By Ted Montour, Canada/NLL Editor
Anaheim Storm
As the former media guy for the 1 - 13 Ottawa Rebel, you would think that I would know what to say about the 1 - 15 Anaheim Storm of 2004 --- but I don't, I'm plum out of words, I exhausted my cranial thesaurus, which, with all due modesty, is extensive. At least I won't have to watch Matt Disher get shelled for another season, with his latest gig in Minnesota.
After a series of front office and coaching shuffles the Storm's path is in the hands of yet another Canadian General Manager and Head Coach. Derek Keenan. An assistant to Les Bartley with the Rock, Keenan also served an abbreviated tenure as GM before Terry Sanderson. He had a distinguished pro box career, principally with the Bandits, before moving behind the bench with Toronto (if memory serves me correctly, he began the transition with the Ontario Raiders in '98 as a player/assistant coach).
The Powell - Morgan Gang
After the expansion draft, Keenan took former Calgary back-up tender Matt King in the process of re-acquiring defender Cam Bergman, in the trade that sent "Dish" to Minnesota. Matt Roik should be the starter in goal, after backing up Disher last season, logging over 300 minutes in six games, with a 15.16 goals-against average. Expect King to see action, including some starts, having shown flashes of brilliance before the Roughnecks picked up Curtis Palidwor. Third Goalie Michael McKay was a three-year starter for the OLA Jr. A Whitby Warriors before signing on with the Sr. Major expansion Windsor Warlocks in 2004; he was picked up after being released by San Jose, and will see limited action.
With the worst goals-against average in the League, the defence got a major re-tooling. Hold-overs Bergman, Damien Davis, Chris Seller and Chad Wittman are joined by third-round draft choice Casey Logeman (OLA Whitby Jr. A), free agent Adam Bysouth, formerly with Calgary and originally a Rock draft pick, plus three players acquired in trades: Matt Dwane, from Philadelphia, Pat Jones from Toronto, and B.J. Potter from Colorado. Rory Glaves, Vancouver's first-round selection and NO. 2 overall, a former OLA and BCLA junior who attended Hartford, was grabbed in the Ravens dispersal, with Bruce Murray, another rookie from British Columbia.
Up front, the Storm will have their own version of The Long Riders, with two sets of brothers leading the gang. Former Syracuse All-Americans and field lacrosse icons Casey and Ryan Powell, and BC twin towers Richard and Peter Morgan (the latter taken by Rochester in the dispersal, then sent to Anaheim for an '05 second-round draft choice). After two under-achieving seasons in Rochester, Casey left the NLL, returning with the Storm last year and scoring a much more respectable 27 goals and 68 points. Ryan had 30 goals in his first two seasons in Buffalo, but missed all but one game last winter. Peter Morgan, at 6'6" and 225 pounds giving up two inches and twenty-five pounds to his younger sibling, averaged over 2 goals a game for the Ravens, including 32, plus 35 assists, in his '02 rookie season. Richard notched 12 goals and 13 assists in 14 games for the Storm last year. Scott Stewart was the franchise's top draft pick in 2002, taken third overall, after attending Drexel University and playing three seasons for the OLA Jr. Burlington Chiefs; in 47 games he has racked up 70 goals and 134 points, including a best of 29 goals in '03.
Peter Morgan adds some immediate punch to an anaemic Anaheim attack that ranked last in the League in goals and assists, and ninth in power play efficiency. Shawn Cable, acquired from Colorado, has appeared in just 18 games in three seasons with the Roughnecks and the Mammoth, and should show better as a full-timer. The right-shooting Powell brothers may not always be on the floor together, with the possible exception of the power play, but should feed off each other's presence on the bench. Watch out for free-agent Raweras (pronounced Lah-Weh-las) Mitchell from the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation, of the Mohawk International Lacrosse branch of the Mitchell family. He played parts of four seasons with the OLA Jr. A Six Nations Arrows and Peterborough Lakers, then the last two seasons with his hometown Senior Major Thunder. He scored 4 goals in a full-length pre-season scrimmage in Philadelphia. Rookie middie (and native Californian) Steve Vallone scored 22 goals in his final season with the champion Syracuse Orangemen, and, at 6'2", adds yet more size to the front line.
The Powells on goodwill trips in Anaheim
This team needs, more than any other one thing, to score more, and more consistently (they potted 18 in a one-goal home-opening loss to Arizona last year, but never got into double digits in six other games). If their young defence can come together sufficiently to keep Roik and/or King from going snow-blind every night, and if their attackers can realize some of their considerable individual potential, they can improve to respectability in the NLL West. The Playoffs are at least another season away.
