Week 3 East Schedule

Here is the week 3 Field Lacrosse Schedule for the East. With all due respect to the West teams, I cannot seem to get scores so until I do, I won’t be posting the schedules.

Novice		Peewee
OSHAWA 2		OSHAWA 1
CLARINGTON 1		HALTON 1
PETERBOROUGH 1		CLARINGTON 1
MIMICO 1		PETERBOROUGH 1
OSHAWA 1		OSHAWA 2
CLARINGTON 1		OSHAWA 1
PETERBOROUGH 1		HALTON 1
MISSISSAUGA		NEWMARKET 1
OSHAWA 1		PETERBOROUGH 1
MIMICO 1		OSHAWA 1
OSHAWA 2		CLARINGTON 1
PETERBOROUGH 1		WEST DURHAM
MIMICO 1		HALTON 1
CLARINGTON 1		OSHAWA 2
OSHAWA 1		OSHAWA 3
HALTON		NEWMARKET 1
MISSISSAUGA		MIMICO 1
OSHAWA 3		MISSISSAUGA
CLARINGTON 2		OSHAWA 3
WEST DURHAM		HALTON 2
HALTON		WEST DURHAM
OSHAWA 3		T.BEACHES
CLARINGTON 2		MISSISSAUGA
OSHAWA 2		HALTON 2
HALTON		T.BEACHES
WEST DURHAM		MIMICO 1
MISSISSAUGA		HALTON 2
CLARINGTON 2		NEWMARKET 1
WEST DURHAM		CLARINGTON 2
OSHAWA 3		NEWMARKET 2
PETERBOROUGH 2		BARRIE
CALEDON		PETERBOROUGH 2
MIMICO 2		CLARINGTON 2
CALEDON		MIMICO 2
T.BEACHES		BARRIE
NEWMARKET		NEWMARKET 2
INNISFIL		PETERBOROUGH 2
PETERBOROUGH 2		MIMICO 2
MIMICO 2		OSHAWA 3
NEWMARKET		CLARINGTON 2
PETERBOROUGH 2
T.BEACHES
CALEDON
INNISFIL
MIMICO 2
T.BEACHES
NEWMARKET
INNISFIL
OSHAWA 1
OSHAWA 2
Bantam		Midget
Halton 2		Oshawa 1
Innisfil		Oshawa 2
Barrie		Barrie
Oshawa 2		Pete’borough
Newmarket		Halton 1
Orillia		Newmarket
West Durham		Clarington 1
Halton 2		Oshawa 2
Oshawa 2		Barrie
Orillia		Oshawa 1
Peterborough		T. Beaches
West Durham		Clarington 2
Newmarket		Innisfil
Mimico 1		Halton 2
Halton 1		Mississauga
Clarington 1		T. Beaches
Mimico 1		Orillia
Clarington 1		West Durham
Caledon		Innisfil
Mimico 2		Clarington 2
Clarington 2
Oshawa 3
Peterborough 2
T. Beaches 2
Mississauga
Barrie
Mimico 2
Oshawa 3
Mississauga
Peterborough 2
T. Beaches 2
Clarington 2
Oshawa 1
T. Beaches 1
Caledon
Innisfil

Drew Bartlett Minor Star of the Week May 9 / 2008

Our “Circa Pictures “Minor Star of the Week is back for 2008 and our first recipient is Drew Bartlett. Drew plays lacrosse in the Whitby Minor Lacrosse House League Major Peewee division. Drew was nominated by his Coach Brad Bain, and had the following to say:

On Friday 2 May 2008, my team (WMLA Major Peewee Team #4) the Knights, played Team #5. We started very sluggishly and into the second period were losing 7 - 0.

Drew never gave up. He played tenacious defence including running down an opposing player who was on a breakaway, thwarting what could have easily been their eighth goal. He also contributed offensively, assisting on our first two goals which helped rally the team in the third period. A period where we scored 5 consecutive goals, to pull within two, only to come up short in a 9 - 5 defeat.

For his never say quit approach to the game and the fine example he displayed to his teammates, Drew Bartlett is most worthy of Minor Star of the Week.

For his efforts Drew will receive an LITG T-Shirt and wristband. Congratulations Drew and best of luck the rest of the season!

We thank Circa Pictures for their continued support of our Minor Star of the Week program.

