Training Camp News

A lot to talk about in the world of lacrosse yesterday. First off, the Washington Stealth signed transition player Paul Rabil to a three year extension. “Paul is truly developing into a fantastic indoor lacrosse player,” said Stealth Head Coach Chris Hall. “He’s an explosive player and virtually impossible to handle one-on-one. He really adds another dimension to our team and in just his third NLL season, he is on the verge of becoming one of the best in the game.”

Meanwhile the Calgary Roughnecks are having their problems. Hours after learning they will not hold training camp due to disciplinary behavior, they announced camp was back on in Calgary. Here is the statement from the Roughnecks: " Yesterday an alleged incident was brought to the attention of the Calgary Roughnecks organization that may have occurred during last weekend’s training camp. The conduct alleged was not of a criminal nature but would have violated team policy and expectations. In order to emphasize to the team that their behavior is expected to represent the Roughnecks properly at all times, management determined that the proportionate response was to cancel training camp this weekend.
Upon further investigation, it was determined that cancellation of camp would be a disproportionate response to the conduct that may have actually occurred. As a result training camp has been reinstated for this weekend.
Upon the conclusion of the continuing investigation, the one player involved will be appropriately disciplined if found to be at fault. The Roughnecks will not tolerate objectionable conduct by players, staff or management."

Meanwhile, top Roughnecks player Curtis Manning will miss the entire 2011 season. The reason behind this is he will be attending a medical school. The Roughnecks will also be without Rob Van Beek, who is pursuing a career as a firefighter.

One final transaction in the NLL world; The Rochester Knighthawks traded Matt Danowski to the Philadelphia Wings for a conditional draft pick. Danowski dressed for just one game with Rochester last season, after playing nine for the Mammoth the year before.

More Orlando Titans Aftermath

As expected, there is a lot more in the aftermath of the folding of the Orlando Titans, including the draft order in tomorrow's dispersal draft. However as it was expected tomorrow, it may be held out into next week because of the players wanting to terminate their contract. The order of the draft is expected to look like this:
Colorado (expected to select Casey Powell)
Boston (via the Max Seibald trade)
Rochester
Minnesota
Philadelphia
Buffalo
Edmonton
Calgary
Toronto
Washington.
Philadelphia and Boston will flip-flop their positioning in later rounds due to trades and acquisitions that allow Boston to currently be ahead of Philadelphia.
It is also believed now that Matt Vinc may terminate his contract with Orlando.

LeBlanc Rookie of the Year, Powell MVP

Stephen LeBlanc of the Toronto Rock was named Rookie of the Year. LeBlanc, the 11th overall pick from Queens, scored 82 points (36) goals and helped lead the Rock to the Champions Cup. The rest of the all rookie team is Garret Billings (Rock), Alex Gajic (Mammoth), Curtis Manning (Roughnecks), Matt Beers (Stealth) and Chris Corbeil (Bandits). I find it intriguing that Ryan Hotaling did not make this list.
Anyways congrats to Stephen and the Rock!

UPDATE: Casey Powell of the Orlando Titans will be named MVP of the NLL. First team all- NLL: Powell (Titans), Josh Sanderson (Roughnecks), Dan Dawson (Blazers), Brodie Merill (Rush), Sandy Chapman (Rock) and Matt Vinc (Titans)

NLL Final Scores

Last night the Toronto Rock beat the Orlando Titans to clinch a trip to the Champions Cup. The Rock went up early, 3-1, before Orlando stormed back to take a 5-3 lead. The Rock swarmed back and scored seven goals in the third quarter alone. The Rock dominated play in the second half and picked up the 15-10 win.
It was a much tighter game in Everett as the Washington Stealth beat the Edmonton Rush 12-11 in overtime, ironically the same score when these two teams met for the last time in the regular season. The Rush scored two goals in the final 56 seconds to tie it and came back from a fourth quarter three goal deficit. The Stealth would lead by five in the second quarter, but the Rush resiliently came back. The Stealth scored eight seconds into the OT, a goal from Paul Rabil to beat Matt Disher.

Next week the Washington Stealth will host the Toronto Rock for the Champions Cup. The game will be Saturday, May 15 at 10:30 pm. You can watch the game on Versus at 2 pm the next day.

Lacrosse Links and Predictions

I'll start off this post making my predictions for the Division Finals:
Edmonton will beat Washington, I know, I know, probably not a popular pick.
I also think Toronto beats Orlando.
Now for the League News....

Here is Derek Keenan on the Rush's win last week.

Rhys Duch on the Stealth's win and facing Edmonton:


The NLL has a new iphone app