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EspañolNATIONAL LACROSSE LEAGUE
The 'National Lacrosse League' (NLL) is the league of men's indoor lacrosse in North America. It currently has 14 teams; 3 in Canada and 11 in the United States. Unlike other lacrosse leagues which play in the summer, the NLL plays its games in the winter. Each year, the playoff teams battle for the Champion's Cup.
Although there are specific areas where lacrosse is popular, primarily for historic reasons or due to high profile college programs, it is still considered a marginal sport in most of North America. Consequently, franchise relocations and foldings have been common in the NLL.
Game
Main articles: Box lacrosse
The version of lacrosse played in the NLL is indoor lacrosse. This is slightly different than box lacrosse, which is played on a hard floor, usually in the summer, and has 3 periods instead of four. The NLL plays four quarters of fifteen minutes each, with two-minute breaks between the first and second quarters and between the third and fourth quarters, and a twelve-minute break between the second and third (called ''half-time'').[1] The clock does not run when play is stopped.
The team that has scored the most goals at the end of regulation time is declared the winner. If the game is tied after four quarters have been played, the teams begin sudden death overtime; the team that scores first wins the game. Overtime period are fifteen minutes long, with two-minute breaks between overtime periods.1 Prior to the 2005 NLL season, overtime periods were 5 minutes each.[2]
Each team dresses eighteen players, of whom two are goaltenders; the remaining sixteen are called ''runners'', and may be either forwards or defensemen. There are also players, frequently defensemen, who specialize in the ''transition'' from defense to offense.
The team in possession of the ball has ten seconds to move the ball over the center line, and thirty seconds to take a shot on net. If either of these time periods expires, the whistle is blown, and the opposing team is given possession. In the NLL, the shot clock runs while a team that is killing a penalty has possession of the ball; this is not the case in all box lacrosse leagues (eg. Major Series Lacrosse, Western Lacrosse Association).
Season and playoffs
Each team in the NLL plays sixteen games during the regular season, eight at home and eight away.[3] The teams are divided into two divisions, the Eastern division and the Western division. Each team plays at least twelve of its sixteen regular season games against division opponents.
The regular season begins in late December and ends in April. At the end the regular season, the top four teams in each division make the playoffs, which consist of three single-game elimination rounds. In the first round (the ''Division Semi-finals''), each division winner hosts the fourth-place team in its division, and the second-place team hosts the third-place team. In the second round (the ''Division Finals''), the two remaining teams in each division play; the higher-seeded team hosts the game. Two weeks after the Division Finals, the division winners face off for the Champion's Cup.
All NLL games are played on weekends, save for the occasional Thursday night game.[4] Most NLL players have full-time jobs off the floor; notable examples include Toronto's Dan Ladouceur, a Durham Region police officer,[5] and Buffalo's John Tavares, a high school teacher in Toronto.[6]
History
MILL logo
The rebirth of major professional box lacrosse in the United States came on March 13, 1986, with the formation of the 'Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League' (EPBLL), which was incorporated by Russ Cline and Chris Fritz.[7] The league began play for the 1987 season, opening with two games on January 10, 1987: the Philadelphia Wings at the New Jersey Saints and the Washington Wave hosting the Baltimore Thunder. Those four teams contested a six-game regular season before a postseason which saw all four teams qualify for a single knockout tournament, which ended with the Baltimore Thunder crowned the EPBLL's first champion.7
Those same four teams played in the second season of the EPBLL.7 The teams expanded to an eight-game schedule, and set up a three-team playoff with the regular season winner claiming a bye to the title game. The league rebranded itself as the 'Major Indoor Lacrosse League' (MILL) immediately after the season, and announced that the Detroit Turbos and New England Blazers (based in Worcester, Massachusetts) would begin play for the 1989 season.7 Meanwhile, the New Jersey Saints moved to Long Island and were renamed the New York Saints.7
| National Lacrosse League Progression | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Teams | Games Played |
| 1987 | 4 teams | 6 games |
| 1988 | 8 games | |
| 1989 | ||
| 1990 | 6 teams | |
| 1991 | 10 games | |
| 1992 | 7 teams | 8 games |
| 1993 | ||
| 1994 | 6 teams | |
| 1995 | ||
| 1996 | 7 teams | 10 games |
| 1997 | 6 teams | |
| 1998 | 7 teams | 12 games |
| 1999 | ||
| 2000 | 8 teams | |
| 2001 | 9 teams | 14 games |
| 2002 | 13 teams | 16 games |