This Week In Lacrosse Episode 17

OK, so we were off one week, but we are back. Unfortunately those jobs get in the way of what we really want to do with our time. Anyway, a short but sweet week 17, that includes some discussions on the NLL, Junior B, Junior A, Major Series and kids Field Lacrosse.

Already looking forward to Saturday night in Buffalo while Tommy Frank covers the game in Calgary.

Lumberjax Headed To Calgary

In what turned out to be a good old fashioned “shootout”, the Portland Lumberjax defeated the San Jose Stealth for the right to move on to the 2008 NLL Western Division final. The Jax will now travel to Calgary, who Saturday night defeated the Colorado Mammoth.

In a game some expected to be a defensive battle, the two teams combined for 34 goals, with Portland winning 18-16. What makes this score a little misleading is that there were only two penalties called during the entire game, so this game was an all out slug fest with a number of offensive stars taking centre stage.

Dan Dawson, by Head Coach Derek Keenan’s own admission “was an absolute monster out there”. Dawson scored seven goals and added five assists. Ryan Powell scored four goals and added four assists. Brad McDoanld and Brodie Merrill each scored twice, with singles going to Scott Stewart, Peter Jacobs and Rich Morgan.

For San Jose, Jeff Zywicki led the way with four goals and three assists, while Colin Doyle had three goals and two assists. Peter Veltman and Frank Resetarits each scored twice, with singles going to Paul Dawson, Ton johnson, Cam Sedgwick, Kyle Sorenson and Gary Rosyski.

In chatting further with Keenan he had this to say about the game:

“given the history of the 3 games this year and the parity between the 2 teams (33 goals each) I did not expect this type of offensive explosion. It was a phenomenal lacrosse game and we were happy and fortunate to have come out on the winning side!”

Riggers Eliminate Mammoth For Spot In Western Final

Parity in the National Lacrosse League at least means one thing. As we’ve said all year anyone can beat anyone else, anywhere, any week. You might call last nights victory by the Calgary Roughnecks in Colorado an upset; I call it parity.

The Riggers have taken their spot in the Western Final with an impressive 15-13 win at the Pepsi Centre in front of over 15,000 Colorado fans. Calgary will now either host Portland or travel to San Jose, pending the outcome of this afternoons last game of the first round.

The game was back and forth all night with Colorado holding a 4-1 1st quarter lead, and Calgary holding a 6-5 halftime lead. Colorado again would be up 10-9 after three. But three goals in under a minute and a half in the fourth quarter, and a total of six in the final frame appeared to be the difference.

Calgary scoring was well spread out with Jeff Shattler and Kaleb Toth each netting three, while Tracey Kelusky and Kelly Hall each scored twice. Singles went to Scott Ranger, Josh Sanderson, Mike Carnegie, Curt Malawasky, and Chris Seller.

For Colorado Gavin Prout, Chris Gill, Jamie Shewchuk, and Jason Wulder all scored two, with singles going to Brian Langtry, Nick Carlson, Nenad Gajic, Jim Moss and Jordan Cornfield.

Titans Will Travel To Buffalo For Eastern Final

The New York Titans will travel to Buffalo next Saturday for the 2008 NLL Eastern Final game. Earlier tonight the Titans defeated the Minnesota Swarm in Minnesota by a score of 11-8. The win was New Yorks first ever against the Swarm and could not have been a bigger one.

The entire game was a very close one, with scores of 2-2 after a quarter, 5-5 at halftime and 7-6 New York after three quarters.

Although this is truly the ultimate team sport, New York goalie Matt Vinc and star forward Casey Powell were simply brilliant at their respective ends of the floor. Vinc made a number of highlight saves at critical points (37 saves on 45 shots), and only let in three second half goals. Meanwhile Powell, was in another gear offensively all night scoring four goals and adding three assists.

With under five minutes to play in the game and the score tied at eight, Powell scored consecutive goals, the second earning an assist from Vinc. Jeff Ratcliffe also had an impressive night scoring three times, while Pat Maddalena scored twice, addiing four assists. Singles went to Brendan Mundorf, and Mike McLellan.

For Minnesota, Andy Secore had a fine night scoring three times and adding three assists, Sean Pollock scored twice, with singles going to Dan Marohl, Craig Point and Ryan Sharp. Nick Patterson also played well for Minnesota making key saves to keep the game close (33 saves on 44 shots).

The Buffalo Bandits who defeated Philadelphia last night will now host New York next Saturday night at the HSBC Arena. Game time is 7:30 pm.

