Report: Rubisch Signs

According to NLL insider, the Boston Blazers have signed second overall pick Kyle Rubisch to a one year deal. Not so long ago, we heard they far apart in negotiations.
Rubisch joins an improved Blazers defense with Scott Campbell and first team all-pro John Orsen.
The Philadelphia Wings also signed Max Quinzani and Parker McKee.

NLL Goaltenders; The Best, The Worst, and Matt Vinc

The NLL has had some very good goaltenders over the years. Start with Dallas Eluik, who may be the best of all time. After that you look at Bob Watson, who is the current goaltender of the Toronto Rock. Currently, you would also talk about Anthony Cosmo, Matt Vinc, and Pat O'toole. But who is the best goaltender iin lacrosse? The worst? Who can lead his team to the Champions Cup?
#13 on our list of goaltenders is Andrew Leyshon of the Colorado Mammoth.Last in goals against average last season, he was the reason Colorado wanted Matt Vinc. In his career, he has a GAA of 13.05. Last season his mostly backed up Chris Levis, but he was not exactly a goaltender of the year either. He also previously backed up Curtis Palidwor, who returns to Colorado. Leyshon's future is unclear right now, with Palidwor returned and Matt King now on the Colorado roster. But one thing is for certain; He is not a starting goaltender.
#12 Mike Thompson of the Buffalo BanditsThompson came into the league in 2001 and then took a six year absence. In 2007, he returned to a 12.08 goals against average in all 16 games. In 2008 and 2009 he had some better seasons, and in 2010 he did a terrific job playing while Ken Montour was out. Unfortunately, that may be all that he is. A backup.
#11 Aaron Bold of the Rochester KnighthawksAaron Bold is probably the best backup goaltender in the league. Last season in Rochester, he had a 11.12 GAA in 16 games and 313 minutes. He had an offseason in 2009 with a GAA over 15, but he was also injured and played only seven games. In the years before that, he average a goals against average of under 11, with minutes around 145 per season.
#10 Matt King of the Colorado MammothKing played most of his career in Calgary before being traded to the Colorado Mammoth. He started off in Calgary, and then was traded to the Anaheim Storm. After they dispersed, King played backup goaltender for the Portland Lumberjaxx, backing up Aaron Bold and Dwight Maetche. In 2008, The Edmonton Rush acquired King to be their starting goaltender. But they traded him to Calgary late in the season. Since the move to Calgary, King has had GAA os 10.38 and 11.27. Now he looks to replace Vinc in Colorado.
#9 Nick Patterson of the Minnesota SwarmPatterson started his career with the Vancouver Ravens as a backup goaltender. He was traded to Minnesota in 2005, and had a GAA of 15.51. He was later made the Swarm's starting goaltender, where he put up better numbers to lower his career GAA to 12.90.
#8 Tyler Richards of the Washington StealthRichards was drafted in the fourth round of the 2007 NLL entry draft. He found himself in their in 2009 as a backup goaltender, where he had a GAA of 10.48. The Stealth made him their starter in 2010, where he helped get them to the Champions Cup. Richards also has a playoff record of 4-1, his loss coming in the 2009 loss in the Western Conference Championship to the Calgary Roughnecks.
#7 Ken Montour of the Buffalo BanditsMontour missed some of the 2010 season due to injury, but when in there he had a GAA under 11. Before that season, Montour has been the Bandits starting goaltender in 2009 and 2008. In 2009, Montour had a GAA of 9.57.
#6 Matt Disher of the Edmonton RushDisher was drafted in 1999 by the Buffalo Bandits and became their backup goaltender. In his first four seasons, his lowest GAA was 14.00. After being traded to Anaheim and then Minnesota, Disher turned his game around, excusing the 17 GAA in 2007. In his move to Edmonton, he had a career low in GAA and then Portland and Edmonton again. He helped Edmonton get to the Western Conference finals last season.
#5 Brandon Miller of the Philadelphia WingsMiller began his career in Albany/San Jose backing up Rob Blasdell and Anthony Cosmo. He was later traded to Chicago where he became the starting goaltender. Miller was successful in San Jose before moving to Chicago, with GAAs of 12.06, 10.46, and 11.45. After being traded to Philadelphia, Miller's success returned, though the Wings missed the playoffs.
#4 Bob Watson of the Toronto Rock
Read about Watson here.
#3 Pat O'toole of the Rochester Knighthawks
Read about O'toole here.
#2 Anthony Cosmo of the Boston Blazers
Read about Cosmo here.
#1 Matt Vinc of the Rochester Knighthawks
Read about Vinc here.