| 2003 | 12 teams | |
| 2004 | 10 teams | |
| 2005 | ||
| 2006 | 11 teams | |
| 2007 | 13 teams | |
| 2008 | 14 teams | |
Like many young professional leagues, the MILL had its share of franchise instability. After the 1989 season, the Washington Wave folded and the MILL granted the expansion Pittsburgh Bulls a franchise to remain at 6 teams for the 1990 season. 1991 saw no franchise changes, but the league expanded the schedule again to 10 games, and introduced two divisions.7 The American Division consisted of the Baltimore Thunder, Philadelphia Wings, and New York Saints, while the National Division was to be contested between the Detroit Turbos, Pittsburgh Bulls, and New England Blazers. The 1991 postseason consisted solely of a championship game, between the winners of the two divisions.7
1992 brought another franchise move, as New England relocated to Boston and became the Boston Blazers. In what would ultimately prove to be the first of the successful expansions, the Buffalo Bandits joined the American division.7 The Bandits dropped their first three games of the season, but then went on a record 22 game winning streak to claim both the 1992 and 1993 titles. The 1992 and 1993 seasons ended the 10 game schedule, shrinking it back to 8 games, while expanding the playoffs so that 6 of the 7 teams would qualify.7
1994 would mark the first time the league would contract, as the Pittsburgh Bulls folded while no new teams were added. The league remained with the 2 division format with just 6 teams, but would abandon that for a single division in 1995, which also saw the folding of the Detroit Turbos and the introduction of the Rochester Knighthawks.7 The Knighthawks had immediate success as an expansion team, going all the way to the championship game before falling to the Philadelphia Wings in overtime. 1996 brought the ill-fated Charlotte Cobras to the league to expand back to seven. The team from North Carolina went 0-10, and quickly folded camp after the season. At the same time, the league went back to a 10 game season.7
The 1997 season went back to the same 6 franchises as the 1995 season had seen, but any sort of stability was only an illusion. After the 1997 season, a rival league named the 'National Lacrosse League' was formed, which was to be based on the franchise model traditional in major American sports leagues, instead of the MILL "single entity ownership" model.7 After a short battle between the two competitors, the two leagues merged and the 6 MILL franchises joined two NLL franchises, the Syracuse Smash and the Ontario Raiders (based in Hamilton, Ontario), under the NLL umbrella and league structure. The league suffered a setback quickly, as the Boston Blazers suspended operations for one year for the 1998 season, but never returned to play. The NLL went to a round robin schedule for the 1998 season, so the 7 teams played a 12 game season.7
The franchise turmoil didn't change with the new league structure, as the Ontario Raiders packed up and moved to Toronto after one season, becoming the Toronto Rock. 7 The Rock quickly became a major success both on the field and in the box office, selling out Maple Leaf Gardens and claiming the 1999 and 2000 NLL titles. 2000 saw one of the original four teams move, as the Baltimore Thunder went to Pittsburgh to become the Pittsburgh CrosseFire. The NLL also expanded to 8 teams, introducing the Albany Attack to play in New York's capital.7
In 2001, the league continued to grow to 14 games and introduced its 9th team, the Columbus Landsharks. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Crossefire continued to search for a place to call home, as they moved to the US capital to become the Washington Power. The Syracuse Smash became the second team to play north of the border, as they moved to become the Ottawa Rebel.7
Despite all the turmoil, the league continued to expand to new markets, and 2002 was a major part of their nationwide expansion aspirations. For the first time, the league moved out of the Eastern time zone, adding the Vancouver Ravens and Calgary Roughnecks, as well as adding the Montreal Express and New Jersey Storm.7 The expansion to 13 teams necessitated dividing the league up into divisions for the first time since 1994, as the Central, Eastern, and Northern Divisions were born. The league also expanded the schedule to 16 games, where it still stands today. While the 2002 expansion ultimately proved unsuccessful (3 of the 4 teams have since folded), it did set the stage for the league to grow to a national scope. It also marked the only time the higher seeded team did not host a NLL playoff game, as the Washington Power surrendered the quarterfinal game against Philadelphia to the Wings for financial reasons. 7
2003 saw the Montreal franchise suspend operations, becoming the second team in league history to be in existence for only one season.7 The Power, who had struggled to draw fans in Washington, made their 3rd move in 4 season to Denver to become the Colorado Mammoth.7 This move was finally successful, as the Mammoth have become one of the flagship franchises in the league.