Bandits Arrive In Time To Take First Step To Cup

With the help of the Buffalo Bandits Assistant Coach Jeff Dowling we were able to attend last nights game and capture the video and game report below.  A big Thanks to Jeff and the Bandits organization!

Photos courtesy of M40 images
On Friday night (May 2 / 2008 ) the first game of the 2008 Champions Cup Playoff run was played in Buffalo between the Bandits and Philadelphia Wings.  Although just over 9300 were able to make it out to the game, the Bandit faithful were loud and supported their team prior to, during, and after the game.  Fortunately, for all Bandit followers the team shook off some early miscues, and came out on top of Philly 14-12 to advance to the second round next weekend.

We got into Buffalo in the late afternoon and I just had to get some footage of the faithful tail gaters in the parking lot about an hour and a half prior to the game.  A small group obliged and chatted with us below.  We then caught the late warmup and player intros:

Early on in the game, I felt like I was watching the same script that I have all year at NLL games; one team comes out and dominates the other.  Philadelphia built a 4-1 lead and looked to run away with the game before the first quarter was completed.  Buffalo threw the ball away on three separate occasions that I saw, one of them leading to an intercepted pass.  That pass, to Rob Van Beek was run the floor length and deposited behind Mike Thomson.  Buffalo looked almost confused early with some not expecting passes coming their way. 

As history has proven however, Buffalo shook off the first quarter rust, or nerves, whatever it was, and began to play some lacrosse in the second.  The Bandits went on a five goal run, highlighted by Billy Dee Smith scoring almost a carbon copy goal of the one Van Beek scored in the first (although on a loose ball in the corner) running the floor.  Buffalo’s run took them to the half leading 8-6.

As some might have suggested, Buffalo was late coming out for the second half just like the first.  After Delby Powless made it 9-6, Philadelphia went on a run of their own, scoring four in a row and recapturing the lead at 10-9.  Philly would take that lead into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter is where I really saw the Buffalo fans take over the game.  The 9300 faithful sounded like 19000 and I saw the reaction in the team on the floor.  I decided to capture some video of pieces of the last 3-4 minutes of the game.  I am certain as a plyer there is no feeling like that of your home fans doing everything in their power to energize you late in a game.  Folks this place was rocking (remember this is just over 9300):

I felt the best player on the night for Buffalo was Mike Accursi.  Two of Mike’s four goals on the night were scored at a critical point in the fourth quarter of the game.  Kevin Dostie had three goals, while Billy Dee Smith and Delby Powless each had two. John Tavares, Brett Bucktooth, and Cory Bomberry all had singles. For the Wings Athan Iannucci led the way with four goals, Jamie Rooney and Jake Bergey each had three, while singles went to Van Beek and Merrick Thomson.

Mike Accursi joined me for a post game conversation:

Other Game Notes:

- As they did earlier this season, Buffalo conceded the face off to Geoff Snider for almost the entire game. Snider ended up 28/30.
- I thought the challenge for Philly would be to contain the number of Buffalo shots on goal. However Philly outshot Buffalo 58-48
- Many were wondering who would start for both teams; Thompson went the distance for Buffalo, while Blasdell played the first half for Philly, with Miller playing the second half.
- With the Bandits getting great support from the Niagara area, maybe Friday night was not the best night for Canadians to get over to the game. The Bisons also played baseball Friday night.
- Wings were 2-5 on the PP, Bandits were 1-3
- HSBC was so rocking I joined the fans for ht esecond half of the game. What a blast!
 

 

Minor Field Week 2 East Schedule

Please note: All Saturday Novice and Peewee East games were cancelled due to rain.