Photos from the Storm Website.
Arizona Sting
This year's edition of the Sting will challenge for a West Division play-off spot. Here's why.
Starting with the goaltenders, starter Mike Miron has played his career to date with this franchise, after being drafted in the 2nd round in 2002 by Columbus. He is re-joined this season by Ken "Monster" Montour from Six Nations (my cousin for those who missed my earlier genealogical explanations), who missed the 2004 season as he completed his undergrad and teaching studies at Brock University, where he was a part of the Badgers' perennial Canadian University championship teams [see the Buffalo preview for more of the lowdown on Brock].
At this past September's Iroquois Nations Cup in Akwesasne, I got 'the skinny' from his grandparents, my first cousin (and former Tom Longboat Award winner) Joe and his wife "Net". Apparently, Ken had discussions with GM and Head Coach Bob Hamley over the summer, about returning to the line-up, but did not receive a definitive answer or commitment in time to consider moving to the Pheonix area for the season. He accepted a teaching job at home, and subsequently signed on with the Sting. Judging by his play at the Nations Cup, and his grandparents' reports ("Net" knows lacrosse as well as her husband, coming from a family of Hall of Famers herself), he has just this year fully recovered from a knee problem that had dogged him for more than a year. If and when he gets a chance, he can step in to the starter's job ahead of Miron, who, at a listed 5'10", 265 pounds, is not nearly as mobile as Monster. The Sting also have Cole Murray, drafted in '03, who is of the same dimensions as Miron.
Defender Bruce Codd is one player who has definitely played his way into the NLL. Drafted 66th, in the ninth round in 2000 by Albany, the Orangeville native, generously listed at 5'10" and 255 pounds, spent '01 in Columbus before being picked up by the Sandersons to play for them in Montreal, and finally Ottawa, where he was the last Captain of the Rebel. Codd is another Stinger that is returning to full health after missing ten games last season.
At the opposite end of the scale is Troy Bonterre, 6'3" and 260 pounds (goalie size on this roster), with Cochrane, draw man Scott Self (another former Rebel), Darren Halls, Bill Greer, Brock Robertson and Captain Peter Lough (who also chipped in 9 goals and posted a .512 face-off-winning percentage), 2004 Defender of the Year along with Calgary's Taylor Wray.
Unfortunately, the latest and best addition to the defensive corps, Rob Kirkby, coming in trade with the Roughnecks, has gone down with a wrist fracture sustained on the opening week-end of the Sting's schedule.
Mike Miron
On the offence, Six Nations' Cory Bomberry came over from Rochester last year and contributed 23 goals and 66 points, as well as quarterbacking the power play. Pat Maddalena had his best pro season with 42 goals and 83 points, and Dan Dawson and Gewas Schindler likewise, with 28 goals and 74 points, and 32 goals and 67 points, respectively. Lindsay Plunkett, older brother of Jamie, will be available for a full season for the first time in his pro career, and should easily more than double last year's production of 11 goals and 15 assists in eight games. Another original Landshark, sniper Kasey Beirnes was second on the team with 33 goals, and the well-travelled Jason Clark came over from Minnesota in the trade that sent the No. 1 draft pick to Buffalo. Peter Veltman has been moved to the back door after the injury to Kirkby. Homeboy Josh White, a former middie with the NCAA champion Princeton Tigers, is either on the regular or the Practice roster depending on which Web site you believe.
Kirkby's injury is disruptive, but Veltman (nephew of Scoop) has the capabilities to make the adjustment to "D", and will add to the transition game in the process. The Sting's team stats were generally about mid-pack last season, although their power play was third-ranked, just a couple of ticks shy of .500 in efficiency. In 1- and 2-goal games they were 2 - 4, and they need a definitely need to reverse that. They were, however, the only team other than Calgary to take a regular-season game from the Mammoth; in fact, all three Arizona/Colorado contests were decided by a goal, two in OT. Should Calgary or San Jose falter at all, and maybe even if they don't, the Sting will be right there to grab a post-season spot.
Photos from the Sting Website and Norm Hall.
Colorado Mammoth
2004 was supposed to be the year of the Mammoth - near-capacity crowds, the All Star Game, the pick of the free-agent crop, and a still-dominating Gary Gait, President and General Manager Steve Govett put everything in place, and spent enough of Kroenke Sports' money, to make it happen. The only problem was that the upstart Calgary Roughnecks failed to cooperate. Back to the drawing board, as the saying goes, and the cheque-book, only now there is an even greater sense of urgency, with the announcement of Gary Gait's "farewell tour" of the 2005 season.