In 2004, for the first time since 1990, the league lost one of the original franchises as the New York Saints went dark. Contraction from the 2002 high of 13 teams continued, as the Storm moved across the country to Anaheim, California, becoming the Anaheim Storm, while the Ottawa Rebel folded. The Albany Attack and Columbus Landsharks followed the Storm westward, settling in as the San Jose Stealth and Arizona Sting respectively. 7 The league consolidated into a 4 team Eastern Division (Philadelphia, Buffalo, Rochester, and Toronto) and a 6 team Western Division (Colorado, Arizona, San Jose, Vancouver, Calgary, and Anaheim).
2005 then saw the Vancouver Ravens folded due to lease and ownership issues, while the Montreal franchise rights were bought by the NHL's Minnesota Wild to create the Minnesota Swarm in the Eastern Division. This type of transaction, where an expansion franchise is formed using the rights of a team that had suspended operations, would be used again in the NLL for the next few years, as a glut of teams that were suspended would make those franchise rights more affordable than the league expansion fee of several million dollars.7
2006 saw the Anaheim storm suspend operations, while an ownership group led by Angela Batinovich bought an expansion franchise called the Portland LumberJax, and Bruce Urban bought the rights to the suspended Ottawa franchise to form a team in Edmonton named the Rush.7 2007 saw the league finally get back to its 2002 size of thirteen teams, with the addition of the New York Titans and the Chicago Shamrox, while all of the 11 teams from 2006 stayed in place, a first since the 2002 expansion.7 The 2008 season will see yet another expansion team, as the NLL returns to Boston.[8]
Championship History
★ 1987 Baltimore Thunder 11–10 Washington Wave
★ 1988 New Jersey Saints 17–16 Washington Wave
★ 1989 Philadelphia Wings 11–10 New York Saints
★ 1990 Philadelphia Wings 17–7 New England Blazers
★ 1991 Detroit Turbos 14–12 Baltimore Thunder
★ 1992 Buffalo Bandits 11–10 Philadelphia Wings (OT)
★ 1993 Buffalo Bandits 13–12 Philadelphia Wings
★ 1994 Philadelphia Wings 26–15 Buffalo Bandits
★ 1995 Philadelphia Wings 15–14 Rochester Knighthawks (OT)
★ 1996 Buffalo Bandits 15-10 Philadelphia Wings
★ 1997 Rochester Knighthawks 15–12 Buffalo Bandits
★ 1998 Philadelphia Wings 2–0 Baltimore Thunder (Best of 3 Games Series)
★ 1999 Toronto Rock 13–10 Rochester Knighthawks
★ 2000 Toronto Rock 14–13 Rochester Knighthawks
★ 2001 Philadelphia Wings 9–8 Toronto Rock
★ 2002 Toronto Rock 13–12 Albany Attack
★ 2003 Toronto Rock 8–6 Rochester Knighthawks
★ 2004 Calgary Roughnecks 14–11 Buffalo Bandits
★ 2005 Toronto Rock 19–13 Arizona Sting
★ 2006 Colorado Mammoth 16–9 Buffalo Bandits
★ 2007 Rochester Knighthawks 13-11 Arizona Sting
Commissioners
| Darrel Russell | 1987–1997 |
| John Livsey Jr | 1997–2000 |
| Jim Jennings | 2000– |
Current League Structure
The National Lacrosse League currently plays a 16 game regular season, with 4 teams from each division qualifying for postseason play. The 1st and 4th seed in each division meet in a divisional semifinal game, while the 2nd and 3rd seeds meet in the other. The next round are the Eastern Division and Western Division champions. The divisional champions then meet in the Champions Cup final for the league title.
Each year, the league holds a mid-season All Star Game between two teams representing the Eastern and Western divisions.
