National Lacrosse League 2015 News

[truebluefan]

- Sometimes a game fails to live up to the hype. Not when that game is Mammoth-Roughnecks. Colorado's Joey Cupido tied Saturday's contest at 16 with 1:25 remaining in regulation, then John Grant Jr. scored the game-winner just 31 ticks into the extra frame on HealthONE Field at Pepsi Center in the home-opener.

"Both home barns are incredible," said Grant. "We get fired up to go there. They get fired up to come here. The tradition of games between the two [teams] has gone on for so long."

And that tradition seemingly always includes bonus-lacrosse. The 15,107 fans at Pepsi Center on Saturday witnessed the fourth overtime game between the teams in their last five meetings. Three of the four have been won Colorado (2-0).

"That was amazing!" said defenseman Dan Ball. "Really intense there in the second half..."

A 10-7 Mammoth lead at halftime evaporated in the third quarter as Calgary scored five of the seven goals in the frame. The fourth quarter saw Calgary's Shawn Evans score all four of his team's goals. Colorado's scoring came from Drew Westervelt, Creighton Reid, Grant and Cupido.

In a face-off battle between brothers, Calgary's Geoff Snider won 27 of the first 36. But the one that mattered most was won by younger brother, Bob (Colorado).

"It was the game-winning goal," said coach Chris Gill of the face-off win. "If we didn't get that face-off, it might have been them (winning). That was the biggest play of the game, the biggest face-off of the game, and once again there was no panic."

The Mammoth now has an early two-game lead in the West Division on Calgary (0-2) and Edmonton (0-2), the teams that finished one-two in the standings a season ago.

"It was a huge win for this team," said Gill. "There's times in the years past where this team would have folded. [Now] there's just too much character."

Press Release from Colorado Mammoth

 

[truebluefan]

New England took an early four goal lead and never looked back, defeating the three time defending National Lacrosse Leagues champions Rochester by a final score of 17-7.

The Black Wolves were led by Kevin Crowley who had six goals and four assists for a total of ten points on the night. Patrick Saunders added three goals and three assists of his own while Kyle Buchanan had three goals and six assists.

Corey Vitarelli had three goals and two assists leading all scorers for the Knighthawks. Jordan Hall was the only other player on Rochester to have more than one goal registering two goals and one assist.

New England immediately took control as Kyle Buchanan scored 31 seconds into the game starting the scoring for the Black Wolves. Buchanan's teammates would follow suit as New England raced out to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter.

Rochester would attempt to cut in the Black Wolves lead as they netted two goals at the end of the first quarter to make the first period score 4-2.

Both teams traded two goals in the second quarter to keep New England's lead at two going into the second half.

The rout was on in the third quarter as the Black Wolves scored six of the eight goals in the quarter to take a 12-6 lead. New England shared the ball well this period as there were five different goal scorers on the six tallies.

The Black Wolves continued to attack in the final period scoring five more goals to the Knighthawks one taking the game 17-7 and giving New England a two game winning streak to start the season.

Evan Kirk made 34 saves in a winning effort the Black Wolves pushing the teams record to 2-0 on the season.

Matt Vinc made 30 saves on 47 shots faced dropping Rochester's record to 0-2 on the season.

New England returns to action on Saturday January 24th when they host the Minnesota Swarm. The game will start at 7:00 pm.

Press Release from New England Black Wolves

 

[truebluefan]

Facing a 9-3 deficit late in the third quarter, the National Lacrosse League's (NLL) Minnesota Swarm (1-1) were able to pull off a mighty 14-10 comeback victory against the Edmonton Rush (0-2) Saturday night at Rexall Place.

Minnesota finished the game on an 11-1 run to spoil the Rush's home opener, and collected its first victory of the 2015 season. Unlike last weekend's result at home against Colorado, it was the Swarm this time around who dominated the fourth quarter of play to pull out a victory.

"I don't think I've ever been a part of a swing like this where we were on the receiving end and then tonight we were the team doing all the scoring (in the fourth quarter)," Swarm forward Callum Crawford said. "That's why this sport is so incredible. I think everybody in the building thought the game was done at one point."

The Swarm started fast, scoring the game's opening two goals in the first quarter, but that lead didn't last long with Edmonton answering to tie the game a few minutes later. The Rush then went on to outscore Minnesota 5-1 in the second quarter and entered halftime ahead 7-3.

After the Rush built a commanding 9-3 lead, Crawford scored two of his three goals at the end of the third quarter to give the Swarm some momentum heading into the fourth quarter. Swarm goalie Zach Higgins also came into the contest in the midst of the third quarter and stood strong in his 27 minutes of action to help the Swarm pull out a gutsy road win. Higgins allowed just one goal in his season debut and made 15 saves.

