2008 NLL Season Preview

The National Lacrosse League will begin its 22nd year with twelve teams in two provinces and six states in two separate countries in North America on Saturday, December 29th as the Calgary Roughnecks travel to Denver, Colorado to play the Colorado Mammoth.

The league finished last year with thirteen teams and was to add a fourteenth in Boston. However, on October 16th, the league cancelled the season due to an impasse in collective bargaining negotiations. The season was restarted on October 25th after a seven year collective bargaining agreement was reached by the owners and the PLPA, the Professional Lacrosse Players Association. The nine days of cancellation wreaked havoc as the league had to put together a new schedule as many original dates were released by teams. Rescheduling was even more difficult as the Boston Blazers decided to put off their first season until 2009 and the Arizona Sting, who lost to the Rochester Knighthawks in last year NLL Champions Cup, suspended operations for the 2008 season. That left twelve teams for 2008 and two teams of players dispersed through a draft in November, which made training camps for all teams very intriguing.

With seven years of labor peace now in place, the NLL regroups with the 2008 season as a season of transition as they try to regain the confidence of sponsors and fans after the CBA fiasco. The play on the field; however, is expected to be really good because of all the great and good players that were with Arizona and Boston and now playing in various locations throughout the league.

East Division

1. Rochester Knighthawks 14-2 1st Place NLL Champions
   The defending NLL Champions have won 15 games in a row entering this season and nearly the whole team returns. Forward Mike Accursi is their only big loss as he goes to Edmonton but that just gives Shawn Evans more time to play. Of course, 2007 NLL Most Valuable Player of Year, John Grant, returns to terrorize opposing defenses. Goaltender Pat O'Toole must stay healthy for the Knighthawks to repeat because they don't have much experience behind him in net.
2. Buffalo Bandits 10-6 2nd Place Lost in East Final
   John Tavares is five goals short of the all-time NLL career record for goals entering this season. He already is the career leader in assists and points. Injuries to newly acquired Sean Greenhalgh and Craig Conn and last year's first round pick Brett Bucktooth could slow the offense. That means the defense led by Billy Dee Smith and Chris White will be counted on to excel even more than they already have. Can Mike Thompson build upon last season when he became the number one goaltender? Both the Bandits and Knighthawks start the season against each other in a home and home series which could determine playoff seeding.
3. Minnesota Swarm 9-7 3rd Place Lost in East Semifinal
   The Swarm will have to be third until they can prove they can get past Buffalo in the playoffs. Craig Point will have a lot of pressure as a rookie to score for the Swarm and could very well be the league's rookie of the year. Ryan Cousins, the 2007 NLL Defensive Player of the Year, must help right the ship defensively after the team defense faltered in 2007. The league's youngest team, with the oldest player, Eric Pacey, not turning 30 until May, will be counted on to outrun the competition if they stay healthy. Nick Patterson will take over number one goaltending duties as Matt Disher was traded to Edmonton in the offseason.
4. Toronto Rock 6-10 4th Place Lost in East Semifinal
   Two huge additions on defense, Cam Woods from Chicago and Peter Lough from Arizona, give the Rock leadership to replace Jim Veltman after this season. Kasey Beirnes, acquired from Minnesota, will bolster a very dangerous offense that includes Josh Sanderson, 2007 NLL Rookie of the Year Ryan Benesch, Blaine Manning and Aaron Wilson.
5. Chicago Shamrox 6-10 5th Place
   The Shamrox may get the biggest boost in the East from the dispersal draft of Arizona Sting players as they acquired defenseman Scott Self and forwards Lindsay Plunkett and Andrew Lazore. The Shamrox were one horrible fourth quarter against Philadelphia last March from making the playoffs and one more year together may be enough to get them there. The trade of Woods to the Rock right now for me gives the Rock the edge over the Shamrox for the last playoff spot in the East.
6. Philadelphia Wings 6-10 6th Place
   Expectations are always extremely high for the oldest franchise in the NLL; however, they have missed the playoffs for five straight years. Will this be the year they get back to where they believe they belong? Not quite. With Greenhalgh gone, they will depend on Merrick Thomson, a rookie who was drafted 2nd overall in the 2007 Entry Draft to replace his production. Dan Marohl and Jake Bergey will really have to pile up the points to get the Wings over the hump. Where they should make hay is defensively with acquisition of Taylor Wray from Calgary and Rob Blasdell from Arizona to start in net.
7. New York Titans 4-12 7th Place
   That leaves the Titans in last place. They have a fantastic offense with Ryan Boyle, Casey Powell, Pat Maddalena and Mike McLellan. They have the first overall pick in the last draft in Jordan Hall. However, the Titans, even with that firepower, can't make up for the most porous defense on paper in the league. The defense should give young goaltender Matt Vinc a lot of experience which should pay off in the future.

West Division

1. San Jose Stealth 9-7 4th Place Lost in West Final
   Before the 2007 season, the Stealth looked dead in the water. They missed the playoffs the two previous seasons and averaged around 5,000 fans per game. Then just before the season started, they made one of the league's biggest trades ever in acquiring 2005 NLL MVP Colin Doyle from Toronto. With Doyle in town, they made the playoffs in 2007 with a 9-7 record and fell two goals short of going to the championship game. Now the Stealth have new and invigorated ownership and an exciting team greatly intact from last year with goaltender Anthony Cosmo and scorers Jeff Zywicki, Gary Rosyski and Luke Wiles. The biggest challenge for the Stealth may not be winning the Champions Cup this year but averaging over 6,000 fans.
2. Colorado Mammoth 12-4 1st Place Lost in West Semifinal
   The 2006 NLL champions were upset by San Jose in the first round of the playoffs at home last year. This year with new Head Coach Bob McMahon replacing lacrosse legend Gary Gait, the Mammoth look to reclaim West supremacy. Gavin Prout and Dan Carey are all-star scorers and Nenad Gajic is one of the best young all around players in the league. The Mammoth also have the best one-two lineup in goal with Gee Nash and Chris Levis.
3. Portland LumberJax 4-12 6th Place
   Like Chicago in the East, the LumberJax in the West will benefit greatly from the dispersal of Sting players. They got the NLL 3rd leading scorer in Dan Dawson and veteran lefthanded scorer Derek Malawsky. Those two acquisitions will give a great boost to the league's worst offense in 2007. The greatest goaltender in NLL history and probably in better shape than goaltenders half his age, the 43 year old Dallas Eliuk, returns between the pipes for yet another season.
4. Edmonton Rush 6-10 5th Place
   Four teams in each division make the playoffs and when you are in five team division, you don't want to stick out like a sore thumb when you finish fifth. That is why Edmonton was busy in the offseason acquiring offensive talent to help them get over the hump. Mike Accursi, fresh off winning the Champions Cup in Rochester, arrives in Edmonton to be a major asset in the offense. A healthy A.J. Shannon and continued high performance from Chris Gill and Dan Stroup could get the Rush their first playoff berth in their three year history.
5. Calgary Roughnecks 9-7 2nd Place Lost in West Semifinal
   The looks like the year that the Roughnecks will lose out to their rivals to the north of them in Alberta for the fourth and last spot in the playoffs in the West. They are led in scoring by Tracey Kelusky and Lewis Ratcliff and defensively by Andrew McBride. If new goaltender Steve Dietrich, acquired from Buffalo, can remain healthy then the Roughnecks could move up. If not, then they will get passed up not so much by their own inadequacies but by the better talent in the rest of division.

First Round of Playoffs

Division Finals

Champions Cup

Minnesota and Portland win on the road in the first round. San Jose wins it all as the Knighthawks only win in years that end in 7 (1997 & 2007).