After hosting a successful (notwithstanding the outcome) Heritage Cup, Govett continued down his off-season to-do list with some re-tooling of the coaching staff. Even before the Ravens were officially gone, he hired Vancouver assistant Daren Fridge to be Head Coach Jamie Batley's new offensive co-ordinator, then, after the fateful announcements, retrieved Walt Christianson to help with the defence.
The game's best retires at season's end
Govett began locking up veterans in early October, and, with no selections in the first or second rounds of the entry draft, signed his third-round pick, defender Lee Zink of the Maryland Terrapins (later assigning him to the practice roster). Never one to wait for opportunities, he snapped up newly-minted free agent Mark Miyashita, the 2003 first overall draft pick, early in November. He pretty much ignored the dispersal draft, but did not hesitate to sign defender Pat Coyle and attackmen Dan Stroup and Chris Prat from among Vancouver's free agents.
Do these moves make Colorado the pre-season favourites in the NLL West? Hell yes.
2004 All Pro and Goaltender of the Year Gee Nash will start every game, with Erik Miller and Tom Still in reserve for only the most dire of emergencies (or to give Gee a pre-playoff breather). Nash's .790 save percentage was integral to the Mammoth's League-best 10.79 goals-against average, and his personal GAA of 10.68 was tops among 'tenders with 11 or more games played.
The defence, arguably tops in the NLL already with Jamie Hanford, Jay Jalbert, John Gallant, Dave Stilley, Brian Reese et al, only gets stronger with youngsters Miyashita and 2002 draftee Tom Ethington, elevated from last year's practice roster. Tom Phair, picked up last year at the trade deadline, did not return. Coyle begins to look like insurance among this crowd.
The League's Best Crowd
Colorado does have a rather interesting balance compared to most other teams, with 11 defenders plus "transition" men Nick Carlson and Jeff Sonke, and 9 forwards. This mix all but ensures that the big guns see enough floor time and ball to keep them (reasonably) happy. Gary Gait is the man, until he says he's not, and I expect to see him every game, every possession, every power play, and every front-door, man-down break. He has strapped them on for every regular-season and play-off game going as far back as 2000 in Pittsburgh, and his goal-scoring only peaked in 2003, when he broke his own record with 61 plus 5 in the play-offs. There's NO "next Gary Gait".
Gavin Prout, Brian Langtry and Del Halladay were last year's second-, third- and fourth-place scorers, with 34, 24 and 24 goals respectively, and defender Jalbert chipped in with 18. Prout had his best NLL season last winter, and is also coming off a 27-goal, 92-point summer with the OLA Major Brooklin Redmen. Langtry was a team-mate of Gait with the Major League Lacrosse Baltimore Bayhawks, where he scored 15 goals and 2 two-pointers. Chris Panos came over in a trade with Anaheim; his best year in the NLL was 2002, when he scored 36 goals for the Calgary Roughnecks. Stroup collected three rings and a championship game MVP award with Toronto, and scored 37 goals in 2002, his last with the Rock. He has also played in 95 straight regular-season and playoff games going back to 1999 in Toronto. The right-handed "Swoop", with his strong and fearless inside game, can have the biggest impact of any of the new attackers, especially if teamed with the left-shooting Gait. He can open up the floor, creating opportunities both for himself and No. 22.
Jamie Hanford and Brian Reese
The NLL West is stronger overall, absorbing all of the top Ravens, but what can stop the Mammoth from marching inexorably to the Champion's Cup? Gary Gait has been remarkably free of debilitating injury throughout his career, and if any of his leading offensive supporting cast go down, there is a Prat or a Panos or a Brad Self to step up. The defence looks virtually bulletproof even as far as injury goes. If, however, Nash slumps or loses games to injury, American keeper Erik Miller's consistency will be put to a serious test.
Photos by Nevin Reid from the Mammoth Website.
San Jose Stealth
Johnny Mouradian came under considerable fan criticism this summer, following the Josh Sanderson deal with Toronto, even after goalie Anthony Cosmo was formally ID'd as the player to be named later. But let's take a good look at this transaction. Sanderson was commuting cross-continent, maintaining his Orangeville residence and his job working at his father's sporting goods store. Six-time-zone week-ends are gruelling, and he was clearly not in a position to consider re-locating. Cousin Phil has similarly deep hometown roots, and Rusty Kruger was leaving a pregnant wife at home in Toronto (his play improved dramatically after their baby arrived).