Player Preview: Anthony Cosmo

The Blazers come into this NLL season with three superstar players. Josh Sanderson, Casey Powell, and Dan Dawson. When we talk about the season, it's mostly those players we talk about. But while the Blazers have had a terrific offseason improving their team, there is one more player in the superstar discussion. Anthony Cosmo.
Cosmo was acquired by the Blazers when they selected him first overall in the Chicago Shamrox dispersal. Since that day, they have gotten one of the league's best and consistent goaltenders. But Cosmo had a career before Boston. Let's take a look at it, and then what to expect in 2011.
Cosmo's lacrosse career started with the Mississauga Tomahawks of the Junior A Ontario Lacrosse Association. He later moved on to the Burnaby Lakers Junior A team, where he won a Minto Cup with fellow future-NLLers Kaleb Toth and Cam Sedgewick.
Cosmo made his NLL debut in 2001 with the Toronto Rock. He played in Toronto for four seasons, mostly as a backup to Bob Watson. In his five games of his rookie season, Cosmo had a Goals Against Average of 8.63.
In the mid-summer of 2004, Toronto traded Cosmo to the San Jose Stealth, where he became the primary goaltender. In his first year in San Jose, Cosmo had a rough time with a 12.28 GAA. But after that season he took off, With a GAA under 11 every season in San Jose. In 2005 and 2006 Cosmo was selected to the Western Conference All-Star team. In 2007, Cosmo was named goaltender of the year with a 10.22 GAA and a 79.15 save%.
After 2008, San Jose traded Cosmo to the Chicago Shamrox for Mike Roik. The Shamrox never played that season, and Cosmo was selected first overall by the Boston Blazers in the dispersal draft. Cosmo has had the same success in Boston as he did in San Jose. In 2010, Cosmo had a career best 9.20 GAA, but lost out on Goaltender of the Year to Matt Vinc of the Orlando Titans.
Cosmo looks to enjoy success again with the Blazers in the 2011 season. Though all the talk about Boston's new big three, Cosmo is their most important piece. If he can continue play like he has over the past two seasons in Boston, maybe they can reach their goal of the Champions Cup.

For this story and more, watch The Internet Sport Show, Lacrosse on Tuesday at Youtube.com.

What Kind of Season Can Toronto Have?

(photo credit: NLL.com)