	Bantam			Midget
	TEAM	SCORE		TEAM	SCORE
B1	Peterborough 1	9	M1	Orillia	8
	Halton 1	8		Oshawa 2	8
B1	Barrie	5	M1	Halton 1	7
	Clarington 1	11		Oshawa 1	8
B1	Oshawa 1	14	M1	Orillia	5
	T. Beaches 1	7		T. Beaches	12
B1	Peterborough 1	13	M1	Mississauga	9
	Clarington 1	8		Barrie	8
B1	T. Beaches 1	11	M1	Halton 1	8
	Barrie	4		T. Beaches	2
B1	Halton 1	9	M1	Mississauga	2
	Oshawa 1	8		Oshawa 2	9
B2	West Durham	6	M1	Oshawa 1	14
	Oshawa 2	5		Barrie	5
B2	Mimico 1	10	M2	Peterborough 1	14
	Orillia	4		West Durham	4
B2	Caledon	11	M2	Clarington 2	2
	Mississauga	3		Newmarket	9
B2	Peterborough 2	10	M2	West Durham	7
	Mimico 1	3		Clarington 1	13
B2	Orillia	5	M2	Halton 2	3
	Mississauga	9		Peterborough 1	14
B2	West Durham	10	M2	Innisfil	5
	Peterborough 2	3		Clarington 1	10
B2	Oshawa 2	11	M2	Halton 2	4
	Caledon	6		Clarington 2	9
B3	Clarington 2	10	M2	Innisfil	2
	T. Beaches 2	15		Newmarket	15
B3	Halton 2	10
	Oshawa 3	6
B3	Innisfil	3
	Mimico 2	4
B3	Newmarket	10
	T. Beaches 2	9
B3	Clarington 2	5
	Mimico 2	9
B2	Halton 2	4
	Newmarket	14
B3	Oshawa 3	1 (def)
	Innisfil	0

Minor Field Week 2 West Schedule

DIV	TEAM	SCORE	DIV	TEAM	SCORE
N1	Oakville 1
	St Catharines		PW1	St Catharines
N1	Brampton 1			Orangeville 1
	Burlington		PW1	Oakville 1
N1	Brampton 1			Brampton 1
	St Catharines		PW1	Six Nations
N1	Oakville 1			Burlington
	Burlington		PW1	St Catharines
N2	Brampton 2			Brampton 1
	Six Nations		PW1	Orangeville 1
N2	CW			Six Nations
	London		PW1	Burlington
N2	Guelph			Oakville 1
	Oakville2		PW2	Hamilton
N2	Brampton 2			CW
	London		PW2	Orangeville
N2	Six Nations			KW
	Oakville2		PW2	Oakville 2
N2	CW			Hamilton
	Guelph		PW2	London
				Kitchener
			PW2	Brampton 2
				Guelph
			PW2	Orangerville
				London
			PW2	Six Nations
				Brampton 2
			PW2	CW
				Oakville 2
			PW2	Guelph
				Six Nations
DIV	TEAM	SCORE	DIV	TEAM	SCORE
B1a	Brampton1		M1	Oakville 1
	Guelph			Burlington
B1a	Burlington		M1	Guelph
	Hamilton1			Oakville 1
B1a	Guelph		M1	St Catharines
	KW1			Six Nations
B1a	Brampton 1		M1	Orangeville
	Hamilton1			London
B1a	Burlington		M1	Brampton 1
	KW1			Oakville 1
B1b	Oakville 1		M1	Burlington
	London			Guelph
B1b	Orangeville		M1	St Catharines
	St Catharines			Oakville 1
B1b	London		M1	Orangeville
	Six Nations			Brampton1
B1b	Oakville 1		M1	Six Nations
	St Catharines			Guelph
B1b	Orangeville		M1	London
	Six Nations			Burlington
B2	Orangeville 2		M2	Oakville 2
	Oakville 2			NOTL
B2	Burlington 2		M2	Brampton 2
	St Catharines 2			KW
B2	CW		M2	CW
	London 2			Hamilton
B2	Brampton 2		M2	Oakville 2
	KW 2			KW
B2	Oakville 2		M2	NOTL
	London 2			CW
B2	St Catharines 2		M2	Hamilton
	CW			Brampton 2
B2	Burlington 2		M2	KW
	Brampton 2			Hamilton
B2	Orangeville 2		M2	NOTL
	KW 2			Brampton 2
			M2	CW
				Oakville 2
			M2	NOTL
				KW
			M2	Brampton 2
				CW
			M2	Hamilton
				Oakville 2

The End Of A Lacrosse Season; The End Of A Lacrosse Era

The final game of the 2007-2008 NLL regular season meant absolutely nothing to the Toronto Rock or the Philadelphia Wings. But neither team received the memo, as the Sunday afternoon contest was certainly not played that way. It was being hyped as the “retirement celebration” for Toronto lacrosse icon Jim Veltman and it did not disappoint in the least.

In what I thought was simply a great touch, all of the Rock players and goalies came out for the pregame warmup as well as the game introductions in many different variations of the Rock #32 jersey, and all wearing the Captain “C”, with the Veltman name on the back. As one bystander commented, it actually took a minute to find the real Veltman.