2008 Teams
East Division
West Division
Expansion
NLL commissioner Jim Jennings' ambitious plan for expansion includes 24 teams and possibly a 20-game schedule by 2011. He says that Montreal, Vancouver and Winnipeg "are the front-runners for expansion in Canada."[9]
In July 2007, the Vancouver Ravens were conditionally approved for a 2008 return; the conditions included selling at least 2,500 season tickets and finding a suitable arena lease by July 19, 2007.[10]. On July 16, 2007, the Vancouver Ravens announced an agreement with Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment to make General Motors Place the home venue of the Ravens, if they are able to meet the season ticket sales requirement [11]. However, just a few days later, the NLL announced that the Ravens would not play in the 2008 season.[12]
A number of cities and potential ownership groups have expressed interest in expansion franchises:
★ After high attendance of over 20,000 fans at the 2007 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Jennings says that the league will "definitely consider expanding to Halifax, for sure."[13]
★ A group of investors put down a deposit with the NLL in June 2006 for a franchise to play in Seattle, Washington in 2008. The proposed arena for this possible team is KeyArena, which is the current home of the Seattle SuperSonics of the NBA.[14]
★ Ownership groups from St. Louis, Cleveland, Dallas and Florida have also expressed interest in an expansion team.[15]
★ The league has also considered possibly expanding into Oklahoma City's Ford Center in 2008[16] as well as Salt Lake City.[17].
Media
In May 2001, ''Blast Lacrosse'', a video game based on the NLL, was released. It was the first lacrosse video game ever and included all nine teams of their 14th season, including mascots.
On February 15, 2005, the NLL announced that Activision would produce a new video game. The game was slated to be released for the 2007 season.[18] As of now, the game is unknown in its progress.
In 2007, the NLL will have a regularly scheduled "Game of the Week" on Versus, the network formerly known as OLN and home of the NHL, Tour de France, and PBR. Previously, the NLL has had its All-Star Games and Championship games on National TV, with NBC in 2005 and ESPN2 in 2006. In the early 2000s, CNN Sports Illustrated aired NLL games regularly.
Also in 2007, the NLL signed an agreement with Sirius Satellite Radio, who has been named "Official Satellite Radio Partner". The pact includes a "Game of the Week" as well as weekly highlight show.[19]
Player origin
Although 11 of the league's 14 teams are American, about 73% of the players are Canadian. The rest are either American or Iroquois, with one Australian.
The makeup of the 14 teams is:[20]
| Percent | Country | Number of Players |
|---|---|---|
| '73.3' | 214 | |
| '22.3' | 65 | |
| '4.1' | Iroquois | 12 |
| '0.3' | 1 |
Awards
★ National Lacrosse League Weekly Awards
★ National Lacrosse League Monthly Awards
★ MVP Award
★ Rookie of the Year Award
★ Les Bartley Award (coach of the year)
★ GM of the Year Award
★ Executive of the Year Award
★ Defensive Player of the Year Award
★ Transition Player of the Year Award
★ Goaltender of the Year Award
★ Sportsmanship Award
★ Tom Borrelli Award (writer of the year)
References
1. 2007 NLL Official Rule Book
2. League Announces Rule Changes
3. Lax 101: Overview
4. During the 2007 season, three games were held on Thursday nights, the most since the 2003 season.
5. And yet, what is this quintessence of nets?
6. Tavares may have to share his handle McKenzie, Bob
7. Lax 101: League History
8. Expansion team awarded to Boston for 2008
9. NLL boss eyes more expansion Neil Stevens
10. New ownership could revive NLL's Ravens
11. General Motors Place To Serve As Home For New Vancouver Ravens Lacrosse Franchise
12. Ravens Put On Hold
13. National commissioner 'very excited' about expansion prospects Adam Richardson
14. Pro lacrosse on the horizon? David Andriesen
15. NLL to announce expansion plans Friday
16. Lacrosse Pro-League looks at Oklahoma City Staff, Daily Oklahoman
17. Jennings Talks Expansion, Outdoor League Coyne, Zac
18. Activision Value to create NLL video game
19. NLL & Sirius Sign Broadcasting Agreement
20. NLL Team Rosters on Pointstreak.com, as of March 25, 2007
See also
★ Lacrosse
★ Box lacrosse
★ List of NLL seasons
★ National Lacrosse League All-Star Game
★ National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame
★ Major League Lacrosse - the men's field lacrosse league of the United States
★ List of sports attendance figures
★ List of professional lacrosse players
★ List of family relations in the National Lacrosse League
★ National Lacrosse League expansion draft
★ National Lacrosse League dispersal draft
★ National Lacrosse League entry draft
External links
★ League's Website
★ Outsider's Guide to the National Lacrosse League
Team links
★ Arizona Sting
★ Boston
★ Buffalo Bandits
★ Calgary Roughnecks
★ Chicago Shamrox
★ Colorado Mammoth
★ Edmonton Rush
★ Minnesota Swarm
★ New York Titans
★ Philadelphia Wings
★ Portland LumberJax
★ Rochester Knighthawks
★ San Jose Stealth
★ Toronto Rock
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