The Toronto Rock are coming off an amazing turnaround season, going to the Champions Cup. The Rock had had 3 straight losing seasons before GM Jim Veltman pulled the lever and acquired Colin Doyle from Washington, who they eventually played in the Championship.
But it was not only Doyle who helped them get back into relevance. It was rookies Stephen LeBlanc, Garret Billings, goaltender Bob Watson, as well as Blaine Manning, Sandy Chapman, and Creighton Reid. But what do the Rock have to do to overcome a much improved eastern division?
Their biggest hurdle will be the Boston Blazers(read about them here). After that the Rochester Knighthawks have also improved. What area does Toronto have an advantage? Can they return to the Champions Cup? More, after the jump.
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Toronto got a huge boost when word came that Bob Watson was returning the the organization. Watson amazingly had a GAA of under nine last season. And while Steve Dietrich retired, they have a healthy backup goaltender competition.
On offense, the Rock return with most of the same lineup as last season, with some new additions, but mostly defensemen with Kyle Ross and Phil Sanderson.
In what area does Toronto have an edge over Boston? If anything, maybe defense. Toronto did trade their defensman Scott Campbell to Boston's improved defense, but Toronto certainly does not have a better offense. With Dawson, Sanderson and Powell, it's hard to beat them. But Toronto is not far behind, with Billings, LeBlanc, Doyle, etc. Boston has more electric players, but Toronto may have more depth at forwards and transition players.
Does Toronto have an advantage in Goaltending? Probably not, with Boston having Anthony Cosmo, but Watson is sure a good goaltender to have. While they don't have the exact advantage, I would not complain if I was left with Bob Watson.
Last season, Stephen LeBlanc was seventh in the league in overall goals. Billings was 11th. Those two now-sophomore players look to be a huge part of Toronto's season in 2011. LeBlanc, 24 years old, last season had 36 goals and 82 points to lead the Rock in goals. Billings had 33 goals and 83 points. They had a combined 32 points in the playoffs.

Toronto has had a very interesting training camp so far, most of it revolving around goaltenders. There are a few more non-goalies, however, who have impressed Rock officials during camp. A few of note are Brice Queener, Aaron Pascas, Damon Edwards, and Glen Bryan. Right now Toronto has 34 men on their training camp roster. They will have to narrow it down to 23. Other players on their training camp roster include Geoff McNulty, Pat Maddalena, Mat McLeod, Drew Petkoff, Sandy Chapman, Tim O’Brien, Anthony Lackey, Rob Marshall, Colin Doyle, Kasey Beirnes, Creighton Reid, Kyle Ross, Garrett Billings, Blaine Manning, Patrick Merrill, Stephan Leblanc, Phil Sanderson, Brendon Doran, Jeff Gilbert, Mike Hobbins, Cam Woods, Josh Wasson, Stephen Hoar and Watson
Toronto plans to narrow down their roster over the next weekend when they play Colorado in a pre-season game. They will also scrimmage vs Buffalo and Minnesota.
As a whole, Toronto has not had an as noticeable off-season as Boston and Rochester. And while they may have taken a step forward, Toronto has not taken a step back, and will compete with them every step of the way.

Lax Links Thanksgiving Edition

Happy Holidays from The Lacrosse Blog.

Merrick Thompson to miss season-NLL Insider

Veltman steps down- NLL Insider

Rock continue camp- NLL Insider

Paul Rabil hangs with football coaching legend - NESN

Enjoy you holiday weekend.

Training Camp Update

As the NLL season creeps closer, more teams are coming to agreements with their players. The Boston Blazers signed Casey Powell and Dan Dawson to two year deals today, locking up two of their new big three. The Blazers have all three of the last three MVPs in Dawson, Powell, and Josh Sanderson. “Dan is one of the most electrifying players in our league,” team president and general manager Doug Reffue said in a release by the team. “With his leadership and offensive presence as well as the addition of all-stars like Casey and Josh, we will be a major challenge for every team this year. Anything short of a Champions Cup would be a major disappointment.”
John Tavares will return to the Buffalo Bandits for one last season. He says he feels old, but wants one more season as a Bandit. “I asked my wife to put my bag in my car because it looked really heavy, since I’m too old. Once I get my stick in my hand, then it’ll be nice to be back. Now it’s like, ‘oh man,’ line after line and driving two hours to get here can be a pain, but it’s nice to be able to do it.” Buffalo looks to be another improved team in the east with additions such as Tracey Kelusky, Scott Self, Brenden Thenhaus, Travis Irving and Ben McCoullogh.
The Toronto Rock have already had an interesting training camp after the retirement of Steve Dietrich. With him out, the Rock have four backup goaltender candidates with Zack Boychuk, Gee Nash, Pat Campbell and Matt Flindell.
Over in Colorado, rookies Ned Crotty and Ben Daives have impressed. They look to add to a much improved offensive Colorado Mammoth team. They look to join John Grant, Ilija and Alex Gajic, and Jamie Shewchuk as the Mammoth offense.