The pregame festivities included a ceremonial face-off by The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, the Honourable David C. Onley, and Sportsnet’s Rob Faulds was the pregame excee. After a great video presentation, Jim Veltman addressed the crowd. We caught all of the footage below:

Photo coutesy of m40images
Philadelphia came out of the gate flying, and early on showed why they are a playoff bound contending team in the East. The Wings scored eight first quarter goals, with the first six chasing Toronto starter Bob Watson from the net. Veltman scored one of Toronto’s only two first quarter goals as he took a pass from Cam Woods while cutting right down a wide open middle of Philly’s defense. But for the vast majority of the first fifteen minutes, it was Toronto trying to contain Philadelphia’s fast offense. Unfortunatley, there were far more attempts to stick check, or strip the ball, than there were to play physical and stop Philly going to the net. The score was 8-2 after one and I thought that the celebration was not going to be a fond one to remember.

In the second quarter Toronto played much better lacrosse and actually started to make it a game. They played with passion, scored goals on offense, and shut down Philly’s offense in Toronto’s end. Toronto won the quarter 5-2 but still found themselves down 10-7 at the half.

The third quarter saw both teams start to play better defensivley with each team scoring only twice, and neither taking control. In the fourth, Toronto outscored Philly 5-3, but the horrid first quarter that they had to start the game, left them short at the end. They were tied late, but a short handed goal by Athan Iannucci sealed the win for Philadelphia.

Photo coutesy of m40images
Iannucci showed why he won the scoring title this season, scoring four on the night. The ball is not in his stick long before it is in the back of the net. Iannucci is a tower out there and looks like he can go where he wants, when he wants. And the speed of his release caused trouble all afternoon for Toronto. AJ Shannon also scored two very nice goals, as did Jason Crosbie and Jamie Rooney.

Blaine Manning and Lewis Ratcliff each scored three goals for Toronto, while Aaron Wilson and Scott Campbell both had two.

I thought Rob Marshall was the best player on the floor for Toronto, and then the Captain (Veltman) was the next. Marshall showed character and hustle all game long. He has really impressed me this season and Toronto would be wise to keep him for the future. As the season progressed, he looked to me like he could succeed Captain Jim as possibly the player this team rallys around. The young guy plays with the heart, that Rock fans have adored in their retiring captain.

Our post game recap is below:

Other Game Notes:

- Geoff Snider was outstanding again on face-offs going 27/32.
- goal of the game was a tie (but both by Philly). First after a Philly goal, Snider wins a draw directly to Iannucci, who in turn flips an underhand to Merrick Thomson who scores 5 seconds after the last goal. The second was a beauty by AJ Shannon who beat his man down low, and driving to the net, dove in the air. He faked low, then threw the ball over the shoulder of Mike Poulin before landing in the crease.
- “Scoop” went out in style with a goal and four assists and seventeen loose balls
- Philly goalies Blasdell and Miller were soilid in Philly’s goal facing a combined 73 shots

On Veltman’s Retirement

Not often does a player leave a professional game on his own terms. Barry Sanders (NFL - Detroit Lions) is one that comes to mind. Jim Veltman, at 42 is obviously not the player he was at 22. But he is such a smart player, that he has been able to adapt his game to his age, and still be one of the best. He was easily one of the top two players on the floor today for Toronto. He still plays at a very high level, he is still a Professional. He played today with the passion and enthusiasm of a hot shot rookie. Jim is leaving the game on his terms, and good for him!

Photo coutesy of m40images
But more importantly, he is a World Class person. Anyone that has ever met the man will tell you how accomodating he is, how “real” he is, and so many other complimentary traits that make up very good people. Just as impressive about Jim is his ability to share his own accolades with his team mates, family, fans and so many more. He understands how many people in his personal and lacrosse life have helped him to get to his retirement today.

So when someone this good for the game leaves, it is very bittersweet for us all. We selfishly do not want to see one of our heros leave the game that we all are so passionate about. But at the same time, you cannot help but have a mountain of respect for him as a person, for his play, for his involvement in the community, for everything there is to Jim Veltman.

Jim, from all of your fans around the entire National Lacrosse League, thank you! Knowing that you are still going to be involved in the game is comfort to those that already miss you on the floor.

With that folks, I’d like to leave you with the last 30 seconds of Jim Veltman’s Professional Lacrosse Career, and the appreciation shown by Rock fans:

Marksy