"I wanted to come in and make sure we could settle things down," Higgins said. "They were kind of getting on a run so I wanted to come in, settle the defense a little bit, and make sure we could get some confidence going. Once we started burying a couple you could see the energy rise and the momentum swung right to our way."

In the fourth quarter, Minnesota came out firing and managed to tie the game at 10 after F Corbyn Tao (1g, 1a) scored his first goal of the game at the 3:43 mark. Rookie forward Miles Thompson (3g, 1a) then scored the game-winning goal on a jaw-dropping behind-the-back goal to give the Swarm an 11-10 lead just moments later. On the play, Thompson managed to score while being held onto by a defender and falling down backwards. (Thompson's goal was featured on ESPN's Top 10 Plays Saturday night.)

"I got cross-checked and he kind of held me so I was falling down backwards," Thompson said. "First of all I was trying to shoot, but I knew someone was behind the net because that was the offense we were running at the time. So I knew it was going to score or go high over the net for a teammate."

Despite being one of the league's youngest teams, the Swarm stayed resilient in their victory over of the Rush. Minnesota captured the momentum and ran with it when the team had its opportunities in the fourth quarter.

"At halftime we talked a lot about resiliency and character and all the things any coach would say when your team is down but it's not so much what I did, it's what these guys did," Swarm coach Joe Sullivan said. "Individually they all just decided to pick their game up and outwork them."

Along with Thompson, Crawford also had a hat trick on Saturday night and recorded a team-high six points. Crawford told the media afterward that the Swarm's ability to limit turnovers late in the game was key in the team's turnaround.

"We took care of the ball which was big, but to be honest we just believed. We were getting looks in the first half, we just weren't burying the ball but I think that was the true testament of a family in there," Crawford said. "Nobody gave up on each other the whole game and finally things came together."

Also putting forth solid performances on offense for Minnesota included F Shayne Jackson (2g, 1a), T Andrew Suitor (2g) and T Jordan MacIntosh (1g, 4a). Saturday night also marked the return of 2014 NLL Rookie of the Year F Logan Schuss to the lineup. Schuss missed all of training camp and the home opener due to work commitments. In his season debut, the lefty forward recorded two assists and six loose balls.

The Rush was led by D Chris Corbeil (2g), F Robert Church (2g, 2a) and F Mark Matthews (2g, 3a). Edmonton goaltender Aaron Bold made 40 saves in the game in 60 minutes of action.

Minnesota is off next weekend, and will wrap up its three-game road trip in New England (Jan. 24) and Buffalo (Jan. 30).

Press Release from the Minnesota Swarm

 

[truebluefan]

The Toronto Rock (2-0) defeated the Vancouver Stealth (1-1) on Saturday night by a score of 20-11 at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, BC.

In front of an energetic crowd on national television, the Stealth sprung out of the gate and built a 3-0 lead. Something the Rock endured just a week ago when Rochester did the exact same thing to Toronto. Rock goals came from Josh Sanderson and Brett Hickey in the opening 15, but much like the Rock's first game, they trailed by a pair after the first quarter, this time 4-2.

The second quarter was all Rock as they outscored Vancouver 8-2 and Rob Hellyer connected for half of those to the Rock a 10-6 lead at the half. Sanderson had amassed 9 points on 2 goals and 7 assists in the first 30 minutes of play.

Toronto struck for a pair of goals, ten seconds apart, before the half was 3 minutes old. Toronto's 13th goal chased starter Tyler Richards, replacing him was Eric Penney making his NLL debut. Toronto reeled off a 6th and 7th straight goal before Vancouver broke up the run with a pair of goals before the end of the third quarter with the Rock leading 15-8.

The Rock showed no signs of slowing down as the final quarter got underway, scoring the first 3 goals and stretching their lead to 18-8. The Rock cruised to the 20-11 win from there.

"They came out with a plan to really run and we just had to weather the storm and make some adjustments to what they were doing on the floor," said Head Coach John Lovell. "Our offence kicked in and started to be more efficient. We established some great defence and I was happy with our 5-on-5 defence. That momentum really carried into the 3rd quarter."

Sanderson enjoyed a career night, posting 14 points on 4 goals and 10 assists. His 14 points were one shy of the Rock record of 15 points in a single game set by Garrett Billings in 2012. Quietly, Rob Hellyer scored 6 goals and added 4 assists for 10 points.

"Robbie Hellyer was hot," said Sanderson. "I just had to get the ball to Robbie. Once we got our legs after the first five minutes, we got on a run and got (Tyler) Richards out. We didn't let them get into a groove and it was one of those nights where things were going right."

Brandon Miller was unflappable in goal and earned his second win of the season with 33 saves on 44 shots.

Press release from the Toronto Rock