lacrosse Association has implemented new rules for fighting this year for all levels of lacrosse:

Rule 45 – Fighting
(a) A major penalty and game misconduct penalty shall be assessed to any player/goalkeeper who fights. A goalkeeper penalty shall be served by a player who was on the floor at the time of the infraction.  The major penalty must be served in its duration.
(b) If there is an instigator or clear aggressor in a fight, a major penalty and a game misconduct plus any other penalties shall be assessed to the offending player(s).  Where an instigator or clear aggressor penalty is assessed the non-offending player shall not receive a game misconduct under 45 (a).

Well, it appears the Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) Board of Governors has voted that its interpretation of the rules will allow fighting for the 2013 season. WLA commissioner Casey Cook told IL Indoor today in an exclusive interview that they feel as a league they are “being compliant with the CLA Rule 45.” READ MORE »

CLA, IL Indoor, Inside Lacrosse, Off the Rug, Road to the Mann Cup, Senior A, The Ballers, The Life, Victoria Shamrocks, WLA

Shamrocks add more local fire power with addition of Rhys Duch

The Victoria Shamrocks are very pleased to announce the return of Rhys Duch for the 2013 Western Lacrosse Association season. The 26 year-old Victoria native is coming off a career year in the National Lacrosse League in which he earned All-Pro First Team honours after scoring in every game to lead the NLL with 45 goals, finishing third in leagues scoring with 96 points and leading his Washington Stealth team to the championship final. In his previous four seasons with the Shamrocks between 2008 and 2011, Duch appeared in 76 regular season and playoff games in which he scored 152 goals and added 171 assists for 323 points. He is a three-time WLA all-star including two First Team honours in 2010 and 2011. Last summer he played for the Six Nations Chiefs in Ontario. READ MORE »

CLA, IL Indoor, Inside Lacrosse, New Westminster Salmonbellies, Off the Rug, Road to the Mann Cup, Senior A, The Ballers, Victoria Shamrocks, WLA

Shamrocks acquire western rights to Rory Smith but he won’t report in 2013

The Victoria Shamrocks have acquired Rory Smith's WLA rights from New Westminster. (Photo: Larry Palumbo)

The Victoria Shamrocks are pleased to announce they have acquired the WLA playing rights to Rory Smith and a 2nd round pick in the 2014 WLA Draft from the New Westminster Salmonbellies in exchange for the WLA playing rights to Chet Koneczny and a conditional 1st round pick in the 2016 WLA Draft. If Smith, who is committed to the Six Nations Chiefs in Ontario for the 2013 season, plays in the WLA in 2014 or 2015, New Westminster will receive the 1^st round draft pick. If he does not, then the Shamrocks retain the pick and Smith’s rights revert back to the Salmonbellies in 2016.

“This deal is made with the future I mind,” said Shamrocks general manager Chris Welch. “We believe Rory is interested in returning to the WLA next year so we made sure that if he does, he’ll be in green and white.  We’re very familiar with how difficult is to play against him so we’re hoping we can get him on our side.” READ MORE »

Canadian Lacrosse League, IL Indoor Fan Poll, Inside Lacrosse, Road to the Mann Cup, Senior A, The Ballers, Victoria Shamrocks, WLA

The Victoria Shamrocks continue to beef up roster heading into the 2013 WLA season

Cory Conway returns to the Shamrocks. (Photo: Dan Brodie)

A few weeks ago, the Victoria Shamrocks added one of the game’s best goalies. A couple months ago, they added one of the game’s most underrated scorers. Well today, the Rocks have added some more scoring depth with the acquisition of local Victoria product Cory Conway in a trade with the Nanaimo Timbermen for future draft picks. This is just another move by GM Chris Welch in hopes of returning the Shamrocks to the Mann Cup for the first time since 2006. Conway last wore the clover back in junior lacrosse where he racked up 163 pts in 43 games and was highly coveted by many senior teams for his size, speed and creativity. His first three seasons were spent with the Coquitlam Adanacs and the 6′2 right-hander put up 220 points, including a 92-point season in 2010. READ MORE »

CLA, IL Indoor, Inside Lacrosse, MSL, National Lacrosse League, Oakville Rock, Off the Rug, Road to the Mann Cup, Senior A, The Life, Toronto Rock

Off the Crossebar Podcast: GM Talks hit the East Division and Rock GM Terry Sanderson

Terry Sanderson has built winning NLL teams before and he's done it again in Toronto with the Rock. (Photo: Toronto Rock)

The other night I was sitting with the Pee-Wee team I’m coaching and asked them who their favorite player was and shockingly many of them didn’t have one. Not one of them said John Grant, Mark Matthews, Rhys Duch, Kyle Rubisch, Matt Vinc or any current Victoria Shamrock player. Now maybe it’s today’s video game culture that has these kids not paying as much attention to the players who are the best in the world but it completely blew me away that they didn’t have a favorite player.

I grew up idolizing Paul and Gary Gait, Art Webster, Bob Cool, Kevin Alexander, and Jack Bionda; those were the guys that I wanted to be like and as I got older and paid more attention to the game I started to get an idea of people I wanted to play for.  I wanted Marty O’Neil to draft me in Philadelphia, I wanted to step on to the floor with Jr and as I became more knowledgeable I knew that playing for Terry Sanderson would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. That chance never manifested itself but over my career I was able to battle against teams coached and managed by the man commonly knows as just ‘T.’ READ MORE »

Calgary Roughnecks, Maple Ridge Burrards, National Lacrosse League, Road to the Mann Cup, Senior A, Six Nations Chiefs, Washington Stealth

Curtis Dickson and Rhys Duch on Boxla Beat

This week’s edition of Boxla Beat is star-studded with righty offensive players. Any list of the best in the game at that position won’t run too far before you hit the names Curtis Dickson and Rhys Duch, a pair of Team 22 sponsored athletes. The Calgary Roughnecks Superman is coming off a weekend where he scored Calgary’s last three goals in a comeback overtime win over Colorado, but there’s no resting on their laurels to be done as Dickson’s club heads to Washington to take on Duch’s Stealth in a game with huge playoff seeding implications. Enjoy a pair of great conversations with Dickson and Duch on Boxla Beat on NLL Radio, brought to you by Marianne Beacon Bowen Therapy.

CLA, IL Indoor, Inside Lacrosse, Road to the Mann Cup, Senior A, The Ballers, Victoria Shamrocks

Victoria Shamrocks continue to bolster their 2013 roster by adding goaltender Matt Vinc

Matt Vinc

It’s safe to say that the Western Lacrosse Association’s Victoria Shamrocks have been the busiest Sr. A team this offseason and today they continue that trend by adding one of the game’s best goalies to their 2013 roster. Coming off a National Lacrosse League Champion’s Cup run with the Rochester Knighthawks, Matt Vinc has been at the top of the lacrosse world for the past few years and at just 30 years old, he has plenty of great years ahead of him.

For Victoria, the addition of Vinc gives it some stability in between the pipes they haven’t had since Anthony Cosmo left after the 2006 season, the last year the Shammies were in the Mann Cup finals. Since then, they have run through Nick Patterson, Aaron Bold, Chris Levis and Matt Flindell, who are all very talented goalies in their own right but were just unable to get the job done. READ MORE »