San Jose acquired transition and breakaway man par excellence Steve Toll, versatile defender Daryl Gibson, and "Cos". The two Toronto draft picks yielded All American Princeton attackman Ryan Boyle, the Tigers' 2nd all-time points man, and Salisbury defender Eric Martin, the USILA D-III Player of the Year, giving Mouradian the luxury of using his own second-round selection to draft Mikey Powell who won't play until 2006, if at all.
Johnny Mouradian
The Stealth will carry veterans Rob Blasdell and Brandon Miller, with Cosmo completing the goalie triumvirate. With a new teaching job, the St. Catharines, Ontario native will be unavailable for at least a couple of games, but look for him to be the starter he could never be behind Bob Watson in Toronto. The Stealth have two former Rock back-ups in Blazer and Cos.
Toll, Gibson and Martin will step right in to an even younger and more athletic Stealth defence than last season, with rookies Matt Alrich (Delaware Blue Hens, 3rd round) and Californian Drew Virk (Maryland Terrapins, 5th round), youngsters Brennan Day and Kelly Hall, and vets Jim Moss, Matt Oglesby, Captain Cam Woods and Darren Reisig. The kids will help make San Jose's 5-on-5 defence one of the League's best. The veterans, Toll in particular, will strengthen San Jose's penalty-killing, which was ranked a respectable 4th to go with the third-highest penalty total, although they were tied with the Mammoth for 6th with just 8 shorthanded goals.
With Sanderson gone, Dan Teat in Buffalo via Minnesota, and Mike Regan sitting idle, the offence will look more than ever to Gary Rosyski, last season's second-leading goal-scorer with 35 in the regular season. Burnaby's Brad Dairon, acquired from Calgary, and rookie Luke Gilbert, a former Whittier attackman drafted last season in the 5th round, will add size up front. Scott Ranger, who dressed for just four games last winter as a rookie, will start and be expected to contribute some scoring punch. Mouradian traded up in the dispersal draft, acquiring the 4th selection from Philadelphia and taking Kevin Olson, a former BCLA Jr. A scoring champion and WLA Sr. A Rookie of the Year who had 3 goals in four games in his only season as a Raven. Swing-men Toll and Hall can be expected to take some shifts up front as well. In what might prove to be his canniest move, Mouradian acquired the rights to the services of Ted Dowling, who retired after Calgary's Cup win. Pro indoor's 5th leading regular-season goal scorer (134 games, 306 goals, 2.28 average) and his wife are expecting a child later this winter, and Johnny is banking on a rekindling of Ted's competitive fires soon after. I don't doubt there has been a conversation or two between the two former Bandits already.
The Stealth ranked fourth in the NLL regular season last year with 204 goals and a 12.75 average. The power play, however, must improve after finishing 9th last season with 36 goals, and 8th with a .409 scoring percentage (and that was with Josh Sanderson). As to the youngest Powell, Michael will stay in Denver this winter, busy starting up Brine West and launching his music career. Mouradian did say, however, that Mike is being kept in the San Jose loop, getting all the same regular e-mails and other correspondence as the roster players. He is Johnny's kind of player, athletic, talented and fearless, described by one knowledgeable observer as "the best riding attackman I've ever seen". Mikey fans out there, do not despair yet.
The first half of the San Jose's 2005 schedule is daunting, with two games each against Calgary and Colorado, plus a road trip to Philadelphia. They see the Roughnecks four times in total, but only have one trip to Denver, the Thursday night before the February 27th All Star Game (in Calgary). They wrap up their regular season with an April 16th trip to Buffalo. The Stealth have to hope that Anthony Cosmo can withstand the rigors of air travel (although there is a daily non-stop flight home from San Jose to Toronto). They must have another good season at home, where they were 7 - 1 in the HP Pavilion, though they only drew 5,300 a game. The Stealth were 6 - 1 in one- and two-goal games, an outstanding showing, although I'm sure they woud like to see a lower total in that department. With seven US players, and a total of eight from the West Coast, north and south of the 49th, so the cumulative commute will be less this winter.
I figured Johnny's boys to challenge the Mammoth in the West Division final last April, but they missed that chance with a 1-goal loss at home to the Roughnecks. I expect the same match-up, same venue, different outcome in this spring's West semi, and then let's see how much their young defensive studs have left in the tank for Gary Gait and company.
Update Bulletin
Late Friday afternoon, January 7th, a story appeared on the NLL.com Web site, announcing that the Stealth have acquired and re-united Curt and Derek Malawsky, in coincident trades with the Buffalo Bandits and Minnesota Swarm. The Bandits receive a second round pick in the 2006 Entry draft in exchange for Curt, while older brother Derek comes from Minnesota along with the Swarm's second-round selection in the 2006 Entry Draft, in exchange for young defender Kelly Hall and the Stealth's first-round slot in the 2007 Entry Draft. Both had been on their previous teams' Holdout Lists.
