Stealth win Champions Cup

Photot credit: NLL Insider
The Washington Stealth beat the Toronto Rock, 15-11 to win the Champions Cup. The Stealth, who had the best record in the regular season, went up by three goals early, the first two from former Rock Lewis Ratcliff. The Rock went on to score six unanswered goals and led 7-5 at halftime.
Into the third, Toronto led by as many as four and then Washington turned on the jets. The Rock sat up 10-6 before the Stealth scored eight straight goals to lead, and the Rock did not score in a span from 2:07 in the third to 2:53 in the fourth. The Rock made it a little interesting late by making it 14-11, but the Stealth's Mike Grimes scored with Bob Watson pulled. The Stealth win their first ever Champions Cup in franchise history.

Notes:
* Is this Bob Watson's last game in the NLL?

* A very well played game by both teams. Both players in the Doyle-Ratcliff deal played well, with Ratcliff scoring five.

* It must have been odd for Colin Doyle to watch the Stealth win the cup after captaining them for a long time without winning one.

* I think we now know who won that deal.

* Tyler Richards looked like a well seasoned veteran in this game, as he stopped several great Toronto chances.

* What a playoffs for Rhys Duch.

* Chris Hall becomes the first coach to win two championships with different teams since Les Barkley.

* Thanks for following the NLL this season at NLL Blog, stay here all season for coverage of NLL players during MLL season.

NLL Champions Cup Preveiw: Stealth vs Rock

It's time for the National Lacrosse League Champions Cup. This years matchup features the team with the best regular season, the Washington Stealth. They face a team in the Toronto Rock who look to tie the Philadelphia Wings record of six championships. Fresh off his rookie of the year, Stephen Leblanc look to knock off Rhys Duch and the Washington Stealth.

Leading Point Scorer(Playoffs): Was:Rhys Duch, 14 pts
Tor: Stephen LeBlanc, 12 pts

Goaltender: Was: Tyler Richards
Tor: Bob Watson

Injuries: Was: Travis Gillspie
Tor: None

Game Notes:

* The Rock look for their sixth championship in a year that was meant for rebuilding.

* A sub-plot in this game will be the return of Colin Doyle to the Stealth. Both Lewis Ratcliff and Doyle, the two center pieces in that deal, have not done much these playoffs

* The Stealth held the Rush to one goal in thirteen shots on Saturday

* The Rock were 0-4 on their power play

* The game can be seen Saturday night at 10:30 on NLL.com, or Sunday at 2pm on Versus. I will have an open thread to chat tomorrow night and Sunday.

A look back at the trade that shaped the Champions Cup

The face of the Stealth had been Colin Doyle all the way back to when they were the Albany Attack. He was the captain of the Stealth franchise and stood for everything for it. But last off season the Stealth traded Doyle to the Toronto Rock for Lewis Ratcliff, Joel Delgarno and Tyler Codron. The center piece for the Stealth was obviously Ratcliff, who went on to lead the NLL in goals with 46. Delgarno, a rookie, scored sixteen points in the first half of the season. Codron did not see much action this season due to a knee injury.
Early it looked like the Rock got the better part of the deal. Doyle was a great addition to a Rock team that was supposed to be in rebuilding. An interesting story line this series is Doyle faced the Toronto Rock in the 2002 Champions Cup as a member of the Attack.
Read more about this story here
The Champions Cup will air live on NLL.com and TSN2 in Canada. You watch the game via tape delay the next day on Versus at 2pm.

NLL News- 5/11

According to NLL Insider, these players have the most 'clutch points' in the playoffs:
You can expect Casey Powell to be #1, though most of those goals came in the game vs Boston, where he was incredibly clutch. Paul Rabil had seven game winning points this regular season (all assists) before his OT game winning goal vs Edmonton on Saturday.

In other news, David Takata of the Washington Stealth was named executive of the year. Shawn Williams of the Knighthawks was named sportsman of the year.
Today the head coach of the year award will be handed out. On Wednesday the Transition player of the year, goaltender of the year, and defensive player of year will be announced. On Thursday MVP, all-rookie team, and rookie of the year will be announced.

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.