Breaking: MLL Rochester Official

According to Inside Lacrosse, the Toronto Nationals will move to Hamilton, Ontario for he 2011 season, and the MLL will bring back a Rochester franchise. This will be the first time a professional Lacrosse team played in Hamilton since 1998 with the NLL's Ontario Raiders.
The Lacrosse Blog has been one of the top sources for the Rochester MLL franchise updates. It will indeed be the Rochester Rattlers, with commissioner Dave Gross saying Rob Clark of the Rochester Rhinos soccer team wil own them.
UPDATE: The Rattlers will be the former Chicago Machine.

Nightly Lax Links- 11/22

Here are your Monday evening Lax Links.

Mike Hasen talks K'Hawks training camp- NLL Insider

Dietrich retires- NLL Insider

Rush open camp- Edmontonrush.com

Stealth lock up Zwyicki- Stealthlax.com

And a video here for you as NBC interviewed Mike Accursi-

Boston Blazers.. Is This Their Year?

(photo credit: NLL.com)

When the Boston Blazers first acquired Casey Powell, I thought they became the favorites in the East. When they acquired Josh Sanderson, I thought so even more. The Blazers certainly have what looks to be a powerhouse offense, with those additions along with Dan Dawson. But did the Blazers address their biggest need? And are there more teams to worry about in the East?
Looking at the Blazers roster up-to-down, it looks pretty solid. Along with their big three they have Scott Campbell, John Orsen, Greg Downing, Gary Bining, Kevin Buchanan, Sean Morris, and Dan Teat. Those are some pretty good complementary players to Sanderson, Dawson and Powell. And on the goaltending front, you cannot go wrong with Anthony Cosmo. So again, on paper this team looked solid.
I feel they did address their biggest problem, which was second half scoring. After teams would adjust to Dan Dawson, the Blazers did not have enough players to pick up the slack. They tried to fix this by acquiring Mat Giles, and he was ok, but he was also not their scoring solution.
By getting Powell and later Sanderson, that should solve the issue. Teams cannot double cover all three players. Especially Powell, who has had a history of good second halves.
While credit to Boston for improving the issue, Powell kind of fell right into their lap. Thanks to the Giles trade of the previous season, Boston was left with the #2 pick of the Titans dispersal. With Colorado snatching up Matt Vinc, Powell was left open for the Blazers. They did have to surrender a few players for Sanderson, but it was well worth getting the former MVP.
The rest of their additions look like good support players, like Dan Teat, who is 20th all time in NLL scoring. And then Kevin Buchanan, who looks to score a few goals.
But other teams are improving too. Toronto has a really solid roster, with Blaine Manning, Colin Doyle, Garret Billings and Wade LeBlanc. The Rock, I have always thought, would be able to contend with Boston. But with the recent additions of Rochester, the Knighthawks might jump into that mix. And it is not so much Vinc, as they always had Pat O'Toole in net.
But even with the loss of John Grant, they have Cody Jaimeson, Jordon Hall, Craig Point, Steve Toll, Shawn Evans, and Matt Zash. With a few more roster moves, they also have Brad Self and Matt Danowski.
So with the Knighthawks and Rock in the mix, that leaves the Blazers with some tough opponents. Back to the Blazers, is their still a weakness on this team? They improved their problems from last year, but that does not mean they won't have problems somewhere else.
I think the Blazers acquired some good defensive players with Orsen and Campbell, but they lost Paul Dawson, who is one of the best in the league. While those two may make up for the loss, the acquisition of Kyle Rubisch was supposed to as well. However he remains unsigned, and it is unknown if Boston will have to trade him.

Lax Links- 11/19

Here are your Friday Lax Links!

Gavin Prount re-signs- NLL Insider

Knighthawks sign second round pick- Knighthawks.net

Rock begin training camp- NLL Insider

Stealth sign Duch- NLL.com