Darren Reisig
Curt (157 goals, 170 assists in 84 regular-season games) and Derek (135g, 247a in 82 games) broke into the NLL in 1998, with the Rochester Knighthawks and Ontario Raiders, respectively, and played three seasons together, 2001 - 03, in Rochester. The brothers from BC have identical 4.66 points-per-game averages, a pace that puts them ahead of four of the League's top 10 all-time regular-season points leaders. This, as they say, changes everything, at least in the NLL West. The Stealth may still not outscore the Mammoth, but they have instantly improved their goal differential. San Jose's power play also goes from mid-pack to among the League leaders, with either or both brothers playing man-up.
Photos from the Stealth Website.
Calgary Roughnecks
Funny, I started this piece by calling up my 2004 preview of the Roughnecks, and nowhere does it say "… and Calgary will win the Champion's Cup". On the other hand, I have not seen anyone, certainly not outside of Calgary, who called the Roughnecks to go all the way. Actually, I
had predicted that they would make the playoffs, likely ahead of Vancouver, based on their past mastery of the Ravens, and the strength of their draft and some key trade acquisitions.
Enter first-round pick and second overall, Taylor Wray from Edmonton via Burnaby, BC and Durham, North Carolina, 2004 National Lacrosse League Rookie of the Year, an award unprecedented for a defender. Enter Curtis Palidwor, whose penultimate performance was the highlight of the Cup final. Cue the music for Ted Dowling's NLL swan song. Hand out the championship swag and organize the parade. The Roughnecks were worthy fore-runners for the Stanley Cup heroics of the Flames later that spring.
General Manager Brad Banister and Head Coach Chris Hall did not stand pat; they continued their youth movement, bringing defenders Kyle Neufeld and Travis Gillespie from Arizona in exchange for Rob Kirkby, and Ryan McNish from Toronto, and sending attacker Brad Dairon to San Jose in exchange for Andrew Biers. Not to be outdone by Colorado, they signed Vancouver free agent attacker Chris Gill, and defenders Andy Ogilvie and Rob Williams. They also signed their first-round entry draft pick, goalie Matt Morehouse from Surrey BC.
Curtis Palidwor is the undisputed starter in goal. While his save percentage was third-best in the regular season, he was money in the play-offs, and full measure for his Champion's Cup MVP. With Matt King gone in the expansion draft, Morehouse (with an 84.11 save percentage and 6.76 goals-against, arguably the second-leading keeper last summer in the BCLA Jr. A for the Surrey Stickmen), is the back-up.
Taylor Wray went down in the pre-season with a broken leg, a tragic foreshortening of his sophomore season. His loss puts the acquisition of "Ogie" and Williams in a new light, since Wray, even as a rookie, had become the defensive leader. One of the veterans will have to step up, not just into Wray's spot on the floor, but in the dressing room as well. Until the situation clarifies, defence is the biggest question mark for this team in 2005.
The Roughnecks did not exactly light up scoreboards throughout the NLL, but they managed to win most of the close ones - they were 4-2 in regular-season one- and two-goal games, and averaged 14 goals a game in the play-offs, where every game was close. Lewis Ratcliff, Captain Tracy Kelusky, Ted Dowling and Kaleb Toth all scored more than 30 goals, and Jason Wulder added 26; after them, the remaining goal-scorers were all in single digits. Chris Gill scored 11 goals in ten games as a rookie with Baltimore in 1996, but in his seven NLL seasons since, he has scored 232 goals in 104 games, including 12 in 8 post-season contests. Although his production last season tailed off to 22, he could rejuvenate his career in Calgary. Kevin Dostie is another question mark; he scored 21 goals in 15 games as a rookie in Ottawa, but just 5 in games last year in the Saddledome. Perhaps his taste of the Mann Cup this summer in Peterborough, and some strong work ethic examples from the likes of Kelusky, can help him get over himself.
The Drill Crew
With a healthy Taylor Wray, I would have said that the Roughnecks would press the Mammoth more than any other West Division contender in 2005. He means that much to this team, and moving forward without him will be the biggest test that this franchise has faced. Much depends on Chris Hall and his staff, because coaches are the only ones in a position to deal effectively with drift or self-doubt on a team, even at this professional level. All things considered, the Roughnecks are still the defending NLL champions, and that means something. The "Riggers" themselves will have to determine what that 'something' is.
Photos by Kyle Clapham from the Roughnecks Website.
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