NLL Playoffs Round One: Recaps

What an exciting night in the NLL! I was there first hand to see the Orlando Titans beat out the Boston Blazers in a thriller, 12-11. Here are your recaps:

* Toronto beat Buffalo, 13-11

* Edmonton beat Calgary 11-7.

* Washington beat Minnesota 14-10

* The Titans did a great job of containing Dan Dawson all night, only allowing one goal from the Blazers superstar. Meanwhile, Casey Powell scored five goals and lit up the Blazers defense.

* Matt Disher stopped 60 shots for Edmonton, leading them to their first playoff win ever.

* Ryan Ward had eight assists for the Rush

* Rhys Duch scored six goals for the Stealth.

* Stehphen LeBlanc scored five goals for Toronto.

* Games next week will be Toronto @ Orlando at 7:35 pm and Edmonton @ Washington at 10:30.

* Predictions: Edmonton and Toronto win.

Lax News

The biggest news this week was finding out that the NLL championship game will be aired on Versus May 16 at 2pm. Now, we don't know if it will be tape delay or live. It depends on how the hosting team wants to do it.

Final stats: Lewis Ratcliff of the Washington Stealth won the regular season scoring title with 46 goals. That's the fewest to win a title since 41 in 2000.

Geoff Snider of the Wings won 295 faceoffs this season, bringing his all time faceoff record to 1,075 wins in his four seasons.

The only NLL team to score over 200 goals this season is Washington with 211.

Darris Kilgor, coach of the Buffalo Bandits, has the all time coaching wins now after passing Les Bartley.

Ref controversies: You all know what happened with Jon Durno of the Blazers and Wilie B, the public address announcer. Well, the league is reviewing the incident, but it is believed that the Colorado Mammoth already fined him.

NLL Playoffs Scehdule and more

The NLL playoffs begin Saturady and I will be at the Blazers-Titans game, so the live thread will be without me this week.
Here is your playoff schdule:
Rush @ Roughnecks 3:00 pm
Blazers @ Titans 7:35 pm
Bandits @ Rock 7:35 pm
Swarm @ Stealth 10:30 pm

Here are my picks for these games, you can make yours in the comments:
Blazers over Orlando- The Blazers have the Titans number all season
Rush over 'Necks- I really like the Rush this year
Rock over Buffalo- This pick seems easy
Stealth over Swarm- Another gimmie

I pick the Rush to beat the Rock for the NLL championship game, which, by the way, will be aired on Versus according to an NLL press release.

NLL Playoffs Set

The NLL playoffs where finalized last night, with Buffalo and Boston getting the final bids. Buffalo beat Boston 13-9, clinching them a playoff spot and a shot at the Toronto Rock. The Blazers clinched when the Washington Stealth beat Rochester 14-9, knocking the K'Hawks out. The matchups are as they follow:

Buffalo(3) @ Toronto (2) Saturday
Boston(4) @ Orlando (1) TBA

Edmonton(3) @ Calgary(2) Saturday
Minnesota(4) @ Washington (1) Saturday

The Edmonton Rush made the playoffs for the first time in their history. The Roughnecks are the defending champions, and the Titans the defending East Division champs.

NLL Game Preveiws and Chat Post

Here are your NLL games for today:
Minnesota Swarm @ Boston Blazers
The Blazers are looking for a win today to stay in the playoff chase. With a loss Rochester would jump into the playoff picture, and they play the Wings today, a chance for a win, so the Blazers need to win to stay afloat.
Minnesota lost to the Knighthawks last night, so they need a win and Colorado loss to clinch a playoff berth.

Toronto Rock @ Buffalo Bandits
The Bandits could use a win as well, in the same situation as Boston. The Rock look to clinch a playoff berth with a win.

Washington Stealth @ Orlando Titans
The two top teams in each division, the Stealth look to clinch a first round home game. The Titans look to clinch a spot in the playoffs.

Philadelphia Wings @ Rochester Knighthawks
The Wings need a win to keep their small playoff hopes alive, while the Knighthawks can put themselves in a good position.

Colorado Mammoth @ Calgary Roughnecks
A win here would get the 'Necks in the 2010 NLL playoffs. But a loss would keep the Mammoth in it.

Talk about the games here tonight!